ã€ŠThe Golden Gravekeeperã€‹


 1 Chapter 1: Summoned to another world

    Seinagi Academy. Contrary to its name, this wasn''t a holy school on sacred grounds. It was a demonic ground, ripe with the evils of its young students. Barely had I stepped into class when something smacked right into my face, knocking my glasses askew.

    "Gah!"

    "Ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Cruel laughter floated out from my classroom as I dropped to my knees, clutching my face and blinking back tears. I hastily scrambled on the floor, searching for my glasses and snatching them up. Before I could put them on, however, a fist slammed into my nose. With a loud crack, I tumbled backward, blood gushing out of my nose.

    More laughter ensued.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Grimacing from the pain and shaking my head as my vision turned blood-red, I tried to stand, only to see someone standing over me.

    "What are you doing? Hurry and get inside the classroom."

    Someone grabbed my collar and hauled me to my feet. Before I could react, I was hurled into the classroom ¨C right into the path of another waiting classmate.

    "Gah?!"

    I doubled over as a fist sank into my gut. Before I could straighten up, a knee slammed into my face and sent me toppling backward.

    "Ugh!"

    "Don''t lose consciousness just yet! We''re not done! Take this!"

    While I climbed to my feet, someone lashed out at the back of my neck with a kick and sent me sprawling on the floor. Wincing, I tried to stand, but that same person stepped on my head and pressed it against the floor with his foot.

    "Nice. It seems like the scum has finally returned to his rightful place. Crawling on the floor like a bug."

    Gritting my teeth, I resisted with all my might. Taking a deep breath, I suddenly grabbed his foot and yanked it off. Twisting around, I tackled the guy who stepped on me, knocking him over. He snarled something incoherently, but I wasn''t listening. I was slugging him with all my might, drawing some blood from that perpetually smirking, handsome face of his.

    It pleased me to see that he was no longer smirking.

    Then suddenly someone grabbed hold of me and dragged me away from my target. Another person stepped in and cuffed me at the side of my head, and my vision swam with the pain. I heaved and brought my foot up, kicking my captor right between his legs. He let go of me with a howl and I responded with an elbow to his face. It was a good thing he had bent over to clutch his vulnerable part, or I wouldn''t have been able to reach the taller guy''s face.

    Then my other assailant kicked me from the side, knocking me over. I threw my hands out to break my fall, but he stomped on my back and pinned me to the ground.

    "Ew¡­so disgusting!"

    "Seriously, I don''t want to breathe the same air as that thing!"

    "It should kill itself."

    It wasn''t just the guys. I could hear the girls ridiculing me and dishing out verbal abuse as they flinched and stepped away. They looked upon me with disdain and disgust, sniffing as they turned away so as not to sully their sight with my supposedly pathetic form.

    I was the one who didn''t want to breathe the same air as these bastards. Clenching my teeth, I forced myself up and flipped over, sweeping my legs out and tripping the guy who had stepped on me. With a cry, he fell over and flailed helplessly. Before he could stand up, I was already on him, pummeling him.

    "What?!"

    "How did the three of you lose to just one guy? And a pathetic, weak loser at that?"

    I began laughing, and the class fell into stunned silence. Rising to my feet, I stood over my bloodied victim and turned toward the rest of the class.

    "Pathetic, weak loser? Maybe I''m one, but what does that make you guys, who are even more pathetic and weaker than me?"

    The guys shrunk back, not daring to challenge me after having witnessed me take down three guys by myself. However, that didn''t stop them from insistently believing that they were superior, and that I was a pathetic, weak loser.

    I should destroy those delusions of theirs. But before I could approach them, a snide voice spoke up behind me.

    "This isn''t over yet, Tanaka."

    It was the first guy who kicked and stepped on me, and also the first guy I brought down with a tackle and a punch. Turning around, I plastered a bold smile across my face.

    "No, you''re right, Kobayashi. It isn''t over."

    The leader of the bullies, Kobayashi Kenji scowled as I looked back at him defiantly. I studied his bloodied face with a little satisfaction, but the girls were utterly horrified at the red smear, and began fussing over him.

    Never mind that I appeared to be more hurt than he was.

    It was only natural. Kobayashi Kenji was an honor student who possessed great looks, excellent athletic abilities and supposedly high intellect. The last one was suspect because even though he scored impressive grades in class tests, he was stupid enough to pick a fight with me. Unfortunately, he never got into trouble for it.

    I knew it was because he was the grandson of the chairman of the school board. That allowed him to do whatever he wanted without suffering any negative consequences. Good old grandpa would cover it up for him. The teachers tended to look the other way whenever he bullied others, for fear of losing their jobs.

    That was why I was on my own.

    For some reason, Kobayashi didn''t like me. Actually, the whole class didn''t like me. Not because I was a terrible person, mind you. Most people outside my class actually thought that I was a nice and helpful fellow. But my classmates found all sorts of reasons to bully me. Absurd reasons, such as my face being disgusting, I was an otaku nerd with a creepy obsession with manga, games and anime, or I had allegedly stalked a girl in class. It didn''t matter if it wasn''t the truth. Nobody would listen to my side of the story. They had judged me guilty and decided to punish me for it. And the ringleader, Kobayashi Kenji, reveled in my destruction.

    Right now, he was being flanked by his two massive cronies, who were rubbing at their sore parts. The one who I kicked between the legs was Kijima Takeshi, and the other guy who I tripped and pummeled was Yamada Yuji. I wasn''t surprised that bullying scum such as them flocked to Kobayashi like parasites, feeding off his wealth and influence so that they could torment people who were weaker than themselves.

    Unfortunately for them, I wasn''t so easy to bully.

    Pushing my glasses up, I confronted them. The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. The class was cheering Kobayashi, Kijima and Yamada on, ironically unaware that they were relying on three guys to beat me up. I cocked my head from side to side and stretched, getting ready for another bout.

    I wasn''t going down without a fight.

    Before I could lunge at my bullies, however, the entire classroom disappeared in a storm of light. Before I could react, I felt as if the floor beneath my feet was dropping away and my body suspended in nothingness. Blinded, I groped around, but my fingers only caught air. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down and closed my eyes.

    This will pass. This will pass. Relax¡­

    Easy to say, but¡­

    "Kyaaah!"

    "What?!"

    "Whoa?!"

    The screams and yells of my classmates were making it really hard to calm down. Fortunately, as I suspected, the explosion of blinding white light didn''t last long. Before we knew it, we were drifting in what looked like an empty space. Except that instead of black, it was all white. Sort of like Heaven, but I didn''t think Heaven would look this bare.

    "Where is this place?"

    "H¡­hey! Where the hell are we?!"

    "How would I know?!"

    "Did we die and go to Heaven or something?"

    Maybe¡­except that this heaven looked really empty. Where were the angels? Where was God? Where were the white, pearly gates of Jerusalem?

    I scanned the area, various possibilities running through my mind. Alien abductions, summoned to another world, maybe even the idea that we had somehow died after a meteor crashed into our classroom or something. Never mind that I didn''t see or hear any meteor in the moments before we found ourselves here.

    ¡­wherever here was.

    At the edge of the white space was some shimmering rainbow-colored screen that appeared to be some sort of barrier that kept us in. I wasn''t sure, but it reminded me of a movie where Heimdall used the Bifrost to transport Norse gods from Asgard to Midgard and vice-versa.

    And speaking of gods¡­

    "Heroes, please calm down."

    Everyone fell silent and turned when they heard the lyrical voice that seemed to drift in the air, leaving an echo of harmonious notes with each word. Striding toward us was a beautiful woman in a simple, white gown. The aura she emanated seemed to be so ethereal, so¡­otherworldly that despite her physical appearance, she was clearly not a human.

    Golden hair that flowed to her waist, and sapphire eyes that seemed to drown anyone who looked into them. She had ample assets, which along with her curves, were visible through her thin garments, and her long legs complemented her slender waist. Needless to say, the guys'' gazes were all drawn to her ethereal beauty.

    The girls glared at the guys, probably out of jealousy or something. Ignoring them, I kept my eyes on the lady in the white gown and waited.

    "I am Evelyn, the goddess who summoned all of you here."

    ¡­I knew it.

    I sighed. The moment she mentioned heroes and introduced herself as a goddess, all the pieces fell into place.

    "Where is here?"

    As expected, Kobayashi was the first to respond. He kept his voice level even as he demanded answers, concealing his rage and panic. I noticed that he was ogling the goddess as well, trying to swallow as his mouth watered. The lust that shone in his eyes were self-evident.

    He wanted her.

    "Please don''t worry, we''ll be arriving in Restia shortly. Ah!" the goddess was about to elaborate when her eyes went wide. She strode quickly toward Kijima, who was approaching the rainbow-colored barrier and reaching out curiously with his fingers. "Don''t touch that!"

    "What¡­?"

    Kijima looked at her, confused.

    "Right now we''re being transported from your world to mine through an interdimensional rift that temporarily ruptures the space-time fabric to connect two points."

    "Huh?"

    Almost the whole class stared at her, baffled.

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    "A wormhole," I simplified. Everyone glared at me.

    "No one asked you," a pretty girl, Tsukishima Tomoyo, snarled.

    "Yeah, keep your mouth shut!"

    "Um¡­he''s right, though?" the goddess pointed out, baffled at their treatment of me. She turned to Kijima and gestured for him to step away from the barrier. "In any case, it''s not safe to step near the edge of the uh¡­wormhole. If you fall through, you''ll end up being transported somewhere else, to a place where even I can''t reach."

    "Really?"

    Kobayashi was grinning. I didn''t like that expression at all.

    "Yes. In any case, please settle down. My world, Restia is in danger, and that is why I have called upon you heroes to¡­um¡­what are you doing?"

    Kobayashi was nodding to Kijima and Yamada, who obediently followed him. The trio stomped over to my position.

    I knew it. I knew I had a bad feeling about this.

    "What are you doing?!" the goddess repeated, her voice rising in panic, but Kobayashi and his flunkies ignored her. Instead, they cuffed me at the back of my head.

    "You¡­"

    Already anticipating that, I fought back, kicking Yamada between the legs this time. However, a punch from Kijima caught me off guard, sending me spinning to the ground, and Kobayashi kicked my torso, his foot grinding against my ribs.

    I toppled over, the breath knocked out of my lungs, but I refused to give in. with an enraged cry, I slammed into Kobayashi and bowled him over.

    "Hey! Don''t just stand there! Help us!"

    "O¡­oh!"

    Despite the goddess''s protests, the other guys and girls in class complied and surrounded me. I fought as fiercely as I could, but I was severely outnumbered. Punches and kicks rained on me from all directions, knocking me off my feet.

    "Gah¡­"

    My vision spinning, I tried to climb to my feet and lash back, but hands grabbed my arms and heaved me up. It wasn''t of much comfort, but I saw that it took at least ten guys and girls from my class to incapacitate and drag the kicking and struggling me across the white space and toward the glowing rainbow barrier.

    "Throw him out!"

    "No! You can''t! You''ll kill him!"

    The goddess, Evelyn, protested, but Kobayashi flashed her a smile.

    "That''s the plan."

    At his command, my classmates threw me out of the rainbow barrier. I felt disorientated as I crashed out, the white light was completely replaced by total darkness.

    And then I was falling forever.

 2 Chapter 2: Death in another world

    I fell.

    It felt like eternity, falling through darkness without end. All the while, I cursed Kobayashi and the others.

    They really were trying to kill me.

    I always knew they held a grudge against my very existence because of the way I looked, my hobbies and other contrived excuses, and indulged themselves in bullying me because they felt that it made them feel powerful and superior. Most probably they were insecure, and needed something to assuage their fragile egos and delude themselves into thinking that they were strong. To maintain that inane belief, they resorted to bullying me because they enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering. Like a child pulling the wings off a dragonfly and feed the poor, helpless creature to ants.

    Bastards, every one of them.

    But I never thought they would go as far as actually murdering me. When I saw Kobayashi''s eyes light up at the goddess''s warning, I knew for sure that he was always waiting for this opportunity. I didn''t understand why he hated me so much. He had everything and I had nothing. I never did anything to offend him.

    Oh¡­maybe I did. I stood up against him, and he resented me for my defiance. That might explain why he sought to tear me down at every possible opportunity.

    Unfortunately, all such speculation was pretty much moot now. I was falling to my death while Kobayashi and the rest of my classmates were laughing their way to becoming glorified heroes for Restia and the (shocked) goddess, Evelyn.

    I swear, if I somehow survive this, I''ll get my revenge. I''ll kill every single one of them.

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    And then I slammed into the ground.

    "Oof!"

    Stunned, I lay, sprawled on the cold dirt and not knowing what had just happened. Lifting my head, I glanced up and saw that I was no longer in black space. Adjusting my glasses, which had gone askew, I tried to squint through my cloudy vision.

    As I did so, I suddenly saw a blue screen pop up right in front of me.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Commoner/Commoner

    Special Ability: Adamantium Will

    Fortunately, when I tapped on the Adamantium Will tab, a new window popped out, describing it.

    Adamantium Will: the ability to resist all sorts of control and mental manipulation

    "Cool¡­I guess?"

    Despite murmuring, I couldn''t deny that I was disappointed. I wanted a more cheat-like ability like super-magic spells that allowed me to blow armies away in one hit, or word magic, or being a synergist, or leveling up four times faster with one quarter of the experience normally required. You know, those sort of cheats that I always read about in isekai light novels and web novels.

    Unfortunately, I wasn''t given any time to dwell on my disappointment.

    "Run! Run!"

    I blinked, my eyes unable to capture the blurry, moving images in front of me for just a moment. As my vision cleared, I saw a bright, blue sky looming above what looked like a row of structures. The temperature remained pretty chilly, a contrast to the heated crowd of people running and screaming.

    Running and screaming? What was going on?

    I looked around, trying to get my bearings, only to be astonished when I found that I was no longer in school or in the black space that I had been falling through for the last million hours or so. I rose to my feet and calmly assessed my situation. Wherever I was, it didn''t seem like I was in Tokyo any longer. The row of urban buildings that was so reminiscent of metropolitan Tokyo were replaced by shabby, wooden houses, all on the verge of falling apart. The black, meticulously paved roads and traffic lights were gone, and in their place were trees growing sparsely in messily cobbled stone paths that could hardly be called roads. No, in fact, there was no road other than the thin stone paths that were used only by horse carriages that were fleeing past me. The humans were running on barren, sandy ground, huge portions of which still had grass.

    Where the hell was I?

    "What are you doing?!"

    One of the running figures shouted at me. Glancing at him, I did another double take. Unlike me, he was dressed in a simple tunic that didn''t resemble modern fashion at all. If I had to say, most people were dressed in weird, old-fashioned styled Western clothing that wouldn''t look out of place in a period piece of medieval Europe, or a cosplay convention with a similar theme. Furthermore, unlike the black-haired population I was so used to, the villagers had startling displays of varied hair colors, from blond to light brown to a dark, almost black shade. There were also red hair and stuff, and their skin color was a lot paler than mine.

    Huh, so I really got transported to another world, huh? Thanks to Kobayashi and the others'' stunt, I couldn''t tell if this was the world that the goddess was talking about. What did she call it, Restia? For all I knew, I could have landed in a completely different world altogether. Perhaps this could even be medieval Europe!

    That speculation was smashed almost immediately when I heard a thunderous roar. Glancing in the direction of the monstrous bellow, I understood why the villager told me to run. A grotesque, nightmarish monster was rampaging through the village, demolishing houses with its swollen, bloated body, crushing the wood into splinters. Spiked appendages flailed about, writhing angrily as they sought for targets. In front of my eyes, a single fleeing villager was impaled by the scythe-like claw that tipped those bulky tentacles, blood spurting from his abdomen as he was helplessly lifted off the ground and ripped apart.

    Countless eyes opened on the monster''s body, bloodshot orbs that spun around wildly sometimes before stopping to fix those insidious gaze on the running humans. The gruesome visage made me want to puke.

    "It''s a demon! A monster!"

    "Run!"

    "Get out of here!"

    "Where are the knights?! Where are the crusaders?"

    "Oh, gods, please save us¡­"

    The screams and pleas of the villagers mingled with the roars of the monstrosity as it shifted its bulk to smash through more houses and snag more villagers, slicing off arms and cleaving them cleanly. One of the broken bodies landed near me, nonchalantly flung from the raging beast, and a claw-tipped tentacle lashed out in my direction. Panicking, I dove to the ground as the scythe slashed through the air where my head had been. If I had remained standing, I would be missing my head right now. That certainly wasn''t a good way to get ahead of the monster.

    Instead, the tentacle ended up slashing another villager, who had just run past me. Screaming, the man sagged as his throat was ripped open, the blood spurting from his torn carotid artery and jugular vein like geysers. Blood splattered across my face, the warm fluid shocking me into movement. Scrambling back to my feet, I began weaving my way through the carnage, seeking for a way out of this slaughter. I had no idea what was happening, how I got here, or where this place was. It didn''t matter ¨C my first priority was to get through this massacre alive.

    One thing was for sure ¨C this wasn''t medieval Europe. I had never heard of monstrous black demons rampaging around rural villages in non-fiction history books. I was definitely in another world. Maybe Restia, maybe some other world. I didn''t know, and as much as I wanted to find out, I had more important matters to tend to at the moment.

    Like running away.

    Glancing back, I saw that the blob-like demon had closed in with a speed that belied its size, its swollen black bulk rolling over grass and stone alike. More villagers fell victim to the bellowing beast as its appendages reached out for them with deadly intent, piercing through their bodies hungrily.

    I was mired in disbelief, my mind numb as I witnessed the massacre taking place in front of my eyes. I was surprised that I wasn''t nauseous, frightened or even angry at the wanton loss of life. No, I was just numb ¨C immersed in cold, mind-numbing disbelief. It was as if whatever was taking place around me wasn''t real, like I was just a spectator dropped in the middle of a virtual reality simulation, participating in a horror game.

    Speaking of games, why couldn''t I have gotten a combat ability?! Why Adamantium Will?! How am I supposed to fight a creature with such an ability!? Why couldn''t they give me magic or martial arts or some form of offensive power!?

    I clutched my head as I ran. In the past, back in my original world, I had always fantasized fighting monsters such as these, pulling off superhuman feats and blasting creatures to bits with might and magic. Unfortunately, the reality was different. My body was locked in fear, frozen, almost unable to move. There was no way I could fight something as horrifying as that. It took me everything just to force myself to run, never mind mount a resistance.

    A horrifying shriek erupted from behind me. Twisting around, I froze when I saw a clawed tentacle lunging straight at me. Snapping out of my stupor, I tried to dive out of the way, but I was too late.

    The scythe-shaped claw plunged into my chest before the appendage lifted me up and threw me across the village from the impact. Red-hot agony ignited in my chest, and I began to suffocate as I drowned in my own blood, the red fluid pouring relentlessly into my torn lungs. Scrabbling desperately at my wound with my hands, I panicked when I felt so much blood¡­so much blood leaking from a massive, gaping hole. Breathing hurts¡­it hurts to breathe, it hurts it hurts it hurts!

    "Ah¡­ah¡­ugh!"

    I stared at the sky, dimly aware that my glasses ¨C broken from the impact of being thrown ¨C were slipping off my face. My view of the blue sky and white, fluffy clouds turned blurry, the edges of my vision slowly darkening. Around me, the ravenous roar of the demon and the terrified screams of the villagers grew softer, slowly fading away, as if they were all moving into the distance. The excruciating pain in my chest grew, a sharp blade digging into my heart and lungs. I couldn''t breathe any longer, it hurt too much, and my lungs were filled with too much blood anyway.

    I don''t want to die, I don''t want to die, I don''t want to die.

    Was that it? Was I going to die here, my seventeen years of life ended in some village, killed by an unbelievable monster that should by right appear only in fiction?

    Damn it¡­I couldn''t hold on any longer. The pain was way beyond anything I could endure. I felt nothing but regret, pain and fury, anger that my life would end in such a stupid, unfair manner. Even as I raged against the unfairness of it all, I could feel my mind and body shutting down. It was just as well. I wanted the pain to go away. It didn''t matter how, I would do anything to make the pain go away.

    Ah, there it is. As my breathing stopped and my body grew colder, the pain eased away at last. Feeling relieved, I relaxed and closed my eyes, allowing the darkness to take me into its cold, icy embrace.

    My last thought, surprisingly, was a humorous one. As I slipped away into death, I couldn''t help but wonder to myself.

    Wait, I thought I was supposed to die before I reincarnate in another world, not after I arrive in one?

 3 Chapter 3: Rise of the Dead

    "Rise¡­rise! Rise!"

    "Gah!"

    Screaming briefly, I sat up, my voice dying in my throat as I clawed at the air. Gasping, I sat up, my eyes flying wide open as I stared up at the dark night sky. Blinking, I stared blankly at the stars for a moment, not knowing what was going on.

    Flinching, I clutched my head as I tried to remember what had happened. Yes, I was impaled by a freaking demon''s tentacle and suffered a grievous, fatal wound. I was drowning in my own blood and supposedly died. I was pretty sure I died. At least I could take comfort in the fact that I wasn''t raped. I mean, what with tentacles and all¡­

    Yet I couldn''t remember what happened after that. My memory between then and now was a complete blank, but I couldn''t shake off the feeling that something terrible had happened. Be it the terrifying isolation in a dark tunnel, the fiery agony in the depths of hell, or the cold oblivion in a merciless void, I just knew I had been through a terrifying experience ¨C something I never wanted to go through ever again. My mind must have shut down and my memories locked away as some sort of defense mechanism to preserve my sanity from such horrors, and even though I couldn''t remember any details, I shuddered involuntarily from just thinking about it.

    I never wanted to go back to that place ever again. Never.

    "Rise¡­rise!"

    The annoying, low-pitched voice grated on my nerves. Geez, I get it already. How annoying. You don''t have to repeat yourself. Looking around in puzzlement and irritation, I stood up and stretched with a groan, then winced, waiting for the pain to hit me.

    Nothing happened.

    Eh? What?

    Blinking in surprise, I felt my chest. The injury was almost gone now ¨C the bleeding had stopped long ago. There was little trace of the mortal wound I had sustained, save for a thin, white scar that stretched across my chest. And even that scar was rapidly disappearing, receding as the epidermis was replaced by new layer of dead tissue beneath.

    My torn clothes remained ripped, though, my jacket and shirt still bearing traces of the holes where the claw had gouged in them. Proof that that injury wasn''t a dream.

    But how did my wound heal so quickly¡­?

    "Rise! Rise, my minions. Heed my call."

    The man himself almost seemed like a corpse ¨C his pale skin was so white that under the bright moonlight he seemed bereft of blood. Blood-red markings of some weird, eerie design were etched across the purple fabric of his robes ¨C just looking at them made me feel uneasy. I glanced at the corpses scattered around me ¨C no matter how I looked at them, they were dead. Unmoving. Not breathing. Completely still.

    Yet, by some unseen hand from above, they were lifted back to their feet and given unnatural life, obediently shuffling toward the man.

    Studying him and the way the silent corpses were being reanimated and assembling in orderly formations without regard for their original faction, I could only come to a single conclusion.

    This man was a necromancer.

    "Oh boy."

    I didn''t know what to make of my current situation. Sure, the necromancer didn''t seem like the type to reanimate me for altruistic reasons, but the fact was that he did save me somehow¡­

    Wait, save me?

    Feeling my face, I realized I wasn''t wearing my glasses. Yet I could see clearly, and without any artificial lighting at that. I didn''t have night-blindness, but I wasn''t sure I always possessed the ability to see clearly with little aiding my sense of sight other than the silvery rays of moonlight and distant starlight. Furthermore, even without my glasses, my vision was pretty sharp and crisp, a feeling I hadn''t gotten for ages, ever since I began suffering from myopia. Reaching out, I picked up my glasses and put them on again. Having worn glasses almost my whole life, I felt weird if I wasn''t with them. It was more to calm myself down than for viewing aid. The cracked lenses were impairing my vision, however, so I smashed them and flicked them out of the frame. Putting them back on, I stared out of the hollow frames with perfect vision.

    This wasn''t just any normal healing. I didn''t know if this was the result of magic or whatever ¨C but judging from the presence of the necromancer right in front of me reanimating corpses by waving his hands and a few words, it appeared that magic was the most likely possibility. Even then, it had to be incredible magic that could heal both my mortal wound and my myopia at the same time.

    On the other hand, I had way too little information on my current whereabouts. I couldn''t even begin to guess how the magic in this world worked. Well, one way to find out was to ask the necromancer in front of me. Whatever his reasons, he did save me, so I should at least thank him for that. That said, I had this creepy feeling that I was saved in a completely different manner from what I was imagining. Looking at the zombies around me, I couldn''t help but wonder if I truly had been saved, or if I was reanimated as an undead.

    But if I was a zombie, why wasn''t I following the necromancer''s orders as obediently as the walking corpses around me? How was I still able to maintain my personality and individuality as if I was still living?

    Well, scratching my head over these difficult questions wouldn''t get me any answers. The most effective way was to ask the man in question ¨C the necromancer himself. To be honest, his solitary figure in front of the massed ranks of undead struck more than a little fear into my heart, and plenty of trepidation, but I had to start from somewhere.

    "Um, excuse me."

    I spoke up politely as I approached the necromancer. For some reason, even if he didn''t look Japanese and the terrain didn''t look like anywhere I knew in Japan ¨C if anything, I was more inclined to think that I was in medieval Europe, but the existence of a demon just didn''t add up ¨C his words sounded distinctly Japanese to me, even if it had some thick accent.

    The necromancer whirled around so quickly he almost fell over. An expression of shock flooded his face as he stared at me, dumbfounded.

    "Um, well, thank you for helping me," I said rather hastily, before he could react violently. Bowing my head slightly to emphasize that I meant no harm and was merely displaying my gratitude, I waited a beat before launching my inquiry. "I appear to be a bit lost, and I was wondering if you could tell me where I am¡­"

    "You¡­!" the necromancer''s voice harshly cut me off, fury bubbling in his tone. The guy wasn''t paying any attention to me at all. Maybe it wasn''t a good idea to approach him after all. "How is this possible? How can a zombie retain its personality and memories?"

    "Zombie¡­?"

    Ah. I see. I can''t say I was very surprised. My rate of recovery was far beyond anything I could imagine, surpassing beyond the stereotypical healing spells of typical fantasy light novels. It could be said to be on the level of godlike. I wasn''t sure how long I was dead, but¡­judging from the lack of decay on my fellow zombies, it most likely hadn''t been very long. A day at most? Scavengers had yet to come and pick off at our flesh, after all.

    For me to be fully healed in such a short window was nothing short of miraculous. Of course, there was the possibility that such godlike magic was considered normal in this particular world, but it wasn''t out of expectations that such convenient settings did not exist.

    "This cannot be happening. This cannot be possible. My ritual was perfect! Such an abomination shouldn''t exist¡­!"

    "Abomination? Hey, now that''s rude¡­"

    Ignoring my protest, the necromancer cast his hand out, chanting something. A dark wave of energy blasted out and shrouded me. I recoiled instinctively, expecting to be obliterated in an instant¡­but nothing happened.

    "Eh?"

    I cocked my head as I watched the dark shadow that was trying to engulf me dissipate after a few seconds. What the hell was that supposed to do? Blinking in bafflement, I glanced back at the necromancer, who looked just as perplexed as me.

    "It still didn''t work?" the pale, frail-looking man whispered, bewildered. I shrugged.

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    "Seems like it.

    Hmm¡­maybe it might be because of my Adamantium Will? I mused to myself. So the skill proved useful after all, though not in the manner I expected. I would much prefer a skill that prevented me from being turned into a zombie in the first place rather than be a free zombie. I mean, what the heck could a zombie do?

    Speaking of which¡­

    I flicked my blue screen open and gaped at my new¡­uh, characteristics.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Zombie/Fodder

    Special Ability: Adamantium Will

    "I really am a zombie, huh¡­"

    "What manner of creature are you?! This is impossible, impossible, impossible! Were you some sort of human abomination¡­?"

    "Hey, like I said, you''ve been pretty rude so far. Of course I''m a normal human. What else can I be?" Shrugging, I tested out my fingers and body. Maybe my zombie status granted me new powers. But that hope was crushed when nothing happened. There was no physical change either. I tried to conjure up some of that fancy magical energy the necromancer just tossed on me, but no luck with that either. Either I had no idea how to use magic or I didn''t have the ability at all.

    This sucked.

    "Obey me! OBEY ME!"

    "No." I raised an eyebrow as the necromancer bathed me in black magic, to no avail. The raving, ranting guy seemed more bark than bite. I was getting less afraid of him by the minute. And more annoyed. "Could you please be quiet?"

    "Dangerous¡­an undead abomination is dangerous." The necromancer was paying absolutely no attention to me at all. Chattering, he was biting his fingers, his mushroom-haired head bobbing up and down in despair. "This abomination cannot be allowed to exist!"

    "Huh?" I felt a chill at that last statement from the necromancer. That didn''t sound good at all. Gulping, I began to back away, but it was too late. I was completely surrounded, hemmed in by a ring of zombies. Looking around and seeing that there was no path of escape, I turned back to the necromancer with both my hands raised. "Um, look, I mean no harm. I''m sure we can talk this out, right? We can just both go our separate ways¡­"

    "Kill him."

    The necromancer''s command was final. The bastard had no intention of listening to me at all. At his order, the zombies lunged at me as one, their rigid movements belying their grace and incredible speed. I tried to dodge, but I wasn''t able to evade in time. The mass of bodies struck me, knocking me over and pinning me to the ground. I struggled desperately, but the zombies climbed all over me, moaning and slavering.

    One of them bent down and bit a huge chunk of flesh off my neck.

    "Ah¡­aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    A scream of agony tore itself from my throat. Flailing in both pain and despair, I kicked and writhed, but the weight of zombies held me down. Another bent and bit my arm. I could feel a couple more chewing on my leg. Gritting my teeth, I kicked them, but their jaws were firmly lodged into my muscle, causing excruciating agony that caused tears in my eyes.

    What the hell? Even if I''m a zombie, an undead, why am I able to feel so much pain?!

    I kicked and screamed, but I was unable to dislodge my assailants. They bit down hard and chewed, refusing to let go. I felt my blood flowing down my torn skin, molten fire flowing through my veins and flooding my system with unbelievable agony.

    "Aaaaaaaaah! Get off me! Get off!"

    "Feast yourselves, my precious minions. Make sure not even one shred of flesh remains."

    "Fuck you!" I shouted and kicked, but the zombies remained clinging onto me with their jaws. The damned things were actually biting all the way down to the bone! I squeezed my eyes shut, tears spilling freely from the incredible pain.

    Over the din of moaning and chewing, the necromancer was beside himself in glee, watching my demise triumphantly. His hands clasped behind his back, he watched the gruesome spectacle like a father happily witnessing the growth of his children.

    "No¡­noooo!"

    I struggled and fought back defiantly. The reality that I was going to die a second time hit me, and hit me really hard. The ice-cold fear clenched my heart tightly in a warning grip, reminding me of the unspeakable terror that awaited me should I fall back into the depths of death.

    No! I never want to go back to that place ever again! Never!

    Kicking and lashing out, I screamed as I felt my leg being torn off. Another zombie gnawed off my left arm, biting through the bone. I jerked violently, from reflex, and watched in horror as the offending undead ripped my arm off.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    Blood spurted all over the place as the zombie fell back. Cradling my severed arm in his embrace, he began chewing on it.

    Breathing heavily, and almost blacking out from the pain, I bit my lip so hard I could taste my blood flooding into my mouth. I couldn''t black out here. I couldn''t. I had to fight back. I was never going back to that place ever again.

    "Hah, hah¡­"

    With a force of will, I head-butted the nearest zombie, causing him to fall back and into his comrades. Kicking out as hard as I could, I managed to dislodge the zombie that was biting firmly into my left angle, hurling him away.

    But at a cost. A huge chunk of my ankle went with him. Wailing in pain, I clenched my teeth and forced myself to endure it. Crawling to my feet, I found that I couldn''t stand. That bite must have torn my tendons or something.

    "What are you doing? Hurry and kill him!" The necromancer hissed above, gesturing wildly with both arms. At his voice, the zombies clambered back to their feet and shambled after me, their eyes still hollow but somehow ravenous at the same time.

    Bloody bastard¡­

    Swiveling my head, I glared at him, bitterness filling my heart. Was I brought back from the dead just to die again? Like this, pathetically, eaten by other undead? Would I be sent back into that terrifying abyss so traumatizing my mind refused to remember the experience?

    "Don''t screw with me¡­"

    I wasn''t going to die like this. I wasn''t going to die in a place like this.

    Revenge. I still need to get revenge on Kobayashi. On all my classmates. I can''t die yet!

    Reaching out with my right hand, I inched my way toward the necromancer. The pale man probably didn''t recognize my intentions, thinking that I was trying to get away from his zombies. Or he had full confidence in his zombies to capture and kill me before I could do anything. It didn''t matter. As long as he stood still and remained where he was, I stood a chance of victory.

    This was probably the only way I could get out of this. If the necromancer was the one controlling the zombies, then I just had to get rid of him first before his zombies pounced on me. With a tremendous effort, I kicked off on my good leg and hurled myself off the ground. The necromancer''s deep-set and bloodshot eyes widened when I barreled right into him. He was as thin and frail as he looked ¨C even someone as light as me could topple him over with a well-timed tackle.

    "You! Get off me!"

    I punched him in the face with my one good hand. The necromancer flailed about, smacking me with his staff and sending me sprawling on the ground. Rising to his feet, he shouted to his zombies.

    "Kill him! Kill him right now!"

    Even when winded, I felt the surge of adrenaline run through my undead system. Shaking off the white sparks that flew about my eyes from the strike, I pounced on the necromancer again. This time, he tried to ward me off with his staff, but I grabbed his arm with my right hand and shoved it back. The both of us crashed down in a tangle of limbs.

    "Hurry, you fools! Get him off me right this instance!"

    With my left arm torn off, and my right hand preoccupied with keeping his staff at bay, I had little weapons left. Moving up my good leg, I placed a knee squarely on his groin, crushing his you-know-what onto the ground. The necromancer let out a high-pitched wail that was in contrast with the low voice that he had been using all this while.

    But I wasn''t done. I could hear the pattering of the zombies'' feet as they moved toward me. Damn, but from the sound of it they moved fast! I had to take decisive action and finish this before they caught me and rip me off from the necromancer. Unfortunately, I had nothing else to fight with. If only I still had my arm¡­

    No¡­wait. I still had one other weapon.

    Lowering my head, I sank my teeth into the shocked necromancer''s throat and bit down hard. Closing my eyes and suppressing revulsion, I yanked my head back as hard as I could, tearing off a huge chunk of flesh and splashing blood all over my face.

    "Argh! Ugh!"

    With his left hand, the necromancer tried to press against his bleeding throat. It was of little effect. I had bit off both his jugular vein and carotid artery. Now, even if his zombies killed me, he would bleed to death.

    But I wasn''t going to let his zombies kill me. Not yet. With a determined roar, I bit out another lump of flesh from the other side of his throat, eliciting another cry of pain. Raising my head, I licked the necromancer''s blood off my lips, realizing vaguely that the red fluid tasted surprisingly sweet. The flesh, despite being stringy and thin, had quite the marvelous texture to it. It was soft and easy to chew. Swallowing the lean meat, I hungered for more.

    Oh, and for some reason, I was hungry. Very hungry. I didn''t notice it before, but now that the necromancer was helplessly pinned beneath me, he looked very¡­delicious.

    I was going crazy. Crazy with hunger, crazy from being shoved near the verge of death, or crazy from being thrown into an insane situation. Whatever. I wasn''t thinking straight right now ¨C the hunger was driving me crazy. I would probably regret this later when I sobered, but right now I didn''t care about anything other than relieving that burning vacuum in my stomach.

    "You tried to feed me to your zombies," I told the terrified, weakening necromancer, lowering my mouth to take another bite of his flesh. Behind me, the zombies seemed to have stopped moving. The life force of the necromancer was ailing, as was his unnatural magic. As he weakened, the blood leaking from his body, so did his grip on the dead.

    Good. I could slowly enjoy my meal then. Smiling, I swallowed the bloody lump of flesh in my mouth before reaching for more.

    "So it can''t be helped if I feed on you¡­right?"

 4 Chapter 4: Reunion

    I woke up with a start. Coughing and rubbing my eyes, I put my glasses on and slowly rose to my feet. Yawning, I stretched myself.

    For some reason, I felt oddly full. Shaking my head, I glanced at the bright, blue sky.

    Wow, that was one crazy nightmare.

    Dreaming that I was a zombie? I scratched my arm and let out a sigh. That was one hell of a nightmare. It felt so vivid, so real¡­I almost thought it was reality. I was grateful that it was just a bad dream.

    Why am I sleeping outside, though?

    Rubbing my ear, I glanced around and frowned. For some reason, I was in a village. The same village in my dream.

    Ah¡­crap¡­

    This didn''t bode well. My throat suddenly felt dry. Swallowing, I took a step back and accidentally stepped on something squishy.

    Feeling a chill run down my back, I glanced down and stared at the hollow-eyed corpse of the necromancer staring right back at me. Most of his flesh was gone, his organs spilling out. It was his intestines I had stepped on, slippery and wet. I gagged on the foul stink of leaking bowel gases, and tried to walk away, trying not to fall.

    I didn''t want to fall on those remains.

    Oh God, oh God, oh God¡­what did I do? Did I do that?

    I distinctly remembered eating the necromancer. Cornered by his zombies, I had bitten into his throat and ripped his flesh out¡­

    My hands flew to my mouth and I dropped to my knees, retching. Nothing came out but bitter bile. The flesh must have been digested, becoming a part of me. I didn''t know how I digested it so fast, and if so, why did I feel so full? Was my stomach resisting my mind, forcibly keeping the contents within so that it could assimilate the nutrients?

    "Damn it¡­"

    What the hell happened to me? Why did I¡­?

    As if to answer my question, a blue holographic screen appeared. Surprised, I raised my head and stared at it. A new ability caught my eye, and my jaw dropped when I read it.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Zombie/Ghoul

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration

    Regeneration? Not only did I gain a second ability, it was quite the useful one. Much more useful than Adamantium Will, that was for certain. I gulped, trying to contain my excitement, and clicked on the tab.

    Regeneration: the ability to heal and restore the user''s body back to its original condition, no matter how severe the damage.

    Unsurprisingly, I found that I did not gain the necromancer''s ability to raise the dead even though I devoured him. Not that I was interested in reanimating corpses but with a mass grave of dead bodies surrounding me, I was tempted to try it. Then again, that was probably the reason why the necromancer came to this dark, ominous place in the first place. It was the best possible supply of zombies. Unfortunately, I failed to replicate the necromancer''s spell, and the villagers'' corpses lay where they had fallen when I killed the bastard. There were too many of them and I was too tired to bury them, so I left them where they were.

    Damn it, why couldn''t I be granted the cheat ability to gain an enemy''s ability when I ate them? Some protagonist from a web novel gained the properties, characteristics or strengths of the enemies he consumed, and became the world''s strongest or something like that. Being in a similar situation, I was hoping for a cheat ability like that, but from my failure to replicate the necromancer''s reanimation spell it was clear I didn''t have such broken powers.

    Other than that, I was still completely in the dark as to where I was. The necromancer hadn''t been a cooperative conversation partner, ignoring me almost the entire time. I didn''t regret killing him, but when I thought about what I did, I felt nauseous. Well, at least I gained a new ability, Regeneration, which allowed me to return to full health.

    That said, I couldn''t get carried away. I didn''t know the limits of my ability. There were no stats, no numbers, no values, no HP or MP bars. If this was a game, regeneration might require MP, which I might have very limited amounts of. Taking my ability for granted might lead to my death. Furthermore, it might be a one-use ability ¨C once a day, once a battle¡­I didn''t know. I wished the holographic menu would contain more descriptions, but I had to work with what I had.

    Then again, I might be thinking too much into it. There''s no MP bars, no stats, no values. Perhaps there isn''t such rigid restrictions.

    Even so, there might still be limits to my regeneration. If I ran out of magical energy, even if it wasn''t quantifiable in holographic windows, I would still not be able to heal my wounds.

    Best to use it sparingly.

    Taking a deep breath, I proceeded to leave the village. It wasn''t just the necromancer. The sheer number of corpses was beginning to disgust me. The stink was suffocating and it was all I could do to barely pass out. Evidently, whatever foul necromantic spell the necromancer had cast on them was broken after his death, and they were sprawled all over the ground in broken heaps, like puppets with their strings cut.

    The dead were finally dead.

    What should I do?

    I sighed and proceeded forward. There was little point in hanging around here. I was too tired and there were too many bodies for me to bury by myself. Looking around, all I saw were vultures and other scavengers circling overhead. There was no other sign of life, and after a thorough search, I didn''t find any survivors. I did scrounge around for anything useful, but the only thing I could find was a box of matches. The farming tools were took bulky to carry by hand, and as much as I wanted to carry a shovel around, it would look distinctively stupid. In the end, I pocketed the matches and checked the place one last time for any survivors.

    I found nobody. This place was dead. There was no reason for me to stay.

    But where do I go?

    I sighed heavily and scratched my head. I had completely no idea. To begin with, I didn''t even know where I was. Was I in Restia or another world altogether? How would people react if they found out that I was a zombie? Could I pass off as a human? Or did I have to live in the wilderness like some sort of deranged, cannibalistic hermit?

    As a zombie, can I eat anything other than meat?

    That thought disturbed me. What if I couldn''t consume human food? What should I do?

    Well, there''s no point thinking too much about it. I should continue until I find someone who can explain everything to me.

    If they didn''t kill me first.

    Taking a deep breath (apparently, I could still breathe even if I was a zombie), I headed toward the exit of the village. I didn''t take more than a few steps when I suddenly heard galloping from the distance. Swallowing, I glanced down the trail and saw a cloud of dust rising from the clearing just outside the forest.

    "Halt!"

    The lead horseman, a man dressed in silver armor with a white cape and a plume rising from his helm, pulled his steed to a stop. I coughed and choked on the dust as the cloud billowed into my face. Behind the person who seemed to be the commander, a contingent of similarly armored knights with identical white capes (but no plume) pulled to a stop.

    "Identify yourself!"

    Pulling a sword out of his scabbard, the knight commander pointed his blade at me. I gulped and raised both my hands in surrender, fumbling with an excuse. "I''m¡­uh¡­Villager A."

    "¡­Villager A?" the commander repeated incredulously. I kicked myself inwardly for that lame name. Way to go, Tomoyuki. I clearly had read way too many isekai light novels. Obviously the same concept didn''t apply to reality.

    "I''m a villager from here," I explained, then gestured to the dead bodies. "We were attacked by some unknown beast. Uh, it was huge, black, had tentacles and claws. I managed to hide from it until morning, but unfortunately I can''t find any survivors."

    The commander regarded me suspiciously, and then instructed his knights to spread out and search the village. Now we finally had enough manpower to bury the bodies. Not that the knights would, but you would never know. It would be a bad idea to leave the corpses where they were, though. Diseases would spread from the total lack of hygiene.

    "Sir¡­no other survivors."

    One of the knights reported to the commander, who was still mounted atop his horse. He glanced at me, then returned his gaze to the bodies.

    "The injuries the villagers seem to match that boy''s story. They were killed by a monster of some sort. Claws, spikes¡­teeth."

    The knight commander nodded, but his subordinate seemed to have more to say. He hesitated for a moment, and then continued.

    "Sir, there is something odd about the bodies, though. They look¡­like they were tainted by black magic. We can sense traces of foul magic on them."

    "Black magic?"

    The commander sounded like he was frowning, but I couldn''t see his expression from under his helm.

    "There was a necromancer but he was killed," I offered helpfully. "He¡­uh¡­was performing some sort of ritual, so I crept behind him and hit him. Then ran off and hid somewhere. That must have interrupted the spell."

    "Oh, really?"

    The knight commander''s voice was full of skepticism.

    "In any case, you''re to return with us to the city. We''ll have you cooperate with our investigation."

    "Yes, sir."

    I was extremely relieved. There was no reason for me to stick around in a dead village. I would benefit more from hitching a ride to the city and finding out more about this world. More access to resources, and perhaps an adventurer''s guild if this followed the typical light novel pattern. Better than being stranded here with nothing but the shirt on my back.

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    "Burn the bodies. We can''t afford to leave them here¡­lest another necromancer takes advantage of the situation." The knight commander sounded like he was grimacing. "We''ve enough on our hands already, dealing with so many demonic attacks as of late. The world''s going to hell."

    "Yes, sir!"

    The knight snapped a salute before marching off to deliver the new orders to his comrades. I watched as they worked to pile the bodies together in the center of the village. One of the knights stood to the side while his squadron mates assembled behind him. Raising his hands, he intoned something and sparked a small fireball between his fingers.

    "Fireball!"

    With a shout, he launched the rapidly expanding projectile from his hands and into the pile of corpses. A bright flash of light blinded me for a moment, forcing me to shield my eyes from the sudden conflagration. As my eyes adjusted, I watched as the corpses of the villagers (and the remains of the necromancer) were cremated.

    "Form up," the commander instructed his troops before singling out a single knight at the rear. Turning to me, he impatiently gestured for me to approach the knight. "You''ll be riding with George."

    "Thank you, sir."

    "Sir!"

    Before I could mount up, another knight emerged from the forest, urging his horse into a gallop. The knights gently nudged their steeds to face him. Pulling his ride to a halt, the young knight snapped a salute.

    "The heroes are here!"

    ¡­heroes?

    I somehow felt a sense of foreboding when I heard the word. That could only mean one thing.

    I was in Restia.

    "Good timing. We''ll need to inform them of the presence of a monster." The knight commander seemed relieved. "Which heroes are arriving?"

    "The Black Mage and the Sword Saint!"

    I raised my eyebrow at that. So they were identifying the heroes by their titles rather than their names. That could mean anything. They could very well be my classmates, or they could be someone from this world.

    Speaking of which, I still hadn''t confirmed if this was Restia or not. That should be my first priority, especially if there were heroes in here¡­

    "Um¡­"

    I began, but I was cut off by the noise of galloping horses. A couple of riders pulled into the village, sending up clouds of dust with their arrival. While I watched, stunned, the knights all marched their horses into formation and saluted smartly.

    But the newcomers paid them no attention. One of them, in particular, was staring at me in shock.

    "¡­Tanaka-kun?"

    My blood ran cold when I heard the familiar voice. Looking up, I saw Matsumoto Kureha and Tsukishima Tomoyo. The two girls were glaring at me in disbelief.

    Matsumoto Kureha was a beautiful, silver-haired girl who was practically the idol in class. Even when she was wearing uniform back in Japan, she was already good-looking. But now the silver armor, complete with a white dress, short miniskirt and metallic boots served to emphasize her curves and gorgeousness. She wasn''t exactly a mean person, but she didn''t help me either. I was under no illusions that she planned on helping me now either, given how her hand had flown to the sword that was sheathed by her side.

    Tsukishima Tomoyo was known as the ice queen, and while Kureha''s hair was silver, hers was black, a sort of Yamato Nadeshiko beauty that had a certain appeal. Unfortunately, her attitude matched her nickname ¨C in other words, she was cold and condescending toward everyone else. She didn''t physically hit me, but she was one of the most vocal girls who enjoyed verbally abusing me and destroying my self-esteem with vicious insults. I had a bigger grudge against her than I had against Kureha.

    "How are you still alive?" Tsukishima asked stiffly.

    "I ran," I replied simply, remembering that I had told the soldiers that I escaped the black, tentacle horror. Trying to calm myself down, I noted that this was indeed Restia. The appearance of my classmates was no coincidence. I was transported into the same world as them.

    How very convenient.

    "Kobayashi-kun pushed you out of the transport beacon. We all saw you fall and disappear!" Kureha insisted, her voice rising in panic. I shrugged.

    "To be fair, the goddess didn''t say the fall would kill us. She only said we would get lost somewhere."

    Then I noticed something. The girls were well-armored, and judging from how the knights respectfully deferred to them, they were obviously acquainted for quite a while. Scratching my head, I inquired.

    "How long has it been since you guys were transported to this world?"

    "Huh?" Kureha stared at me suspiciously. "Why are you asking?"

    "You seem to be here for quite a while."

    "Six months," Tsukishima replied coldly, more to shut me up than because she was polite enough to answer my question.

    "I see¡­" I mused. "I didn''t just get lost physically, I was also lost temporally, huh?"

    "What do you mean?" Kureha blinked. On the other hand, Tsukishima was studying me intently.

    "You''re still wearing our school uniform. It doesn''t seem like you''ve been transported here long."

    As expected of Tsukishima. She caught on quick.

    "Yeah. I just arrived in this world yesterday. Thanks to Kobayashi''s stunt, I got thrown quite some distance away from you guys. And it seems that applied to time too."

    "I see." Tsukishima nodded, and then raised what looked like a magical staff. Unlike Kureha, she wasn''t dressed in armor but in a black cloak, complete with a tall, witch''s hat. If this was a game, she looked aesthetically like a black mage. That was probably her role, I bet. "Regardless, now that we''ve run into you again, we cannot let you leave¡­alive."

    For a few seconds, I wasn''t sure if I heard her correctly.

    "Huh? You want to kill me?"

    Tsukishima responded by blasting a dark spell at me. I dodged on instinct, throwing myself to the side. As a huge explosion resounded behind me, I glanced back, only for my jaw to drop when I saw the grass turning black and rotting away.

    What the hell was that spell? And why was she firing at me?

    "Why?! It''s not as if Kobayashi is around! Why do you have to kill me?"

    "Are you an idiot?" Tsukishima scoffed. "Obviously it''s too dangerous to let you live. Kobayashi-kun and the others tried to kill you, but none of us stopped him. Instead, we helped him or let him do it. You''ll want revenge. So we''ll have to kill you before you can exact vengeance on us. A preemptive measure."

    Bloody bitch. What kind of reasoning was that?

    "Kureha-san, don''t just stand there. Help me!"

    "Eh? But¡­"

    Kureha wasn''t as vicious as Tsukishima, but she was standing around and not doing anything. I didn''t mind her indecisiveness, but if she was easily influenced by others¡­

    "There''s something wrong with him. My magic is picking up something¡­he''s not human."

    "So he''s not the real Tanaka-kun?"

    "Possibly."

    "I understand."

    Drawing her sword, Kureha hopped off her horse and strode toward me. I raised my eyebrow and glanced at Tsukishima, trying to make sense of what was going on.

    "Uh¡­I am the real Tanaka Tomoyuki."

    "Do you think you can fool me?"

    Tsukishima was smiling slyly as she covered one eye. I saw a purple flame blaze in her other eye.

    "My special ability is Absolute Appraisal. It allows me to see your special abilities, species, class, rank, real identity¡­everything. And you''re a zombie."

    "Yeah, whose fault is that?" I snapped. "You guys tried to kill me. I ended up dead and revived as a zombie, thanks to Kobayashi''s murder. And you guys all just stood there and watched him and his cronies kill me?"

    Kureha lowered her head guiltily, averting her gaze from mine. However, Tsukishima bristled.

    "It''s your fault for being weak and stupid! This isn''t Japan. It''s a new world. It''s the survival of the fittest. If you''re weak, you die."

    "He''s a zombie?" the knight commander repeated, stupefied. The knights exchanged glances, looking puzzled. I didn''t blame them. I didn''t look like a zombie at all. And it was too late for me to start shambling around and moaning about wanting to eat brains.

    "Maybe¡­? The necromancer probably did something to me¡­whoa!"

    I wasn''t given any time to explain. Tsukishima had fired another blast at me. Dodging, I rolled away and sprang to my feet. These girls meant business!

    Why were my classmates always trying to kill me? What was their problem? First, it was Kobayashi and his gang, always bullying me, and then throwing me to what they thought was my death. And having survived that, the girls were now determined to finish me off. I never did anything to them. Why did they hate me so much?

    Was it because I was weak? Hah! When I kicked Kobayashi''s ass and forced my classmates to gang up on little old me? Impossible.

    Was it because I was disgusting?

    It didn''t add up.

    I threw my hand out, but nothing came out. Even after eating the necromancer, it didn''t seem like I had inherited his abilities. I had no way of fighting my opponents at all, especially if they had a six months'' head start. It was best to run.

    Unfortunately, Kureha''s horse galloped past and she slashed at me before I could dodge.

    "Gaaah!"

    Her blow had landed true. My right arm flew into the air, blood spurting from it. Screaming from the pain, I dropped to my knees. That movement inadvertently saved my life, for Kureha''s next blow missed and instead sank into my shoulder.

    "Aaah!"

    Yelling, I pulled away, but Kureha blew me away with a flick of her sword, slicing open my chest. Tumbling to the ground, I writhed in agony.

    Fuck! It hurt! It hurt like hell!

    Wheezing, I tried to climb back to my feet, tears in my eyes. Sucking in a deep breath, I was suddenly aware that my pain was lessening. I glanced down, and my eyes widened when I saw the huge gaping wound in my chest closing up.

    Wiping the blood from my mouth, I dove for my right arm. In front of the disbelieving knights and two heroes, threads of blood flew out from my stump and met with the severed edge of my arm, connecting and weaving together. In less than a minute, my arm was fully attached. Wincing, I swung it to make sure, but my action only served to prove that my amputation from earlier was an illusion.

    "What''s that for?" I demanded, but as usual everyone ignored me.

    "He''s not human," one of the knights murmured.

    "Don''t falter! The heroes are with us! Back them up!"

    The commander sprang to life and urged his horse forward, drawing his sword. With a cry, the squadron of knights began charging at me, along with Kureha.

    As much as I was impressed by my Regeneration ability, I wasn''t fond of being hacked into pieces. Gulping, I quickly turned around and sprinted into the forest. Here, the thick, densely packed trees made it difficult for the cavalry to stampede into the woods. I heard panicked neighs as the horses pulled up to prevent themselves from colliding into the trees.

    Overhead, a black ball of magical energy slammed into a branch, rotting it away into oblivion. I ducked my head, trying to make myself as small a target as possible to evade Tsukishima''s deadly spells. Even with Regeneration, I dreaded to think what that sort of foul magic would do to me.

    "Get off your horses! Chase him on foot!"

    The commander was yelling at his men, who were flustered by the sudden impediment. They were all hastily dismounting and bashing through the foliage, but their thick, heavy armor ended up catching on foliage and branches. Their protective gear served to hinder them in a closed, confined environment like this.

    I could get away!

    Or so I thought, but a sudden silver streak from behind caused me to duck my head in reflex. Instead, blood spurted from my back and I toppled over with a cry.

    "Did you think you''ll get away?"

    Kureha was pointing her sword at me. Dressed in lighter armor than the knights, she had no problem navigating the thick forest with her deft footwork. Panting, I crawled away as I kept a wary eye on her.

    "Why?"

    "Because you''re Tanaka."

    "So what? What do you have against me? What does the class have against me? I never did anything to you guys!"

    Kureha paused, as if seriously considering the question for a while, and then shrugged.

    "I don''t know. Kobayashi singled you out, and after a while all of us decided that you were the perfect scapegoat¡­the perfect punching bag. It just feels natural, you know? In whatever world we''re in, everyone has a role. Yours is to submit to us."

    "What kind of logic is that!?"

    Kureha responded by slashing me. The blow from her swing was so strong that I was sent hurtling several meters away, breaking branches and twigs unfortunate enough to be in my trajectory. Crashing heavily onto the ground, I tried to crawl back to my feet.

    Fortunately, my wounds from earlier were already starting to heal. Taking a deep breath, I staggered to my feet.

    However, Kureha didn''t seem impressed even as she took note of my Regeneration ability. She merely sneered.

    "What an annoying ability."

    "I know, right? So this is just a complete waste of your time."

    I didn''t know if that was convincing enough, but I was desperate enough to resort to anything as long as I could stop her from hurting me. Gah, the agony¡­! Even as my wounds healed, my mental state couldn''t endure the excruciating agony that came with it. Any more and I would break.

    Not that Kureha or any of my classmates cared. In fact, I wouldn''t be surprised if that was what they were aiming for.

    "Waste of time?"

    As I suspected, Kureha burst out laughing. I watched her, wondering what was so funny. Behind, the knights and Tsukishima were slowly catching up. Tsukishima was also smirking, having heard our verbal exchange.

    "Are you stupid? Oh, that was a dumb question. Of course you''re stupid. You''re the idiot Tanaka, after all."

    I bit my lip, not liking the sound of it. As if to put me out of my suspense, Kureha lowered her sword and pointed it at me.

    "It''s not like you''re immortal. Your Regeneration ability has its limits. I''ll just keep cutting you apart until you can''t regenerate again¡­or until you run out of magical energy to regenerate. It''s just that simple."

    I felt my spine turn to ice.

    Before I knew it, Kureha surged forward, her sword flashing in strokes too fast for my eyes to follow. The next moment, my vision disappeared in red-hot agony and I fell back, blood spouting from my body.

    I had just barely averted having my limbs severed again, but Kureha''s blade had reached deep. I was choking as my lungs filled with blood, and my movements grew slower. Staggering backward, I tried to withdraw, but Kureha pursued me relentlessly, slashing me again.

    The Regeneration¡­it''s getting slower.

    While I backed away desperately, I noticed that the speed that my wounds were healing had slowed down. The time they took to mend and knit together had increased. And with every fresh injury that Kureha dealt me, my Regeneration slowed down even more.

    ¡­until I could no longer keep track. Blinded and suffocated by the pain, I desperately ran trying to endure the fountain of blood that spurted from my back as Kureha dealt me a new injury. Stumbling, I crashed through the forest, trying to seek cover in the trees.

    It was useless. Kureha''s sword carved a path through the dense foliage, sending leaves, twigs, branches and even trunks flying into splinters. Nothing could stop her sword. The impediments didn''t even slow her strokes down ¨C it was as if they never existed. Whatever her blade touched was cut as easily as soft butter under contact from a hot knife.

    But I didn''t care. I needed to get away. I wanted the pain to end.

    I fumbled through the forest, only for my right foot to misstep and flailed over a pocket of air. Unable to stop because of my momentum, I crashed forward and suddenly found myself above empty space.

    The forest had terminated in a cliff. With no solid ground under my feet, I pitched forward and fell. I flailed about, but was unable to catch hold of anything. I just went off the cliff and crashed into the yawning abyss below.

    "Aaaah!"

    For the second time in as many days, I plummeted to what seemed to be my death again.

 5 Chapter 5: Law of the jungle

    The vultures circled overhead, squawking gleefully as they laid their sharp eyes upon the feast of corpses portrayed below. Circling on the slightly warm thermals, they gradually descended atop the dead bodies of unfortunate creatures that lay scattered across the floor of the abyss, their hooked beaks poking and snapping at flesh that had long gone cold.

    One of the vultures eagerly hopped toward a single body, pecking away with its beak and feeling some pride at picking out a juicy target. As it lowered his head to tear out a strip of flesh, a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed its neck, abruptly ending its squawk in a choking gurgle. The vulture desperately flapped its wings and clawed at the arm, struggling to escape, but the fingers closed on its throat tightly, a suffocating deadlock that crushed the breath out of it.

    "Perfect timing," I said, admiring the strangled prey caught in my grip. "I was just getting hungry anyway."

    *

    The regenerative ability of an undead bordered on miraculous.

    I couldn''t remember the specific details of what happened after I fell from the cliff, but when I regained consciousness, I was fully healed.

    Huh? I thought my Regeneration speed had slowed down.

    Then I spotted the skeleton of a vulture next to me. Evidently I had cleaned the meat off the bones, devouring the poor creature without mercy.

    I felt sick. But I also felt alive. Given what had happened earlier that day, I was thankful that I was alive at all.

    But how did I survive that fall?

    Glancing up, I stared at the sheer wall of a cliff, the steep slope almost perpendicular to the ground. The height had to be at least two hundred meters, taller than any skyscraper in Tokyo. I should have died from the impact, my skeleton shattered and my internal organs ruptured from the force of falling from that height.

    But I was still alive. Beyond all odds, even after my classmates'' multiple attempts to murder me in cold blood, I had somehow survived and fully regenerated. The turkey¡­I mean vulture probably helped too. It seemed I needed to eat if I wanted to restore my energy for Regeneration.

    That was useful to know.

    "What do I do now?"

    That said, I didn''t know where I could go from here. I had no place to go to. My classmates were up there, so I couldn''t return up there, where a platoon of knights and two heroes were waiting to destroy me. I doubted it was wise to head toward the nearest city or human settlement. There would be more heroes waiting for me there, every single one of them bent on killing me. I didn''t understand. Yeah, bullies were bullies, but they had gone too far.

    "Fucking bullshit!"

    Swearing, I punched the wall of the cliff. Well, if anything, this hardened my resolve to take revenge on them. It wasn''t as if I had expected Matsumoto Kureha and Tsukishima Tomoyo to act all friendly with me. It wasn''t as if I had forgiven them for either standing by and watching me get bullied or verbally abusing me. But with my current lack of skills and abilities, I couldn''t get my revenge yet. Since it was Kobayashi Kenji, and his cronies Kijima Takeshi and Yamada Yuji, who tried to murder me, they were the only ones I planned on killing.

    The rest, I was going to let off with¡­I dunno, a beating or something. Crushing them underneath my foot and forcing an apology out of them as they groveled before me. But the death sentence was reserved only for Kobayashi and his flunkies.

    However, this changed everything. If the whole class was out to kill me, then I had no choice but to kill them all. Not just for revenge, but for survival.

    "Bastards¡­"

    Seething, I turned away from the cliff and assessed my surroundings.

    It seemed like I was in a forest. What I had thought was an abyss ¨C having imagined it to be a ravine or deep crevice driven deeply into the earth ¨C was actually a thick, shadowy forest. No wonder the vultures were bold enough to descend this far. It was but another forest. It probably meant that the village was located atop a mountain or something.

    I scratched my head. I didn''t understand the geography of this place, and to be honest, it didn''t matter. I was unceremoniously dumped into another world without any explanation or knowledge, thanks to Kobayashi''s attempted murder, so it was natural that I didn''t know anything about Restia.

    That was something I had to rectify. Yet I had no idea how. I dreaded to approach a human settlement, for the possibility of walking right into my classmates would be pretty high. And I didn''t want a repeat of what happened with Kureha and Tsukishima.

    Then should I just live in the wild?

    I grimaced as I glanced around the forest. Sure, living off the land sounded sound in theory, but it wasn''t practical at all. Anyone who told you that they would love to be with one with nature or that humans could live in the forests like hermits all by themselves were bullshitting. At least not for a city kid like me, who had grown up in an urban space. There were way too many bugs, there was no comfortable or safe place for me to sleep and rest, toilets would be a problem, and I wouldn''t be able to procure human necessities such as clothing and tools.

    I had been spoiled too much by civilization to ever consider living in the forest by myself.

    Sighing, I began walking into the forest. Whining wasn''t going to help. Even if I understood the problems, I still needed to find a solution. Perhaps find a small village like the one I just came from and keep a low profile there until I polished my skills. I didn''t know how my classmates did it, but it was clear that they had grown pretty strong in the six months that they were here.

    They probably had access to resources Restia had to offer and cooperation and training from the natives. I felt envious but what was done was done. It was pointless wishing I started from the same playing field. I needed to do something drastic to catch up to them.

    But how?

    I conjured up my holographic screen and studied my personal information. There was no change from the last one. There were no stats, no values, and no levels¡­nothing except my name, species, job, class and special abilities. This wasn''t like any role-playing game I had encountered.

    Then again, perhaps the error lay in me treating this whole thing as a role-playing game. After all, this was cold, harsh reality. I should stop assuming that this world worked like a game. Experience couldn''t be quantified, strength couldn''t be measured in concrete numbers, and levels were meaningless in real life.

    That said, that bastard Kobayashi and the others probably think this is a game, so they have no qualms PK-ing me¡­

    My shoulders slumped and I let out a sigh. As much as I wanted to rage against the unfairness of it all, it wasn''t productive. I should start moving and searching for a village or any remote human settlement to accept me. Hopefully my classmates remained in the cities and capitals, staying far away from such small villages.

    Pushing the foliage aside, I began traversing the forest. I winced as thorns on vines and plants bit into my hands, cutting flesh, but my wounds healed quickly. Impatiently bashing my way through the forest, I proceeded deep in what I hoped was a straight line away from the cliff. I had best put as much distance between myself and the cliff as possible. I didn''t know whether Kureha and Tsukishima would send the knights down to confirm my death. And I didn''t want to stay long enough to find out.

    Hmm¡­but what kind of forest is this?

    So far, the forest appeared to be perfectly normal. Vultures, bugs, annoying plants¡­there was no sign of monsters or anything otherworldly that would differentiate this place from Earth. If I hadn''t encountered a black tentacle monster, a necromancer who raised the dead, a platoon of armored knights who could use magic, and my classmates who were clearly heroes with superlative abilities, I would have thought I was still somewhere in Japan. Or at the very least, somewhere on Earth.

    Crack.

    I trampled nosily through the forest, stepping on twigs and breaking them, rustling leaves and swatting bugs that were buzzing curiously around me. I grimaced as I peeled off a leech from my skin and tossed it away, only to find a worm that I flicked away with my finger.

    "Fuck! This is gross!"

    This was downright disgusting. I hated bugs.

    "This is why people who claim that they would love to live in Nature are just bullshitting," I muttered. Clearly, those nature-lovers were deluded or had never experienced real nature. All those hiking trails in the mountains? Manmade. Nature reserves? Constructed to keep humans safe from animals (and sometimes vice versa, but I doubted that). Waterfalls? Paved over by concrete paths. Agricultural fields? Planted by hand by human farmers.

    Swearing, I impatiently shoved a couple of particularly hard branches out of my way and stomped through, finally finding myself in a clearing.

    "Hah¡­"

    After bashing through the woods for what seemed like eternity, I was thankful for the little break. The thorns and bugs were getting downright annoying. Shoving a couple of shrubs aside, I staggered into the clearing, winded.

    I can take a break here.

    I had no idea how long I had trekked through the forest, but clearly it had been hours. The sun was slowly setting, the skies turning orange as the light faded away. Somehow I could still see the forest as clearly as day.

    Probably a side effect of being a zombie. Come to think of it, I was still wearing my glasses even though I no longer needed them. Well, whatever. At least no one could accuse me of being glassy-eyed now.

    That was when I heard a growl.

    Oh, shit¡­

    I couldn''t hold back a curse when I heard the ominous sound. I tried to back away, returning the way I came from, but it was too late. Not that it would help, given how sharp animal senses were. They would have tracked me down with smell or sight even if I chose to conceal myself in the foliage. Wolves had a great sense of smell, after all.

    ¡­yes, I was assuming the growl came from a wolf. What else could it be?

    Stupid question. This was Restia, not Earth. It wouldn''t be surprising if it was an actual monster, like the black tentacle horror I encountered yesterday. As it was, the wolf didn''t look like a normal wolf. It was white. Red lines seemed to bulge beneath its fur, emphasizing bunched-up muscles. Its eyes glowed crimson. I wondered briefly if it was an albino, but the angry red veins, spiky fur and two tails quickly disproved that.

    "This isn''t good¡­"

    I dropped to a combat stance, even though I knew it would be useless. I might have learned basic martial arts (the only reason why I could fight back against Kobayashi and his lackeys), but they clearly wouldn''t be sufficient to take out a monster from another world. And none of my special abilities were combat-orientated.

    Well, I could turn this into a battle of attrition and rely on my Regeneration, then eat the guy to recover my strength¡­

    It wasn''t ideal, but it was the only practical plan I had. Taking a deep breath, I readied myself.

    ¡­only to be interrupted when something emerged from the woods.

    The white wolf and I turned and stared at the newcomer, a gigantic, black anaconda that stretched over twenty meters in length. Its jaws open wide enough to swallow either me or the wolf, but the latter merely snarled at it. Dark muscles bulged as the anaconda uncoiled from the trees, slithering toward us. Its crimson eyes seemed to glow in the dark.

    These things look like dangerous monsters¡­

    Gulping, I backed away as the two creatures confronted each other. Clearly, they deemed me the lesser threat, focusing their attention on each other. Snarling, the white wolf pounced. However, with a speed that belied its immense size, the anaconda lashed out and snatched the wolf out of the air. Its jaws clamped down on the howling wolf, its fangs sinking into spiky fur and muscle as if they were nothing more than paper.

    "Awoo!"

    The wolf howled, but the anaconda quickly constricted it, wrapping its gigantic body around the poor thing. The white wolf disappeared under the coiling mass of muscle, and with a single twitch, the anaconda snapped the poor thing in half. I couldn''t bear to watch as it swallowed the dead wolf whole, the carcass being consumed without any need for the anaconda to stretch its jaws.

    Holy¡­!

    I backed away, but it was too late. The anaconda had turned its attention toward me.

    There wasn''t much I could do against a creature of that size. Somehow, I was briefly reminded of the black tentacle horror that I encountered in my first day here. The anaconda gave off the same feeling somehow.

    I shuddered as I felt cold chills envelop my body, which was trembling from instinct. There was something about this anaconda that felt¡­wrong.

    Is this what they call demonic aura?

    This was my second time feeling it, but then I felt something similar from the white wolf, just not on such a large scale.

    I see. So these were monsters of Restia, something that never existed on Earth before. My human senses were tingling (even if I was an undead) and I couldn''t help but instinctively feel fear. These things were impossible existences.

    The anaconda was about to lunge at me, but another couple of growls distracted it. Loping from the woods, a pack of three other white wolves emerged, snarling. As I suspected, they weren''t albinos. They all sported the same color, white spiky fur with disheveled red veins bulging out of their heavily muscled bodies.

    As if they knew that the anaconda was responsible for the demise of their comrade, they lunged at the anaconda, their fangs and claws bared.

    The anaconda lashed out, its tail catching one of the wolves and sending it flying. The poor thing yelped before it crashed against a tree, its body bent at unnatural angles, and slid down helplessly. Blood pooled underneath is corpse.

    The anaconda then spun around, its jaws wide open, to welcome the second wolf. The wolf was unable to halt in midair and lunged right into the anaconda''s jaws. The anaconda snapped its mouth shut and swallowed the unfortunate wolf whole.

    The last wolf managed to latch onto the anaconda, who didn''t panic. Growling, it sank its teeth into the hard, diamond-like scales of the anaconda, but didn''t manage to penetrate. The anaconda merely wrapped its serpentine body around the wolf, crushing it instantly, before it swallowed the thing.

    "¡­"

    Yeah, this thing wasn''t a normal anaconda. The snakes back on Earth usually only required a single meal, which would last them for a week. Yet this thing just devoured four white wolves without suffering from a stomach upset.

    And it seemed hungry for more.

    The anaconda was now turning toward me, hissing in a deadly manner. I tried to back away, but even as the gargantuan serpent lunged at me, I knew that I wouldn''t be able to dodge in time. Seething, I dove to the side, and the lower jaw struck me. Its fangs pierced my arm and I screamed, but I forcibly dislodged my bleeding appendage and doubled down, rolling across the ground.

    The anaconda''s momentum carried it forward, but it swiftly twisted back in my direction, its jaws wide open again.

    "Freaking snake!"

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    Cursing, I threw myself back, pressing my back on the ground and retaliating with a kick from both legs just as the anaconda was about to reach me. My feet slammed into its chin and I somehow shut its jaws and knocked the anaconda off balance.

    "Sssss!"

    The anaconda was not amused. Shaking its head, it hissed at me, opening its jaws for another attempt to devour me. I rolled away, but the anaconda decided to stop playing around. Its lithe body slithered across the ground, getting ready to coil around me.

    I sure as hell wasn''t going to get trapped by that muscular body. Even with Regeneration, I didn''t want to find out what sort of grisly fate awaited me if I got eaten alive.

    "Damn it!"

    I scrambled away, trying to put as much distance between myself and the anaconda as possible, but the serpent was faster than me. Already, half of its body had me cornered and cut off my escape route. Gritting my teeth, I jumped on the coils and used them as a springboard to climb higher and out of the trap before the anaconda could wrap me in its crushing embrace. The anaconda darted at me, trying to bite me with those wicked fangs, but I somehow managed to jump off the top coil at the last moment and sailed above the lunging head.

    "Whoa!"

    I hit the ground and rolled away, only for the anaconda to tower over me once more.

    "Fuck you!" I shouted. Kicking the coils, I tried to jump away, only for the anaconda to descend upon me with wrathful hunger.

    It never reached me.

    Something as huge as the anaconda landed from above, its giant, flapping wings casting me in shadow. I looked up and my jaw dropped in disbelief when I saw what looked like an enormous cockatrice catch hold of the writhing anaconda in its talons.

    The damned thing looked like a gigantic chicken¡­or was supposed to be, but somehow I was reminded more of a hawk or an eagle. It wasn''t just the size, but there was a majestic crown that jutted from its white head, and crimson eyes glared at its prey. The anaconda tried to coil around its predator, but the cockatrice lashed out and tore a huge chunk of meat from the gigantic serpent''s neck with its hooked, cruel-looking beak.

    "Sssss!

    The anaconda wailed in frustrated, agonized hisses, but the cockatrice mercilessly tore the serpent apart with its talons, the sharp claws piercing the otherwise impenetrable scaled hide of its prey and drawing blood.

    It''s just one thing after another, isn''t it?

    While the two titans clashed, I used the chance to get away. This was the perfect example of the law of the jungle. Survival of the fittest. Eat or be eaten. The anaconda ate the wolves, and now it was being devoured by a cockatrice.

    And if I stuck around for too long, I would be next on the menu.

    The cockatrice seemed to have noticed my presence, for it turned toward me next. Ignoring it, I dove toward the forest, seeking shelter inside the thick foliage.

    It was useless.

    The cockatrice crowed as it pursued me, its huge wings creating huge gusts of wind that almost blew me off my feet. The next thing I knew, the trees around me were getting sliced up. The cockatrice was slashing in my direction with those deadly talons of its.

    "Whoa!"

    I stumbled through the thick foliage, only to find myself flung off the ground and sent hurtling toward a tree. I struck the thick trunk hard, stunned for a moment as I slid down. Shaking my head, I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, pushing myself back up to my feet.

    "¡­eh?"

    There was something weird when I used my hands to propel myself up I sank toward my left, almost toppling over. Cursing, I glanced down.

    ¡­only to see that my left arm was gone.

    "¡­!"

    Blood was gushing out of my stump, but I found that I was numb to the pain. The endorphins and adrenaline coursing through my system must have helped, or I was otherwise going into shock. Whatever the case, it was a small mercy that I couldn''t feel the loss of my arm.

    Turning around, I saw that the cockatrice was eating something. Or holding something in its beak. It turned to me, its crimson eyes gleaming.

    I saw that it was my arm that was dangling from its beak.

    "You fucking overgrown chicken!" I yelled. "How dare you disarm me?!"

    Well, this wasn''t the time for jokes. Using my remaining arm, I hauled myself to my feet and began running. The cockatrice swallowed my left arm, and then pursued me, almost as if it was running in a leisurely manner.

    For a gigantic chicken, it sure could run fast.

    "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

    Hollering curses, I burst through the forest, only to find myself in the clearing I had fallen into. The sheer wall of a cliff stared at me coldly as I went numb.

    I was back where I started.

    Behind me, the cockatrice trampled through the woods brutally, cackling in cruel amusement. I didn''t have to glance back to know that it was right behind me.

    Where do I go?

    Then I saw a small glimmer of hope. Along the cliff wall, there looked like an opening. A cave of some sort. It was small ¨C I should be able to just barely fit into it. In contrast, the five-meter tall cockatrice probably couldn''t fit its talons in there.

    I ran.

    The cockatrice snarled, as if sensing that I had found my escape route, and it picked up its speed. I found myself lost in its shadow, which grew larger with every step. Determined, I threw myself off my feet and dove toward the cave, sliding across the floor in a painful manner that left scrapes and cuts. It didn''t matter. Those would heal quickly. As long as I somehow stayed alive, I didn''t care what injuries I sustained.

    That was just as well. I could feel the wind from the cockatrice''s claws as it swiped at me. Thankfully I had gotten down, or it would have decapitated me or at least cleaved me in half. As it was, the worst I suffered were relatively minor gouges on my back.

    I scrambled into the cave, just barely managing to make it in before the cockatrice collided with the entrance, sending tremors throughout the cavern. Heaving, I got onto my hands and feet and began crawling desperately into the deeper part of the cave. Behind, the cockatrice screeched and slashed, its talons barely fitting inside the opening.

    But the only thing it achieved was scratching the ground.

    It seemed that the cockatrice had cocked up.

    "Hah! Take that, you chicken!"

    Crowing, I sneered at the cockatrice before I returned to crawling in an undignified manner. This was fine. As long as I was still alive, I didn''t care if I had to crawl or beg. For now, I would settle for being cocky and talking cock.

    I vowed to take my revenge on the overgrown chicken¡­sometime eventually. Showing the cockatrice my middle finger, I shakily rose to my feet and leaned on the cave walls with my right arm. Perhaps it was my ability as an undead, but I could see the interior of the cave clearly even though there was no light.

    "Well, seems like the cave isn''t going to cave in," I told the cockatrice. Grinning and clutching at my stump, which had stopped bleeding due to my regenerative powers, I plunged deeper into the cave in hopes of a safer refuge.

 6 Chapter 6: Eat and Grow Strong

    I had no idea what to do next. It was a pity that I wasn''t a synergist, or I could start crafting weapons. On the other hand, it was good that I was a zombie, because it seemed that I was regenerating my lost arm.

    No need to replace it with a cybernetic prosthetic or something. Same went for my eye. Admittedly, being a zombie wasn''t exactly a commonplace job (arifureta shokugyou) but I might just be able to become the strongest with it.

    Unfortunately, I had to escape the cave first.

    "Where the hell is the exit?"

    I had been walking around for what seemed like hours, but I saw no sign of any exit. Hell, there was no sign of any living things, not even bugs. It seemed that the whole cave had fossilized into limestone or something. Stalactites hung from above while stalagmites loomed from below. I navigated through the jagged terrain, wincing as water splashed down on me from above.

    Come to think of it, I hadn''t been drinking a whole lot of water. Probably a side effect of being a zombie? Well, it was good that I didn''t have to worry about dehydration.

    But I didn''t want to be stuck in a cave for eternity. I would begin to cave in to insanity!

    Should I wait for the cockatrice to leave before I attempt my escape?

    I chewed my lip as I considered that option. Even if the cockatrice grew impatient and left the entrance open, there was no guarantee that I wouldn''t be able to escape it if I ventured into the forest. The damned chicken would be waiting for me in the open. And this time, I would have no place to escape to.

    No, I needed to kill the cockatrice. It was eat or be eaten, kill or be killed.

    But how?

    I wasn''t a synergist, and I knew I wouldn''t be lucky enough to run into some wuxia technique scroll or a legendary weapon in this cave. It would be great if reality worked like light novels and I get happy coincidences, but in the end I had to rely on my wits to survive.

    "Okay. So what exactly am I capable of?"

    I reviewed my special abilities again. Adamantium Will. Regeneration. There wasn''t anything that was combat-orientated. Sure, my Regeneration was going to help me survive, but it wouldn''t help me win. I needed something that would actually help me win.

    As for tools, I only had the box of matchsticks. I wondered if I should have taken the farming tools after all. No, they wouldn''t have helped me. Kureha would have sliced them apart when she attacked, and I would have dropped them. As much as I regretted and fretted over not taking at least a shovel with me, hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

    "I need to get out of here, though."

    Even if I could see in the dark, that didn''t help ease the claustrophobia that threatened to overwhelm me. The walls and ceiling seemed to close in on me, suffocating me. I found it weird that an undead like me needed to breathe, but I guess the undead in Restia was a completely different kind of undead that I was used to in fictional stories back on Earth. Now that I thought about it, I should stop applying common sense of my world to this world.

    That said, I was sure some things still applied somewhat. Navigating through the cave, I stumbled over the stalagmites and threw out a hand to stop myself from falling. When I did so, my hand brushed against the wall and I felt a rough, powdery sensation.

    "What the hell is this?"

    I raised my hand to study it. A flimsy film of black powder was smeared across my hand. Frowning, I turned my hand over, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, and was suddenly reminded of the black stuff my grandparents used to cook food back in the rural areas of Japan, when I visited them during the summer.

    "This is coal?"

    Scratching my head with my other hand, which had freshly regenerated when I stumbled my way around, I stared at the powder coal on my hand. Hmm, if I wasn''t mistaken, then this was a coal mine. Abandoned, perhaps, given how it was deserted.

    Wow, I was really lucky. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized how close I was to blowing myself up with my matches. Having read somewhere back on Earth that coal mines were filled with methane gas, lighting a match in this environment would have proven catastrophic. I didn''t know whether to be amused at the fact that I was relieved that I was a zombie.

    "Yeah, well¡­not that it''s going to help me¡­wait!"

    I blinked when I suddenly realized something. If this was a coal mine, then there had to be an exit somewhere. Or at the very least, something I could use. A pickaxe, mining tools, anything. I remembered how the legendary Isaac Clarke fought his way through a ghostly spaceship with nothing but mining tools to dismember deadly space zombies known as necromorphs. I was no engineer, but if I could somehow fashion some sort of weapon from the tools I could find here, I might improve my chances of victory ever so slightly.

    To my disappointment, there was nothing. The mine seemed abandoned a long time ago, with deposits of coal dug out of the walls and left to rot on the ground. There were a few metal shrapnel here and there, probably from broken pickaxes or power tools, but otherwise it was empty save for the coal deposits.

    What should I do?

    Frustrated, I kicked the wall, causing a bunch of coal to rain down onto my face. Coughing and gagging, I staggered away while muttering curses under my breath.

    "Why the fuck am I so unlucky?!" I demanded to nobody in particular. First I was almost murdered by my classmates, then I was killed by a monster, then reanimated as a zombie, then attacked by my classmates who didn''t seem the least guilty about their attempted murder. And now I was being chased by a fucking cockatrice that bit off and swallowed my arm. It was just one thing after another, and I was almost reaching my limit.

    Why me? Why did it have to be me? And why visit upon me such an unending series of unfortunate events?

    "UGH!"

    Yelling in rage, I kicked the wall again as I vented my frustration. More coal rained down on me, but I ignored it this time. Swearing, I turned away and trudged deeper into the coal mine. Maybe I would find something deeper down. Maybe¡­

    Crack¡­

    I froze at the sound. Not daring to turn around, I waited, only to hear a louder and longer craaack this time.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me¡­"

    I couldn''t believe my terrible luck. Turning around, my shoulders slumping down from resignation, I waited to see what new horrifying monster awaited me this time. I watched as the walls burst apart, revealing a huge monster that tore its way free.

    "Oh, it''s you again."

    I recognized the familiar crowned chicken head of my old friend, the cockatrice. While I was searching for an alternative exit, the damned beast had found an entrance of its own. Well, given how easily the cockatrice broke through the cave entrance, the wall was probably hollow anyway. Did the cockatrice come in from the other side of the cliff?

    I didn''t know. And now wasn''t the time to be leisurely contemplating. I had to go. Swallowing, I started running away. The cockatrice smashed its way through the crumbling wall, clouds of coal dust settling over it, and shrieked.

    Then it charged at me.

    "Whoa!"

    Shards of rock sprayed at me, the cockatrice pulverizing whatever stalactites and stalagmites that barred its way. Despite its immense size hindering it in the narrow, enclosed space, the cockatrice was slowly gaining on me.

    "Bloody chicken! You want to get cooked by me?"

    Snapping, I dove right as the cockatrice slashed at me. Triple gouges appeared on the wall right next to me, coal dusting me as they fell free. Rolling to my feet, I barely dodged getting stabbed by the cockatrice''s hooked beak.

    "Damn, but you''re really persistent! Don''t get cocky, you cockatrice!"

    I jumped to my feet and dashed toward the narrow corridor that led back toward the entrance. From my position I could almost see the light. I just had to make it there¡­

    And then what? Back in the open, the cockatrice would have the advantage again. Even if it got stuck in the entrance, it would just double out and emerge from whatever entrance it found. I would be relentlessly hunted down no matter where I went.

    No. I had to settle the score with the cockatrice once and for all. I just had to make sure I didn''t cock up.

    I fumbled for the matches in my pocket. Turning around, I struck the match. I had just barely produced a spark when the whole space in front of me suddenly vanished in a gigantic, deafening explosion, and my world turned into fire and pain.

    "Gaaah!"

    The force of the explosion hurled me out of the cave, and I crashed onto the ground outside, totally scorched. Meanwhile, the cockatrice screeched inside the cavern as my little spark set off a chain reaction. The methane inside the cave combusted spontaneously, and within seconds, the interior of the coal mind turned into a furnace. The cockatrice flailed inside the mine, screeching as it was cooked alive by the raging inferno.

    I wasn''t able to cheer in triumph, having been severely injured by the explosion myself. Not only was I suffering from third degree burns, my body scorched and fuming, I had broken several bones from being hurled out of the cave. Even a simple movement was agony. I groaned through my parched, blackened lips, as I tried to move, only for red-hot pain to spike through my limbs. Lying there helplessly, I waited for my Regeneration to kick in.

    I didn''t know if I was out of energy, or if the damage was too severe, but my regeneration speed this time was slower than usual. I lay on the ground helplessly, praying to whatever God who existed in this world (probably Evelyn) that a monster in the forest wouldn''t stumble upon me and feed on me. That would have been quite the pathetic end.

    "Guh¡­"

    Closing my eyes, I waited, and then tested my limbs. I could finally move, but I realized that my injuries were far from healed. My flesh remained blackened, and pain continually nagged at me through the blisters or exposed muscle. My Regeneration so far had only healed my broken bones.

    It had to be enough.

    Wincing, I endured the pain as I rose to my feet. By now, the inferno in the coal mine had died, slowly winking out into tiny cinders as the cave exhausted its supply of methane and coal. I proceeded toward the interior cautiously, gingerly clutching at my wounds, which were all over my body. It hurt. It hurt like hell.

    But I knew I couldn''t just lie around, waiting to heal. I was hungry. Very hungry.

    Stepping through the soot, I peered warily into the interior. There was a single, blackened corpse in the middle of it all. It seemed that the inferno had thoroughly cooked the cockatrice. At first, I was hesitant about eating such a charred, burned carcass, but the black soot flaked away, revealing succulent, cooked meat.

    The cocky cockatrice had cocked up and was now paying the price for it.

    "¡­I see."

    The cockatrice must have some sort of resistance to fire. It was a miracle it wasn''t reduced to ash and bones. Well, good for me. I had a well-grilled meal right in front of me. Staggering toward the cooked cockatrice, I tore a chunk of meat out and placed it into my mouth.

    Amazing. This thing was delicious.

    I greedily began ripping chunks of meat out of the cockatrice and shoveling it into my mouth. So lost was I in my hunger that it turned into an automatic, instinctive motion, my hands mechanically reaching out and tearing pieces of the cockatrice and stuffing them into my mouth. I swallowed after chewing, my mind blank from the sheer ecstasy.

    It felt so good to be¡­alive. Plus, I hadn''t had such a well-cooked meal in a while. When was the last time I ate something like this? Two days ago? Three?

    Before I knew it, I had devoured the entire cockatrice. Feeling full, I slumped down next to the now-white bones. I had picked the meat off so cleanly that there wasn''t much traces of muscle or fat left. Everything was now in my stomach.

    "Huh, how does that work?"

    I was surprised at how I managed to eat the whole cockatrice that was larger than me. Was there a black hole in my stomach or something? How did I fit all that meat into my meager body? Where did it go?

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    And then I realized that I was no longer hurting. Looking at my blackened arms, I cleared the soot away to see fresh, pink flesh. The blisters were gone. I had fully regenerated.

    "I see¡­so I have to eat in order to keep up my regeneration pace."

    I nodded in understanding as I placed a finger on my chin. This could be useful. If I ever was on the verge of death, all I needed to do was eat and I would regenerate back to perfect condition. There were limits, of course, but it was a much-needed ability to keep me alive.

    "Now then¡­what should I do?"

    I was about to leave when I was alerted by a ping. My hand subconsciously swung and conjured the blue holographic window.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Zombie/Ghoul

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour

    Now that was new. I had never seen Devour before. Scratching my head in bewilderment, I tapped on the word and read the description.

    Devour: Gain a special ability of the target you consumed as food

    "Oh¡­"

    This was an interesting, if not macabre special ability. I couldn''t believe I gained it right after devouring the cockatrice. Was that the cockatrice''s special ability? No¡­that couldn''t be. The cockatrice showed no signs of inheriting any of my skills when it ate my arm, and if it had such an ability, it would have displayed far more special abilities when it pursued both me and slew the anaconda. Hell, it should have gained a special ability from the anaconda¡­whatever that was.

    Or perhaps I was mistaken and it belonged to the cockatrice. But it made no sense that I would gain its special ability, Devour, when I never had it before.

    Maybe it''s this world''s version of leveling up. Whenever I defeat a powerful foe, I would earn new abilities.

    That made more sense. I gained Regeneration after I "defeated" and consumed the necromancer so it stood to reason that this was an unlockable ability rather than one I stole from devouring the cockatrice.

    Well, whatever the case, I guess I''ll find out.

    I glanced back out of the devastated coal mine and stared at the fading sunlight that peeked through the scorched entrance. After all the events that had occurred today, it was finally night, huh? It felt like an eternity.

    For now, I''ll rest up, and then I will start hunting tomorrow.

    The forest was full of monsters. I glanced at the cockatrice and snapped off a particularly large rib that curved into a single, sharp point. Not the ideal weapon, but it would do for now. I couldn''t rely on finding another coal mine to incinerate whatever monster I ran into out there. At the very least, the makeshift weapon would give me an edge over those smaller, white wolves.

    My mouth began to water when I thought of them. I was sure those guys would be absolutely delicious. Furthermore, I wondered what ability they might have¡­

    Pushing my glasses up, I smirked. For the first time ever since I had arrived in Restia, I actually felt a measure of excitement.

    Eating would never be the same again.

 7 Chapter 7: King of the jungle

    I didn''t get very far before I found myself beset on all sides by white wolves.

    "Gr¡­"

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    "Well, hello there."

    I glanced around me with a smirk. The pack of wolves growled as they circled me, deftly navigating the dense terrain. Their spiky fur protected them from thorns and rough shrubbery, and their paws mercilessly crushed whatever twigs or roots that impeded their way. Claws dug into the earth, and they opened their slavering jaws to reveal two rows of knife-sized teeth.

    "Oh, scary," I sneered as I rested the cockatrice rib against my shoulder. "But I wonder¡­is your bark worse than your bite? Or are you going to continue snarling at me from a distance without ever attacking?"

    The taunt worked. The wolves pounced on me from all directions, their claws outstretched and their jaws snapping ferociously.

    I ducked under the first wolf, allowing it to sail past, and then responded with a kick to its gut. The wolf crashed into two of its comrades, the trio toppling over in a tangled heap. I then brought my bone weapon up and stabbed the next wolf that was sailing toward me, piercing its throat in a single, fluid stroke.

    The wolf gargled and fell to the ground, suffocating on its own blood. Yanking my makeshift weapon out of its throat, I turned to face the other wolves. The third wolf was around upon me, and I bent my back backward, allowing the wolf to sail past above me. Once it was gone, I straightened up and whirled around with a roundhouse kick that cracked against its hindquarters, sending it spinning. Twisting around, I slashed at the fourth wolf, the bone eviscerating it and causing it to spill its guts out. Turning back to the third wolf, who was sprawled on the ground, I raised my bone and stabbed downward, penetrating its skull and goring its brain out.

    The remaining three wolves quickly retreated, instinctively realizing that it was not worth the risk to continue fighting. With a pathetic howl, they fled the scene, leaving their dead comrades behind. I watched them depart, and then sighed a breath of relief.

    "That was tiring."

    My foot ached from the two kicks. Damn, but the wolves were a lot tougher than I thought. It felt like I was kicking a brick wall.

    "Well, time to eat."

    The wolf meat tasted just fine even without cooking. Relieved, I began to wolf down the wolves as quickly as possible. Tearing the poor creatures apart, I stuffed myself. Again, I was amazed at how I managed to chuff down so much meat into my relatively skinny body without any difficulty. I wondered where all my food went.

    "Hmm¡­any changes?"

    With that done, I conjured up my blue holographic screen and frowned. Despite gaining the Devour ability, consuming the wolves didn''t net me any new special ability. That probably meant that the white wolves didn''t possess such things.

    "Oh well. At least I filled my stomach."

    Rising to my feet, I proceeded down the forest, leaving the rest of the carcasses and bones to the ecological decomposers.

    I had no clue where I should go. There was nothing but forest, forest and forest everywhere. There was no landmarks I could rely on, and for all I knew, I could be going in circles. Fortunately, no matter how long I walked, I didn''t end up back where I started. There was no sign of the cliff, which meant I was actually making good progress.

    The problem was that there wasn''t any sign of human settlements either. While I didn''t want to end up in a big town or major city, where the heroes supposedly dwelled in, I didn''t want to spend my whole life in the wilderness either. I needed information and intelligence. And I absolutely must get my revenge, no matter the cost.

    Even if I had to burn the entire world of Restia.

    But how? I had been venturing through the forest for what seemed like three days now.

    "And another day is going to end soon," I muttered, looking up at the darkening skies. For the past few day, I had been hunting white wolves and other smaller monsters. As I thought, the lesser beasts didn''t possess any special abilities. I wondered if the anaconda or cockatrice would have any special abilities, but they were too powerful for me to defeat right now. Right now, I was only armed with a single piece of bone to pierce my enemies. I doubted I could defeat a gigantic anaconda by stabbing it with a big piece of bone. I would probably just give it a boner or something.

    But I needed to move on to bigger targets or I would never be able to progress beyond my current repertoire of abilities. So much for eat and grow strong, huh? If only I was a lazy turtle who got innards of a god. Then I could probably¡­

    Unfortunately, I had to work with what I had. Searching for a burrow in a particularly large tree, I settled down and went to sleep.

    It was odd, though. Whoever heard of a zombie who slept at night and stayed awake during the day? Weren''t the undead supposed to be nocturnal? Then again, I wasn''t an expert on the undead, and most of my knowledge came from fiction, so¡­

    I drifted off into a fitful sleep, vague dreams of my classmates flashing across my mind. I couldn''t remember the details, but I woke up angry, vowing vengeance on my murderous classmates. I would show them¡­how dare they¡­

    "Ugh¡­"

    I stretched myself as I rose and left the burrow, creaking my neck from side to side. Morning had come, and sunlight was pouring through the canopy of the forest, illuminating the clearing. I gingerly climbed over the roots and proceeded to traverse the difficult terrain.

    "I wonder what''s on today''s menu?"

    Rubbing my cheek, I glanced around at the forest. Usually, white wolves would attack me while I passed through the forest. I had been fortunate so far not to encounter anything bigger than them, such as the anaconda or the cockatrice that I saw in my first day moving through the jungle. Perhaps they were one of a kind, given how I hadn''t seen any others of their species so far, but I seriously doubted that.

    "Whoa!"

    I jumped when a branch crashed down right behind me, followed by a long hiss. Speak of the devil. The anaconda that I was thinking about had arrived.

    "All right, you snake," I growled, turning my attention to the gigantic monster. It stared at me, its tongue flicking out several times, before it lunged.

    What power! What speed!

    Despite its immense size, the anaconda moved like lightning, darting across the forest and reaching my position in mere seconds even though I was at least thirty meters away. I jumped to the side, evading those vicious fangs that sliced through empty air.

    Rolling to the side, I sprang back up and took a stab with my cockatrice bone. The sharp tip clashed against the diamond-hard scales and was deflected.

    "Kuh!"

    The anaconda whipped its body around to crush me in its constricting embrace, but I jumped on its coils. Realizing it was squeezing empty air, the anaconda spun its head around with its jaws wide open as it lunged at me.

    I tried to jump to the side, but the fangs tore a chunk of my arm out. Crying out in pain, I twisted to the side and plunged my bone weapon into the eye.

    The anaconda let out a wail, thrashing about wildly. I held onto the cockatrice rib tightly, but it slid out of the anaconda''s ruined eye and I crashed onto the ground. Furious, the anaconda snarled and glared at me with its one good eye before lunging at me again.

    This time, I spun to the other side and stabbed its remaining eye. The anaconda screeched, but I mercilessly pushed the rib bone all the way into its socket, piercing the brain. In retaliation, the anaconda lashed out with its enormous body, striking me and sending me hurtling across the forest. I slammed into a tree, the wind knocked out of me, and slid down, heaving.

    "Huff¡­"

    Wiping the blood from my mouth, I unsteadily rose to my feet. The anaconda was still flailing about, tenaciously clinging onto life.

    I had to finish it.

    I looked around for another weapon. There wasn''t much stuff I could use lying around in the forest, so I made do with a thick, solid branch. Picking it up, I looked up just in time to see the anaconda hurtling toward me in vengeance. Even when blinded, it could roughly estimate my position by tasting the air with its flicking tongue.

    Taking a deep breath, I waited for it. The anaconda rushed toward me, and this time I jumped to the side where I had left my bony weapon in its eye. The anaconda had learned its lesson, predicting my movement. But so did I ¨C thanks to me guessing that it would predict where I would go, I managed to dodge the anaconda, who suddenly twisted its head around to bite at the side. Had I repeated the movements of my earlier two attempts, I would have found myself firmly clamped within the jaws of death.

    Fortunately, I managed to avoid certain death. Bouncing back to my feet, I lunged at the anaconda and rammed the wooden branch in my hand into its eye socket, driving the bone deeper into its brain.

    The anaconda let out one last wail before descending into its death throes. I was struck by its uncoiling body and thrown across the forest again, colliding with yet another tree. This time, I hit the tree with such force that I ended up snapping the thick trunk. The tree crashed down on me, but its various branches held it at bay, preventing it from pinning me to the earth.

    "Huff¡­"

    I lay there, winded from the blow. My healing factor was kicking in and mending my wounds, but the poor anaconda didn''t possess such miraculous abilities. It continued to thrash about desperately, its enormous body uprooting trees and leaving craters in the earth. But it was clear that the anaconda was dead.

    It was only a matter of time.

    I waited patiently for the anaconda''s movements to die down. It took a while, but I had all the time in the world. After spending a few days in the forest without seeing any human, I had lost all sense of urgency. The wilderness was the direct opposite of urban life ¨C unlike the rigidity and mechanized schedules of the latter, the forest moved at its own pace. Like the anaconda, predators would patiently lie in wait for their prey to pass by, without any teachers or bosses to nag at them to hurry up. There was no need to rush.

    And then, the anaconda finally went still.

    "Phew."

    I breathed a sigh of relief before crawling from under the tree. Picking myself up, I headed to the dead anaconda warily approaching it. It might be playing dead, or its head might snap at me in one last reflexive action.

    Fortunately, it did nothing of that sort. Reaching into its socket, I yanked out the cockatrice bone and began to scrape away at the scales. Unfortunately, like my attack earlier, the diamond-hard scales proved impervious to the bone.

    "What do I do?"

    I felt frustrated. There was no way I could eat the anaconda if I couldn''t tear off the meat. I doubted my teeth could bite through those scales. I was desperate enough to try, and was rewarded with a sharp pain in my mouth.

    "Ouch!"

    Clutching my jaw, I backed away. The damned scales were like steel. How the heck did the cockatrice penetrate that armor with its talons? It occurred to me that I should have taken the talon claw instead of the rib bone¡­except that the talons had been burned, without the muscle and skin to protect it from the fire.

    "Damn it!"

    I punched the dead anaconda in frustration, at a total loss. Scratching my head, I thought of several alternatives, and then sighed.

    I''m not going to waste such a large meal in front of me!

    I persistently scraped away at the anaconda''s scales with the rib bone, hoping that the constant motion would eventually erode the armor away. After a few minutes of non-stop scraping, I saw that my efforts were futile.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I slumped down next to my prey angrily, striking the ground with my fist. There had to be a way to feast on such a large meal!

    The anaconda''s jaw suddenly snapped, scaring me out of my thoughts. I jumped up and backed away cautiously, watching the gigantic serpent as it jerked up, its fangs gleaming in the sun. Then I blinked as an idea came to mind.

    "The fangs!"

    Using the cockatrice rib, I dug the anaconda''s fangs out from its gums. Yanking the terrifying-looking fans out, I proceeded to probe the dead anaconda''s scales. I held my breath as I began scratching away at the gigantic serpent.

    Clink.

    "Yes!"

    I cheered when the scales were scraped out by the fangs. As I thought, the anaconda''s fangs were hard enough to pierce its own body. Not only could I began feasting on the anaconda now, I could also use these as weapons.

    After spending half a day scraping the scales off and cutting the anaconda apart, I could finally devour it. As usual, I didn''t know how I managed to stuff the whole anaconda into my belly, but I continued eating and eating and eating until there was nothing left of the anaconda but bones and guts. The flesh was succulent, tasting like chicken, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

    But where did all the food go?

    "Well¡­no use thinking about it."

    I would just assume that there was a black hole somewhere inside my stomach. For now, I was more concerned about another matter.

    "Let''s see what special ability I got!"

    I conjured the blue holographic screen, only to stare in disappointment when there was nothing new in my list of special abilities.

    "Huh, so the anaconda doesn''t have any special abilities either¡­"

    Disappointed, I clicked on the Devour ability to double-check its details. Perhaps I had misread it somewhere¡­

    Devour: Gain a special ability of the target you consumed as food

    It was the same as before. No mention of any restrictions, no additional details. I had to assume that it was the anaconda and white wolves that didn''t possess any special abilities then. Thinking about it, I had yet to see any of these monsters use any special abilities anyway. All they relied on were brute force and melee attacks.

    Yeah, it would be weird if they did have some special ability since I never actually saw them used it.

    Shaking my head in resignation, I left the anaconda''s carcass behind and proceeded across the forest. Staring at the canopy overhead, I wondered how long more I would end up stuck inside this damned place. How long had I been here anyway? Four days? A week?

    It felt like forever.

    Yeah, well¡­I don''t think I can last much longer at this rate.

    I needed information. I needed the resources that human civilization offered. I might have survived thus far, but living off the lay of the land was impractical. Sooner or later, I would face stronger monsters in the forest, and I couldn''t win against them as I was now. I needed to find a way to train and gain either combat-orientated special abilities or techniques. Learn to use magic. Actual weapons other than the makeshift bones and fangs I had been relying on.

    Plus the lack of social contact was driving me mad. Sooner or later, I would lose my humanity. I wasn''t talking about morals and ethics, but I feared I would just devolve into a mindless savage without any intelligence.

    I needed to keep my wits in order to employ my schemes of revenge.

    Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward determinedly. I clutched the anaconda''s fangs in my hands firmly, waiting for any other monsters to attack me. The white wolves would inevitably come, I was sure of it. They had never failed to disappoint me¡­

    "¡­eh?"

    After a few hours of walking, I realized just how¡­devoid of life the forest was. The annoying bugs were still present, buzzing away and flying around me no matter how many times I swatted at them, but the chirping of the birds and the faint, vague sounds of larger beasts were strangely absent. Never mind the white wolves¡­the rabbits and antelopes that sometimes roamed the forest were gone.

    What was going on?

    "Where did they all go?"

    The moment the question left my lips, I suddenly heard something heavy crash through the forest. The clangs of metal and the shouts of men drifted through the forest, and several explosions rang in the distance. I felt a tingling sensation over my body, and by now I could tell that my senses were reacting to magic.

    There was a fight in the distance. From the sounds of it, it sounded like a huge clash between armies. That probably explained why the animals and monsters were gone ¨C they didn''t want to get in the crossfire.

    What should I do?

    Isn''t this the perfect opportunity?

    I was hungering for human company, and finally they showed up. I didn''t know if the heroes were there, but if there were armies nearby, then I could join whatever army was opposing the heroes. The enemy of the enemy was my friend. Not only that, I could gain vital information on my foes and find a way to take revenge.

    Even if I couldn''t, the fact that there were humans nearby meant that there was a way out of this forest. I didn''t have to waste too much time stuck in this damned place any longer!

    I hurriedly proceeded to the skirmish, following the noise. The battle was further away than I thought, and it took me longer than expected to reach the perimeter.

    There, two armies clashed. At first, I thought both parties were humans, but I saw that one of the armies seemed¡­abnormal. They were emanating a chilling aura that sent shivers down my spine, my intuition warning me that they weren''t normal humans. Some of them sported horns, several had crimson eyes, and more than a few bared elongated canines. All of them were unleashing sorceries and vile spells that blackened the grass and blew human soldiers apart.

    "Don''t falter!"

    That was when I saw my classmates. Led by Kobayashi, the human army counterattacked. One of my classmates, Yoshida Yume, casted a holy barrier that deflected a barrage of fireballs and dark projectiles that were launched from the inhuman army, and the squadron of heroes rode on. Flashing a feral grin, Kobayashi raised his sword and yelled something. The moment he finished his incantation, lightning flashed from above and struck the ground. An entire squad of inhuman soldiers were obliterated, the electric bolt leaving a charred crater in the ground.

    Bloody hell¡­

    I cursed under my breath. This was so unfair. My classmates had all the good, practical spells and abilities while I was stuck with something as useless as Adamantium Will. Well, Adamantium Will did prove useful in stopping me from turning into a mindless zombie, but unless my classmates relied on mind control magic, it wouldn''t defend me against any of their spells, techniques or even melee attacks.

    I was totally outmatched.

    What should I do?

    So close yet so far. As much as I wanted to run out into the battlefield and kill my classmates, I was hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered. Plus I had nothing in my list of special abilities to help me. As amazing as Regeneration was, it would only help me survive, but securing victory was another matter. Devour would be great, but I had to actually defeat and kill my targets first for it to work. I doubted my classmates would just let me eat them if I walked up to them and made that request. No, like Kureha and Tsukishima ¨C who were slicing or blasting past a horde of inhuman soldiers on Kobayashi''s flank ¨C they would more than likely try to kill me again.

    Well, for now I''ll just stick close to them and wait for an opportunity.

    But how?

    "Aaaah!"

    At the edge of the battlefield, a human knight fell to the ground, his body scorched and sizzling. More squads of human knights were thrown into the air as a gigantic black fireball razed their ranks. Noticing the aggressor, Kobayashi directed his troops toward the cabal of demonic spellcasters at the rear.

    "Kijima! Yamada! On me!"

    His ever-loyal cronies riding directly behind him, the trio formed an arrowhead and charged right through the line of inhuman spearmen. Despite enchanting their spears with magic, Yamada casted a defensive forcefield around his leader and the group, the shimmering barrier pulverizing the spears. With a yell, Kobayashi and Kijima swung with their swords, decapitating the first row of soldiers. Yamada followed suit with his axe, cleaving the second row by himself.

    I watched, mesmerized, only to hear groans nearby. Crawling to the border that separated the forest from the plains where the bloody battle took place, I saw dozens of corpses strewn about with the wounded. Glancing at the dead and dying, I suddenly had an idea.

    This might just work¡­!

    I stealthily crept to the nearest dead knight, who was lying near the bushes, his neck and limbs bent at unnatural angles. Grabbing his armor, I hauled him into the bushes and began to undress him. Unsnapping the armor, I tugged his uniform off and began to pull it over my head. It took me several minutes, but I figured out how to strap the armor on. Leaving the body and the anaconda''s fangs in the bushes, I picked up the knight''s sword and crawled out of the bushes.

    No one seemed to have noticed me. In the chaotic din of the battle, everyone was too distracted to keep an eye on the dead.

    Good.

    Smiling underneath my helm, which now completely concealed my face, I drew my newly acquired sword and plunged into the battle with a yell.

 8 Chapter 8: Final siege

    With the presence of the heroes, we succeeded in laying waste to the enemy. The demons stood no chance and fell before the might of Kobayashi and the others. As the heroes forged a bloody path through the retreating demons, the human knights regrouped and tended to their wounded.

    I was one of those who stayed behind to help. Staying silent, I kept my visage concealed under my helm as I went about my work, ferrying the injured to wagons where medics applied whatever first aid they could in order to keep their patients alive until they could return to the proper medical facilities. Several of them casted basic healing spells, but these weren''t enough to restore the most heavily wounded.

    The heroes, who possessed much higher levels of healing spells, left the injured soldiers behind to hunt for glory. While their actions might seem cold, it was impractical for the healing heroes to save each and every soldier. There were hundreds of wounded and dying ¨C the heroes would run out of magical energy before they could rescue everyone. That said, the least they could do was stay behind and help as many as they could instead of riding off to the sunset in search for glory.

    However, I had no complaints. If even one hero stayed behind, they might discover that I was hiding among the soldiers. I wanted to keep a low profile and stay hidden from them for as long as possible.

    "Huff¡­"

    "Good work."

    An officer praised me as I help to heave an injured soldier onto a cart. He nodded at me in approval. I was too tired to respond, so I turned to trudge wearily toward the others when he suddenly called out to me.

    "Hey, which platoon are you from?"

    "Um¡­fourth platoon¡­?"

    I randomly picked a number, but the knight seemed satisfied. He lifted his helm up and stared at me in pity.

    "Oh, Fourth Platoon. I heard you guys got decimated. I didn''t know there were survivors. Seems like you''ll be assigned to another platoon."

    "We fight wherever the Emperor wills us to."

    "Amen to that," the knight officer agreed, making the sign of the Aquila. I gaped at him, glad that my helm was covering my shock. That was some random line I stole from my favorite science fiction series. I didn''t expect it to work. "But the war will end soon. With the heroes on our side, we''ll destroy the demon race!"

    "The demon race, huh¡­"

    I glanced at the dead enemies, who were clad in dreadful, black armor. In contrast, the humans wore polished, silver armor that gleamed under the sun. Once again, I noticed extra features such as horns, elongated ears and fangs, and even third eyes, which set the demons apart from the humans. The terrifying aura was gone now, having dissipated along with the demons'' deaths, but I shuddered at the memory of the chilling sensation.

    "Praise the Goddess Evelyn, for she sent heroes to rescue us from our hour of need!"

    The knight was devolving into religious fervor now. Not exactly enthusiastic about being dragged into the sermon, I excused myself and turned to leave, but the knight commander clamped a gauntleted hand on my armored shoulder.

    "Just a little more, boy. And we''ll be free of the demon filth. The higher-ups are planning one final push on the Demon Lord''s castle." He gestured toward the distance with his hand. "We''re so close. Just five miles away from his stronghold. With the heroes'' help, we''ll finally break through the Demon Lord''s fortress and slay him!"

    I forced a smile even though he probably couldn''t see it. "I''m sure we will."

    "Yeah." The knight commander squeezed my shoulder. "Don''t lose hope, boy. Keep fighting. I know it''s hard on you, having lost your entire platoon, but believe in the Goddess Evelyn. Believe in the heroes she summoned for us. We will prevail!"

    "For the Emperor."

    "For the Emperor," the commander agreed, and finally let go. Softly exhaling in relief, I went back to my work.

    It took a while, but we were finally done with our duties. After tending to the wounded, we had to bury the dead. Without much time on our hands, we resorted to a mass burial, stacking the bodies and cremating them.

    I didn''t question the ruthless method of disposal. It was to prevent diseases from spreading, after all. Leaving the corpses lying around was asking for trouble. Speaking of which, I was suddenly reminded of the necromancer.

    Yeah, another reason why they don''t want to leave the dead lying around is probably because someone would turn them into zombies.

    It was unfortunate, but this was the twisted logic of the world we currently lived in.

    "Good job, everybody!"

    The knight who seemed to be the overall commander clapped his hands and drew our attention toward him. Even though he was wearing the same silver armor as everyone else, his white crusader cape, gigantic red plume atop his helm, and fancy heraldry marked him as different from the simple uniform the rest of us wore. I was beginning to see a pattern here. The fancier the fabric clinging to the armor, the higher the knight''s rank.

    And that guy was the most extravagantly dressed of us all.

    "We''ve achieved yet another victory over the accursed demons today! Thanks to the heroes, we''re one step closer to ending the menace once and for all!"

    "YAAAAAY!"

    The soldiers all cheered in unison, raising their swords high into the air. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on, and I clumsily fumbled for my sword and raised it too. The knight commander surveyed us in satisfaction, probably heartened by our high spirits and improved morale. Slashing his sword in an exaggerated display, he issued another declaration.

    "Tomorrow afternoon, we march upon the Demon Lord''s castle! It''s time to end this war once and for all!"

    "Yeah!"

    As one, the soldiers chorused their approval. Buoyed by their victory, they seemed excited for what appeared to be the final battle.

    "Now, we rest. You have all fought well and worked hard. But we''ll need your strength again for tomorrow. Get some sleep. I''ll let you know once the heroes return, and we''ll begin the last stretch of our journey." His expression turned grim and he held his sword in a salute. "Men, I am honored to fight alongside every last one of you."

    This time, there was no rowdy cheering. The knights all stood sharply and straightened solemnly. I hastily made to follow.

    "For all our dead comrades, who gave their lives so that we could achieve this victory¡­and this opportunity. To protect our kingdom, our homes, our families and loved ones. For the Goddess, Evelyn, who watches over us. And for the Emperor!"

    "FOR THE EMPEROR!"

    The knights hollered, and this time I fell into line without missing a beat.

    The commander swept his gaze over us one last time before nodding. Raising his hand, he swung it down sharply.

    "Dismissed!"

    And so we all dispersed to grab whatever spot we could for rest.

    *

    The heroes returned at dawn. I heard the horses before I saw them, and quickly pulled my helmet back on. I didn''t want any of my classmates spotting and recognizing me, not after the debacle with Minamoto Kureha and Tsukishima Tomoyo.

    If the two girls reacted that way when they saw me, I could only imagine how Kobayashi and his cronies would respond.

    The heroes'' horses galloped past the drowsy soldiers, rousing them from their sleep. They stopped at nothing, proceeding straight to the command tent that the officers had set up the previous night. I cringed when Tsukishima rode past me, but she didn''t even spare me a single glance. I sighed in relief as she disappeared into the distance.

    That meant her Absolute Appraisal wasn''t a passive ability. It had to be activated.

    I watched the heroes dismount from their horses and entered the huge tent. No doubt the knight commanders would have to defer to them and request approval for their strategy. My former classmates strode in a somewhat arrogant manner, pushing the flap of the tent open and barging in without so much as a knock or warning.

    Some things never change, huh?

    Shaking my head, I settled back down to go back to sleep, but jolted upright when I heard footsteps approaching me.

    "Always quite the sight, eh?"

    It was a grizzled knight in his forties. He tore his gaze away from the giant tent and grinned at me, only to frown in confusion.

    "Why do you have your helmet on?"

    "Uh¡­in case of any surprise attacks from the enemy."

    "Heh¡­" the older knight chuckled. "Once you reached my age, you''ll find that all this extra caution is pointless. You either live or you die. Might as well make the most of it."

    I nodded, glanced at the tent, and then pulled my helmet off.

    "Here. Eat up. You''ll need some food to recover your strength."

    The older knight tossed a chunk of bread at me. I caught it out of reflex and stared at the hard, dry stuff.

    "Thank you¡­" I began, but I saw that the older knight had already turned away to distribute his basket of rations.

    Oh well. He''s right. Might as well eat.

    That was what I thought, but the moment I put the bread in my mouth, I gagged.

    "Ugh¡­u¡­"

    Retching, I coughed and spat out the piece of bread I had bitten off. For some reason, the bread tasted absolutely repulsive. My body violently rejected the food, my stomach going into convulsions. A wave of nausea hit me and I slumped on the ground.

    What the hell?!

    Wiping my mouth, I forced myself to calm down. Glancing down at the rest of the bread, I swallowed, only to gag again.

    Closing my eyes, I felt icy horror clamp down on my heart when I realized what was happening to me.

    I can''t eat normal food. I can only eat¡­meat.

    Side effects of being a zombie, no doubt. At least I could eat any kind of meat. It would suck if I could only eat human meat.

    "What''s the matter with you?"

    I turned my head when I heard someone snap at me. A big guy was glaring at me, chewing on the last of his bread. His hand was now empty, and he was gazing hungrily at mine. He narrowed his eyes when he saw that I had trouble consuming the bread, as if offended that I was going to waste such precious food.

    "I don''t feel well¡­" I glanced at the bread, and then tossed it at him. The big knight caught it, stunned by my action. I shrugged. "I don''t think I''ll be able to keep anything down today. You can have that."

    "S¡­sure."

    Not one to waste food, the knight wolfed my bread down. I put my helmet back on before lying down on my reserved spot. It was a good thing that I had devoured an entire anaconda just the day before, so I probably had a lot of energy stockpiled inside my body. That meal should last me for quite some time.

    Still, I wasn''t sure I liked the implication of this. My body was undergoing some drastic change, and I didn''t know if it was necessarily for the better.

    *

    The heroes finally emerged from the tent, along with the knight commander and his officers. Rousing the men from their sleep, the commanders quickly organized us in neat, orderly ranks in front of the triumphant heroes.

    "Men! Today, we fight our last battle!"

    "OOOOH!"

    We roared our approval at our commander''s words. Kobayashi smiled indulgently, and then stepped forward.

    "General Harold, shall I?"

    "S¡­sure."

    The knight commander looked taken aback by Kobayashi''s bold intervention, but he didn''t protest. As usual, Kobayashi couldn''t stand it if he wasn''t the one in the spotlight. Taking up center stage, he gazed upon the gleaming rows of armored knights.

    "Brave soldiers of Legnica!" he boomed, sweeping his eyes across us. "I know how much courage you must have mustered in order to fight alongside us heroes, to battle against horrifying monsters and superhuman demons with powerful magical abilities. Even though you''re not as blessed as us, to have been bestowed by the Goddess Evelyn heroic attributes, you still take up your sword and fight. Fight for your homeland, for your families and loved ones¡­against these cruel, inhuman demons who seek only your destruction!"

    Yeah, we heard that speech before. General Harold just delivered it last night.

    "The hour of reckoning is finally at end! We will make the Demon Lord pay for all the atrocities he committed against us! Against you! Believe in us heroes, and we shall lead you to victory! With the blessings of the Goddess Evelyn, there is no demon who can stand against us! As long as you follow us and fight together, we will all win!"

    "Yeah!"

    The soldiers cheered. I forced myself to give a half-hearted cheer, but I couldn''t stop glowering at the bastard from behind my helm.

    "Do not shirk from your duties, brave knights. This is the final battle, the one battle to decide the outcome of the war. You all have your role to play. We need you to hold off the legions of demons guarding the Demon Lord''s fortress long enough for us to confront and defeat the Demon Lord." Kobayashi turned solemn. "Make no mistake¡­it is a huge sacrifice I am asking of you. Many of you will die in the final clash. But your deaths¡­no, your lives! Your lives will be imperative for humankind''s victory! Only if we stand together and pay the price of victory in blood will we be able to prevail over these accursed enemies!"

    "Yeah!"

    While the soldiers cheered Kobayashi''s speech, I suppressed a sigh. The guy was obviously asking us to be his meatshields, his sacrificial pawns. In other words, Kobayashi was telling us to die so that he could achieve glory as the hero who defeated the Demon Lord. I bet he didn''t care if the entire human army was wiped out, so long as he got all the credit for the eventual (pyrrhic) victory.

    Unfortunately, the knights all believed him. Behind Kobayashi, the rest of our classmates were smiling, as if they were amused at how the residents of Restia were so easily suckered into sacrificing themselves for the heroes.

    Bastards¡­

    "We move out immediately! Stay close, and smash through the demons'' defenses! We heroes will break through and end this pointless war once and for all!"

    Raising his sword, Kobayashi shouted. The knights cheered and stamped their feet in a coordinated salute. Stepping back in satisfaction, Kobayashi returned the (non-existent) microphone to General Harold.

    "All right, men. Pack up your stuff and get into gear. We leave immediately."

    *

    We set off at noon. The sun was blazing overhead, reaching its zenith as it scornfully watched us march across the fields.

    I marched on foot alongside the foot soldiers. There weren''t enough horses for all the soldiers, so they were reserved for the cavalry, who rode ahead of us. The bulk of the infantry moved on foot, our metallic boots sinking deeply into the soft earth.

    The heroes formed the vanguard, but from what I heard, they weren''t going to lead the charge. No, the ones in charge of the suicidal charge were us, the foot soldiers. Once we arrived, we were to charge en masse toward the enemy gates and overrun the enemy demons.

    There was no holding back now. The commanders were playing all their hand.

    We would drown the enemies in our blood if we had to.

    I glanced around. Even though our faces were concealed by our helmets and visors, I could tell that my comrades were nervous. Several of them were quivering, their silver armor trembling as they somberly marched forward. I didn''t blame them, could even understand why.

    We were being asked to march to our deaths.

    I gulped, gripping the hilt of my sword tightly. Unlike the knights around me, I should be fine with my Regeneration. However, I didn''t know if my special ability had a limit. If I sustained too much damage, it was possible I would die, my regeneration unable to keep up with the fatal injuries. And there was also the problem of having my cover blown¡­

    "Halt!"

    We pulled to a stop in reflex when the command sailed through the air. I blinked, confused. At some point I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn''t realize that we had already reached the enemy''s fortress.

    It didn''t resemble how I thought it would be. The Demon Lord''s castle looked like a normal castle, just painted black. There were demons lined up along the gates, raising their staffs or various weapons and chanting some spells.

    Boom!

    An explosion sent several knights flying into the air. Several of the demons had launched a volley of fireballs and drawn first blood.

    "Whoa!"

    "No way!"

    "We can''t do this!"

    "Hold your position!"

    The commander barked, glaring at us when the soldiers started to panic. He drew his sword and pointed it at us.

    "Any of you think of deserting, I''ll kill you myself."

    There was no need to go that far. There was nowhere we could run to.

    More explosions rang through the tightly packed ranks of the foot soldiers. Morale was crumbling, and the knights were cursing.

    And then¡­

    "Oh divine light, deliver the wrath of the goddess of justice and righteousness, and smite all evil in your path!"

    Kishimoto Hikaru''s voice rang through the air, as clear as a bell and as melodic as a song. Dressed in long, flowing white robes, she stepped forward and aimed her crackling staff at the heavily fortified gates of the castle.

    "Divine Lance!"

    A golden beam of light blasted out of her staff and seared through the fortified gates. The defensive runes glowed red-hot, a shimmering barrier holding the light at bay for a few moments. And then the runes blew up, losing their color. The transparent barrier collapsed almost immediately and the golden beam obliterated the gates, detonating and disintegrating the demon sentries who were stationed there.

    "The castle has been breached! Charge! For the Emperor!"

    "For the Emperor!"

    Raising our swords, the knights hollered a fearsome war cry and sprinted toward the newly made hole. The demons were attempting to rally, gathering to plug the gape in their defenses, but the mass of humans stampeded past them. The few demons who began casting spells were picked off by the heroes, their magical projectiles streaking through the air and hurtling toward key enemy positions.

    I noticed that a few of the heroes'' spells deviated off course and accidentally crashed into the human lines, inadvertently killing a few of our men by friendly fire. Of course my classmates didn''t care about us. To them, we were nothing more than non-playable characters, AI grunts who existed only to die for them.

    That pissed me off somehow.

    "Forward! Forward, for the Emperor!"

    The knight commander shouted, waving his sword and gesturing at us wildly. We followed, pouring through the hole in the gate and flooding the insides of the fortress. The demons were already waiting for us and we crashed into their defensive lines.

    More knights died, blown apart by spells or torn apart by brute strength. The demons growled and roared, several shapeshifting into terrifying creatures. Werewolves. Winged monstrosities. Hybrid creatures. Claw, fang, blade or spell, they ripped the massed ranks of knights apart as if we were nothing more than paper.

    They weren''t the only ones who could use magic, however. The knights began casting their own passive buffs, protective auras or strength enhancement spells. Several launched fireballs, icicles, lightning or other spells of their own. The magical projectiles collided and detonated, scorching both men and demons alike.

    The demons were clearly superior to us, both in terms of physical strength and magical capability. However, we vastly outnumbered them. For every men they killed, three more poured in, reinforced by the never-ending tide of knights outside the fortress.

    "Keep fighting! Don''t let the heroes hog all the glory!"

    Yelling himself hoarse, the knight commander blasted a nearby demon with a holy spell before slashing at another target with his sword, the blade glowing golden from a divine enchantment. Spurred on by his example, the knights rallied around him, using both bade and spell to drill a hole in the demons'' defenses.

    I followed suit, clutching my sword and tackling another demon, a long-eared guy in a weird suit. His white gloves glowed with sparks, but I hacked at his limbs, forcing him to cancel whatever spell he planned on unleashing.

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    Behind me, more of my comrades rushed in, trying to overpower the demon I was fighting through sheer numbers.

    The siege had begun.

 9 Chapter 9: Fall of the Demon Lord

    The moment the heroes charged into the castle, leaving the soldiers to fend off the demonic defenders and buy time for them to fight the Demon Lord, we began dying in droves.

    As numerable as the knights were, our meager spells and tiny magic were no match for the might of the demons. I watched in horror as a gigantic fireball struck the platoon to my left, blowing a crater into the ground and sending human bodies flying into the air. The polished, silver armor afforded little protection against such arcane attacks. Limbs were torn and hurled across the clearing, disembodied heads rolled, and blood rained down.

    Lightning, fire, ice, wood, wind, and earth. Spells of every element sprayed and engulfed the castle walls, obliterating entire squads of knights and blowing them to pieces, shredding them apart or lethally impaling them.

    "Keep pushing! Keep them occupied so that the heroes can defeat the Demon Lord¡­ugh!"

    The commander''s order was cut off as a fireball struck him, disintegrating the upper part of his body and his right arm. The remainder toppled off his horse, but no blood spilled out from the cauterized, charred edges.

    The shouts of men and curses of demons had devolved into an incoherent din, the voices drowned out by the clanging of metal and the roar of spells. I instinctively ducked as several wind blades flew above my head, but the three knights behind me weren''t as quick. Their heads flew off from their shoulders, their necks cleanly severed by the nigh invisible spells.

    "Sorry for getting ahead of you guys," I told my deceased comrades, then continued charging forward. I wasn''t looking to get stuck in the fight. Quite the contrary. Restia wasn''t my world, I wasn''t blessed with the proper combat abilities, and I was almost killed several times (in fact, I actually died once) upon arriving here.

    I was sick of sticking my neck out for people who didn''t appreciate my efforts.

    I scrambled through the clearing, weaving through the crammed bodies. Despite the demons dominating the flow of the battle with magic, it wasn''t as if the humans were entirely helpless against them. A squad of knights counterattacked with a combined lightning spell that electrocuted a trio of demons on the edge of the fortress walls and sent their sizzling bodies toppling below in spasms. A tsunami swept across the clearing, washing away a line of heavily armored demons and hindering their movements long enough for a deadly hail of icicles to rain down on them. Despite their armor, the demons were impaled in several places and nailed lifelessly to the ground.

    "For the Emperor!"

    The casualties on both sides were staggering. Heaps of bodies were mounting, and an ocean of blood was forming beneath our soles. I avoided the thickest of the battle and evaded several devastating spells to get to the edge, pressing my wall against an unbroken piece of wall and catching my breath. My break didn''t last long, however, as several icicles thudded into the concrete beside me, breaking my cover. I immediately flopped down.

    "Bloody hell!"

    Swearing, I crawled along the stained grown, not caring that my once pristine armor was now smeared in crimson and other fouler fluids. The stench of death was revolting, or should be, but for some reason it was making me hungry.

    I clenched my teeth, angry that my mouth was watering. I really was no longer human. The dead were calling out to me, pleading to be fed on, and my stomach growled¡­

    Snap out of it!

    I shook my head furiously, banging it against the wall for good measure. This was no time to get distracted. I had to crawl to safety and avoid getting caught in the crossfire of a war that I never intended to be a part of.

    If I had been summoned properly alongside the rest of my classmates, and worked with them and the human kingdom of Restia to fight the demons from the start, I probably would have played along until the very end, as one of the thirty heroes. But alas, my classmates attempted to murder me, and then they hogged all the glory while sacrificing normal soldiers as pawns.

    To be honest, if I hadn''t been ditched from the start and forced to disguise myself as one of the common soldier folk, I probably wouldn''t be able to empathize with them. That said, the knights were willingly expending their lives for victory. I admired their noble self-sacrifice, and felt guilty about leaving them to fight while I desperately scrambled to stay alive.

    It felt so¡­selfish. So self-centered. While everyone was dying out there, willingly paying the price for victory, here I was, crawling in the dirt to stay alive at all costs. Just so I could take my revenge on my hateful classmates.

    But this isn''t my world. There is no reason for me to fight and die for it. I have no loved ones here, no friends¡­

    Those deranged, murderous classmates of mine couldn''t be counted as friends.

    I took a deep breath and pushed myself up. A yell to my right caused me to jump to my feet ¨C and just in time too. An earth spike burst out of the ground I was hugging earlier, slicing through the air. If I had been just a millisecond slower, I would have been impaled and held aloft helplessly, thrashing about in the air.

    That looked like a painful way to die. Even worse, I probably wouldn''t die from that. I didn''t want to imagine being trapped with something spearing my body and holding me high up in the air, suffering for goodness knows how long¡­

    Keep moving, you idiot!

    I scurried away before a hail of icicles rained down on my position, embedding themselves deeply in the soil. Hearing a roar, I looked up, only to see a heavily armored orc-like demon charging at me while swinging his massive axe.

    "Whoa!"

    I jumped away as his axe cleaved toward me, easily slicing through the wall. With a bellow, the orc closed in on me, slashing away and forcing me to duck. Remembering that I had a sword, I adopted a stance from one of those kendo lessons my father drilled into me in his dojo, and thrusted my blade forward. The orc had over-swung his axe, missing my head and burying the hatchet in the wall behind me. As he grunted and yanked on his massive weapon, I seized the opportunity and stabbed at an opening, plunging my blade into a vulnerable area left open by a gap in the armor.

    "Aaaaargh!"

    The orc bellowed in pain as it flailed about. Blinded by pain, it let go of the axe and staggered behind. Grabbing hold of the axe, which had been loosened by the orc''s efforts, I pulled with all my strength to free it of the last few centimeters of concrete it was buried in, and then used the momentum to swing the heavy weapon at the orc''s head, detaching it from his shoulder.

    "Huff¡­"

    I stared at the headless corpse, which staggered for a few moments before realizing that it was dead. It teetered before falling forward, and I hastily jumped out of the way before I could get knocked over by the huge bulk.

    "You shouldn''t have gotten ahead of yourself," I told the orc, and then hastily left before several wind blades cut into the wall behind me. Panting, I ran off, keeping my head low to avoid getting it taken off my stray spells.

    Zing!

    I threw myself down as something sliced through the air, cutting apart both humans and demons alike. Crawling across the blood, I desperately grabbed a sword from a dead knight, prying the weapon free from his hands. Thankfully, his death was just fresh. In a few hours, he would have undergone rigor mortis and it would be near impossible for me to break his grip, but for now he still felt warm despite lacking a pulse.

    "This is crazy!" I muttered under my breath as I scrambled back to my feet. There were far too many attacks to evade. It was a good thing I had pressed myself against the wall, which meant I didn''t to worry about any attacks coming from that front.

    But it also meant one less avenue of escape.

    "Incoming!"

    The officer''s warning barely came in time. I looked up in reflex and saw a massive fireball flying toward my position. Cursing, I kicked away and tried to jump, but the flaming projectile was too huge to evade completely. The fireball struck the wall behind me and exploded, buffeting me with superheated shockwaves that sent me flying. My armor turned red-hot, scorching the flesh underneath that it was supposed to be protecting.

    I smashed through the castle wall and was sent sprawling underneath a pile of rubble. My vision blackened and I groaned, my mind almost blanking out from the pain. From the sounds of nearby moans and screams, I gathered that I wasn''t the only target or casualty of the blast. It wasn''t just humans. Even demons had fallen from the blast, their bodies smoking.

    "Wow, they''re really having a blast, aren''t they?"

    I sighed and shook my head. Reaching out, I pulled myself out of the debris and crawled to the open. Unfortunately, the pain was far too much. Wincing at my snapped arm, I was forced to pause and lie helplessly amidst the rubble.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    I closed my eyes and struggled to endure the pain. As I expected, my left arm began twisting back to its natural angle and straightening, the broken bones mending. As the heat from my armor faded away, my burns began to heal over, the blisters closing up and mending.

    Then I heard a familiar voice.

    "Don''t falter! Get him!"

    "Yeah!"

    Ignoring the pain, which was slowly disappearing, I hastily pulled myself up and crawled through the rubble, peering through the cracks. A blinding flash of light seared itself into my retinas for a few seconds, but once I recovered, I confirmed what I was looking at.

    My classmates were fighting the Demon Lord.

    "Takeshi! Take the left! Yuji! The right! Minamoto-san! We''re relying on you! Magic support, please cover us!"

    Unsurprisingly, Kobayashi Kenji had taken command, directing the class in the fight against the Demon Lord. Kijima and Yamada obeyed him without hesitation, brandishing their swords. While slashing his golden sword, Kijima unleashed a pride of golden lions, their bodies glowing ethereally, as they assaulted a single man dressed in black cape. From the other side, Yamada bore down on that same man with a gigantic axe, swinging the massive weapon down to cleave him in half. Meanwhile, Kureha and Kobayashi assaulted the man from the center, their swords flashing at blinding speeds that my eyes couldn''t follow. From behind, showers of fireballs, lightning, icicles, thorny vines, earth spikes and wind blades arced across the vast interior of the castle to crash down against the solitary figure, who merely stood calmly in the face of overwhelming destruction.

    The Demon Lord. Huge horns curled from his head, his long, black hair sweeping past his shoulders. A regal, dark cloak was draped across his shoulders, pinned in place by golden pads. His eyes were inky black, his pupils so deep they seemed to suck whoever stared into them in. I shuddered. I was reminded of a black hole.

    Despite the relentless attacks, he merely raised a hand. Black lightning splayed from his fingers and rapidly spread out in a colossal web, catching the magical attacks in the air and destroying them before they could reach him. In his right hand, he held a massive scythe that towered over him, which he swung to parry both Kobayashi and Kureha''s blades. Deftly deflecting their attacks, he turned around and sliced through Kijima''s lions, dissipating the ferocious beasts into harmless energy, and then kicked at the approaching Kijima, forcing him back. Spinning around to duck under Kureha''s blade, and parrying Kobayashi''s sword with his scythe, he twisted and sidestepped Yamada''s axe before striking the big guy''s chest with his palm and blowing him off.

    "Yuji!"

    Kobayashi glanced at his comrade, his lips twisting into a sneer. I could tell what he was thinking.

    Useless buffoon, can''t even do his job right.

    Well, neither could he. Before he could counterattack, the Demon Lord slashed at him with his scythe, pressuring him into the defensive. Perspiration ran down Kobayashi''s face as he tried to hold the Demon Lord at bay. Kureha tried to strike from the side, but the Demon Lord skillfully evaded her blade before knocking her off the steps in his throne room, and then crashed against a staggering Kobayashi, bringing him to his knees.

    "Uh¡­"

    Kobayashi grunted, gradually caving in to the Demon Lord''s attacks. Before the Demon Lord could press his advantage, however, Tsukishima Tomoyo''s black magic streaked across the throne room to slam into him. However, the Demon Lord intuitively detected the attack and quickly pulled back. The black spells struck the carpet, causing it to rot.

    "Oh, black magic?"

    The Demon Lord looked more amused than appalled. Scowling, Tsukishima launched a second wave of black magic at him, but this time he didn''t even bother to evade. Raising his left arm, he caught the dark blast with his bare hand.

    "What¡­?"

    Tsukishima gaped at him in disbelief, but the Demon Lord merely chuckled.

    "What''s so surprising? Isn''t it natural that the Demon Lord would be completely immune to black magic? I am the master of those dark arts you''re so proud of."

    "That can''t be¡­!"

    Even as she fell back, the rest of our classmates stepped in to fire divine blasts and other elemental spells. The Demon Lord merely shook his head with a chuckle.

    "Shall I show you? The real method of using dark magic?"

    With a single flick of his hand, he enveloped the entire throne room in darkness, sucking all the spells into a bottomless abyss.

    "No way¡­"

    "What the hell is with this cheat-level character?"

    "I know he''s the final boss, but this is just ridiculous! This game is broken!"

    Despite clearly being outmatched in a life-and-death situation, it seemed my former classmates were still treating this as a game. Ganging up on a single guy, treating this like a boss battle and discarding soldiers'' lives as expendable pawns (because they considered the knights NPCs), none of their actions seemed to indicate that they were taking this seriously.

    "How do we beat a cheat-boss like him?"

    "This is so unfair!"

    "Quit whining!" Kobayashi snapped at them. "We can beat him! He''s just a boss character! We''re the chosen ones! The heroes! We have cheat abilities of our own! On my mark, charge!"

    Kijima and Yamada had gotten back to their feet, and they followed their leader doggedly. Kureha hesitated, but she joined the guys. Behind, the rest of the class followed, rallied by Kobayashi''s rousing speech and joining the fight.

    Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Demon Lord lived up to his name. Moving with superhuman speed, he swung his scythe and kicked a few students off the steps, while simultaneously dodging the rest of the attacks.

    The guy was downright insane.

    Wreathed in black lightning, he blew up a bunch of my classmates, sending them flying. Behind, the girls in charge of healing stepped forward and began casting restoration spells on their wounded comrades. I took note of Yoshida Yume, Midorikawa Midori and Aoyama Aoi. So those two girls and one guy were the main healers in class, huh¡­

    I needed to factor that into my strategy for my eventual confrontation. They would prove troublesome, especially if I aimed to kill Kobayashi and the others. Granted, the two girls were gentle, sweet and kind to everyone except me, and while they didn''t exactly bully me, they never helped me either. Hmm, come to think of it, didn''t Midorikawa call me disgusting the other day? And Yoshida looked repulsed and disgusted when I fell near her as well. As for Aoyama, he probably didn''t even know I existed.

    Yeah¡­they hated my guts too. Fine, they were in my hit list as well.

    Ooyama Eiji, the biggest guy in class, came swinging with his hammer. Lightning wreathed his hammer, spraying the Demon Lord, but the latter remained unfazed. Instead, the Demon Lord caught the hammer with the head of his scythe, then spun it around to slam the shaft into Ooyama''s stomach, causing him to double over. While the big guy grunted and fell to his knees, the Demon Lord kicked him in the jaw, felling the poor boy.

    Crack.

    I winced at the ominous sound. That had to hurt.

    Twirling his scythe like a staff, the Demon Lord fended off hordes of the so-called heroes at once. From my vantage point, it seemed ironic how the supposed heroes were doing something as unheroic as ganging up on a single opponent. Granted, the Demon Lord was super strong, so they couldn''t afford to be picky with their options. Had Kobayashi done the honorable thing, he would have been slain long ago. While that would be a good thing for me, I couldn''t rely on my classmates being that stupid.

    Besides, it was more satisfying to take revenge with my own two hands than to have someone else do it for me.

    Despite being swept off their feet like bowling pins, Kobayashi and the others kept coming.

    "Don''t give up!" Kobayashi shouted. "He''s getting tired!"

    Indeed, even though the Demon Lord''s strokes and counterattacks remained vicious and fast as ever, perspiration was pouring down his face, and I saw that his white face was growing a shade paler from the exertion.

    However, he fought on, spinning his scythe and knocking my classmates over with brute force. With a roar, he threw up his left hand and blasted a few of my classmates off their feet, scorching them with black magic. With a cry, Tomoyo swung her staff and countered with her own wave of black energy, but the Demon Lord''s spell overwhelmed her and consumed her. With a cry, Tsukishima toppled over, her robes blazing.

    "You¡­!"

    Kureha jumped in, her sword flashing in sharp, golden lights. The Sword Saint matched the Demon Lord blow for blow, her each stroke getting quicker and more accurate. The Demon Lord grunted, finding himself pushed back, but he somehow managed to avoid getting cut at all. With a growl, he firmly stepped forward, shoving Kureha away. Kureha bounced off the floor nimbly and launched a counterattack, which the Demon Lord barely blocked in time.

    While the Demon Lord was distracted, Kijima summoned his golden lions again and simultaneously swung his sword, while Yamada and Kobayashi swept from his flanks. Snarling, the Demon Lord dropped his scythe, the tall weapon''s shaft slamming into the floor without falling over, then threw both hands out to launch a dark nova that sent the trio hurtling across the throne room. The three healers, upon seeing their leader buried under rubble, abandoned their efforts on the wounded and hastily ran toward Kobayashi''s position.

    It was clear that they were part of his harem.

    With the main trio out of commission, Suzuki Shirou and Samejima Hiroki stepped forward to fill the void. Backing Kureha up, the three heroes fought with sword, spear and axe, forcing the Demon Lord on the defensive. Picking his scythe back up, the Demon Lord twirled it like a staff, keeping the sharp edges of his enemies'' weapons at bay. Suzuki thrust his spear forward in a deadly stab, but the Demon Lord managed to parry it while raising the shaft slightly to deflect Kureha''s slash. His scythe then glowed and he unleashed a crescent shaped blast at Samejima, but the latter managed to cleave the dark energy apart with his enchanted axe.

    They were finally overwhelming the Demon Lord!

    While the trio pushed the Demon Lord back, a few classmates at the back gathered their energies and launched magic spells from behind. The Demon Lord, while spinning his scythe about to parry the three deadly weapons, did a cartwheel and avoided the arcane projectiles that ripped across the ground with explosions.

    Charging through the smoke, Kureha gave a yell as she thrust her sword forward. The Demon Lord deflected her sword before slashing at her with his scythe, but Kureha twisted her body in midair and jumped away, dodging the crescent-shaped weapon by a hair''s breadth. The Demon Lord was preoccupied for the briefest of moments, and Suzuki seized the chance to charge through the smoke as well with a second thrust.

    "¡­!"

    The Demon Lord grabbed the spear with his left hand, stopping it just before it reached his heart. Blood dripped from his wounded hand, the first time he was ever injured. With a growl, the Demon Lord blasted Suzuki off his feet with a dark spell from his left hand, sending the spear hero hurtling across the throne room.

    Kureha took advantage of the opening to launch a dual attack together with Samejima, who had also emerged from the curtain of magic spells that the Demon Lord was desperately evading. The Demon Lord growled and sent another tide of black shadows to engulf Kureha before she could overwhelm him with her elegant swordsmanship, and then gracefully spun around to counter Samejima''s axe with his scythe.

    Samejima grinned, and then unleased an icy blast of magic at pointblank range. The Demon Lord staggered back, his arms beginning to freeze over, but he managed to parry Samejima''s next strike before kicking him back. Samejima staggered back, but stood his ground firmly. With a roar, he charged at the Demon Lord.

    The Demon Lord sidestepped his charge and countered with a hack, but Samejiima managed to block it with his axe by spinning around at the last second. Meanwhile, behind him, the fully healed Kobayashi jumped in to join the fray.

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    The Demon Lord raised a hand to blast him with oblivion, but Kobayashi''s quick reflexes allowed him to dodge. Instead, Kobayashi took cover behind Samejima. The Demon Lord was confused for a moment, but decided to obliterate the both of them together with a single spell.

    Then Kobayashi pushed Samejima forward. It was a subtle movement, but I could see it clearly from my vantage point. Using his elbow, he smacked the small of Samejima''s back, driving him forward and leading him to be impaled by the Demon Lord''s scythe. Gargling bloodily, Samejima flailed helplessly, dropping his axe. Confused by his enemies'' betrayal of each other, the Demon Lord made to pull his scythe out of the dying Samejima, but his reaction was delayed by the briefest of seconds.

    That was all the time Kobayashi needed.

    With his defenses wide open, the Demon Lord was unable to prevent Kobayashi from plunging his sword into his chest.

    "Gaaah!"

    Letting go of his scythe, the Demon Lord staggered back, clutching at the sword Kobayashi had driven into his chest. Cursing under his breath, he raised his glowing hands to retaliate with a spell, but Kobayashi grinned. A step faster, he unleashed his own divine spell, tearing the Demon Lord apart from the inside with a holy blast.

    "Heh."

    Kobayashi crowed triumphantly as he raised his sword victoriously.

    "We did it! We slew the Demon Lord!"

    The rest of the class stared at him in disbelief, shocked and overawed by the turn of events. A few of them turned their eyes to Samejima, who was lying prone at his feet.

    "Ah¡­"

    Midorikawa rushed forward to cast a healing spell on him, to no avail. After several attempts, she looked up, shaking her head.

    "Samejima-kun is dead. I can''t¡­bring him back to life."

    "What a pity."

    Kobayashi''s acting skills were golden. He had switched from triumph to solemn in a few seconds, kneeling respectfully beside Samejima. Raising his sword, he shouted at the rest of the class.

    "Samejima-kun gave his life so that we may achieve victory! Let us honor his brave sacrifice. His actions here will never be forgotten!''

    What a lying bastard¡­I didn''t know how he could say all that with a straight face, given how he was the one who sacrificed Samejima to his own ends so that he could deal the finishing blow and earn the honor of slaying the Demon Lord.

    The guy was a cold-blooded murderer who didn''t hesitate to sacrifice even his own classmates as long as he benefited from it.

    None of the other classmates objected or said anything. They were all standing, their heads bowed respectfully. It was almost comical how they were mourning Samejima. Did none of them see Kobayashi push him to his death? Or was I afforded a unique view from my specific vantage point? Or did they perhaps recognized the so-called necessity of his ruthlessness?

    They made me sick to my stomach.

    However, as the smoke cleared, the bunch of students realized something.

    "Where''s the Demon Lord?"

    At Tsukishima''s question, everyone stared at the devastated throne room, but they found no sign of the Demon Lord''s remains.

    "Don''t tell me he escaped?"

    "No way¡­"

    "That''s not right." Kobayashi was fighting panic. "I blew him up from the inside. So of course there wouldn''t be any body. I destroyed him completely."

    "¡­if you say so."

    "Hey, if you have something to say, say it!" Kobayashi snapped. Suzuki, who had made the statement, merely shrugged.

    "I''m just saying you''re right."

    "You don''t sound convinced."

    Suzuki quaked under Kobayashi''s glare, but didn''t protest. He stayed silent.

    I shook my head. I couldn''t bear to witness such an ugly scene. Even in the aftermath of victory, Kobayashi was still tyrannically imposing his will on our classmates with his arrogance.

    The guy made me sick.

    Sighing, I tried to crawl out of the rubble, but the ground underneath me gave way and I fell underground.

    "Gah!"

    I hit something with a splash. Coughing, I quickly crawled to my feet and looked around. Thanks to my undead ability, I was able to see in the darkness. It looked like some sort of manmade underground tunnel, with water sloshing at the center.

    A sewer?

    "Just my luck."

    Cursing under my breath, I began to move across the damp road that wound through the underground tunnel. Beside me, the water gently lapped at the edges, while the sounds of fighting persisted above. Even with the Demon Lord dead, his soldiers fought on, either desperate or ignorant of their master''s demise.

    Well, at least I was free from the fighting. The heroes had won. The knights would mop up the remaining pockets of demonic resistance, and then we would return to the city. There, I could begin gathering intelligence, learn more about the world Restia, and plan my revenge on my classmates.

    However, as I walked on, I became aware of a scrabbling behind me. Shocked, I turned around and caught sight of the wounded Demon Lord staggering from another corridor, leaning on the wall for support and leaving a trail of blood.

    When he caught sight of me, he froze.

    "You¡­" he snarled. I realized that he saw me as an enemy, particularly since I was wearing the same silver armor as the human knights. Albeit it was coated in grime, dust and blood ever since the battle begun, but I clearly looked human.

    "I come in peace," I quickly raised my hands in surrender. The Demon Lord narrowed his eyes and considered for a few moments before he nodded. Those inky, black eyes gleamed as something ominous swirled in them.

    "Hmm¡­I see." He smiled, licking his lips. "Come to think of it, I''ve suffered severe injuries. I require some fresh blood to recover¡­"

    Hey, I can hear you, you know?

    As if he wasn''t paying any attention to me, the Demon Lord gestured for me to proceed toward him. I blinked. Surely he didn''t expect me to just walk over to him, a clear enemy?

    And then I understood. There were black tendrils creeping out of his fingers. He directed the shadows toward me, the dark strands coiling around my limbs and body. I shuddered at the icy touch, and tried to yank free, but they remained firm.

    "Come to me¡­"

    The Demon Lord''s voice sounded soothing, but I found it annoying. At first, he looked confused when I refused to move, and then he poured more magical energy into the tendrils.

    I finally understood. He was trying to manipulate me through mind control.

    Sighing, I strode toward him. The Demon Lord''s anger dissipated and he smiled at what he thought was my suppliant attitude. Leaning against the wall, he eagerly staggered toward me, his fingers glowing with even more ominous magic.

    "Come, give me your blood¡­"

    He chuckled.

    "Given how you resisted my control magic at first, you must possess a great deal of innate magic. Your blood must be full of mana. Good¡­I can''t believe how lucky I am. Your blood will speed up my healing process¡­soon I''ll recover, and then I''ll take revenge on those wretched heroes. They may have scattered my armies, but I''ll unite them, and¡­"

    By now, I had reached him, so he mercifully shut up. Raising his hand, he formed a shadowy scythe and made to slash me open, so as to drink from my veins.

    I didn''t let him. Before he could move, I stabbed him with my sword.

    "Uh¡­?"

    The Demon Lord stared dumbly at the sword in his chest. Without waiting for him to respond, I tore the blade through his shoulder and decapitated him. His head bounced off the wall before hitting the ground and rolling to a stop beside my feet.

    The headless body stood for a few seconds, his hands grasping at his bloody neck, as if it couldn''t believe that he had just lost his head.

    "Looks like you''re no longer the head of the demons," I told him, and kicked the body down, hacking it apart with my sword.

    The Demon Lord''s head continued to stare up at me in disbelief, despite the life fading from its eyes. The guy died without understanding what had happened. He was so sure that he had me under his control, manipulating me and pulling my strings like some sort of puppet¡­but he never imagined that this "puppet" possessed Adamantium Will.

    A special ability that rendered me completely immune to all mind control or manipulation magic. I knew I couldn''t beat him in a physical or magical battle, at least not directly, so I had faked falling under his spell and following his mental commands just so I could draw close to him and deliver the fatal blow when his guard was completely down.

    Looks like the gamble paid off dividends.

    Smiling to myself, I lifted a disembodied arm and studied it, my stomach growling. "How lucky¡­a Demon Lord like you definitely has some sort of special ability, right? I wonder, what will I get if I eat you?"

    Opening my watering mouth, I bit down and began to feed.

 10 Chapter 10: Ascension

    I probably blanked out while devouring the poor Demon Lord, so lost was I in my instincts that I couldn''t remember anything.

    Best to keep it that way, to preserve my sanity. That was assuming that I still had my sanity in the first place, of course.

    Shaking my head, I kicked the remains of the Demon Lord into the channel of water flowing through the sewer, and staggered toward the open. Rubbing my eye and stretching myself after such a good meal, I proceeded toward a corridor that was dimly illuminated by a tiny ray of sunlight. Even though we started the fight at noon, only a scant few hours had passed, and it was well before evening. The sun had yet to set.

    That was good. I didn''t want to fumble around in a sewer when it was totally dark.

    Pushing my glasses up, I surveyed my surroundings. The place looked relatively new, as if it was recently built, and was quite modern given the medieval setting. That was fine by me, given that I had to traverse it.

    While I did so, my intuition alerted me to the update in my skill set and I flicked my hand in reflex. A small blue window appeared right in front of me. I glanced at it, and was so stunned by the updates that I came to a stop.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness

    Yeah, I had been promoted to a lich. I supposed I meant I could summon zombies and control them. And my job had changed from being a zombie to a gravekeeper, whatever that meant. I had no idea what a gravekeeper did. Guard graves? Protect a cemetery? Watch over the dead? I tapped on the word, but it didn''t provide any details.

    On the other hand, Lord of Darkness seemed to provide a whole host of details that I plundered from the Demon Lord thanks to my Devour ability.

    Lord of Darkness: As Master of Darkness, you have gained access to powerful arcane spells and bonuses of ominous origins.

    Spells: Reanimate, Thousand Astral Graves, Doombolt, Corrupting Darkness, Shadow Lunar Fang, Dark Barrier

    Bonuses: Resistance to darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, power of darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, energy cost of casting darkness-type spells decreased by 500%, durability and magical energy buffed by 50%, Machiavellian Charisma (all demons are 50% more willing to obey you), Dark Weapon Mastery (adept in any weapon of slaughter)

    Hell, no! No way in hell was I going down that ridiculous route! My name was not Nagumo Hajime! I had plans of revenge, and I planned to go through with them, not play house with a growing harem that included a loli vampire, a dumb rabbit girl, a former classmate and more. Nor was I going to conveniently find a cute classmate who was abandoned and killed by Kobayashi, revive her as my slave, and have her fall for me, then end up having all the girls in class in my harem while hypocritically killing all the guys.

    I wasn''t Katsuragi Daichi either.

    "I probably need to test out these new abilities," I remarked as I dismissed the blue holographic window. While these spells, bonuses and special abilities sound amazing on paper, I didn''t know how they would work out in reality. For one thing, there was no indication of levels, so I wasn''t sure how vast the gap between my strength and my classmates'' were. Surely I didn''t surpass their power levels and six months'' of experience just from eating a Demon Lord, right?

    While, I would find some way to find out sooner or later. I hope. Preferably before I encountered any of my evil classmates, who were most likely celebrating their victory over the Demon Lord right now. Making use of this opportunity, I fled through the sewer and reached the corridor that was bathed in relatively bright light. Looking forward, I saw a small gate at the end of the corridor, barring my way out. A verdant overgrowth had grown around the grilles, Nature forcibly reclaiming her territory as she curled her vines and leaves over the black metal.

    I decided to help her a little, and while at it, test out my new spells. Raising my hand, I directed my palm toward the metal grille and took a deep breath.

    "Doombolt!"

    I felt stupid shouting the name of the technique out, but I didn''t know how else to cast them. The techniques listed in my special ability column provided no details on how to execute them, and the system wasn''t intuitive. That is, I didn''t "automatically" know the casting process or had the information uploaded to my brain after gaining it.

    So the only way was by imagining how I thought it would be and hoping it manifests when I shouted the name of the spell. Damn it, and while I was floundering in a clueless manner, my classmates had all the access to whatever resources and training they needed, and six months of experience. I was so far behind.

    The unfairness of it all struck me and I clenched my fists, feeling a spike of rage. As if in response to my boiling emotions, a black bolt of energy leaped out of my right hand and hammered into the grille, disintegrating both the metal and the overgrowth curling over the bars in one hit. My jaw dropped as I watched the aftermath of my attack.

    If that had been a human¡­

    I grinned. Yeah. I was so going to enjoy casting this on my fucking classmates. They deserved to be obliterated in a similar manner.

    For now, I had to rein in my excitement and proceed outside, back to the surface. The dins of battle had died out, and I scrambled into the open air, relieved. The air outside was a lot fresher. For some reason, the sewer didn''t stink as much as I thought it would, but it still felt suffocating and constrictive. Perhaps my sense of smell had mercifully dulled upon becoming an undead, or I just didn''t give a shit about shit, but whatever the case, I felt relieved upon emerging into the forested area that waited beyond the exit.

    The sun was no longer at its zenith, but it was shining through the scattered canopy of the forest that welcomed me. The din of the battlefield sounded so far away, but I knew it wouldn''t last long. The humans had won. The Demon Lord had been slain ¨C even if not by the hand of the heroes, then at least eaten by me. The war was over.

    Any time now, the demons would be fleeing. Or it would become a rout, with the demons fighting futilely to the very last and getting wiped out.

    I feel sorry for them.

    I glanced in the direction of the battlefield, feeling a little tang of pity. Even though they were enemies who had tried to kill me, such an action was because they were trying to survive against the human army that I was a part of. They held no grudge or bore no resentment toward me, but operated out of necessity. Kill or be killed. I couldn''t begrudge them for their efforts ¨C after all, it was the instinct of every living thing to stay alive.

    On the other hand, my classmates weren''t under such restrictions. They tried to kill me not because of necessity or to survive, but because they enjoyed it. They thought it was funny, and it assuaged their ego and made them feel powerful. There was no necessity, nor would any harm befall them if they didn''t bully me, but they did so out of free will, out of choice, and not because their hands were forced in any way.

    Put it in this manner, I could clearly see who the real demons were.

    Why do they call them demons anyway? Ah¡­because of the kanji magic.

    For some reason, the kanji ma (Ä§) always had a negative connotation. The Demon Lord Maou (Ä§Íõ) and the actual word for devil, akuma (™Ä§) all possessed that word, and bestowed upon it a sinister, terrifying meaning.

    But perhaps they weren''t so much as menacing but misunderstood?

    "Well, no point philosophizing over this right now."

    Pushing my glasses up, I shook my head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts and proceeded through the forest. I was still dressed in the silver knight armor of the human kingdom, so I could continue to pass off as one of them and infiltrate the city. My original goal to reach the capital and gather intelligence remained unchanged, for I had no other alternative. I knew too little about Restia and the heroes. Even if they were my classmates, they had undoubtedly changed tremendously over the last six months.

    I must find out more about them and their abilities.

    "Let''s hurry."

    I hoped I could reach the Demon Lord''s fallen castle in time, before the human army left. I doubted they would leave the castle alone, though. Surely they would post an occupying force there. But if my goal was to follow the main army back to the capital city of the human kingdom, then it was completely pointless to end up doing sentry duty on a fallen castle so far away from human civilization. It wouldn''t be the end of the world, and I could still collect information from fellow soldiers there, but it wasn''t ideal, and the intelligence I could gather would be severely limited.

    No, it would be better for me to get to the capital. Though that would be dangerous in its own right, what with my classmates living there, I might actually be safer there than I thought. My classmates would never imagine that there would be an enemy living right under their noses. And what was that old adage?

    Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Yeah, keeping my classmates closer would actually be a good move.

    I picked up the pace and hurried toward the castle, which towered over the tall trees that surrounded it. I could still hear faint sounds of clashing, though they had grown a lot softer and more spaced apart. The battle was clearly in its final stages, the demons either being routed or fleeing after learning the news of the demise of their Demon Lord. The knights, buoyed by the victory of their heroes, would probably gain a new surge of strength for this last stretch.

    Gripping my sword, I ran.

    "!"

    Before I could get very far, however, I instinctively dodged to the side as a flaming projectile crashed toward me. My hand drew my sword before I knew it, and I rolled up in an offensive stance, the weapon feeling so natural that it felt like an extension of me. A few arrows and icicle spells rained down on me, but I deftly cut through them without pausing. I sprang forward without consciously making the decision, my eyes scanning the clearing and instinctively sweeping for enemies.

    Dark Weapon Mastery.

    I couldn''t believe it. The ability was real. My body was moving in accordance with skills I definitely hadn''t learned before. Even though I had some experience with kendo, I had never trained to the extent where I could slice through magic spells effortlessly and move toward the closest enemy instinctively to hunt them down.

    My eyes widened when I saw my opponents. A column of armored demons were moving in my direction. A long-eared, dark-skinned demon was pointing her staff at me and unleashing several spells, which I easily dodged. A few black-armored knights charged at me, but I merely swept through them, intuitively slashing at the weak points in their armor and incapacitating them. A giant, two-handed axe flashed down, but I sidestepped it, slightly deflecting it to the side with my blade, and then stepped in to drive my sword into his armpit. The giant, orc-like knight cried out and fell to his knees, but I kicked him and yanked out my weapon, twisting around to deflect another blade. This time, I cut my assailant at his elbow, causing him to drop his sword, and then ducked down to avoid a second sword while lashing out with a roundhouse kick that floored my first opponent.

    Flipping my body over to avoid another slash from my second opponent, I did a cartwheel before ramming my foot into his jaw, dislocating it and causing him to fly off his feet. Righting myself, I stumbled back to evade a thrust at my chest, then twisted around to ram the hilt of my sword into the armored breastplate of my assailant. As he staggered, I jumped up and planted my foot on his helm to spring myself above a berserk, gigantic knight that was wielding a hammer. Flipping my body in midair and evading the massive hammer agilely, I thrust out with my sword and plunged my blade into the knight''s neck, where the shoulder plates just ended and the collarbone began.

    "Gaaah!"

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    The knight gave a guttural roar as he staggered back, but I kicked his face before landing.

    The second wave of knights came at me, but I held out my left hand and barked a single order in a voice filled with authority.

    "Stop!"

    The knights all stopped on reflex, their armored helms looking around in confusion when their bodies momentarily locked up at my command. Without wasting a single second, I stabbed my sword into the ground and held up both empty hands to indicate my unwillingness to fight.

    "I am not your enemy."

    "Oh, really?"

    The dark-skinned elf-like demon, who had casted magic earlier, stepped forward and pointed her staff aggressively at me.

    "You invaded our castle, slew our king, and then claim you''re not our enemy, human?"

    "I''m not human."

    Unlocking the silver armor, I dropped the breastplate to the ground and shrugged out of my protective gear. Wearing a crooked smile, I narrowed my eyes and tried to rely on my Machiavellian Charisma ability. All demons were supposed to have an additional 50% chance of obeying me, but other than my first command, which took them by surprise, they didn''t seem very compliant. The black-armored knights were still holding their weapons and warily surrounding me.

    I sighed. "You can check your comrades if you don''t believe me. I injured them, but I didn''t kill any of them."

    A few medics hurried forward to check on the groaning or unconscious knights I felled, and looked up to confirm my declaration to the dark elf, who seemed to be their leader. I focused my attention on her. If I wanted to get the group to follow me, she was the main person I had to convince. I had to persuade her that I was one of them.

    It might not be a bad idea to throw my lot in with the demons instead.

    I discarded my original plan of infiltrating the human kingdom and gathering knowledge. I would obtain just as much intelligence, or in fact much better intelligence regarding the heroes from the enemies who were forced to scout and discover as much information about them as possible in order to fight them. They might even have strategies and tactics with regard to the heroes and the disposition of the human army.

    Furthermore, I needed allies. If I wanted revenge, it would be more difficult for me to do it alone than if I had people who were willing to cooperate with me. It would be even better if such people were also aiming to take revenge on the heroes. The enemy of the enemy was my friend, and we would have a common, shared goal that would ensure loyalty until we achieved it.

    I would worry about everything else after I killed my classmates.

    "How do you want me to prove that I''m an undead?" I asked, keeping my hands raised and taking a step toward them.

    "Undead?"

    There was a series of murmurs that rippled across the demon army, but their female commander silenced them with a stare.

    "¡­what do you mean, undead?"

    "I''m a lich." I scratched my head and conjured my blue screen. "I can show you my information if you need me to."

    "What are you talking about?" the commander demanded, looking blankly at me. I raised my eyes, puzzled. So none of the demons or residents of Restia could see the blue status screen? Typical. They were non-playable characters analogues, after all.

    "Well, how do you expect me to prove myself, then?" I retorted impatiently. The commander glared at me, then closed her eyes.

    "Well¡­you do have a demonic aura about you that can''t possibly be human," she admitted. I rolled my eyes.

    "That''s what I''ve been trying to tell you."

    "Even so, we can''t trust you so easily¡­"

    Then her eyes widened and she spun toward her troops.

    "Evasive maneuvers! There''s a hero behind us!"

    "Too late."

    A black blast of energy consumed a section of black knights, causing their skin to rot. Screaming, they fell to the ground, writhing as they died slowly.

    The other knights quickly dispersed, their commander twisting around and firing a fireball in the direction of the black spell. However, a shadow leaped out and swatted the fireball out of the sky, sending it careening into a tree and blowing it into fiery splinters.

    "That''s¡­"

    The demon commander and her knights backed away fearfully as their single assailant stepped into the clearing, flicking her long, black hair.

    "Caught you. I''m not going to let any of you escape."

    With her staff, she launched a second wave of black, corruptive energy that scorched the earth and caused plants to wilt. The knights scattered, but there were a huge number of them who couldn''t get out of the way in time. Their thick armor weighed heavily on their bodies, impeding their movements and slowing their speed.

    The spell never reached them.

    "Dark Barrier."

    A black, translucent screen materialized between the demonic knights and the dark, corrupting spell, halting it before it could reach them. The spell dissipated harmlessly against the barrier, the spellcaster gazing at the protective layer in disbelief.

    "How¡­?"

    I stepped to the front with my right hand raised, still shielded behind my Dark Barrier. The demonic knights and the dark elf looked at me in astonishment.

    "Well, this is my chance to prove that I''m on your side." I flashed them a smile. "Get away from here as quickly as you can. I''ll slay that hero."

    The "hero" glared at me, rage displacing disbelief when she realized who I was.

    "Tanaka Tomoyuki. You''re still alive?"

    "Of course, I am." I grinned at my opponent. "But unfortunately, you wouldn''t be alive for long, Tsukishima Tomoyo."

 11 Chapter 11: Dead or Alive

    "Hurry up and run," I told the dark elf commander and her subordinates, who were stunned by the exchange between Tsukishima and myself.

    "You know one of Evelyn''s Chosen? She knows you?"

    "We''re old enemies." I closed my eyes briefly, bitterly recalling her betrayal along with Minamoto Kureha. "I have a score to settle with her."

    "Score to settle? You''re just trash. Die!"

    Tsukishima Tomoyo blasted my Dark Barrier with another of her corruptive energies. Another explosion flared up in the clearing, but had little effect.

    "Hurry up and leave," I told the dazed demons, who were still rooted in a stupor. "I can''t hold her off forever."

    "Are you kidding me?" the leader snapped. "How do I now you aren''t planning to trick us? Acting like enemies in front of us to prove your loyalty, but you''re actually secretly collaborating with her so that you can infiltrate us!"

    It seemed that my Machiavellian Charisma wasn''t working. Even with the 50% bonus, its level wasn''t high enough to convince the dark elf commander to obey me. So there were restrictions, after all. It wasn''t as simple as me getting cheat abilities.

    I was worried about how that would translate into a battle between myself and the more experienced Tsukishima, but I decided to gamble everything on it.

    "If you want to remain behind and get caught in the crossfire, be my guest," I replied with a shrug. "But I''m not going to waste energy or time protecting you guys."

    "Whoa!"

    "Let''s go!"

    The demonic subordinates were not as stubborn as their commander, and were already fleeing when another blast from Tsukishima flared against my barrier. Once they were out of harm''s way, I dismissed the barrier.

    "Ah!"

    The commander was forced to leap away when Tsukishima''s spell lanced toward her. As for me, I dove in the opposite direction, rolling on the floor and closing in the distance.

    "You think I''ll let you? Shadow Bind!"

    Slamming the blunt end of her magical staff against the ground, Tsukishima unleased dozens of shadowy tendrils from the ground, the shadows snaking upward to ensnare me. Drawing my sword, I sliced through them.

    "What¡­? How is he slicing through my Shadow Bind?"

    Tsukishima''s eyes widened momentarily as she watched me cleave through her network of shadows. Relying on Dark Weapon Mastery to dictate my movements, I subconsciously weaved through the shadows and closed in on my opponent. Gritting her teeth, Tsukishima raised her staff and hurled a bolt of corrosive energy at me.

    I was too close to dodge so I merely cut through the bolt with my sword. Tsukishima burst out laughing when she saw that.

    "How na?ve. My Dark Decay spell will destroy whatever it comes into contact with. Even your weapon!"

    "Fetid Field!"

    I stumbled backward, trying to cut through the black wave with my sword, but Tsukishima sent another bolt of energy right into my gut, sending me hurtling several meters backward. I crashed into a tree, the impact uprooting it and causing it to fall on top of me in a shower of splinters.

    "Ugh¡­"

    "How are you still alive?" Tsukishima demanded as she studied me keenly. Despite receiving her spells directly, there was no sign of decay or corruption. I had only suffered physical injuries at best. Even my sword was still in one piece.

    "Because you''re weak?" I offered. Tsukishima scowled and took another step forward, her staff glowing ominously.

    "Just die already!"

    She blasted me with another bolt of her Dark Decay, but I merely deflected it with my sword. The dark elf commander, who lingered close by, jumped when the deflected beam struck the ground near her, causing the grass to blacken and wilt immediately.

    "How¡­?"

    Both girls were staring at me skeptically now, bewildered over my apparent immunity to Tsukishima''s spells and curses. I wiped the blood from my mouth and shrugged.

    "I wonder. Like I said, maybe you''re too weak."

    In reality, I knew the reason. My Lord of Darkness special ability, which increased my resistance to dark-type spells by 200%. With such an overpowered buff, the effects of Tsukishima''s corrosive spells were drastically reduced.

    That didn''t mean I was completely immune to it, though. I could feel pain shooting across my body as the eldritch energies ate their way through my system. I could suppress them and heal myself after a while, but under constant bombardment, I would eventually succumb to the accumulated weight of Tsukishima''s curses despite my unnaturally high resistance to her affinity. I needed to think of a way to beat her before that. In a battle of attrition, Tsukishima would surely have the upper hand.

    However, she didn''t need to know that.

    I charged forward with my sword, slashing at Tsukishima as best as I could. She parried it with her staff, and then twirled it with surprising skill, sweeping the end at me and tripping me up. I was forced to jump over her staff, but she then abruptly changed the direction of her attack and thrust the blunt end of her staff at me. I knocked it away with the hilt of my sword, but she spun it around and cracked it against my head.

    "Gah!"

    I staggered, but managed to recover just in time to block the next attack. However, despite being a girl, Tsukishima was clearly physically stronger than I was. Perhaps it was all the training she received, or some form of magical enhancement. Whatever the case, I realized that I couldn''t beat her in a contest of brute strength.

    "Huff!"

    Tsukishima blasted me with another Fetid Field spell again before spinning around and cracking her staff against my skull. I barely managed to block the long, thick weapon with my sword, but its blade snapped.

    "¡­!"

    "Hah! Finally! I told you that your sword will eventually be destroyed by my spell!"

    Crowing, Tsukishima struck me with her staff. Despite crossing my arms and blocking the blow, the raw power behind Tsukishima''s struck hurled me across the clearing and sent me crashing into the woods, near the dark elf''s position.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Groaning, I lay in the small crater that I had smashed into, wincing from the tremendous pain that threatened to drown my consciousness in a crimson haze. I tried to stand, but I found that my arms were broken. Tsukishima''s blow had shattered the bones on my arms, and by God, did it hurt like hell. I almost blacked out from the pain, falling back onto the ground.

    "Hey! Are you all right?"

    "Y¡­yeah." I glanced at her with a frown. "You''re still here? Aren''t you afraid of getting caught up in our fight?"

    "You seem confident," the dark elf countered. "Why? The opponent is a Chosen of the goddess of humans, Evelyn, you know? And you''re getting beaten up so one-sidedly! That''s enough, you''ve proven your loyalty. It''s time to retreat to safety!"

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    "Tsukishima will catch up with us," I replied wearily. "There''s no way we can outrun her. I''ve to defeat her here and now."

    "Where are you getting all that confidence from?" the commander watched me curiously, her fingers tightening around her staff. "You¡­don''t seem to be one of us."

    "I''m not. But I''m not one of them either." My arms had finally straightened up, and I flinched as the Regeneration kicked in, piecing the fragments of my broken bones together and knitting torn flesh and muscle. The dark elf gazed at the astonishing sight, dumbfounded.

    "High-speed regeneration?"

    "I told you I''m an undead." Testing my arms warily, I confirmed that they were restored before I hopped back to my feet. "Don''t worry. I''ll show you that I can defeat a hero."

    "Heh¡­if you really can pull that off, I''ll want to watch it to the end." The commander stared at me, steely resolve hardening in her eyes. "It''s worth the risk."

    I didn''t need her to explain the reason. Any demon who could defeat a hero would spark hope in the defeated demon''s army and prove that they were capable of mounting a comeback despite the fall of their lord. He would be a symbol, a hero for the demons who would carry the burden of the entire race on his back.

    I didn''t want such a role, but if it would gain me an army and a large number of allies, then I would do whatever it took.

    "What are you guys talking about here?"

    Tsukishima Tomoyo strolled through the woods. Raising her staff, she fired another bolt of corrosive energy at me, but I merely slapped it away with my bare hands. My skin singed a little, but didn''t decay like the grass and trees around me. Tsukishima narrowed her eyes as she stopped to study me. Holding her staff with both hands, she prepared to attack.

    "I don''t know how you''re resisting my curses, but it seems that physical attacks are still effective against you. Well, it''ll be great to bludgeon trash like you to death."

    "You really enjoy thrashing trash, don''t you?" I remarked wryly.

    "Shut up!" Tsukishima screamed and flung herself at me. I dove to the side and hit the ground, rolling, even as her staff left craters in the ground. Yanking her staff up, Tsukishima swung the deadly weapon in my direction, attempting to club me to death. I jumped back, the tip of her staff just narrowly grazing my chest.

    "Your staff is understaffed."

    "I told you to shut up! You think you''re funny?"

    Not at all amused by my jokes, Tsukishima unleased another spell. I shielded myself with my arms, expecting them to be another bolt of Dark Decay or Fetid Field, but this time it was a barrage of shadowy phantoms that curled into the shape of blades.

    "Spectral Swords!"

    "Argh!"

    I cried out as the shadowy blades twisted and lashed out in flexible, twisting patterns, snaking out to slash me in several different places. My blood splattered the grass and ground and I felt to my knees, only for another blade to cut me in the neck.

    "Gah!"

    I tried to evade the onslaught of Spectral Swords, but there were far too many of them. They sliced and diced me, cutting me in several places. While I struggled to escape the deadly network of slashing specters, Tomoyo closed in and struck me with her staff. I could barely bring my arms up in time to block the blow before I was hurled across the clearing.

    "Damn it¡­"

    I lay on the ground, wheezing. Blood dripped from multiple wounds, but they were slowly closing up, the flesh knitting together and stopping the bleeding. My arms, numbed from the parry, were slowly recovering.

    But that wasn''t enough. That wasn''t enough at all.

    Slowly rising to my feet, I found myself knee-deep in the dead. The victims of Tsukishima''s spell from earlier lay strewn around me, their corpses lying, twisted in unnatural angles. Their eyes stared upward hollowly at the skies, and their mouths were frozen in rage and despair. I closed my eyes, but I could still see them in my mind, demanding vengeance on the one who slew them.

    "I see. So you want revenge too, huh?"

    I couldn''t help but chuckle at the irony. Yeah, I wasn''t the only one who wanted revenge. I wasn''t the only one who was killed by my classmates. They had slaughtered and killed so many demons, slew their king, and almost driven them to annihilation. They had committed so many atrocities against the demons that almost the entire race was braying for their blood.

    "Don''t worry. I''ll give it to you. I''ll allow you guys to have your revenge."

    "What are you laughing about? Have you finally gone mad?"

    Tsukishima snarled as she approached me, her staff pointed toward me. Eldritch energies crackled at the end, getting ready to fire.

    "I only have one condition. Lend me your power."

    "Are you talking in your sleep? Die! Just like the pathetic scum you are!" Tsukishima mocked me. "Dying with all those monsters¡­that is indeed the most fitting end for trash like you!"

    She unleashed a bolt of corrosive energy in my direction, but this was much larger than the ones before. Like a demonic fireball, the black nova slammed into my position and exploded, engulfing the entire area in arcane flames.

    "Stupid trash. You should never have fought back and made idiotic jokes. Trash like you should accept their role and let themselves get bullied. I never understood why you decide to rebel against your fated role, but¡­for disrupting the status quo, you''ll have to pay the price with your life."

    "And who gets to decide whose fated role is whose, who gets to bully, and who gets bullied? You? Kobayashi?"

    Tsukishima''s eyes widened when she heard my voice drifting out from the flames. As the smoke cleared, she caught sight of me standing unscathed in a crater, all the corpses that had piled up around me were no longer strewn across the ground in untidy heaps. They had unsteadily risen to their feet and formed neat rows beside me.

    Reanimation. I had reanimated the dead and bestowed upon them unnatural life. Or in simpler terms, I had turned the corpses into zombies.

    "You¡­what the hell are you?"

    I didn''t reply. I had no obligation to. That said, the commander of the small demon squadron stood to the side, her hands covering her mouth.

    "Lich¡­you really are a lich!"

    I told you I would prove it to you somehow.

    "You''ve gone and done it," I declared, wiping the blood from my mouth. "Killing a bunch of innocent demon soldiers. Thanks to that, they have quite the grudge against you." Smiling, I turned to my newly resurrected army of zombies before pointing in Tsukishima''s direction. "I promised you revenge, guys. You can go have it."

    With a groan, the zombies began shambling toward Tsukishima. Even though they were freshly dead, the zombies were in advanced states of decay, their skin rotting off and their flesh putrefying, because of Tsukishima''s corrosive spells. Thanks to that, they looked like actual zombies, their putrid flesh in varying colors, and their figures coming in all shapes and sizes.

    "So what?"

    Despite the terrifying sight approaching her, Tsukishima remained defiant. Holding her staff, she pointed it at them.

    "They''re just zombies. They''re easy to kill."

    With a Fetid Field, she blasted scores of zombies apart. But more kept on coming, shambling toward her. Tsukishima gritted her teeth and scorched more zombies apart with her spells, but they kept on coming. What they lacked in strength and durability, they more than made up in numbers.

    "¡­"

    The dark elf commander had fallen into silence, completely overwhelmed by the terrifying spectacle. Her expression was filled with disgust, revulsion and sorrow, and she turned away with tears in her eyes, unable to bear the sight of her former men ambling forward as mindless undead, shadows of their original selves.

    "I''m sorry," I told her. "But that was necessary. That''s the only way I can win."

    "No. I understand."

    The dark elf commander was clenching her fists, but despite bravely looking at me and nodding in understanding, I could see that her hands were trembling violently.

    "This was why I told you to go," I muttered. The dark elf heard that, but she shook her head.

    "Thank you. I appreciate your sentiments¡­but I have to see this. These are my men. I will watch over them to the very end, whether they''re dead or alive. All I ask is¡­" she glared at me, refusing to waver. "¡­that you release them from this¡­this contract once this battle is over."

    "I could only revive them because I agreed to give them a chance at revenge," I replied. "Once they''ve defeated the enemy in front of them, that pact is fulfilled. They will no longer have any reason to remain on this world. They will pass on."

    The commander nodded shortly, her teeth gritted. "Thank you."

    "Hah! What revenge are you talking about?"

    With a swipe of her staff, Tsukishima sent a horde of zombies flying.

    "You think you can defeat me with a horde of zombies? Do you know who you''re dealing with? I''m one of the legendary heroes! Enemies of such a level will never be able to scratch me!"

    She blasted another pack of zombies to smithereens with her spells, but the horde that she knocked down with her staff were already rising back up and crawling toward her. Disgusted, she cracked the skull of one of them before twirling her staff and keeping them at bay. Even as a dark mage, Tsukishima''s melee skills were formidable.

    "She''s right. There''s no way they can defeat a hero, no matter how many of them there are."

    The commander''s voice was quivering as she witnessed her former subordinates beaten, blown apart and destroyed by the "hero".

    "Zombies are just fodder. You think such weak monsters can defeat me?" Tsukishima was laughing and she knocked another bunch of them away with her staff and bathed a trio in corrupting flames. "If this is the best you can do, you''re dead."

    "That''s not your trump card, is it?" the commander asked worriedly. I merely smiled.

    "Relax. This is my trump card."

    Stepping forward, I raised my hand. Closing my eyes, I gathered all my magical energy into my right hand, which began to glow golden.

    "Rise."

    At my command, the entire area around me glowed, awash with golden magical energy. Behind me, a gigantic gravestone the shape of a crucifix burst out of the ground, towering over me at over eight meters. A golden symbol glowed eerily in the cross-junction, illuminating the gray, stony surface of the tomb marker.

    "What is this?"

    It wasn''t just behind me. Tsukishima was forced to jump away as a gravestone burst out from beneath her feet. Everywhere around us, countless gravestones emerged from the ground, tearing the earth apart and rising toward the skies. Even the dark elf commander had to evade with a similar tombstone erupted near her position.

    "Thousand Astral Graves," I replied, completing the incantation. "1,008 tombstones will rise from the ground."

    "What ability is this?!"

    "My lord¡­this looks amazing!"

    From a distance, the fleeing survivors of the dark elf''s platoon stopped to admire the impressive view. Several of them had to evade the gravestones that burst out of the ground they were standing on. I stood where I was, the sole figure unaffected by the eruption of so many tombstones.

    Wreathed amidst a golden aura, I stood defiantly as countless tombstones, of varying shapes and heights, towered over the battlefield, casting the entire place in shadow. Just as well, for the sun had finally decided to set, leaving my golden magic as the only source of illumination. Each tombstone sported different symbols of various designs and patterns. Stars, eyes, triangles, blades ¨C there were twelve different patterns for the glowing, golden symbols.

    As the maelstrom of golden energy raged around me, I smiled.

    "This is my battlefield."

 12 Chapter 12: Thousand Astral Graves

    The forest was filled with gigantic gravestones that towered over even the trees. The sun slowly set over the horizon, allowing night full rein over the wilderness.

    "What are all these graves?"

    Watching the countless gravestones of different sizes and varying symbols tower over her, Tsukishima was unable to conceal the tremor in her voice as she demanded an answer. She tightened her grip over her staff, half-expecting the tombstones to attack her.

    "The 1,008 tombstones grant 12 different types of buff."

    That was all the information I was willing to impart to her. Staying silent, I glanced up at my tombstones with a smile. There were 12 type of specific symbols, and each of them granted a particular buff.

    The foot-shaped symbol increased movement speed. The claw-like symbol increased attack speed. The cross-shaped symbol increased regeneration or healing. The skeletal, bone-like symbol increased durability. The star-shaped symbol enhanced abilities. The skull-shaped symbol increased intelligence. The weird circle-shaped symbol improved their senses and range of sight. The swords or blades-shaped symbol increased attack power. The diamond-shaped symbols increased defense and resistance. The dragon-like symbol granted them berserker status, which further increased their physical stats such as speed and strength. The triangle-shaped symbol increased their reflexes and reaction, enhancing their evasiveness. And the final, eye-like symbol improved their accuracy and hit-rate, increasing their chances of getting critical hits.

    Any familiars that stood under the shadows of these tombstones would have their specific attributes increased by 10 times, depending on which tombstone was buffing them. And as long as they weren''t the same type of buffs, these buffs stacked.

    In other words, if there were many shadows casted by these tombstones, even the weakest familiar would evolve into ridiculously strong monsters.

    The demonic zombies were all shifting, transforming and mutating under the shadows, undergoing horrendous changes. The dark elf commander was clutching her mouth with her hands, tears running down her eyes as she watched her former subordinates become literal monsters. Distorted beyond recognition, driven into an inhuman frenzy, they were more creature than former, sentient, humanoid beings.

    Looking at them now, it was difficult to say that they had ever been humanoid demons.

    "What is this?!" Tsukishima shrieked.

    "This is¡­wrong."

    Alone, in the shadows of the tombstones, the dark elf commander wept. In fighting the heroes, she had turned to a monster, a monster whose unorthodox methods and magic repulsed even the supposedly ruthless and cruel demon race.

    She couldn''t accept this. She just couldn''t¡­

    I should hurry up and finish this battle before any of the other heroes notice and arrive. It''ll be difficult to fight my former classmates if there''s more than one of them.

    I had trouble just from fighting Tsukishima Tomoyo alone. I dreaded to think how insurmountable a task it would be if I had to fight two or more¡­or even the whole class by myself.

    "Look!"

    The dark elf commander''s subordinates, who were wisely keeping their distance, watched in amazement as my mutated, enhanced zombies lunged forward. Unlike their commander, they were not averse to the change in their comrades. They were even impressed by it. The new shapes, sizes and strength of the zombies were several times beyond that of their original selves. The mutations had granted them a new lease in un-life.

    "Those zombies became berserk monsters!"

    Those zombies were your former comrades, you know? Well, considering that I was the one who wrought such terrifying changes on them, I couldn''t say anything.

    One of the monsters, a blue-skinned zombie with mutating tubes writhing on its back, bent over and unleashed a bombardment of smaller zombies at Tsukishima, drowning her in a horde of lesser zombie spawn.

    "My God! And they have special abilities too!"

    Not only that, these lesser zombie spawn transformed and evolved underneath the shadows of my Thousand Astral Graves, turning into terrifying monsters in their own right. Growling, they all pounced on a stunned Tsukishima, who was frantically trying to keep them away with her staff. Despite her peerless skills and heroic attributes, she found herself overwhelmed by her numbers.

    Not only that, the newly evolved zombies were a lot more resistant to her magic and curses, shrugging off her Dark Decay and Fetid Fields without suffering much damage. Try as she much, her staff proved ineffective against the immense bulks of armored zombies, who grabbed hold of her weapon with their colossal arms and ripped it out of her hands.

    "Ah¡­!"

    Perspiration poured down her face when she realized that she was completely outmatched. She continued to struggle to the bitter end, but her spells proved ineffective, and she was shoved down by pouncing zombies, pinned to the ground by their incredible strength. Despite her heroic strength, she was no match for the augmented physical prowess of the zombies and their sheer numbers. The entire horde was upon her, ripping and tearing.

    "Ah¡­aaaaaaaaah!"

    Tsukishima let out a bloodcurdling scream as the zombies tore into her, tearing her limbs from her sockets and began feeding on her. An ocean of blood spread underneath her rent body.

    "Hah! Hero bitch! You deserve it!"

    "Awesome! That was awesome, Nii-san!"

    "Who is that guy? What was that power? To think he could defeat a Chosen of Evelyn?"

    "There''s hope for the demon race after all!"

    The demonic soldiers cheered when they saw Tsukishima''s demise. I slowly strolled to the zombies and stopped them.

    "Hey, leave some for me."

    "What¡­what do you think you''re doing?" The dark elf commander demanded, but I stopped her. A ring of armored zombies stood between us, barring her way. She was outraged. "Didn''t you promise?"

    "Yes, I did. But it''s not over yet. Please have a bit more patience. I''m going to do something, but I''ll need these guys to guard me while I get it done. Then I''ll bury them once I''m finished." I turned to glance at the rest of her soldiers. "Take your men out and get them out of here. The heroes will be coming. I''ll have to dispose of her body before they arrive."

    "What do you mean dispose?"

    I didn''t answer. Instead, my zombies formed an impenetrable ring around me, blocking any sight that the dark elf commander would have. Hidden from view, I knelt down beside the gory remains of Tsukishima''s body.

    I couldn''t let the dark elf commander or her subordinates see what I was about to do. She was already disturbed by my reanimating of her dead men and turning them into monstrous berserkers. What I was about to commit was far worse.

    But I didn''t care. I needed Tsukishima''s special ability, especially in the long run. It would be very useful. Not to mention, it would be a waste if I let this opportunity go.

    Reaching, out, I scooped a bunch of Tsukishima''s flesh and began to feed.

    *

    With my feast done, I left the remains of Tsukishima to my mutated zombies. As it turned out, I didn''t need to eat the whole body to gain her special ability. Just a few mouthfuls were enough. Since I enlisted the help of these zombies, they deserved a reward. I indulged them, knowing that it would literally be sweet revenge for them.

    As the zombies gorged themselves on Tsukishima''s remains, I emerged from the ring and bowed apologetically to the dark elf commander.

    "They want to eat her before they pass on," I explained. "That would be a great revenge for them, wouldn''t you agree?"

    "You¡­!"

    I didn''t say anything. Obviously the commander didn''t agree. She was furious at how I allowed her dead subordinates to degenerate into human-eating ghouls. Couldn''t she see how happy they were? They weren''t degenerate, mindless ghouls. They were vengeful spirits, whose rage could only be appeased by consuming their sworn enemies.

    But there was no point convincing a blind person. Instead, I conjured my blue window.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich Lord

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal

    "Oh, this is interesting."

    I had gained Tsukishima Tomoyo''s Absolute Appraisal, as I expected but I didn''t think I would earn a new title. Hero Slayer. Probably because I defeated and slew a hero. I didn''t earn such a title after killing and devouring the Demon Lord, but that was probably because I wasn''t the one who wounded and defeated him.

    The system was fair, I suppose.

    "Stop it! Stop it right now!"

    The commander was shouting at me. I glanced at her, and then decided to experiment with my newly plundered Absolute Appraisal. Raising a hand, I tapped my brow and blinked as a purple flame appeared in my pupil.

    "Oh¡­!"

    I could see the dark elf commander''s personal information.

    Name: Elia Kratz

    Species: Dark Elf

    Job/Rank: Soldier/Lieutenant

    Special Abilities: Nature''s Guidance

    So humanoid demons seemed to have special abilities, as opposed to non-sentient monsters like the white wolves and cockatrices. I studied the blue holographic window that floated over the lady named Elia Kratz, and then glanced at the soldiers.

    Name: Krom Orkgaze

    Species: Orc

    Job/Rank: Soldier/Private

    Name: Drake Holden

    Species: Drakken

    Job/Rank: Soldier/Corporal

    It appeared that the majority if the soldiers didn''t possess special abilities. I was wrong about the whole humanoid thing.

    What should I do?

    I took a deep breath and focused my attention on the outraged Elia Kratz.

    "I know you want me to release them. They will automatically be released once they finish their meal, so let them enjoy their last meal first, okay?"

    "Enjoy? What do you mean enjoy?" Elia spluttered, livid. I held up both hands and gestured to the horde.

    "I know they were once your dead comrades, but they are empty vessels now. The only thing that remains is their desire for vengeance. They are no longer your subordinates, Lieutenant Kratz. They are undead, mindless puppets without any soul or intelligence. No memories, no personality, nothing. Just pure emotion. So let them vent out all their emotions first. That''s the only way they can pass on. Please believe me."

    Elia Kratz studied me skeptically for a few seconds before she sighed.

    "I can''t deny that you saved our lives, so we owe you. We''ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I''ll ensure that you keep the end of your bargain."

    "Yes, Lieutenant Kratz."

    Even as I affirmed her command, I had to suppress a retort. Seems like you''re the only one who needs to be convinced.

    Her surviving soldiers didn''t seem to care about the fate of their former comrades. They were all staring at me in awe.

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    "You''re awesome!"

    "You saved us!"

    "Hey, boss." One of the burly knights turned to Elia Kratz. "Are you sure you should be speaking to that person in that tone? He killed one of the Chosen of Evelyn, you know?"

    "Um, yes¡­?"

    The burly knight scowled. From my Absolute Appraisal, I could glean his identity.

    Name: Gio Vanni

    Species: Dark Elf

    Job/Rank: Soldier/Sergeant

    Special Abilities: Tenacious Survivor

    A sergeant, huh? He also seemed much older than the seemingly young Lieutenant, who appeared to be no older than her mid-twenties.

    "Doesn''t that feat alone automatically earn him the rank of a Lord? Shouldn''t you be more careful about being disrespectful to someone of higher rank? I mean, you may be a noble, but his slaying of a hero just allowed him to surpass you in rank."

    "Eh? Eh?"

    Lieutenant Kratz looked flustered upon the revelation. I merely looked at her dumbly, and shrugged. Unfortunately, I remained ignorant of all the trivial details and formalities, and had no wish to learn them.

    But that explains why I''m a Lich Lord now.

    I did find it weird that I was suddenly promoted into a Lich Lord, but dismissed it as a mere increase in rank after my achievement of slaying a hero. I didn''t think it carried any real significance. From what I had seen so far, the ranks appeared to be arbitrary. The different statuses carried no meaning to me, an outsider.

    However, there was something I could use to my advantage.

    "Uh, speaking of which, I might need your help."

    That was right. If I wanted to find out more about the world around me, I needed to rely on these guys. I needed to learn about Restia and its ways, and get acquainted with the demon race and their outlay of forces. If possible, I would like to commandeer them and unleash them on the heroes. I had no interest in annihilating the human race, but I had a vested interest in enacting my revenge on my former classmates.

    I was going to ensure their death, no matter what it took.

    "What help do you need?" Lieutenant Kratz asked hesitantly, trying to defer to me now that she realized my new rank. I scowled.

    "Just speak to me normally. I don''t care about all this lord nonsense. I''m just a normal undead, so don''t worry about formalities."

    Even as I said that, I realized the great irony behind my words. Just a normal undead? No, I was far from being a normal undead. There was a massive difference between me and the zombies that were snacking on Tsukishima Tomoyo''s corpse. Those were normal undead. Not a walking, talking, intelligent corpse like me.

    Well, that was no point busying myself with such trivial details, so I focused on the issue at hand. Pushing my glasses at hand, I flashed them my winning smile and hoped that my Machiavellian Charisma would kick in.

    No such luck. The demons just stared at me blankly, waiting for me to continue. I took a deep breath and proceeded sourly.

    "I kind of lost my memories and have no place to go. The only thing I remember was being hunted and attacked by those so-called heroes." I glanced in the direction of Tsukishima and my zombies. "But that''s all I remember. More of them will be coming, and even I wouldn''t be able to beat all of them at the same time. I need help. And a safe place to stay."

    "So you need a place to stay?" Sergeant Vanni echoed. I nodded. He shrugged. "Well, I could put you up at our place, if your lordship doesn''t mind shacking up with us lowly soldiers."

    I scowled. "I told you to stop it with that lordship. I''m not a lord."

    "Sure you are. Even if you weren''t, the moment you slew a hero, you''re automatically promoted to a lord."

    "Ugh, I''m trying to keep a low profile¡­" I complained, but none of the demons were paying attention to me. They were chattering excitedly at the prospect of rooming with a lord. Only Kratz looked displeased, but she remained silent.

    Despite her sharp tongue, she was a good leader. Kratz was obviously aware that she couldn''t afford to destroy her men''s morale, especially after such a crushing defeat. This sense of elation was necessary to keep the demonic army fighting even after the demise of their king.

    "We''ll escort you safely back to Helsfort," Kratz spoke up determinedly, which earned cheers of approval from her men.

    "Don''t you mean I''ll be the one doing the escorting?" I replied, drawing laughter from the soldiers. "But I''ll take up your offer. Please lead me to Helsfort. Is that¡­?"

    "You really lost your memory, didn''t you?" Kratz shook her head, amazed. "That''s the capital of the demonic realm, Morten. After his majesty was killed, it''ll be natural that everyone will retreat back to the capital and prepare for a siege."

    "Huh? Isn''t this place the capital?" I blurted out, gesturing in the direction of the castle where the heroes had fought the Demon Lord. "The Demon Lord¡­I mean, his majesty was waiting for the heroes there, in that castle."

    "Are you an idiot? That''s because his majesty decided to meet the Chosen of Evelyn in the frontlines, and so he set up base in the border castle to stop them from invading our territory. This isn''t the capital. It''s the border between Helsreach and Midgardia."

    The names meant nothing to me, but judging from the pattern, I could guess that Helsreach was a province belonging to the demons, and the Midgardia was part of the human kingdom. Come to think of it, Kratz had a point. The castle was in the middle of nowhere, situated in vast plains framed by mountains in the background. There were far too little buildings or urban landscape to mark it out as the capital of a civilization.

    Furthermore, the demons were referring to my former classmates as the Chosen of Evelyn instead of heroes. That made sense. They weren''t heroes to the demons. Rather, they were more like monstrous villains. Given how the goddess Evelyn had chosen them to fight the demons, I guessed that name was as logical as any.

    "¡­I see."

    That made sense. Stopping the humans from punching deep into demonic territory by staking everything on a border fortress¡­obviously, the Demon Lord failed, but his plans were sound. Unfortunately, the moment he was killed, that gamble collapsed and he lost everything.

    "We were probably going to die a slow, painful death from despair," Vanni remarked with a chuckle. "But with you around, we''ll probably inspire everyone to raise arms once again and resist those humans to the bitter end."

    "You''ll be a symbol of hope," Kratz added, her voice rising from excitement. "If we can isolate those heroes and have you pick them off one by one, we might just be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!"

    "You give me too much credit."

    While it was indeed my goal to exact revenge on my former classmates, I was under no illusions regarding the difficulty of my task. It was easier said than done.

    "I''m not some special messiah who has come to save you all. I''m just one guy¡­a perfectly normal guy."

    "Bullshit. A normal guy wouldn''t possess the power to fight a hero on even footing."

    "I just got lucky, I guess?"

    I wilted under the intense glare of Sergeant Vanni, who wasn''t buying into any of my BS. As expected, there was no hiding the fact that I wasn''t normal. But I couldn''t very well tell them that I was from another world, just like the heroes who had ravaged their kingdom and killed their king. The backlash from that revelation might cause them to turn on me.

    Especially when they learned of my human origins¡­

    "That was no luck. You had a plan and you stuck to it."

    Elia Kratz had noticed my confidence and lack of panic as my plan unfolded against Tsukishima Tomoyo. She wasn''t letting that go.

    "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the zombies should be done. Let me check on them and bury them before we proceed¡­"

    And then I stopped, a chill running down my back. Turning to Elia Kratz apologetically, I bowed.

    "I''m sorry. I might have to borrow your comrades'' bodies for a bit longer."

    "What are you talking about? You promised¡­"

    As I expected, Kratz was enraged at my audacity. Raising her voice, she snapped at me, only to trail off in midsentence when she noticed what I had detected.

    "¡­boss?"

    Vanni glanced at her, concerned, but Kratz shook her head, her face paling.

    "There''s another hero approaching."

    "Go," I snapped at them urgently. "Get out of here before he comes. I''ll buy you as much time as possible."

    "Too late."

    Cackling gleefully, Kijima Takeshi stepped into the clearing, his golden lions emerging from the woods to surround us. He scanned the clearing triumphantly, his sneering gaze widening into a scornful smile.

    "I''ve finally caught up to you bastards."

    Turning to his lions, he snapped his fingers and grinned.

    "Kill them all."

 13 Chapter 13: Alpha Predator

    "Don''t let even one of them leave alive."

    Kijima Takeshi''s voice clearly rang out in the woods. His glowing golden lions growled and leaned back on their haunches, their muscles rippling and their fur standing on end.

    "It''s another of Evelyn''s Chosen!"

    Elia Kratz and her subordinates were backing away fearfully, intimidated by the sheer presence of Kijima.

    However, my enhanced zombies stepped forward and tore the first lion apart.

    "What the hell are those?"

    "What do you think?"

    I shrugged with a smile. My zombies stepped forward in a protective ring, growling and bellowing as they bore down on Kijima, but he merely summoned another pride of lions. Roaring, the majestic, glowing beasts lunged forward.

    My zombies were more than a match. Unleashing their special abilities, they launched elemental attacks, increased in number, and tore the lions apart before Kijima''s wide eyes. The delinquent bully backed away as he saw his horde torn apart before his very eyes.

    However, his fear was short-lived. He suddenly chuckled.

    "?"

    "Oh, you really surprised me," Kijima remarked, shaking his head. "I didn''t think you would have such tricks hidden up your sleeve. I thought you were useless trash, but it seems you somehow managed to get your hands on a necromancer ability."

    I frowned, watching him warily. He was¡­smiling?

    "I guess I should get serious too."

    Raising his hand, Kijima threw his head back and cackled. A massive lion appeared in front of him, swatting my zombies aside. With a snarl, it bounced across the clearing, soaring above my zombies, and pounced straight at me.

    Aiming for me, huh?

    That was a wise move. The lion would get too tied up with the zombies and unnecessarily waste time. If Kijima could kill me as quickly as possible, he would end the battle immediately. The best way to kill a beast was to cut off its head.

    A fine strategy instead. However, he wasn''t the only one capable of that.

    "Guys!" I hollered as I dodged the lion. My zombies responded immediately, twisting around and lunging at Kijima. The bully''s lip curled when he saw that I had the same idea, but he scoffed.

    "How na?ve."

    "¡­!"

    I blinked in surprise as the lion, which I had been evading, was shrouded in a sudden golden glow. In an instant, the lion vanished, replaced by Kijima, who swung his fist gleefully at me. I managed to dodge, but glancing at my zombies, I saw that they were engaged in a frantic melee with the giant lion. Despite their enhanced power, they weren''t able to take him down.

    "Hmm, I can''t believe Misha still hasn''t gotten rid of those things. Were zombies always this strong?"

    Kijima''s lips twisted into a snarl and he swung his fist at me again. I jumped back, then lashed out with a kick. Kijima blocked it and staggered back, but his eyes widened.

    "How do you have so much power behind your kick?"

    "Huh? What are you talking about?"

    I stared at Kijima, baffled. He didn''t look hurt at all. Yet he was swinging his arms about, as if shocked by the slight, stinging pain.

    "A hero like me shouldn''t be able to feel anything from any attack from a small fry like you! Did you get some sort of hero ability too?"

    "Huh?"

    "That can''t be¡­you''re not a hero¡­we should have killed you! Your stats should be much lower than us!"

    "What stats?" I frowned. Even with Absolute Appraisal, I still couldn''t see any parameters that measured or quantified our strength, speed or magic power. There were no levels either.

    However, Kijima didn''t reply. Howling, he summoned a golden sword and slashed it at me. I jumped back, just barely avoiding getting eviscerated.

    "Stop dodging!"

    What idiot would listen to such an inane command? I rolled my eyes and continued to evade, keeping a safe distance from Kijima. Backing away to Tsukishima Tomoyo''s remains, I kicked up her staff and grabbed it. Twirling it around, I parried Kijima''s strike. With a grunt, I dug my heels in deeply and shoved Kijima back.

    "You¡­!"

    Kijima''s eyes widened and he glared at me, his gaze flicking toward the staff I now held in my hand.

    "That''s¡­Tsukishima''s staff? How did you get it?"

    "Well¡­she hired new staff?"

    "Fuck you!"

    With a roar, Kijima slashed at me ferociously, forcing me back. Sparks flew as his blade clattered against the shaft of my newly acquired weapon, but thanks to Dark Weapon Mastery, I could handle the staff as skillfully as any veteran soldier who had trained with it for a few months. Stepping in confidently, I spun my staff around and knocked him back.

    Kijima was a hero, however, and he wasn''t felled so easily. He determinedly stood his ground and thrusted his sword at me, forcing me to deflect the blade by mere inches. I spun around and slammed the staff into his head, but he parried it with his sword, stopping the blow a few centimeters away from his temple.

    "How are you fighting like this? You never trained¡­never fought with us!"

    "How do you know that?" I countered. Even though Kijima was correct, he should have no idea that I had never trained, and that I was relying completely on a cheat special ability that I had devoured from the late Demon Lord.

    "You mean¡­you were hiding somewhere the last six months, training in secret?"

    Kijima stared at me in disbelief, but I didn''t reply. I had no obligation to answer him. Instead, I increased the power behind my attacks, surprising him with a kick from below before swinging my staff to connect with his skull. Both times, Kijima reacted impressively, blocking my foot with his shin before ducking under my staff and parrying the shaft with his blade.

    "Gr¡­!"

    I didn''t feel as frustrated. Unlike Kijima, I knew that it would be difficult for me to match him when I didn''t have any training at all. In fact, I was amazed that I could pressure him to this extent. It seemed almost unfair, that in just a couple of days I had managed to reached the same level as someone who had accumulated six months of training and combat experience.

    I almost felt sorry for Kijima. Almost.

    With a determined growl, I pressed down on Kijima, driving him back. He panted and switched with his lion in that usual glow of golden light. I struck the beast in the nose, causing it to yelp, but the humongous familiar swiped at me. Despite parrying its claws with my newly acquired staff, I was hurled across the clearing.

    "Ugh!"

    I managed to roll to my feet, the gouges on my skin rapidly healing. Staggering, I fired a Doombolt at the lion, glancing off its shoulder. The majestic beast roared in pain and fury, toppling over and clutching at its wound, which began to blacken and spread.

    Meanwhile, despite his sword skills, Kijima was beginning to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of zombies. He backed away, realizing that his lion was in trouble, and then switched places with it once more.

    "You¡­!"

    I couldn''t miss the opportunity. I flung myself at the newly teleported Kijima, but he was on hand to block my blow. He seethed and sent me back reeling from a powerful slash, golden magical energy radiating from his conjured blade.

    "I see."

    Kijima kicked me to the side. By now, I realized that I had exhausted myself with the previous exchanges and had inadvertently depleted my stamina. The difference in experience was beginning to show now, and Kijima returned on the offensive, pressuring me.

    "Ugh!"

    I dropped to a knee as blood gushed out of my shoulder. Chuckling, Kijima sent another thrust that ripped open another wound on my chest before I could knock it out of the way. Panting, I responded with a riposte that he slapped away before hammering the hilt of his sword into my face. Blood sprouted from my nose and I staggered.

    "Hey, hey! Your movements are getting predictable!"

    I managed to block his next attack, but Kijima kicked me in the abdomen, sending me flying across the clearing.

    "Ugh!"

    I crashed into a tree, nearly uprooting it. Leaves rained down on me, shaken free from the violent impact. Huffing, I wiped the blood from my mouth and rose shakily to my feet.

    My wounds were healing rapidly. Good thing I devoured Tsukishima earlier. I should have enough reserves to last for my Regeneration.

    However, Kijima had noticed the strange phenomenon.

    "What the hell are you? How are you healing so quickly? Are you using healing magic?"

    I shrugged. "Take a guess."

    "Fuck you!"

    With a roar, Kijima lunged forward and slashed at me again. I just barely managed to block his blade, but he cuffed me with a hand before spinning around and delivering a roundhouse kick. I managed to soften the impact with my staff, but the powerful force behind his blow sent me tumbling into the ground several meters away.

    He''s strong!

    Kijima was stronger than Tsukishima, especially in terms of physical combat. That must be his class or specialty. While Tsukishima was a black mage, Kijima must be a summoner-warrior or something akin to that.

    Fortunately, his lion was being stalled by my zombies.

    "I can''t believe Misha is having trouble with such fodder¡­no, there''s something weird about your zombies."

    Kijima glanced up at the thousand and eight gravestones that towered over us, thinking deeply. Stroking his chin, he mused to himself.

    "Could it be that those tombstones are enhancing your zombies somehow?"

    The guy was surprisingly sharp and astute. I didn''t reply, but he inferred from my silence that he was right.

    "Aha. I see. So that''s how it is."

    I didn''t like the grin that spread across his face. Suppressing the urge to wipe off that smirk, I kept my distance and readied a spell.

    But there was no point.

    Kijima raised his hand and summoned something. A golden sword shone brightly as it levitated above him. With a snap of his fingers, countless other golden swords appeared all over the battlefield, casting their luminous glow to cast out the shadows.

    "¡­?"

    I watched the swords warily, expecting them to rain down on me. But they never did. Instead, they maintained their position, illuminating the battlefield. To my horror, my tombstones crumbled under their glow.

    "Golden Forge." Kijima''s smile widened. "Don''t think you''re the only summoner who can buff your familiars. I can do the same too. These swords will buff divine beasts with their aura and weaken undead and dark-type creatures. They also have the added bonus of corroding dark spells in the vicinity. Like those tombstones of yours."

    I swallowed as I watched many of my tombstones rot away to nothingness. Even though Kijima''s area of effect was smaller than mine, all the gravestones in the immediate vicinity were rapidly disintegrating. With them gone, my zombies lost their buffs and were reverting back to their frail, weak bodies.

    "Golden Forge can also boost my summoning."

    Snapping his fingers, Kijima conjured a pack of wolves. Howling, they pounced and tore apart the weakened zombies, ripping them into shreds. In mere seconds, my undead army was routed and massacred, replaced by a legion of wolves, led by the gigantic lion.

    "As expected of a hero, huh?"

    A large bead of perspiration rolled down my face as I studied Kijima. Raising a hand, I activated Absolute Appraisal again.

    Name: Kijima Takeshi

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Summoner/Hero

    Special Abilities: Summon

    There was no sign of Golden Forge, so I tapped the Summon button. Immediately, my vision was flooded by a new box of text.

    Summon: Summon any type of monsters and weapons. Power of monsters and weapons are limited by the summoner''s strength.

    Spells: Golden Forge

    A quick glance at Golden Forge confirmed what Kijima had told me. It boosted the strength of divine-type familiars, reduced the energy required to summon new ones, weakened dark-type creatures and spells such as undead.

    This battle had turned against my favor. I had never expected Kijima to possess the direct counter to my zombies and undead skills. Hell, even I was an undead, and I could feel myself growing lethargic and week just from being in the vicinity of the Golden Forge.

    This was bad. I wouldn''t be able to last much longer.

    Realizing that, Kijima gleefully tore into me, his sword flashing and slashing at me. Blood splattered across the ground as I clumsily fought to defend myself, but my reflexes had been dulled and my senses impeded. My Regeneration had slowed down, blood gushing out of my wounds ceaselessly as Kijima opened up new cuts.

    "Ku¡­!"

    Kijima closed in, slashing at me wildly and knocking me back. I stumbled, but managed to regain my balance, only for Kijima to drop to the ground and sweep my feet out from under me. I threw out a hand to break my fall and vaulted backward, flipping to a crouching position while using my staff to balance myself.

    "¡­!"

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    Just when I thought I had caught a break, a wolf lunged at me. I just barely managed to smack it away with my staff when I caught sight of the entire pack circling me. With Misha the lion at its head, the pack lunged.

    I unleashed a Doombolt and obliterated the lion, but the rest of the wolves slammed into me and knocked me off my feet. I rolled on the ground, fighting them off with my staff, but they bit and tore into my flesh.

    This is bad!

    Especially with my reduced Regeneration, I might not be able to survive such an assault. I kicked and swung my staff as best as I could, but for every wolf I dislodged, another two would take its place to bite into my flesh.

    "Ugh!"

    With a yell, I unleashed a miasma that blasted the wolves and reduced them to skeletons. The wolves danced about in their death throes, their flesh flayed from their bones. Even with Golden Forge in play, the Corrupting Darkness spell was so potent that I managed to exterminate the entire pack. Panting, I threw them off me.

    The skeletal remains of the wolves staggered for a few moments, then they slowly turned around, their bones rattling, as they faced an astonished Kijima.

    "What manner of magic is this?" he demanded.

    "Necromancy," I replied with a shrug. "I thought you already knew that I was a necromancer."

    The skeletal wolves lunged at Kijima, but with a swing of his golden sword, he obliterated them into white shards.

    "You think you can set my own summoned familiars against me?" he hollered.

    "No, not really," I responded. "That''s why I didn''t send all of them against you."

    "?!"

    Kijima looked up and his jaw dropped. Half of the undead wolf pack had jumped upward to tear the golden swords from the skies and lash them onto the ground. Golden shards rained down as the swords shattered from the slightest impact.

    I see¡­so Golden Forge has such a weakness, huh?

    "You¡­what are you doing?"

    "The same thing you did earlier¡­regaining control of the battlefield."

    As Kijima shrieked at me in panic, my gravestones reemerged, casting shadows over the undead wolves. They grew black skin, their sizes enlarging and their canines lengthening. Howling, they mutated into gigantic hellhounds that breathed fire. As one, they converged on Kijima''s position, pouncing on the hapless summoner.

    "Don''t screw with me!"

    With a burst of effort, Kijima summoned a pride of lions. The roaring, majestic lions grappled with the hellhounds, wrestling and rolling on the floor. Hellfire scorched the ground as the hellhounds bathed the lions in flames, but the latter emanated divine light that perforated the former and shredded them apart. So far, it was even, but Kijima''s incessant ability to summon allowed him to create an army that outnumbered mine.

    "Get him!"

    With a yell, Kijima ordered a portion of his pride of lions to turn their attention toward me. Snarling, the golden beasts loped across the clearing. I annihilated one with a single Doombolt, but the rest managed to surround me.

    "Gr¡­!"

    The first lion lashed out with its claws, but I kept it at bay with my staff. With several of the golden blades destroyed, I could feel my strength slowly returning. My Regeneration was speeding up and returning to half its normal pace. It was far from ideal, but it was much better than before. The bleeding had stopped and my body no longer felt as sluggish.

    I knocked away another lion and unleashed a second Doombolt to fry the third. Spinning around, I parried another deadly swipe from the first lion, then twirled my staff about to deflect the claws of a fourth lion. The fifth lion almost took off my head, but I bent my neck as far to the side as I could, and the claws only succeeded in grazing my cheek. No matter. It was just a small injury. The bleeding closed up almost immediately.

    "Sending a pride of lions after a single human like me¡­have you no pride?" I shouted at Kijima, who was backing away from a stray hellhound that had gotten free from his lion bodyguards. He slashed at it with his sword, but the hellhound managed to avoid him before swiping at him with its claws. Kijima''s knees buckled and he uttered a curse.

    "Shut up! Do you think you''re funny?"

    "As a matter of fact, I do." I shrugged. "My hellhounds make one hell of a joke, don''t they?"

    "I told you to shut it!"

    He glared at me, and then suddenly switched place with one of his lions. I was taken by surprise, my staff instinctively raised to block the lion''s claws. Thanks to that, I was unable to parry the sword thrust from below.

    "Gah!"

    Kijima''s blade pierced my abdomen. I had instinctively dodged on reflex when I saw his attack coming, but wasn''t able to avoid the blow. He failed to strike anything vital, but it still hurt like a bitch. I sagged and leaned against my staff helplessly. I wanted nothing more than to lift it and counterattack, but my senses were overwhelmed by pain at the moment.

    "Checkmate."

    Kijima crowed as he twisted the blade in my gut, a triumphant grin spreading over his face. His sword glowed golden as he intensified the attack.

    However¡­

    "You should check before checkmating someone."

    "Huh?"

    Kijima stared at me, stunned, when he saw that I was chuckling. Feeling uneasy, he took a step back, but left his sword in my gut.

    "What''s so funny?"

    "You."

    "Huh? What are you talking about?!" Kijima snarled. I merely shook my head.

    "You never change, Kijima. I wonder if Kobayashi is the same too. It''ll make getting my revenge a lot easier."

    "I asked you what''s so funny!" Kijima hollered as he slashed me with his sword. But I grabbed hold of the blade, keeping it where it was. Blood dripped down my palm and fingers, but I ignored the burning pain and held it firmly to stop him from moving.

    "Your Summon special ability is amazing. I want it."

    "What are you talking about?"

    Kijima shuddered and tried to pull away, but I had grabbed his hand with my other hand, letting go of my staff in the process.

    "Get him! Kill him!"

    Panicking, Kijima screamed and directed his lions to pounce on me. But a black miasma spread out and struck them, decomposing their flesh and turning them into zombies. With a whimper, the lions hit the ground before going into spasms. When they rose again, they were zombies. Under the influence of my Thousand Astral Graves, they began to distort and grow, turning into powerful chimeras.

    "Just what the hell are you?"

    Kijima flailed about as he was struck by my Corrupting Darkness spell. Unlike the wolves and lions, he possessed significant resistance to my spell as a hero, and so he didn''t get turned into a zombie. Good. I needed him non-zombified, especially if I wanted to devour his special ability.

    It certainly would be useful, especially for a necromancer like me.

    Letting go of the blade, I seized my staff once again and cracked Kijima''s skull. He shrieked in pain and flopped down, clutching his head with his free hand. But I wasn''t done yet. Resting my staff against his head, I whispered a single spell.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang."

    The entire place vanished in a black, crescent-shaped shadow that was so large it engulfed huge segments of the forest.

    As the darkness expanded voraciously, the only sounds that could be heard were the agonized screams of Kijima Takeshi.

    And then¡­silence.

 14 Chapter 14: Goddess

    I didn''t know how long I spent devouring Kijima''s corpse, but when I returned to my senses, there wasn''t much that remained of him. Even the lions and wolves, which were originally summoned by him, were gone. It didn''t matter that I controlled them now. With their summoner gone, their source of existence had been extinguished. Or perhaps there was a time limit on how long they could manifest in this world. Whatever the case, they were all gone, and I found myself alone, amidst a bloody puddle of human remains.

    Thankfully, my injuries had completely healed. There was no sign of any of the cuts or almost fatal stab wound that Kijima had dealt me, not even a trace of a scar. The same went for the graze on my cheek. It was as if time had reverted back to when I hadn''t fought.

    No, that wasn''t true. I could feel a bit stronger, the slight feeling of satisfaction after a good workout. Stretching myself, I stood up and glanced at Kijima''s remains. I gagged on reflex at the gruesome sight.

    "Ugh."

    I was so glad that I was out of it when consuming humans. I probably wouldn''t be able to preserve my sanity if I had to force myself to eat the humans. Then again, I wasn''t sure if I was still sane. For all I knew, I probably had already gone mad.

    Scratching my head, I responded to the gnawing intuition inside my mind and conjured the blue, holographic circle.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich Lord

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon

    As I thought, I had devoured the Summon Special Ability from Kijima Takeshi. It seemed that my list of special abilities was growing longer and longer. I couldn''t help but chuckle ¨C right now, I was becoming some clich¨¦d overpowered protagonist who could potentially gain an unlimited number of special abilities as long as I continued to eat my enemies

    I wondered what the expressions of my classmates would be when they discovered that I now possessed both Tsukishima Tomoyo and Kijima Takeshi''s special abilities. They would probably be outraged.

    Good. I wanted to see them rage against the person they thought was trash¡­before I turned them into trash.

    I left Kijima and Tsukishima''s corpses behind. Both of them had been mutilated to the point they were beyond recognition. Our other classmates probably wouldn''t be able to tell that those two remains were them from just a glance. They would have to delve deeper, using magical protection. Furthermore, when I activated my Absolute Appraisal, I saw that I couldn''t see the status or special abilities of the dead.

    A bunch of zombies materialized. They stared at me for a few moments, obediently waiting for my orders.

    "Huh."

    I glanced upward and saw that my tombstones were gone. I must have deactivated them at some point when I was busily eating Kijima. I shrugged, and proceeded to dismiss them. The zombies disappeared as quickly as they appeared, leaving no trace that they had ever existed.

    I tapped on the Summon tab and re-read the details. This time, I saw an addendum.

    Summon: Summon any type of monsters and weapons. Power of monsters and weapons are limited by the summoner''s strength. No time limit for summoned monsters.

    "I see," I mused as I studied the details. It also seemed that I didn''t gain the Golden Forge spell. Not that I needed it. I wasn''t going to rip off Emiya Shirou and Unlimited Blade Works, and besides, I preferred Thousand Astral Graves.

    Well, there wasn''t much else I could do, so I switched off the blue holographic screen and began walking. I hoped I could track down Elia Kratz and her men before they got too far. It was pretty lonely being out here on my own.

    I also wasn''t very enthusiastic about surviving alone. I still needed the others to help me find out more about this world.

    "Guys? Where are you?"

    Stupid question. I was the one who told them to run away when Kijima attacked. Even Kratz had listened to me this time. That was good. Kijima was such a tough opponent that I couldn''t afford to babysit them.

    Speaking of which, that was a close battle. If Kijima hadn''t gotten overconfident, drawn in close to me to deliver that last strike, I would never have been able to grab hold of him and unleash my Shadow Lunar Fang at pointblank range. That technique required some time to charge, and despite its sheer power and ferocity, was slow and clumsy. He would have easily dodged it if I hadn''t ensnared him. In exchange, I had allowed him to close in and deal a fatal blow to me.

    That tactic wouldn''t have worked if I wasn''t an undead.

    Indeed, I wouldn''t have thought of that if I didn''t possess the regenerative powers of an undead. My aim wasn''t mutual destruction. It was victory and revenge.

    Two down, twenty-seven to go. Or twenty-six, given how Kobayashi sacrificed Samejima Hiroki to kill the Demon Lord. So I could write Samejima off. I was slowly chipping away at their numbers. From fighting both Kijima and Tsukishima, I knew how difficult my task was. Even though I had just barely won ¨C especially against Kijima ¨C I knew that the battle could have swung either way. If Kijima had kept his distance and left the job to his lions, he could have continually summon more creatures to replace his losses and win in a battle of attrition.

    Despite devouring the Demon Lord, I hadn''t suddenly attained God Mode. Sure, I couldn''t deny that there was sort of divine intervention or deus ex machina looking after me and allowing me to reach bullshit levels of overpoweredness to kill my classmates, but I couldn''t let my guard down. I had only prevailed because I had the extremely good fortune of fighting them one-on-one. If the both of them had ganged up against me¡­

    The result would have been very different. I knew that I couldn''t count on the remaining twenty-seven classmates to come at me one at a time. As stupid as they were, they couldn''t possibly be that na?ve. And even if they were, I wasn''t going to gamble on such an absurd possibility. Not when my life was hanging on it.

    Or should I say un-life? Technically, I was an undead¡­

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    "Guys?"

    I felt like an idiot when my voice echoed throughout the forest. There was no response, nothing. A few rustling in the bushes, probably from rabbits or other animals, the chirping of birds and the croaks of insects.

    But there was no sign of human voices. Or demon, given that Kratz and her subordinates weren''t exactly human, but honestly I couldn''t tell the difference. From what little I knew of Restia so far, everyone seemed to be speaking the same language.

    Funnily enough, now that I thought about it, everything I heard sounded like Japanese. That sounded absurd. Why would people in another world speak in Japanese? Was it something the goddess Evelyn did to us? Given how she spoke to us in Japanese when she first appeared before us, it wasn''t hard to imagine that it had something to do with magic.

    There''s still so much I don''t know about Restia.

    I sighed. That was something I strove to correct. The earlier, the better. In any case, I should keep moving. I didn''t want to be lingering around with the corpses of Kijima and Tsukishima, and I had no doubt the rest of the class would catch up and find them soon enough. They would eventually realize that two of their number were missing and come looking for them. I didn''t want to be hanging around here when they arrived.

    The good news was that it was dawn. The bad news was that it didn''t matter because I was an undead. Thanks to my innate night vision, I could see regardless of the luminosity. I glanced around warily, making sure there were no threats, then picked up Tsukishima''s staff and stepped into the woods where the soldiers had disappeared into. The last time I saw Kratz and her men, they had gone in this direction. My only hope of locating them was to enter the forest then.

    I didn''t know how much time I spent walking, bashing through the woods. The beasts of the forest seemed to shrink away, staying out of my path. I wondered if it was perhaps thanks to the Machiavellian Charisma that they were keeping a respectful distance.

    At least, the smaller monsters were.

    "Guu¡­"

    I froze when I heard the grunt. Something enormous emerged from the bushes, trampling small shrubs and knocking over a tree. Growling, a gigantic demonic boar stepped into the clearing, crushing grass and twigs underfoot.

    It glared at me with its demonic, red eyes, and its nostrils flared. Its jaw yawned under its snout, and it let out a thunderous bellow. Jagged tusks sliced through the trees, causing them to fall over, their trunks cleanly severed.

    I swallowed and backed away, but the demonic boar seemed to have its eyes locked onto me. Red veins bulged horrifically from underneath its brown fur and it stomped toward me with a roar. Smashing trees aside, the boar began to charge at me.

    "Aw, don''t attack me, you stupid boar!" I whined. "I''ll only bore you!"

    The wild boar ignored me and wildly plunged into the trees where I had been standing in front of just seconds before. I had dived to the ground, sliding through the rough roots and getting several abrasions for my efforts.

    But I was still alive and not a squashed pancake beneath the boar''s hooves, or gored by its wicked-looking tusks.

    "You''re trying to bore a hole in me, stupid boar?" I shouted. The boar grunted and turned around, pawing the ground before charging again.

    "Oof!"

    I parried the tusks with my staff, but the momentum of the massive boar lifted me off my feet and hurled me across the forest. I broke through several networks of branches before slamming into a tree. My breath knocked out of me, I slid down, winded.

    The boar growled triumphantly before charging at me. I shakily rose to my feet and held my staff right in front of me.

    "I killed two heroes, you bastard," I sneered. "You think you can defeat me? Your tusks are not up to the task."

    The boar roared as it closed in on me. I cracked my neck and then aimed my staff. Just before it reached me, I obliterated its head with a Doombolt.

    The carcass came crashing down on top of me. I jumped high up and landed on the skidding body, righting my balance before I flipped over and landed casually on the ground. Behind me, the headless boar knocked over several trees before coming to a halt.

    "What a bore," I remarked, and then proceeded to turn around and carve the meat up into chunks.

    *

    This time, I wasn''t so greedy as to devour the whole boar in one go. I made sure to save some meat for the future. I realized that if my Regeneration had slowed down, the best thing to do was eat some meat.

    Wow, I''m just like a ghoul, am I not? Too bad I''m no longer in Tokyo.

    Sighing, I strapped the last of the meat into my pockets, and then continued past the skeletal carcass. Cocking my head, I decided to reanimate it into an undead and have it tag along like some bony bodyguard.

    "Let''s go, uh¡­" staring at its white skull, I thought for a while, and then shrugged when I thought of the perfect name for it. "Bonehead."

    The skeletal boar didn''t protest. It silently followed me as I traversed through the forest. I shoved the plants and shrubs aside, no longer holding any hope of running into Kratz and her subordinates, but at least hoping to encounter another demon.

    They can''t be the only demon soldiers to have escaped the massacre¡­

    I felt bad. I was part of the carnage, having stained my hands with the blood of demons.

    However, they''re the only hope I had. I couldn''t afford to be picky with my methods, not if I wanted to survive in a world where my former classmates (the heroes) were out for my blood and if I wanted revenge.

    I continued moving through the forest, guarded by the skeletal boar. The hours slipped by, and night came, but my vision didn''t diminish. I could see the crescent moon high above me, as clearly as if I was day.

    "Huff¡­"

    Exhaustion coursed through my limbs and I staggered, feeling a bit woozy. I was surprised that I didn''t feel thirsty. It seemed that the undead didn''t need to drink water. Nor do we have to answer the call of nature.

    How very convenient.

    I brushed past the trees and continued on, Bonehead trampling past me. Bursting out of the trees, I stumbled upon a riverbank.

    "A river?"

    That looked like a good sign. If I followed the river, I might eventually find a way out of the forest. Furthermore, I was sure there would be villages or towns near this river, to make use of the clear water or fishes as a resource. This far out, it should be a demonic village, but at this point, I didn''t care if it was human, as long as they had no relation to the heroes.

    We followed along the riverbed, crunching grass and soil underneath our feet. I glanced up at the night sky and closed my eyes, savoring the cool breeze that drifted through the canopy of the trees. Several bugs buzzed around me, but fortunately there were no mosquitoes. I hated mosquitoes. Perhaps they didn''t find the taste of my undead blood appetizing.

    All the better.

    I followed the river for another hour or so, feeling my weariness increase by the minute. I glanced back at Bonehead, who was following me faithfully, his tusks gently swaying from side to side as his bones rattled somewhat nosily.

    "Maybe I should get some sleep."

    It was amusing that an undead like me still needed some sleep, but I guess that was probably an indication that I needed to replenish my magical energy or strength somehow. Besides, with Bonehead guarding over me, I didn''t need to worry about anyone or anything attacking me in my sleep. Being a necromancer was so convenient.

    Unfortunately, before I could start searching for an appropriate spot to sleep, someone called out to me.

    "Um, excuse me, sir."

    I blinked and spun around. There was an old lady sitting on a rock at the base of a tree, huddling against her wooden, walking stick. A torn, tattered hood was pulled over her wizened, wrinkled face, and several strands of white hair fell out. Flies were buzzing around her, and her frayed, ragged clothing was covered in grime.

    When did she¡­?

    I almost fell over from shock. Just seconds ago, I was sure I didn''t see anyone there. I was certain that I was the only human (undead) in the forest, with only Bonehead to accompany me. It wasn''t the darkness ¨C I could see the details as clearly as if it was day, no matter how deep and dark the shadows shrouding them were.

    It was as if the old woman had appeared out of nowhere.

    Not caring about my surprise, the old woman continued pitifully.

    "Can you give me something to eat?" as if on cue, her stomach growled. "I haven''t eaten anything for two days. At this rate, I''ll starve to death¡­"

    I grimaced as a stink entered my nostrils. I had thought I had lost my sense of smell after being an undead, but it seemed that I had only become immune to the decaying stink of death. Everything else, from food to unwashed clothing and body odor, it seemed, was fair game. My senses as an undead hadn''t dulled after all.

    Taking a deep breath, I reached for my pockets. Food, huh?

    "You''re in luck. I still have some leftover meat from my hunt earlier. If you don''t mind eating this, then¡­"

    I retrieved the boar meat from my pocket and offered to the lady. If I needed more food, then I would just hunt again. Besides, it was clear that the old lady needed the food more than I did.

    "If you need me to cook it, I''ll start a fire¡­"

    "That''s fine. This is good enough."

    The old lady smiled and bowed her head gratefully before accepting the slab of meat. She slowly bit into it and chewed.

    "This is really good," she remarked, raising her head in joy. "Thank you very much."

    "If you want more, I still have quite a bit of meat," I assured her, taking out more slabs of boar meat. She shook her head.

    "This is enough. I haven''t eaten for a while. Gorging myself so suddenly will make me sick."

    I nodded understandingly. That was true. Her stomach, after being empty for so long, wouldn''t be used to the sudden influx of food, and she would throw up. In fact, I should be feeding her something softer, something that would be easier on her stomach, but alas, no such convenient food existed on my person.

    I watched the old lady nibble on the meat for a bit longer, and then realized that she wasn''t afraid of the gigantic skeletal boar that was looming over us. Was she blind? Or was it too dark for her to see anything? She must have called out to me because she heard my footsteps but why didn''t she hear the bony rattling?

    Or perhaps this old lady wasn''t an ordinary person¡­

    In any case, I had more urgent matters to concern myself with.

    "Hey, Granny, do you know where the nearest village is? Will I be able to get to one if I follow the river?"

    "Walk for another half a day and you''ll arrive at a temple," the old lady replied. I scratched my head. That didn''t exactly answer my question, but it would have to do. A temple was better than staying out here in the woods, and there should be priests, priestesses or staff working there. I could approach them for help.

    "Thank you. I''ll get going then¡­"

    I was about to turn away when the old lady suddenly latched onto my uniform jacket.

    "Wait!"

    "Eh?"

    I glanced back at her, taken aback by her sudden shout.

    "I was planning on going to the Temple of Lyia too." The old lady sagged back on the rock and gestured to her feet. "But I injured my legs while I was making my way there, and couldn''t complete the rest of the journey. Furthermore, it has already gotten so late and dark." She glanced up pitifully at the night sky then turned toward me pleadingly. "Can you carry me?"

    "Sure." I glanced at Bonehead and thought about how to put her up there. Unfortunately, he was all bones. There was no way the old lady could ride on such a bony beast ¨C the spine was too narrow and thin for her to sit on. She would slip off. And given how old she was, I couldn''t possibly count on her holding onto a rib or two to prevent her from falling off.

    "I will die if I stay here. Please, young man¡­have mercy."

    "I told you, sure," I snapped, a little impatiently. Then I sighed. "Sorry. Yeah. Leave it to me. I''ll make sure to bring you to the temple."

    So I ended up picking her up myself and giving her a piggyback ride.

    "I''m sorry for troubling you like this."

    The old lady sounded apologetic.

    "No, it''s nothing."

    I glanced at Bonehead, to whom I had lashed my staff and the old lady''s walking stick to. I wondered briefly if I could have tied the old lady to him, but decided against it. That would be one uncomfortable, painful journey.

    "It''ll weigh on my conscience if I let you die," I joked in an attempt to lighten the air. The old lady chuckled.

    "I really am grateful to you."

    "Don''t worry about it. By the way, what was the name of the temple again?"

    "The Temple of Lyia." The old lady paused briefly. I could feel her shifting her weight slightly on my back. "You don''t seem to be from around here, eh?"

    "Ha ha, no," I chuckled sheepishly. There was no way I could tell her that I was summoned from another world. She wouldn''t believe it. Even worse, I couldn''t tell her that I was supposed to be a hero, but was now an anti-hero killing my classmates for revenge. "I come from a very distant place."

    "Yes. You don''t look like you''re from any of these parts."

    Gee, how did you figure that out? From my appearance? My school uniform? The skeletal boar following us?

    "Are you a demon?"

    I couldn''t tell from the old lady''s appearance, not when most of her features were hidden under that hood. Maybe she had long ears, like Kratz. Or horns that were concealed from view. It was hard to imagine that a human would be by herself this far out.

    "Yes. That''s why I''m heading to the Temple of Lyia, and not Evelyn. Ah, yes. You''re not from around here." I could sense the old lady nodding in understanding. "The goddess Lyia is the goddess of knowledge. She''s not the goddess of humans. That''s Evelyn¡­I have heard how the legendary warriors she had chosen and summoned to this world have defeated the Demon Lord, broken the demonic armies and driven them back deep into their territory. In a few months, the humans will probably be invading our homeland."

    "¡­"

    I wasn''t going to offer empty promises such as declaring that I would prevent that from happening. I wasn''t even involved in this war. I didn''t care what happened to the demons. All I was bothered with was how to kill my classmates.

    "Will you be safe? What if the humans reach the temple?"

    "Oh, don''t worry about that. The goddess Lyia will provide us believers divine protection. As long as we keep our faith, no blade will penetrate our defenses. And the humans will probably have more urgent businesses with Helsfort and the inner cities than waste time taking a solitary temple in the middle of nowhere."

    "That''s good."

    I wouldn''t feel pleasant leaving an old lady to die in a temple that would be overrun by the human army in a few days. No doubt a hero or two would be present, but I couldn''t count on that. And I wasn''t ready to fight them by myself. I had to either grow stronger or figure a way to isolate them and destroy them one by one.

    "By the way, you can put me down now."

    For some reason, I felt something about the old lady fluctuate. I couldn''t put my finger to it, but I could sense a change, a transformation somehow. I couldn''t tell what exactly, being unable to look back, but I obediently knelt down to let her off my back.

    "Okay."

    There was a fluttering of long, golden hair that swept across the clearing. Turning around, I was astounded to see that the old lady had transformed into a beautiful young woman in an elegant dress with a short skirt. Gone were the torn, tattered rags and insects. Gone were the wrinkles, replaced by snow-white, smooth skin and deep, sapphire blue eyes. Her silky, golden hair flowed gently on the night breeze and reached down to her thighs, with two four-leave clovers attached on either side of her head as hairclips.

    "Eh? You¡­?"

    I was so shocked that the words clumsily poured out of my word in an incoherent line. The young lady placed her hand on her hip as she gazed at me.

    "I''m the goddess, Lyia. As I said before, I''m the goddess of knowledge. A neutral deity in the order of things¡­one who sides neither with humans nor demons. I am in current need of followers, and I''ve been searching for good people like you."

    I burst out laughing. "Good people? Me? Are you joking? I''m not a good person at all. I''ve blood on my hands."

    "No." Lyia shook her head. "To be my follower, you must be a good person with a kind heart. You''ve proven this beyond a doubt."

    "Huh¡­I have?"

    I hated how dumb I sounded, but Lyia merely smiled in amusement. She nodded, a gentle expression unfolding across her pretty face.

    "My transformation into a smelly, old lady was a test. I''ve been waiting there for ages, and in that time I have encountered many people. While there were those who ignored me, there were those who also abused me. But among the many, there were also quite a number who gave me food. Yet¡­you are the only one who was willing to carry me to the temple."

    She smiled, an expression so beautiful and radiant that I felt overwhelmed.

    "You have such a warm and kind soul."

    I called bullshit on that. I was sure my heart was tainted by murderous thoughts of revenge, and I had already killed and devoured other humans. There was no way I was a kind and gentle person. If anything, I probably leaned toward evil.

    "So as a goddess¡­" Lyia offered her hand. "I''ll lend you my power."

    "¡­power?"

    "To become a follower or not will determine your power."

    "I already have powers¡­I think."

    "Indeed. I have been tracking your progress ever since you''ve dropped into this world. I thought you were summoned by Evelyn, but a mishap happened and you somehow got separated and landed in a separate time and place from the rest of her chosen."

    "Yeah."

    I nodded. Everything Lyia said was right on point. As expected of the goddess of knowledge. She already knew what happened.

    "Therefore, you weren''t able to receive the power from Evelyn."

    "Huh? But¡­"

    I blinked, and suddenly recalled Adamantium Will. I had thought that was a special ability she bestowed on me, but¡­

    "Yes. It seems you''ve realized. Adamantium Will is not something that Evelyn will bestow on her followers. She was searching for heroes¡­for warriors. She would have granted you something more combat-orientated."

    "No wonder¡­" I smiled bitterly, remembering how I was complaining about the lack of offense or combat application Adamantium Will had. Thanks to it, I had trouble surviving several ordeals. If I hadn''t been reanimated as an undead, I would have died several times over.

    "That''s right. I was the one who gave you the special ability, Adamantium Will. I''m afraid it wouldn''t have much combat use, but as the goddess of knowledge, it was the best I could do. I''m sorry."

    "No, no. I''m grateful to you. Thanks to your gift, I managed to get this far."

    Even if I couldn''t fight with Adamantium Will, it had saved me several times. It had prevented me from becoming a mindless zombie and suffering from a fate worse than death. It allowed me to approach the unsuspecting Demon Lord and kill him when his guard was down. And I was sure that it would continue to help me in future.

    "But I don''t get it. If you had already been helping me back then, why are you appearing me only now?"

    Plus, what was with the test? Shouldn''t you be testing me with the whole old lady stunt before you gave me Adamantium Will, and not after?

    "Call it a whim." The goddess giggled, stroking her chin in amusement. "As the goddess of knowledge, I possess knowledge of the future. I could already see you passing the test long before you took it."

    "Then why bother giving me the test in the first place?"

    "Call it a¡­formality."

    I gave up. I had no idea what the hell Lyia was trying to do, but if she was telling the truth, then I should trust her. I had to reason to doubt her word, but I wasn''t na?ve enough to trust her completely. That said, I didn''t have any option. I was alone in a dangerous, hostile world where everyone was out to kill me. I needed every ally I could have.

    If that ally happened to be a goddess, then I would take it. I would worry about consequences later if she ended up backstabbing me. That would be a bridge to cross when I came to it. For now, I would be a fool to refuse any help.

    "I understand. So¡­what does this follower thing do? Do I pledge my allegiance to you? Carry out your commands?"

    "Oh, it''s nothing that rigid," Lyia assured me. "Even if you''re my follower, I cannot force you to do things you don''t want to do. It''s give and take. I need people to believe in me ¨C your faith will fuel my power. In return, I''ll use that power to aid you¡­whether in the form of special abilities, blessings or gifts. You''ve already received a special ability from me."

    "Yeah, and for that, I''m thankful."

    There didn''t seem to be a downside for me. But I remained wary. There was always the fine print I needed to be aware of.

    "I see that you''re seeking knowledge about this world. Understandable, given how you''ve only just recently arrived on this world a few days ago."

    Lyia placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. My skin tingled at the warm touch, and I could feel her power suffusing me.

    "I''ll provide you with whatever knowledge you need. As I told you earlier, follow the river, and you''ll reach my temple in half a day."

    "Thank you!"

    Lyia nodded, pleased. "Once you reach there and get past the Guardian of the temple, you should be access the books, grimoires and scrolls inside the temple. Go forth with my blessings and learn. You''ll need it."

    "Wait? Guardian?" I repeated, confused. Lyia nodded again, amused.

    "What, did you think this would be easy?"

    "No, but if that''s your Guardian, then couldn''t you tell him to let me pass?"

    "I told you earlier, didn''t I?" Lyia shrugged apologetically. "I''m sorry, but I can''t dictate what my followers do. You''ve to persuade him yourself¡­no, you''ll have to defeat him in combat. Just between you and me¡­" she lowered her voice. "I won''t blame you if you kill him. He ignored my warnings and went a little insane when gorging himself on knowledge."

    I gulped. That didn''t sound promising. Initially I thought I might have gotten a new ally, but from Lyia''s dismal expression, I could see that the chances of reconciliation were pretty low. No wonder she wanted new followers.

    "I''ll do my best."

    "I know you will," Lyia replied with another dazzling smile. But it took on a hint of sadness and she reached out to stroke my face. "In a month, the flames of war will erupt once more¡­and you''ll have a major role to play in it. I''m very sorry, but it seems that I''ll be relying on you once again. You''ll face a lot of ordeals¡­painful ordeals, but if you overcome them, you''ll achieve unimaginable triumph and glory."

    "Ha ha¡­please don''t expect anything from me."

    Lyia must have seen the future, to be able to make such a declaration. I didn''t know what she saw, but I wasn''t sure I wanted to know.

    However, knowledge was power, and the more I knew, the better.

    "What''s going to happen?"

    Lyia gave me a sad smile. "I''m afraid I can''t tell you. The laws of the Gods forbid me from directly intervening."

    Yet those same laws didn''t forbid you from giving me a special ability? How did that work out? Well, I couldn''t expect this to be easy.

    "I''ll be returning to the Realm of Gods now. I wish you luck, my Chosen." Lyia gave me a brighter smile this time. "And make sure you destroy every single one of Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "You can count on me for that, at least."

    Lyia laughed, and then just like that, she disappeared as suddenly as she appeared, even as her laughter rang clearly across the forest.

 15 Chapter 15: Guardian of the Temple

    Following the goddess''s instructions, I reached the Temple of Lyia a few hours after following the river. It actually took a lot longer than that, because shortly after Lyia left, I ended up finding a place to sleep while Bonehead watched over me. I couldn''t help it ¨C after spending a whole day trekking through the forest, I was exhausted.

    Even an undead needed to rest.

    Taking a deep breath, I continued onward, with Bonehead in tow. From my vantage point, I could barely make out the temple in the distance. The sun peeked out from behind the temple''s silhouette, its rays slightly stretching out to bath the forest. Dawn had just barely broken, but once again, it made no difference to my eyes other than the brighter colors.

    "Huh¡­looks empty."

    As I neared, I saw that the temple had remained a bit on the dilapidated side, with cracked pillars, crumbling marble that spelled a complete lack of maintenance. The courtyard was overflowing with weeds, and even the dusty, white walls were covered in moss and vines.

    The temple evidently hadn''t been occupied in years. Now I know why Lyia was confident that the human army wouldn''t ransack or bother with the place. There was nothing worth their attention. Nothing to plunder and no one to conquer.

    It was almost¡­dead.

    So where''s the Guardian that Lyia was talking about?

    I didn''t see any sign of the Guardian that Lyia was talking about. No human, no gigantic statue, nothing. There was no one or nothing guarding the temple.

    I rubbed my temples as I made my way to the temple. This had to be a trap. It had to be. There was no way Lyia would lie to me. And it was even less likely that she would have made a mistake. She was the goddess of knowledge, for god''s sake.

    Well, there''s no point wasting time and hanging around here. I''ll only find out if I enter.

    Hell, maybe the Guardian had broken down. That would be great. That would have solved all my problems.

    Except that the future-seeing, knowledgeable Lyia wouldn''t have uttered that cryptic warning about him if he had.

    I cautiously treaded across the grass, soil giving way to ancient concrete that had been paved around the temple like some kind of dirty, white pool. Plants grew from the cracks between the concrete slabs, their green leaves sprouting skywards. I barely spared them a glance, but I subconsciously took care not to trample on them.

    I felt a premonition. Perhaps these were the Guardians. But neither of them seemed¡­uh, sound in mind to protect the place.

    That said, I approached them warily, half-expecting one of them to come to life and jump at me. I knew that this world of magic often concealed dangers beneath harmless surfaces. There was more than what meets the eye, and it was best if I adhered to that principle if I wanted to stay alive for just a bit longer.

    My shoe crunched on the pavement as I climbed the wide steps that led to the open entrance. Taking a deep breath, I made my way to the huge door and reached out to open it.

    "¡­!"

    I jumped back instinctively when I sensed that something was not right. That probably saved my life, for the next second, the door flew open and a gust of wind blew out. I shielded myself in reflex with my staff and left hand, but something lanced out from within.

    "Whoa!"

    I barely managed to block the verdant blast of energy that surged from within the temple, but the sheer force of the attack knocked me off my feet and sent me hurtling across the clearing. Flipping my body in midair, I crashed back down to the ground, landing on my feet and knees while supporting myself with my staff.

    "Hu¡­"

    I exhaled and slowly rose to my feet, my hands trembling from the immense impact. There was no mistake. The Guardian had risen from his slumber.

    An armored demon strode out of the temple, his horns and eyes flaring. I gaped at him, surprised to see that he looked like an oriental demon for some reason¡­an Asura from Buddhist folktales and legends, complete with ancient Chinese armor and swords. His demonic face resembled a mask from a Japanese Noh play, with wild red hair streaming uncontrollably from his scalp. A curved sword stretched from his hand as he whipped it, creating a gigantic gust of wind.

    "Who dares intrude upon my goddess''s temple?"

    "Hang on, hang on! I''m a fellow follower, all right? We''re comrades! I''m also a follower of the goddess Lyia!"

    "Lies!" the demon roared and swung his sword. Another green flash of light arced toward me and slammed against the staff I raised to protect myself. I winced from the impact before being sent skidding back.

    Jeez, this guy just wouldn''t listen! Oh, right¡­Lyia did mention something about this. That the guy had gone insane or something.

    "You just want to hoard all the knowledge for yourself, don''t you?"

    "No¡­?"

    I blinked, and then recalled what Lyia told me. The guy had snapped after attempting to devour too much knowledge. I guess his mind couldn''t handle all that power. As powerful as knowledge was, too much of it could be deadly.

    "¡­I guess you''re not going to listen anyway."

    I shook my head and steadied myself, raising my staff into an offensive stance.

    The demon pointed his sword at me, and I gulped when I saw the curved, sharp blade gleam in the light of dawn. It dawned on me that I might be a little overmatched here. Yeah, I probably had defeated two heroes, but this guy seemed like a boss monster. The type that would require a party of heroes to defeat, not a solo player.

    I was way over my head.

    "Leave, and I''ll spare your life. If you insist on violating the scared temple with your ignorant presence, then I''ll cut you down."

    "Wait, isn''t the point of entering the temple to learn and absolve myself of that ignorance in the first place?" I blurted out, but the demon plainly ignored me. I studied him and activated my Absolute Appraisal to confirm his strength.

    Name: Asura

    Species: Oni

    Job/Rank: Guardian/Knight

    Title: Temple Guardian

    Special Abilities: Demonic Swordsmanship, Natural Regeneration, Forbidden Garden

    Wow, the guy had three special abilities. That was amazing. I had a lot too, but considering I had plundered most of them through my Devour special ability, it wasn''t as impressive. I tapped on Natural Regeneration and almost stumbled back in shock when I read the chilling details.

    What the hell? Doesn''t this mean he''s practically immortal!?

    Yeah, there was no way I could defeat him right now. I knew he had a much higher supply of magical energy that I did. I would lose in a battle of attrition.

    "Grr¡­"

    Bonehead didn''t seem to agree. Without even waiting for my mental command, the skeletal beast lunged at the awaiting Asura. I didn''t know how he was making those growling sounds without vocal chords. Magic, I guess.

    With one swing of his sword, Asura obliterated Bonehead, reducing him into bony splinters that rained on the steps.

    "What the¡­?!"

    Bonehead was huge, several times the size of Asura. Yet with a single slash, the demon had completely destroyed the gigantic skeletal beast.

    You''ve got to be kidding me.

    I calculated my options. Even if I unleashed Doombolt or other spells, I was sure that Asura would just regenerate like I did. And I didn''t have enough magical energy to surpass his regenerative powers, at least not alone.

    This is why people fight in parties and not solo¡­

    I sighed and retreated. Asura watched me mockingly, but didn''t follow. Good. It sucked that I had to abandon a potential place of refuge, but at least I would be alive to sleep in the open. Forcing my way through would only mean death.

    What was the point of being a hero when you needed to rely on each other and form parties to gang up on a single monster? That didn''t sound remotely heroic.

    Shaking my head, I was about to turn away, only for my surroundings to be suddenly drowned out by horses.

    "¡­!"

    I instinctively stepped aside as a large army of cavalry stampeded into the clearing from the forest. Gleaming, armored knights with white heraldry pulled their horses into a halt, skidding as they stared at me and the demon.

    "Demon!" the lead knight hissed, and then he turned to me. Without my armor, he probably thought I was a civilian, for his next words were softened. "Fear not, young man. We''ve arrived to purge Restia of demons."

    One of his men raised his sword and pointed it at Asura.

    "Demon! Slay the demon! Clear Restia of the demonic taint!"

    "Uwooo!"

    The knights roared as one. I raised my hand to stop them, not knowing what to make of this.

    "Hey, wait¡­"

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    No one listened. They were all charging at Asura, their swords drawn and raised. Dust and sand billowed as the horses'' hooves stomped against the soil.

    "Hmph. Small fries."

    Yeah. To a boss monster like Asura, these knights were little more than cannon fodder. They didn''t possess the strength of heroes. They were "normal" humans¡­they were going to get destroyed by the powerful Guardian.

    "This will be more than enough to deal with the likes of you."

    Raising his sword and pointing his blade to the air, Asura unleashed a storm of emerald lightning. Where the lightning struck, tree-like creatures burst free from the soil, clawing their way free. Within a minute, there was an entire army of treeants scrambling from the ground, swinging their thick branches and toppling whinnying horses. Great bushes of leaves covered their heads, and ghostly holes gaped in the bark of their trunks, a chilling mockery of faces.

    "There''s so many of them!"

    I reacted by parrying a branch with my staff as the nearest treeant bore down on me. Beside me, men cried and yelled as they fought back desperately, hacking away at the growing number of treeants. Like silent sentinels, they formed a wooden wall of defense between the temple and the knights while the remaining Treeants hurled themselves at the armored cavalry.

    "Stand firm! Cut them down!"

    Even as I fought, I saw the knights fighting in various formations. They might not be heroes, but they had clear, distinct fighting styles. There was one knight who was spinning around and kicking a bunch of Treeants, destroying them with his heavy, metallic boots, instead of a sword. Further down to his right, his comrade was a hulking giant who swung a massive mace that splintered a group of Treeants with raw power. And then there were knights who specialized in magic ¨C one guy stood near the back and launched a series of fireballs that incinerated an entire line of Treeants.

    I couldn''t help but get caught up in the intensity of the battles, fighting ferociously as I swung my staff to keep the Treeants at bay. Unlike the knights, I wasn''t faring very well, most probably because I was focusing on defense more than attack. I hadn''t casted any spells or summoned any zombies yet. I was deliberately holding back because I had caught a glimpse of an opportunity. Earlier, I was thinking that I needed a party to fight a boss monster like Asura, and as luck would have it, an army of knights had arrived to aid me.

    The knights probably wouldn''t bother to occupy the temple, which meant they would leave after purging the area of demons. I could use this to my advantage and hole up in the temple for a while, learning whatever I needed.

    As the battle raged on, the knight commander got impatient. Riding his horse to the center of the chaotic melee, he raised his sword and pointed it high up into the air.

    "We''re wasting too much time on these low-level monsters!"

    "Don''t be unreasonable, sir!"

    "Yeah, these monsters aren''t going to lie down and die if we ask them to!"

    Several of his subordinates snapped back, but the commander merely scowled at them from under his helm.

    "We can''t waste too much time on cannon fodder. We still have that main guy to deal with."

    "Then how do you suppose we fight?" the knight closest to him demanded as he cleaved a Treeant in half with his broadsword. The commander smiled.

    "Simple. I''ll use that. I''ll leave the rest to you."

    "Eh? Boss!? Are you really going to¡­?"

    I had no idea what they were talking about, but I didn''t have a good feeling about this. The commander let out a yell as he chanted his incantation.

    "Divine Thunder!"

    A colossal beam of golden light blasted out from his blade and struck the heavens. The clouds began to swirl and broil. A deafening crack split apart the skies and countless tendrils of lightning descended, striking the battlefield and hitting the Treeants with pinpoint accuracy. The low-level monsters went into spasms as they were incinerated into cinders and ash by the holy lightning, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

    Holy¡­!

    My jaw dropped when I witnessed the terrifying spectacle. I didn''t know non-hero characters possessed such amazing strength.

    With just a single attack, he was able to destroy all the low-level Treeants!? What the hell, if the normal humans are this powerful, then why would they need the heroes?

    "Great!"

    "Awesome, boss!"

    "You''re the best!"

    The men crowed triumphantly, cheering as their commander sheathed his sword. The grand knight smirked as he brought his horse around to face the real monster.

    "The little Treeants have all been eliminated. It''s just you now, demon."

    I swallowed as I watched Asura descend the steps deliberately. For a moment, I didn''t feel anything.

    Then I understood. It wasn''t that I didn''t feel anything. It was that his presence was so overwhelming, so abysmal, that I found my senses swallowed up by an infinite darkness. The fear was so overpowering that I couldn''t help but shudder.

    This guy¡­he''s extremely strong!

    It seemed the knights had felt it too. Horses neighed and bucked, throwing their riders off them and fleeing the forest. The knights themselves were either frozen in fear or were instinctively retreating from the monster before them.

    "Don''t falter!"

    Alone in the maelstrom of horror, the commander stood firm, raising his golden sword like a beacon and rallying his men around him. Asura snorted.

    "Fall before me."

    A ripple of emerald energy burst from him. Plants, foliage, trees began growing rapidly around us, turning the concrete clearing into a jungle. Vines, tendrils and shrubs snaked out and spread, dividing the armored ranks of knights and separating them from each other.

    "W¡­what the hell is this?" one of the knights screamed.

    "Forbidden Garden," I whispered. Having seen the special ability on Asura''s profile with Absolute Appraisal, I could make a fairly accurate guess. Hell, even the Treeants from earlier were part of his Forbidden Garden. It seemed that one could wield his or her special ability with a great amount of flexibility and imagination.

    Resting his katana on his shoulder, Asura stopped at the bottom of the stairs and faced the knights, his expression hidden behind that metallic, demonic mask.

    "All those who seek knowledge¡­will perish before me."

    "Like hell!"

    The hulking knight with the massive mace bashed through the unnatural foliage, tearing vines and shrubs apart, and lunged at the Guardian from behind.

    "The one who will perish are you demons!"

    His huge mace never reached Asura. Verdant lightning sprayed from under him and a massive, plant-like monster lurched upward.

    A gigantic Venus flytrap, or something similar. Its creepy, fanged head snaked toward the sailing knight, who was unable to adjust his trajectory in midair. With a fearful yell, he swung his mace to clobber the Venus flytrap-like monster, but the plant creature merely opened its immense jaws and swallowed him and his weapon whole.

    The whole regiment of knights watched, paralyzed, as their comrade was chewed into pieces, one of his hands falling out of the plant monster''s jaws. The gigantic flytrap continued to chew for a few more seconds, then spat out his metallic weapon.

    "How ignorant¡­"

    The Guardian of the Temple mused to himself, his voice brittle with rage as he stood still, his sword still resting on his shoulder.

    "How ignorant of you to challenge me without knowing the difference between our strengths."

    His mask gleamed, even as the flytrap withdrew and plunged back into the growing garden, disappearing under the thick foliage.

    "The penalty for ignorance is¡­death."

 16 Chapter 16: Forbidden Garden

    "So, which of you ignorant fools would like to be enlightened first?"

    Asura strolled across the grassy wilderness, his each step bringing with it a fresh bloom of flowers. The knights shrank back, afraid.

    "He''s coming!" one of them warned his comrades, holding his sword with both hands. Even from a distance, I could see that he was trembling.

    "Hmm¡­there''s so many of you. It''ll take too much time to enlighten you one by one." Swinging his katana, Asura took another step, his feet disappearing knee-deep into the wildly growing tall grass. "It seems like¡­"

    With a single slash, he sent dozens of heavily armored knights tumbling through the air. Emerald lightning crackled in the air, leaving behind a stink of ozone.

    "¡­I must first eliminate those who lack the intellect to gather knowledge!"

    "Ah!"

    More knights were sent crashing down as plants and green lightning danced through the dense vegetation. Despite their armor, they were knocked off their feet.

    "Whoa!"

    "Ugh!"

    I slammed my staff into the soil to prevent myself from being lifted off and hurled through the artificial forest. Taking a deep breath, I glanced around, only to see the knights slowly rising back to their feet. Despite being swept about, they didn''t seem too hurt.

    "This is Asura''s anti-horde spell? Doesn''t look like there are any effects¡­"

    Even as I said that, I knew that it was a premature judgement. Surely there had to be some sort of effect, or he wouldn''t cast it. Maybe not physical damage, but something more nefarious. I could see spores floating about.

    Absolute Appraisal!

    I had a bad feeling about the spores. Were they parasitic? Monstrous spores that entered our bodies through respiration and latched on, growing monsters inside our organs and killing us from inside? I probably watched too many Alien movies, but given how crazy this world was, I wouldn''t be surprised if that was a demonic effect.

    Pain Amplifier.

    I blinked when I saw that single technique float before me in a blue holographic window. It seemed that the spores weren''t as nefarious as I thought it would be, but that term still didn''t sound very promising.

    Upon being breathed in, these spores will enhance the sensory perceptions of the hosts and amplify the pain they feel by a thousand times.

    What the hell?

    That certainly didn''t sound good. A thousand times? That meant even a slight injury such as a small cut or gaze would cause unimaginable, excruciating pain?

    The knights didn''t seem to care. Upon seeing that there was no negative effect after being bathed by Asura''s attacks, they decided to go onto the offensive.

    "Hoh!"

    With a roar, his armored squad charged, their blades glowing with divine energy. Their armor remained proof against the thorns and vines of the wilderness, and they bashed through the foliage to reach Asura''s position.

    However, the demon remained standing where he was, completely unmoved by the aggression of his opponents.

    "Kill him!"

    As one of the knights closed in on Asura, a gigantic piece of wood burst out from the vegetation and slammed into him, its thorns digging into his armor.

    "Hah! You think that such a weak attack can incapacitate me? This is but a scratch!"

    Despite the protection the armor afforded him, several of the thorns had flayed open his exposed flesh in the joints. It wasn''t just him. The comrades who were following behind found themselves spiked or struck by similarly barbed wood, which pierced their armor and dealt surface wounds.

    However, despite the armor reducing the worst of their damage, the squad of knights dropped to their knees, writhing about.

    "Ah!"

    "Ugh!"

    "It hurts! It hurts!"

    "Oh, Goddess Evelyn, save me! Save me!"

    "AAAAAAH! It hurts so much!"

    They were screaming and flailing about from just minor wounds. Engulfed by red-hot agony, they writhed on the ground, unable to get up. Thanks to the Pain Amplifier curse, just a few superficial cuts were sufficient to incapacitate them.

    Tears flowing from their eyes, the knights tried to rise, only to fall as pain coursed through their limbs.

    "Goddess¡­it hurts so much¡­please let it end¡­let it end!"

    "Idiots. So you''re the first to fall to the sin of ignorance."

    Even without moving his sword, Asura took off the heads of the knights and mercifully ended their misery. The wooden spikes and creatures lurking beneath the foliage had consumed the knights, attacking the weak spot between chainmail and helmet and severing their necks.

    "Fire!"

    Upon seeing their comrades'' demise, the knights in the backline had charged and prepared a powerful spell. Raising their staffs, they launched a bombardment of fireballs, icicles and lightning at the solitary figure of Asura.

    The bombardment crashed down onto Asura with the fury of gods, enveloping the entire place in multiple explosions. I shielded myself as the shockwaves buffeted me, trying to keep my eye on the expanding inferno that voraciously consumed the vegetation.

    "Close combat attacks have no effect, so they''re now resorting to long range spells, huh?" I shook my head and sighed. "Unfortunately, long range spells aren''t effective either."

    "Eh?"

    The knight closest to me blinked and stared at me. I merely pointed at where Asura stood.

    The demon seemed to have been wounded, but plants and vegetation flowed into his body, repairing the gaping holes that the explosions tore through him. In mere seconds, he was whole again, completely unscathed.

    Even his armor was repaired.

    "No way¡­he regenerated?"

    "How is this possible!?"

    "Even though we wounded him, he instantly restored himself?"

    The shocked cries of knights filled the dense foliage as they backed away in disbelief, trying to wrap their minds around the amazing sight.

    "That''s not surprising," I replied as I studied the situation and analyzed it. "This guy¡­he''s controlling plants and vegetation with his Forbidden Garden. As long as there exists plants and trees around him, he''ll be able to draw a nearly infinite supply of nutrients to regenerate himself from even the worst of wounds with his Natural Regeneration ability. That''s why I didn''t want to fight him by myself. But even now¡­things don''t look good."

    I narrowed my eyes.

    The gigantic Venus flytrap-like monster from earlier, and the heavily wooden spikes that can penetrate defense¡­he can manipulate and control wood-element magic freely. So it would be a given that he can use wood spells to restore himself. And that armor¡­

    I watched as his armor wove and repaired itself. Rather than metallic chainmail, it looked like some sort of polymer-based fabric. Thousands of microscopic threads weaving and bending over each other and hardening into multiple protective layers.

    In just a few seconds, he was fully regenerated.

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Then is he invincible? Doesn''t that make him immortal?"

    "No¡­" I was thinking hard as an idea came to my mind and I smirked. "That Natural Regeneration special ability just exposed all of Asura''s vulnerabilities."

    I was staring at his katana. That was the single part of the Guardian that did not regenerate from drawing the power of Nature. Either it wasn''t part of Forbidden Garden or his affinity to wood magic ¨C a weapon that was completely separate from his self.

    I wondered if it was the source of his power. If it was¡­

    "If we can destroy that weapon, we should be able to eliminate the boss monster."

    However, none of the knights were paying any attention to a "civilian" like me. They had launched another series of attacks that leveled the entire foliage around him, only for the vegetation to regrow and Asura to fully regenerate once more.

    "Damn it! He completely restores himself whenever we hit him! Is he immortal or something? How are we supposed to fight a monster like that?"

    I chuckled to myself. They were overestimating the power of Regeneration. As someone who possessed a similar ability, I knew its limits. Regeneration relied on magical energy. Run out of it, and I would lose the ability to regenerate.

    Asura should be no different. The problem was that Asura seemed to possess an endless well of magical energy.

    His eyes crackling with emerald eldritch energy, the Guardian crouched down and plunged his sword into to rampantly growing foliage. His body glowing with magic, Asura issued a single, chilling declaration.

    "It''s my turn now."

    "Whoa!"

    The knights scattered when a single colossal redwood tree burst out of the arcane forest, as if to pierce the heavens.

    "I will show you hell."

    But that redwood tree was just a diversion¡­no, a single pillar to fence us in, trapping us in the forest with a murderous demon. Asura had lunged from the thick vegetation, disappearing into a green blur as he streaked across the air.

    Swinging his sword, he descended upon the clustered group of knights, who grimly raised their swords and shields to brace themselves for his attack.

    It was futile.

    Upon landing, Asura obliterated an entire squad, reducing them into pieces and gore. Heads and limbs flew, blood splattering all over the plants, who seemed to go into a frenzy as they twisted and turned to thirstily drink the crimson fluids.

    "Aaaaah!"

    "Ugh!"

    "Noooo!"

    My jaw dropped as I backed away in reflex, battered by the shockwaves of Asura''s descent. Biting my lip, I studied the massacre, almost unable to believe my eyes.

    How terrifying¡­in just one move, he killed so many knights! An entire squadron, wiped out in just one second!

    However, the knight commander didn''t hesitate. Even as his men reeled from the catastrophic losses, he alone stood firm and led the charge.

    "Hold your ground! Everyone, charge! We''ll fight with all our strength and show these demons the power of humanity!"

    "Uwooo!"

    "Kill the bastard!"

    "I''ll avenge Smith, Lyson and the others!"

    "I will never forgive you!"

    I didn''t know if it was the knight commander''s natural charisma or if he possessed a special ability that gave him a leadership buff and made his men immune to morale loss, but his rousing order seemed to have the desired effect. As one, the battalion of knights made their armored charge, intending to overwhelm the Guardian with sheer numbers.

    "There''s so many of us and only one of him! There''s no way we can''t kill him!"

    "Yeah! If he regenerates, we''ll just keep cutting and hacking away until he can no longer heal himself!"

    Asura stood alone in the center of the massed charge, unperturbed by the terrifying sight of a stampeding crowd.

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    He had no reason to. With one swing of his katana, he massacred a dozen knights. Their comrades refused to falter, but more of them fell to the bloody carnage. Screams of pain and fury flooded the air as more of them were sent hurtling across the forest, victims of Asura''s bloody rampage. The Guardian himself continued to hack away, but such were the numbers of the knights that he didn''t seem able to put a dent in their battalion.

    It was a stalemate for now.

    "Oh boy."

    I felt sorry for the knights. It was clear that they were too weak to combat Asura, and they were falling by the dozen with each swing of his sword. The knight commander was the only one who could withstand his blows, and as his men rallied around him, he reduced the disastrous death toll wreaked upon his soldiers by exchanging a few blows with Asura.

    His efforts weren''t enough.

    With a single forceful swipe, Asura sent three screaming knights high above their comrades'' heads. Their armored figures slammed into the huge trees and they crashed back down, writhing in agony from the bruises or fractures sustained. Pain Amplifier was driving them beyond their tolerance levels, incapacitating them.

    But they were the lucky ones. At Asura''s feet, another two knights lay dead, one of them with his head severed from his shoulders. Gritting his teeth, the commander found himself driven back, but he dug his heels in and parried another blow from Asura.

    "Go! Kill the demon! Avenge our fallen comrades!"

    "Oh!"

    "I tire of this."

    Asura sounded almost bored. Raising his katana, he dodged the slashes of a few knights before blowing them away with his weapon. As they staggered to a distance, he seized the chance to stab his sword into the soil.

    My Absolute Appraisal flared and I saw the name of the technique he was using.

    Summoning technique: Asura Death Jungle

    Demonic Creatures of the Wilderness, heed my call and crawl out of the primordial forest to prey on the ignorant.

    "¡­"

    That was such a cheesy description. Unfortunately, his ability was far from cheesy. All around us, the forest rippled around and whip-like vines writhed and lashed out. Dragging themselves out of the thick vegetation, carnivorous flowers of all shapes and sizes crawled and ensnared screaming knights with thorny vines, dragging them toward their petal-like heads. The core of the flowers opened up, revealing razor-sharp teeth instead of pistils and nectar.

    "W¡­what the hell are these?"

    "Let go! Let go¡­aaaaah!"

    Knights lost their heads ¨C literally ¨C as the flower-monsters chomped down on them.

    "Ugh! Ah!"

    The remaining knights hacked and slashed at the newly emerged monsters, but were unable to slay them. One knight, in particular, stepped forward to wrestle with a flower creature. Even as it wrapped its thorny vines around him, he pummeled the petal-shrouded head with his crackling gauntlets, tearing it apart with brute strength.

    "They can be killed!" he shouted, only for his head to be bitten off by a second flower monster. "UGH!"

    "Everyone, be careful! This is the first time I''ve seen such a monster!"

    "What the hell are those things?"

    "Are they familiars? That demon''s familiars?"

    "Ah! I don''t want to be eaten!"

    A knight shrieked before his armor was bust open by a single spiked vine, then dragged into the waiting maw of the flower-monster.

    "Don''t falter! They can be killed!"

    The commander was trying to rally his surviving subordinates, and with a mighty swing of his sword, he obliterated a flower-monster that was stupid enough to try and devour him.

    "Close your ranks! Don''t let them surround you! Make use of our numbers! They aren''t very different from the other monsters we have subdued in the past!"

    "Oooh!"

    With renewed enthusiasm, the knights yelled out determinedly and surged forward in disciplined formations, cutting apart the newly emerged enemies. But even as they brought down thrashing hordes of plant monsters, more continued to emerge from the foliage.

    "It won''t end until we defeat the boss himself, huh?" I mused to myself. I glanced at Asura, who stood alone by himself amidst the carnage, still gripping his katana.

    "Fools¡­even in your ignorance, you struggle. You refuse to learn."

    And we''re supposed to learn from dying? Gosh, what an ingenious solution.

    I couldn''t help but roll my eyes. At that moment, our eyes locked and Asura turned toward me, his eyes blazing emerald.

    "You¡­"

    "Hello again." I waved. "I don''t suppose you''ve realized that I''m a fellow believer in the goddess Lyia and decided to spare us, right?"

    "You are the most ignorant of them all."

    ¡­huh? Where did he get that from?

    "Hey, I object to being called ignorant," I protested furiously. "I''ll have you know, I read a lot. Okay, I''ll admit that I''m still ignorant with regards to Restia, but that''s why I''ve come here. To learn. You''re the one standing in the way¡­"

    But Asura wasn''t listening. He was speeding toward me, trampling on the grass as he raised his sword.

    "¡­!"

    I backed away instinctively. The Guardian of the temple was approaching me at a terrifying speed, to the extent where I couldn''t see him any more than a green blur that was camouflaged by the forest around us.

    The knights standing in his way were all knocked aside like bowling pins.

    "Ah!"

    "Whoa!"

    "Oof!"

    "What the hell!? The demon''s gone berserk!"

    "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

    Smashing past an armored vanguard of knights, Asura lunged at me. Jumping high up into the air, he came crashing down as he swung his katana in a deadly arc.

    "You¡­you alone cannot be forgiven."

    I watched him as I grimly raised my staff. I see. He must have detected Lyia''s blessings on me. That was why he singled me out ¨C because I was the follower of the same goddess as him. In his insanity, he must have sought to eliminate all other followers and monopolize both Lyia and her knowledge for himself.

    "So be it. I''ll show you the error of your ways."

    I parried Asura''s blade with my staff, and the ground beneath my feet ruptured and fractured from the immense impact. Soil and grass were thrown about as the ground groaned. Asura twisted around and kicked me, catching me in the gut and sending me flying several meters. I slammed into a tree and uprooted it, crashing heavily onto the ground.

    For a moment, I almost blacked out.

    The excruciating pain was so tremendous that I couldn''t handle it. My senses were overloaded with agony that I writhed about from the most minor of bruises. Now I understood the use of Asura''s curse. If he couldn''t kill me with his first few attacks, he could at least incapacitate me with the overwhelming pain long enough for him to deliver the finishing blow.

    Fortunately, I possessed Regeneration as well. The throbbing spikes of red-hot, molten lead in my veins vanished as my bruises disappeared and I staggered to my feet, wincing at the phantom traces of pain. Even when fully healed, my mind had been psychologically scarred by the immense amount of pain.

    "I knew it. You''re the same as me."

    Asura slashed at me, but I managed to parry his katana with my staff. My feet dug in and left trails in the soil as his blow sent me skidding across the ground.

    "Are you joking?"

    "You too are a follower of her holiness Lyia, I see."

    "That''s what I''ve been telling you!"

    I couldn''t help but yell in frustration. However, Asura merely slapped me away with another swing of his katana.

    "However¡­there can only be one of Lyia''s Chosen."

    I stared at him in disbelief. The guy had gone crazy. Literally.

    "Who said that? Lyia? She never placed any such restrictions. Besides, Evelyn has almost thirty Chosen, you know?"

    "I don''t care about that goddess of humans!" Asura bellowed as he slashed again. I barely managed to block his blade with my staff. "I only care about serving her holiness Lyia!"

    "Evidently," I muttered. "To the point where you''re trying to decrease her number of followers and hog her for yourself."

    "Therefore¡­" Asura growled as he bore down on me. My knees buckled as I struggled to withstand the heavy slash from his sword and kept the blade centimeters away from touching my face. I didn''t dare to give way. Even a small cut or graze would cause me to collapse from the sheer amount of amplified pain. Aware of this, the Guardian grinned ominously. "¡­let us decide right here and right now, which of us is worthier to be her Chosen."

 17 Chapter 17: Lyiaâ€™s Chosen

    Unable to withstand the pressure, I caved in and stepped to the side. Asura''s sword slashed through the space where I had been standing and cut a deadly swathe through the tall grass. Had I still be standing there when his blade fell, I would have been cleaved cleanly in half.

    I gritted my teeth and thrust my staff at Asura. He didn''t even bother to dodge. My eyes widened when I blew a hole through his body. Asura merely stayed still, grabbing my staff and holding it firmly in place. His face remained concealed behind that never-changing mask, but I bet he was smirking underneath.

    This is the same tactic I used against Kijima!

    I quickly let go of my staff before Asura slashed me.

    "Gaaaaah!"

    I almost blacked out from the pain. Even though it was a slight graze, especially since I succeeded in avoiding a fatal blow by stepping back in time, the red-hot agony flooded my mind and overwhelmed me. Staggering back, I forced myself to stand, heaving heavily as my healing prowess kicked in.

    "Oh?"

    Asura sounded curious. He pulled the staff out of his body and tossed it to me. The plants trailed around him and mended his wound near-instantaneously. He watched as my own cuts closed up, leaving pink flesh.

    "You''re the same as me."

    "In terms of having the Regeneration ability, I guess so."

    I caught the staff and shrugged haplessly. There was no point telling my enemy that I was an undead. Knowledge was power, and the less I gave to my enemy, the more advantageous it would be for me.

    Asura studied me for another second, and then he raised his katana and slashed at me. However, as he attacked, several knights attacked him from behind.

    "¡­!"

    Asura spun around and slashed at them, but the knights deftly ducked his katana. Among them was the knight commander, who landed on the ground and thrust his sword into Asura''s torso, cleaving through the armor.

    "Get away, kid! We''ll distract him long enough for you to run!"

    "Huh? Run?" I stared at him in disbelief. "And leave you guys behind?"

    "Don''t worry about us! The 5th Lancer Dragoon Company will be here soon to reinforce us! With our combined power, we should be able to overwhelm this demon!"

    "How na?ve." Asura knocked several knights away with his sword, beheading one of them. "You think reinforcements can save you? I''ll wipe you out, and then destroy whatever fools who dare come here. Hmm, maybe I''ll use your corpses to warn them."

    At his words, several more flower-monsters lunged up from the foliage behind the knights. The human warriors fought valiantly, turning their back on the demon temporarily to ward off the immediate threat.

    "¡­!"

    Asura whirled around to face me, his mangled body regenerating from the plants that crawled toward him. As always, the speed of his regeneration was astounding.

    Damn it¡­I thought I could completely destroy his whole body with Doombolt. He''s too powerful, huh?

    I took a deep breath and charged. I needed to keep Asura busy and distract him from the knights. The commander seemed to have realized my intention, for he risked turning to me and yelling a warning.

    "Don''t worry, kid! We''ll be fine! It''s our duty to protect civilians!"

    "I''m not a civilian," I told him flatly. Ducking under Asura''s sword, I countered with a riposte that blew off Asura''s head. When he tried to grab hold of the staff, I obliterated a huge part of his body with Doombolt. However, even with most of his head and right arm missing, his left hand swung forward to slash me with his sword.

    "Whoa!"

    I jumped back, avoiding the lethal blade by just a hair''s breadth. My school uniform jacket split apart, the fabric unable to withstand the sharp wind pressure from the katana. Fortunately, it didn''t graze my skin. The remains of my jacket floated down, leaving just the shirt behind.

    "Ugh!"

    Behind Asura, the knights screamed and shrieked as they were gradually being overwhelmed by the flower monsters.

    "Your allies are slowly dwindling," Asura declared. I could hear the grim smile in his voice. "Soon you''ll be all alone."

    I gritted my teeth as I dodged and stayed out of reach of his sword. Sparing a glance at the knights, I saw that less than half of their number remained.

    At this rate, the entire battalion would be exterminated.

    "I''m sorry, sir."

    "?!"

    The knight commander whipped his head to stare at me, baffled, when I yelled an apology to him. I bowed my head slightly before stepping back to evade another slash.

    "I''ll have to desecrate your dead subordinates'' bodies for a bit. I''m very sorry, but if you want me to save your surviving men, you''ll have to bear with my uh¡­unorthodox spell."

    "What are you talking about?" the knight commander demanded. I didn''t have time to explain with words, so I showed it to him.

    Hopping several paces back and placing as much distance between myself and my enemy, I raised my staff and slammed it onto the ground. Taking a deep breath, I casted the Reanimate spell across the forested battlefield.

    "Ugh¡­"

    "Uu¡­"

    The dead knights were coming back to life, their bodies jerkily mechanically as they rose. Their movements were rough, as if whichever puppeteer handling them was clumsily pulling on their strings and forcing them to move. Slowly but surely, they shambled across the forest and plunged after the thrashing flower monsters, groaning and reaching out with their fingers.

    "You think your weak zombies can stand against my Flora?"

    Asura barked out a harsh laugh as he turned to watch the sight. He was unmoved, unlike the knights. The human soldiers had frozen in fear, staring at their once living-comrades in disbelief as they returned from beyond the grave.

    "What manner of atrocities is this?"

    "How dare you¡­"

    "You''re a monster!"

    "Do you want to live or not?"

    I directed this at the commander, who was looking shell-shocked. He turned to me, his eyes still wide and blank.

    "Make a decision now. Do you want to save your remaining men, or do you want to die because you can''t be flexible with your beliefs?"

    "How dare you¡­! You think we''ll abandon our principles just so we can save our lives?"

    "Don''t underestimate us!"

    "Death over dishonor!"

    "If you want to die so badly," I retorted in a chilling voice. "Then I don''t mind leaving you guys here to die by yourselves. I don''t know how long your reinforcements will take to arrive, but I guarantee that at least 90% of you will be dead before they do."

    The knight commander swallowed and clenched his fists tightly. I didn''t blame him. It was a difficult decision for him to make, and he needed some time to sort out the mental turmoil I had just thrown him into.

    Unfortunately, time was something we didn''t have.

    "So what do you choose? Life? Or death? If you want your men to live, I''ll help you. If not, you can all die here together."

    "I get it." The knight commander parried a thorny vine from a flower monster and slashed at it. With a roar of rage, he kicked it down before beheading it. "Do whatever you need to keep my men alive. But if you attempt to betray us, I''ll hunt you down to the ends of Restia myself."

    "But sir¡­!" one of the knights protested. The commander rounded on him.

    "Did you not hear me, soldier? All of you! Fight alongside the zombies! We''ll worry about them after we defeat this demon!"

    "Yeah!"

    Despite their reservations, the knights realized that they had little choice if they wanted to survive. With one final burst of strength, they formed up behind the dying zombies and defended themselves. They marched forward and slashed at the monsters.

    "It''s useless."

    Asura was chuckling at what he deemed to be futile efforts. He turned to me, slowly shaking his head as he swung his katana down.

    "Your zombies are no match for my Flora. I''ve said this before. You''re only delaying the inevitable."

    He was right. Even now, my zombies were dying by the dozens, chewed up and ripped into shreds by the flower army.

    However¡­

    "Is that so?" I pushed my glasses up my nose and smiled slyly. "Then perhaps it is time for me to tip the scales in our favor."

    "¡­? What do you mean?"

    I responded by throwing a hand up. All around me, 1,008 gravestones rose, smashing and splintering trees while splitting the dense foliage apart. The twelve symbols glowed brightly, and the zombies veiled beneath the shadows of the tombstones twisted, mutated and evolved. Their armor cracked open as their muscles and mass expanded, and they turned into more grotesque but terrifying shapes that unnerved their living comrades even further.

    "What¡­what the hell is this?"

    "How could you?"

    I ignored the knights'' objections and focused on directing my zombies. Under the buffs of my Thousand Astral Graves, the enhanced zombies lunged forward and ripped the hapless flower monsters apart. The Flora flailed about, stunned by the sudden increase in ferocity and strength of their prior victims. In seconds, the whole thing became a rout.

    Not only were my enhanced zombies overpowering them in terms of brute strength, they were unleashing special abilities such as spawning new zombies or unleashing hellfire and Cocytus spells that bathed the forest in flame and ice. More Flora perished, unable to withstand such dread magic and aggression.

    Within minutes, the tide had changed in our favor. So much so that several of my enhanced zombies bundled forward to surround and tear Asura apart.

    "You think you can defeat me with these?"

    Asura slashed at the first zombie, cleaving it apart, but the rest knocked him to the ground, pinning his sword arm and began tearing him apart. Asura regenerated, but the zombies were relentless and merciless, continually ripping and devouring him no matter how many times he healed himself. At this rate, he would run out of magical energy¡­

    "Ha ha ha ha ha¡­"

    I froze when I heard Asura''s creepy laughter. Even in a situation of utter despair and pain, he hadn''t fallen into panic, but was in fact amused?

    "I never thought you would possess such an amazing ability¡­the power to buff your familiars, huh? Remarkable! Remarkable, indeed! Of course¡­I should have expected nothing less from a rival, from a fellow Chosen of her holiness Lyia!"

    A burst of emerald flames blasted from his body, knocking my zombies over and sending them flying. Buffeted by the sudden shockwaves, I struggled to stay on my feet. I gritted my teeth and raised my head to watch a colossal torrent of green fire spike up into the heavens, even as the emerald inferno washed over the foliage.

    "The Guardian is transforming?"

    Even through the sickly, luminous emerald flames, I could see the shape of Asura''s body shifting and distorting, growing in size. As the flames roared one final time before abating in a ferocious but harmless explosion, the smoke slowly dissipated to reveal Asura''s new form.

    My eyes widened when I caught sight of him.

    "W¡­what the hell is this? You look completely different from before¡­"

    Well, duh. That was why the process was called transformation, right?

    My Absolute Appraisal kicked in and I stared at the blue holographic screen numbly, blinking as I tried to digest the new information.

    Asura''s Final Form: Blooming Buddha.

    "Blooming Buddha?" I repeated dumbly, and then glanced at the colossal figure who now stood before me. Unlike the lean, feline-like armored figure from before, the new Asura resembled a gigantic sumo wrestler. Gone was his polymer armor and chainmail. Instead, thick green muscles rippled across his bulky body, allowing him to resemble the Incredible Hulk. A red tattoo of a lotus was imprinted on his bulging abdomen, and metal rings floated around both hands and his back, crackling with emerald lightning. He towered over me, reaching almost five meters in height.

    "Goddess Evelyn¡­did that demon just grow into a ridiculous monster?"

    "Blooming Buddha? It looks even more powerful than before!"

    "Don''t tell me¡­it was toying with us this entire time?"

    The shrill voices of the living knights filled the air, even as they fought alongside their undead comrades. I paid no attention to them, my focus riveted on the Guardian''s immense bulk. A hole opened up inside his chest, revealing a green fruit.

    "Fellow follower of her holiness Lyia."

    His voice boomed across the battlefield, several times louder than before.

    "Do you know what this is?"

    "If I were to guess, the forbidden fruit of knowledge."

    Asura¡­no, the Blooming Buddha threw his head back and laughed.

    "Indeed! As expected of a fellow seeker of knowledge. You really do not disappoint."

    "Uh, no¡­that''s common knowledge. The forbidden fruit of knowledge is a biblical reference¡­" I trailed off when I caught sight of the blank expressions on the knights'' faces. That was right. It was common knowledge in my world. This was Restia, another world, which had different gods and goddesses. Given how the humans here worshipped Evelyn, I seriously doubted that Christianity and the Bible existed in Restia.

    Hmm¡­if that was the case, then what other knowledge from Earth could I use to my advantage in this foreign world?

    Well, before that, I have more important things to inquire about¡­

    "Um¡­why are you showing me that fruit? Are you trying to show off the fruits of your labor?"

    "¡­"

    Asura stared at me. I sighed.

    "Sorry, it seems that my attempts at making a humorous joke aren''t very fruitful¡­"

    "Okay, I get it! Enough!"

    Despite being driven insane from gorging on too much knowledge, it seemed that Asura wasn''t immune to my lame puns. He groaned and shook his head.

    "I''ll tell you how to use the fruit after you defeat me."

    "That''s assuming my plans to achieve victory will actually come to fruition."

    "Stop it! It''s not funny!"

    "Sorry."

    I apologized insincerely. The guy had no class if he couldn''t appreciate my high-level puns. It took a person of similarly high intellect to understand such sophisticated humor. For now, I should put that intellect to better use.

    Analyzing Asura''s Blooming Buddha form, I noticed that his katana was gone. The source of his power, the single unchanging portion of him that didn''t rely on regeneration¡­it was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, I scanned his massive bulk for another moment before my eyes stopped at the fruit that served as his heart.

    The sensation it gives off¡­the magical energy signature¡­

    My eyes widened when I suddenly understood. They were extremely similar. That fruit was a transmuted version of the weapon and remained as Asura''s main source of power!

    "I see. If I break your heart¡­ahem, literally, I''ll be able to defeat you. Correct?"

    "That is correct, young man."

    I raised an eyebrow at his reply. I mean, I didn''t actually ask the question with any expectation that he would honestly reply.

    "Should you really be telling me that?"

    "Does it make a difference?" Asura sneered mockingly as he took a step forward. "Even if you know, it won''t change the outcome of the battle. And you would have figured it out anyway, given how intelligent you are."

    "How do you know I''m intelligent?" I countered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "Because I wear glasses?"

    Asura guffawed. "You give yourself too little credit. From our earlier exchange, I can already tell what sort of person you are. The fact that you''re not recklessly charging at me alone is more than enough to inform me that you''re at least smarter than most of my opponents."

    The fruit disappeared as the hole in his chest closed up, and Asura returned to being an Incredible Hulk wannabe. Stomping forward, he reached out with his thick, muscular arms. The guy had the whole wrestler thing down pat.

    Growling, he threw out an arm thrust ¨C a typical sumo wrestling technique that packed immense power behind the blow. I jumped back and dodged, swallowing when I saw his fist leave a massive crater on the ground along with pulverized grass and splintered trees.

    If I got hit by something like that¡­

    Asura wasn''t giving me any chance to breathe. His next attack was already coming, with a green lotus magic symbol floating around his fist. This time, it was no mere palm thrust or sumo punch. It was a magically enhanced strike ¨C the real deal.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!"

    I raised my staff to block the attack. Asura smirked, knowing that my puny staff wouldn''t be able to completely shield me from such a devastating blow¡­

    I smiled.

    "¡­!

    Behind Asura, my enhanced zombies lunged and bit into him, tearing him apart. With a furious growl, Asura twisted around and dislodged them. Grabbing the first zombie, he pulverized his head into the ground and reduced it into a bloody pulp. Twisting around, he smacked the second zombie and sent him flying, then stomped about to tackle the third zombie. My zombie folded in an unnatural angle, his spine snapping from the sheer force, and flew several meters away.

    Crunching his leg firmly on the ground, Asura struck the remaining zombies with quick, precise swings of his meaty hands and sent them flying.

    "No way¡­"

    I felt despair and fear well up in my heart. Five of my enhanced zombies, receiving 12 different buffs from my Thousand Astral Graves, were all destroyed in an instant. Looking at how Asura was casually dusting off his hands, he clearly didn''t even break a sweat.

    With my strongest technique sealed, was there anything I could do against such a terrifying monster?

    "If these cannon fodder are the best you can do, then you''re doomed."

    Sneering triumphantly, Asura turned back to me, his fist glowing as the emerald lotus materialized about it. Stomping toward me, he threw his fist forward.

    "Yeah¡­that''s assuming they are the only ones I''m relying on."

    I didn''t move from my spot. Instead, I glanced up and smiled as black circles appeared all around me.

    "Why do you think I didn''t take the chance to escape?"

    I glanced at my zombies and cocked my head.

    "I could have run away while my allies were distracting you. But nope. I didn''t. Why do you think that is?"

    "¡­it certainly is not because you''re not an idiot."

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    If the Blooming Buddha thought I would take the bait, he was sorely disappointed. But not as sore as he would be later.

    "It''s to prepare," I replied. I gestured toward the black circles around me. "This is plan B."

    "¡­" Blooming Buddha spared them a glance. "What the hell are those?"

    "Ever since I devoured Kijima, I had always wanted to test this out. But I hadn''t achieved a single success so far. I thought that his Summon special ability would be extremely useful, especially for a necromancer for me, so it was surprising when I couldn''t summon a single zombie. Apparently I haven''t reached a level high enough to summon monsters or familiars like Kijima. At least not yet, anyway¡­"

    I didn''t reply to his question directly.

    "What are you babbling about?" Asura demanded, but he didn''t pause. His fist was still traveling in slow motion. I could almost see its trajectory.

    "Well, I was thinking¡­if I can''t summon magical beasts or familiars, then what exactly could I summon?"

    "¡­"

    Asura narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was off. But as prideful as he was, he didn''t abort his attack.

    Just as I expected.

    "Yeah¡­and then I remembered that monsters weren''t the only thing that Kijima summoned."

    I reached out for one of the black swirling discs and began to pull something out. The handle of a sword, perhaps.

    "As if I will let you!"

    Roaring, Asura smashed his fist down on me. The entire area vanished in a gargantuan explosion, soil, grass and vegetation thrown haplessly into the air as the ground literally disintegrated under the sheer power of the Guardian''s strike.

    "That''s on a completely different scale from before!"

    "That kid! What is he doing?"

    "There''s no way that kid can fight that demon on his own!"

    "Sir what do we do?!"

    The knights, who managed to rally and turn the tables on the Flora, watched the entire scene in horror.

    "Is that idiot trying to commit suicide!?"

    "Knights!" The commander shouted, raising his sword and hacking through the last of the Flora. "Gather around me! We''ll destroy that demon once and for all!"

    "Oh, that''s no need to worry."

    The knights froze when they heard my voice. Even Asura stopped, staring disbelievingly at the scene of destruction that he caused.

    "That was a deadly attack," I admitted, my figure still hidden by the smoke. "Fortunately, I managed to summon my weapon in time¡­or I''ll be completely flattened by your fist."

    "To be able to take my attack¡­I''ve revised my opinion of you."

    Asura sounded impressed. I snorted.

    "Oh, don''t bullshit me. This level of exchange can''t possibly impress you already."

    As the smoke cleared, I stood unscathed. Raising a single black sword in my right hand while gripping my staff in my left, a single Dark Barrier shimmered between us. Dismissing the protective layer of magic, I stepped forward and smiled.

    "Is it my turn yet?"

    "Don''t get ahead of yourself!"

    Roaring, Asura lunged at me. Clashing both hands together, he slammed them down on me with meteoric force. From Absolute Appraisal, I immediately understood that this was not an attack I could block with Dark Barrier. The power behind the blow was so immense that it would shatter even my greatest defense within a millisecond.

    I could see verdant lightning crackle and wreathed both arms, giving off a sickly glow like unnatural veins. Even though it was such a powerful attack, it was also executed at a speed that I couldn''t evade.

    But I had neither the need to defend nor evade it.

    Dropping my staff, I unsheathed my sword and held the scabbard in my left hand. The blade glowed black, reminiscent of Kijima''s summoned blade technique, but corrupted. Just as well. I couldn''t use Golden Forge, after all.

    I didn''t need that weird spell anyway.

    Both Asura and I attacked each other at the same time, his arms coming down on me in a pile driver slam while I slashed upward.

    "Eh¡­?"

    Asura froze and stared stupidly at the stumps of his arms. Green blood oozed out of his hands, metamorphosing into streams of ectoplasm.

    "No way¡­"

    The knights watched as both of Asura''s arms flew through the air, tumbling clumsily as they spun end over end, their fingers still tightly clasped. The disembodied hands landed several dozen meters away and rolled to a stop in the thick vegetation.

    "The Blooming Buddha''s arms were cut off? Amazing! What kind of sword is that? It looks incredibly sharp!"

    "No."

    Even as his subordinates cheered, the knight commander alone seemed to understand the sheer impossibility of it. He solemnly stared at the gleaming sword in my hand, narrowing his eyes as he analyzed the situation.

    "The Blooming Buddha''s arms possess incredible power within them. They are not something you can cut through just because your sword is merely sharp."

    This guy gets it.

    Yeah, well¡­if it was that simple, I wouldn''t bother summoning a sword. I would have just borrowed one from the dead knights.

    The knight commander swallowed, and then continued.

    "It looks like there is a hidden ability in that boy''s sword."

    Wow, the guy was pretty sharp. No wonder he was the commander of this knight battalion. I couldn''t help but feel myself warm up upon hearing his analysis.

    Smiling, I slashed the air, causing a huge, sudden airflow with the sword pressure, and turned to my opponent.

    "Well, then¡­let''s put an end to this, shall we?"

 18 Chapter 18: Blooming Buddha

    The Blooming Buddha stood before me, quietly quivering in uncontrollable rage. He bore down on my comparatively puny figure, his eyes glowing ominously.

    "Though I have no idea what you just pulled earlier, but I should at least praise you for being able to cut off my arms."

    "Oh, that''s easy," I replied as I rested my sword on my shoulder. "I simply disarmed you."

    "¡­"

    If the Blooming Buddha could roll his eyes, he would have done so just then. I shrugged and then got serious.

    "Still¡­you''re quite something yourself. Even though I''ve cut off your arms, you don''t seem all that bothered or panicky."

    "Oh? And why would I panic just because you cut off my arms?"

    I didn''t bother to stand still to throw out a reply. I was already moving and slashing with my sword as quickly as I could.

    "Then you won''t mind if I assume that you''re still uh¡­armed and dangerous?"

    The Blooming Buddha chuckled as he slightly turned his head to glance at me when I shot from behind him.

    "Getting behind me for a sneak attack?"

    "Yeah, I have no honor. If I fight you head-on, I''ll lose for sure. My only way to win is by being sneaky." I glanced at my shoes. "That''s why I''m wearing sneakers."

    "¡­" The Blooming Buddha looked exasperated. "It''ll be difficult to take you seriously if you continue making those horrible pun jokes."

    "That''s the point! I don''t want people to take me seriously!"

    I cut through his left leg and sent him toppling over.

    I can''t give him the chance to breathe. I''ve to keep attacking¡­like my zombies earlier, and make sure the damage I deal exceeds his regeneration rate!

    As the Blooming Buddha fell, I jumped high up and stabbed at his chest, where the forbidden fruit lay protected. Without his arms and one of his legs, he was unable to evade my next attack.

    If I don''t screw this up, I''ll be able to end this!

    Unfortunately, I had made the fatal mistake of underestimating my opponent and getting ahead of myself. The Blooming Buddha merely stared at me impassively before armor appeared to parry my strike. My blade clanged against the synthetic polymer, which seemed to regenerate at a high speed and deflect my attack through sheer flexibility.

    "¡­!"

    The sheer power emanating from the Blooming Buddha''s defense knocked me away. I sprang back and landed in a crouch, panting. The Blooming Buddha crashed heavily onto the foliage, laying on the grass that he had so painstakingly grown himself.

    "Ah¡­you really are too na?ve. Did you think you will win once you cut off my limbs and aim for my chest? Or did you think you could kill me by chopping me into countless pieces?" He sighed, almost disappointed. "You still don''t understand, do you? In this forest, I am invincible."

    "These familiars don''t just serve as killing machines. Not only do my Flora consume my enemies, they can also be used to heal and strengthen my body."

    I watched in horror as the Flora began to meld into his mangled body and shapeshift. Twisting, bulging and shifting, the Flora transformed into new, augmented limbs for the Blooming Buddha. In just under half a minute, the limbs I had cut off had grown back.

    No¡­the Blooming Buddha didn''t just restore his lost limbs. He had grown new, extra limbs. Six arms sprouted from his gigantic body, which had swelled to twice his previous size. New armor clasped around his belly, and his arms were coated in what looked like wooden armor. The new version of Blooming Buddha loomed over ten meters high, dwarfing even my largest zombies.

    "In this Forbidden Garden of mine, I am invincible."

    "He''s using his own familiars as healing elixirs?" one of the knights yelled. Another of his companion slumped to his knees.

    "With this level of regeneration, there is no way we can win¡­"

    Amidst the despair of the human knights, I smiled to myself, alone in my confidence. I tightened my grip on my sword, which glowed darkly against the verdant environment.

    "Heh."

    I see. This is it. This unbelievable regeneration ability is also his weak point.

    Even as I thought that, the gleaming blade of my sword seemed to writhe. Shadowy vapors wisped across its surface, dark phantoms that drifted across the forest.

    "Stay there for a bit," I told my black sheath before tossing it to where my staff lay. Grabbing the hilt of my sword with both hands, I closed my eyes and allowed the innate skills of Dark Weapon Mastery to take over.

    "Do you think your fighting method will be more effective if you use your sword with two hands?" The knight commander scoffed.

    "No," I replied.

    The next thing I knew, the newly augmented Blooming Buddha attacked. I dodged his gigantic fists and slashed at him¡­

    ¡­only for my sword to break.

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    The Blooming Buddha laughed as he swatted me away. Rather than parry his vicious attacks, I threw myself across the distance and landed next to my staff. The black sheath had disappeared along with the sword, but that was all right. I didn''t need it.

    "As I thought, this weapon suits me more."

    I didn''t care if I had some Dark Weapon Mastery or whatever. Tsukishima''s staff suited me far more than any sword. I was the Wizard Tanaka, not a swordsman or warrior or paladin. Of course I would be more adept with magician staffs than a combat weapon.

    To hell with Dark Weapon Mastery.

    Taking a deep breath, I summoned more than a dozen staffs. Unlike Kijima, I wasn''t being fanciful and summoning golden blades. Normal staffs, made of dark mahogany wood or iron, materialized from the shadowy discs surrounding me and fell to the ground. The moment they embedded themselves into the soil, wisps of shadows drifted out of their shafts.

    "What do you think you''re doing?"

    The Blooming Buddha snarled as he waved away a wisp of air, but found that they had no effect on his behemoth body. He burst out laughing.

    "A¡­curse? Or some sort of spell? Did you think you''ll be able to defeat me with such a pathetic technique?"

    "I combined my summoning technique with Corrupting Darkness, that''s all." I frowned. "Hmm, I thought it would have more of an effect¡­"

    "Ha ha ha ha! Fool! You think such a weak curse will affect my massive body? You''ll have to do better than that!"

    "Well¡­" I shrugged and held up my staff. "We can try."

    Blooming Buddha snorted as he glanced at my staffs.

    "What is with those staffs? You could have summoned swords or even deadlier weapons. Why staffs?"

    "I felt that I was understaffed, so I decided to hire plenty of staffs."

    The guy snapped at my joke. Losing his patience, he charged at me with a bellow. Closing my eyes, I took one, deep breath, and then met his charge.

    The Blooming Buddha swung a massive, meaty fist at me. I dodged the first one, only to find myself unable to evade the next one. Raising my staff, I parried the punch, but the immense impact sent me flying across the air and tumbling through several trees. I mercifully blacked out from the overwhelming pain, but my regeneration brought me back to full consciousness and allowed me to flip my body in midair before landing on my feet.

    What incredible strength! He''s several times stronger than before!

    Huffing, I righted my stance and kept a wary eye on my opponent. This was going to be extremely troublesome.

    But¡­there''s still a chance of winning.

    I glanced back at my staffs, which continued to keep the Flora at bay. My zombies had retreated, shielding the surviving knights from the remaining Flora, but they no longer aggressively attacked and ripped apart the Flora.

    The Flora didn''t seem affected by the Corrupting Darkness that wafted out of the staffs. Good. That was precisely what I intended.

    Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to pay much more attention to them. The Blooming Buddha was bounding toward me, closing the distance and swinging his massive fists in my direction. Making use of my smaller size and superior agility, I weaved through his pattern of punches, using my staff to deflect several of his attacks.

    "Phew¡­"

    I exhaled as I ducked under what promised to be a devastating hook, then jumped over a low sweep from another arm. Landing on the appendage, I ran along the length of that particular arm and dove at the Blooming Buddha.

    "You¡­!"

    The Blooming Buddha was Booming bestially. I ignored his outraged bellow and jumped over another arm that tried to swat me away, and then slammed my staff into his helmeted head. The armored helm repelled my attack, and I wasn''t able to dodge his next swipe in time.

    "Gah!"

    Despite planting my head on his protected forehead and twisting around to allow my staff to bear the brunt of the attack, the Blooming Buddha''s palm struck me like a sonic boom, sending me hurtling across the air and plummeting heavily into the densely forested garden. I tore through several trees and branches, losing consciousness from the overwhelming pain but brought back to full wakefulness abruptly when my Regeneration kicked in.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I slowly picked myself up, leaning on my staff as my body bent back to shape, bones repairing and mending while bruises and cuts disappeared. Taking a deep breath, I stared at my enemy and steadied myself as the last vestiges of pain faded.

    The Blooming Buddha Boomed with laughter.

    "Ha ha ha ha! Did you think you could beat me? You can''t even leave a single scratch on my flesh!"

    "Yeah, you really are much stronger than before," I admitted sourly. Twirling my staff around, I slowly strolled toward the Blooming Buddha, who approached me with large, broad steps. As he looked down on me, I sighed. "I made a mistake. I''m not a warrior. I''m a magician, a spell caster. Tanaka the Wizard. I shouldn''t be fighting you in close combat."

    "Hah! It doesn''t matter how you fight me! You have no chance of victory!"

    Guffawing, the Blooming Buddha sent down a barrage of palm strikes with his six hands. I refused to move from my position, instead coming to a stop and raising my staff.

    Doombolt.

    A large, black spell seared the distance between myself and the Blooming Buddha and obliterated a large chunk of five of his arms. He screamed as he toppled over, an entire segment of his body literally gone.

    "I told you so," I replied and I resumed my approach, hopping over to his fallen body. "My strength lies in magic, not in close combat."

    However, before I could unleash another spell, the Blooming Buddha''s remaining hand lashed out and almost crushed me to the ground. fortunately, I had already anticipated that and had evaded it with astonishing ease while counterattacking with another Doombolt that disintegrated not just the offending hand but also his shoulder and a large part of his chest.

    "¡­!"

    Just when I thought I had gained the upper hand, several thorny vines and wooden spikes surged from the forest, whipping or thrusting at me. I spun around and knocked several of them away with my staff, but was forced to retreat from the Blooming Buddha''s downed body.

    "You¡­"

    I turned back to the Blooming Buddha, somewhat impressed. Despite dealing so much damage to him, he could still unleash such a devastating counterattack.

    "It''s far from over, boy."

    I watched, mesmerized, as the large numbers of Flora crawled back to him, fusing with his body and restoring him once more. The colossal figure of the Blooming Buddha rose back up again, more armored and larger than before. This time, there were massive, leaf-like wings jutting out from his back and gnarled, wooden-like horns from his forehead.

    The guy really resembled a real demon right now.

    "I am one with Nature. No matter how many times you destroy me, Nature will restore me. You cannot win!"

    "Yeah, I''m sure you''re showing your true Nature right now," I replied dryly. "And let me tell you a secret. I''m also a good-natured person."

    "I''ll make sure you shut that mouth of yours! Do you think you''re funny?"

    "I do, actually. In fact, I''m surprised that you don''t think I''m funny."

    Roaring in both fury and exasperation, the Blooming Buddha charged at me. I dodged his first strike, weaving through his barrage of palm thrusts and dancing around his arms. Raising my staff, I blasted him with a Doombolt.

    "!"

    This time, my devastating spell didn''t even leave a mark. Smoke surged from the green skin, but it showed no sign of damage.

    "Every time I call upon the forces of Nature and regenerate, I grow stronger! This is the essence of Nature itself ¨C evolution! Natural Selection! Survival of the fittest!"

    "Look, I don''t know where you read Charles Darwin from, given that this is Restia and not Earth, but it seems that you''re completely misunderstanding his theory of evolution and natural selection. The whole survival of the fittest, law of the jungle misconception is utter BS. Darwin argues that the species most likely to survive are not those who are strongest, nor the winners of each struggle, but the ones most adaptable and amenable to change. Why do you think dinosaurs went extinct, even though they should be stronger than mammals today?"

    "What are you rambling about?!" the Blooming Buddha boomed. My mistake. Seemed like he wasn''t making a reference to Darwinism after all.

    "Never mind."

    I jumped away again, dodging yet another barrage of punches from the hulking, green goliath, and then released a second Doombolt that left nothing more than smoke. Guffawing, the Blooming Buddha brushed off my attack and slapped me away.

    This time, I wasn''t able to dodge. I somehow managed to parry the strike with my staff, but I was sent flying several meters away.

    "Ooof!"

    Again, I blacked out, and then was brought back to consciousness again through my healing ability. Crawling to my feet, I stood up and waited for my body to repair itself.

    "¡­! Koho, koho!"

    I began coughing out blood. I stared at my glistening palm, confounded by the new injury. Didn''t I just heal¡­?

    "Oh, surprised? I guess you didn''t realize that you''ve inhaled all the Cursed Pollen that has been floating around my Forbidden Garden."

    I froze, and for a second I thought I could see countless pollen particles drifting around me. Try as I might to hold my breath, it was too late. It seemed that I had already inhaled too much of them. I could feel my body burning ¨C particularly my chest.

    "It''s useless. You realized too late." The Blooming Buddha chuckled. "And your healing ability will not help you. Yes, you''ll eventually be able to purge the pollen from your system ¨C unlike those humans, who are doomed ¨C but you''ll need to leave this Forbidden Garden first. But to do that, you''ll have to defeat me¡­which is an impossible task."

    "If I defeat you, will the humans be saved?" I asked, wiping the blood from my mouth. The knights were falling to their knees now, having felt the disastrous effects too late. The knight commander alone remained standing, but even he had a strained and pained expression on his face.

    The Blooming Buddha laughed. "Yes, of course. Just like my Forbidden Garden, the Cursed Pollen is a curse. Kill the caster, and the spell will automatically dispel."

    "Thanks for telling me that."

    I rose to my feet shakily and pointed my staff at him. Black, eldritch energy crackled around its rounded tip.

    "Then I''ll just have to defeat you before anyone dies."

    "Are you sure you possess the ability to do so?" The Blooming Buddha sneered, his colossal figure bearing down on me. I shrugged.

    "I won''t know until I try, right?"

    "Try surviving this first!"

    With a roar, the Blooming Buddha raised several of his hands. Emerald lightning danced from his Forbidden Garden and traveled along the length of his arms before he unleashed them from his fists and blew several craters in the temple grounds.

    "¡­!"

    Despite erecting a Dark Barrier, I found myself buffeted by the massive shockwaves. As I endured them, I watched with keen interest as the eldritch lightning flowed from the Blooming Buddha''s Forbidden Garden and into him.

    So that''s how he makes his attacks so powerful.

    I wasn''t given much time to admire my opponent, though. I coughed out some blood and dropped to a knee. My body felt heavy, weighed down by the pollen that coursed through my lungs and system. It was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. Even with Regeneration, it was all I could do to barely stand, never mind fight.

    But I had no choice. Forcing myself to my feet, I ignored the discomfort. It was a good thing that this wasn''t agony, or the Pain Amplifier would have turned it into excruciating suffering and incapacitated me for good.

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    The Blooming Buddha burst out laughing when he noticed my predicament. He closed in, even as his previous arcane attack dispersed.

    "From my estimation, you probably only have three minutes at most before you succumb to my Cursed Pollen. Both you¡­and those pitiful human worshippers of Evelyn.

    Glancing back, I saw that he was right. Most of the knights had kneeled over, gagging as they tried to breathe. They were still conscious, but barely. Even my zombies seemed to be affected, their movements growing sluggish as they fended off the last of the Flora. It was good thing they were already dead, so they didn''t need to breathe. That didn''t stop them from inhaling the pollen in the manner as me ¨C their undead master ¨C did.

    I clicked my tongue as I glanced back at my Dark Barrier. The Blooming Buddha''s attack was so powerful that my arcane defense had begun to crack. Just a little more output of energy and the Blooming Buddha would have shattered my Dark Barrier completely.

    And I knew this wasn''t even his strongest attack.

    "Impressive! Let''s see if you can withstand this attack then!"

    With the green lightning flowing from his artificial forest and into his multiple arms, the Blooming Buddha pulverized my Dark Barrier while attempting to squash me like a bug. Without hesitation, I jumped away when my barrier was destroyed and landed on one of his right arms. The Blooming Buddha seethed and tried to swat me away, but I ran along the length of his arm before hurling myself above him to avoid a second strike.

    "You¡­!"

    The Blooming Buddha boomed in fury, but I didn''t falter. Despite witnessing his power firsthand and knowing that I was completely outmatched, I felt no despair. Instead, my mind whirred as I did several last-minute calculations and schemes.

    As I thought¡­his regeneration and power supply from his Forbidden Garden, while being his greatest strength, is also his greatest weakness.

    I couldn''t help but smile as I sailed above his head. Swinging my staff, I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang at the bumbling Blooming Buddha. A crescent-shaped arc of black demonic energy streaked from my staff and slammed into the colossal Blooming Buddha''s neck at near pointblank range, engulfing him in a huge explosion.

    "Ugh!"

    Bellowing in pain, the Blooming Buddha toppled over from the immense impact and crashed into the ground facefirst, throwing up dust, trees and twigs as he carved a colossal crater into the ground. I landed several dozen meters away, and swiped the dust and blood from my face. Taking a deep breath, I righted myself and lifted my staff.

    "Guaaaaah!"

    Behind me, the Blooming Buddha forced himself upright, bellowing in fury. I didn''t even need to spare him a glance to know that he was attacking. Our eyes met for a moment, and without turning, I jumped in reflex ¨C just as his fists smashed the ground I was standing on, reducing it into ruins and splinters.

    "¡­hmph."

    Righting himself, the Blooming Buddha reared up to his full height before he clutched at his bleeding neck. Blood dribbled from the cut green skin, seeping through his fingers. Pulling his hand away, he glared at me venomously through that mask.

    "You cut me a little, brat."

    A little?

    I narrowed my eyes as I studied his superficial wound. It was nothing more than a slight graze. I wasn''t counting on my Shadow Lunar Fang to defeat the Blooming Buddha, but I had expected a lot more damage than that¡­

    I hit him in the neck with one of my most powerful spells, and it only cut him a little?

    Cold beads of perspiration dripped down my face and spine, and I tightened my grip on my staff. The Blooming Buddha moved, and this time he was so fast I didn''t manage to catch a glimpse of his attack. The next thing I knew, I was already flying in the air, with the pain so immense that I blacked out before I landed.

    I woke up at the base of a broken tree, blood streaming down my broken body. It was a good thing that my body was already on the mend, with my arms and legs straightening themselves and my cuts closing up, or I would have snapped from the pain.

    Leaning on my staff, I tried to rise, but the Blooming Buddha loomed over me.

    "Doombolt."

    I blasted his face with my spell. His helmet protected him from the worst of the damage, but he staggered back.

    "Gah!"

    "Don''t think you''ve defeated me just yet," I warned as I pointed my staff at him. Black energy crackled around its round tip. "Not when you haven''t even unleashed your strongest technique."

    "Heh."

    The Blooming Buddha smirked and clapped his hands.

    "Very well. In honor of your courage, I''ll show you utmost respect by destroying you with my ultimate attack."

    Raising his hands, the Blooming Buddha began drawing all the green energy from his Forbidden Garden into his body.

    "Seiryuu."

    A green dragon materialized above him, roaring ass it took form. The Blooming Buddha gazed down on me, his eyes still sparkling emerald behind that black, demonic helm.

    "Of the five Celestial Creatures, Seiryuu''s element is wood."

    "Huh, so you''re summoning a familiar to take me out?" I glanced at my enhanced zombies, who were suddenly bereft of opponents when the Flora all disappeared. The Blooming Buddha had swallowed all his Flora in his attempt to execute this ultimate technique.

    "Oh, don''t be mistaken. Seiryuu isn''t a familiar. He''s just a buff that increases my attack power to the absolute maximum." He glanced at the natural forest in front of the temple, sympathy in his eyes. "When I''m done with this, the whole forest will be leveled."

    "Are you sure you should be telling me all that?"

    The Blooming Buddha shrugged. "You''re about to die anyway. I might as well give you some closure and honor you with my ultimate attack."

    This guy talks too much.

    I couldn''t help but sigh in exasperation. Typical villain, always intent on showing off and explaining his schemes or attacks. No wonder they could never win.

    "To be honest, I''m disappointed. I expected more¡­but you fought well for someone your age. I''ll admit that your skills are impressive."

    "Thanks, I guess?"

    Not sure how that praise was going to be of any comfort to me when he was on the verge of killing me, but whatever. The more time I bought, the better.

    The Blooming Buddha didn''t seem to notice. Cocking his fists back, he got ready to punch me into oblivion. The green dragon settled on him, wreathing his body.

    "Farewell."

    He threw the punch, his verdant fists crackling with unbridled fury and unleashing sonic booms from the sheer speed. The visage of the dragon roared as it traveled along with the punches.

    None of the fists ever hit me.

    "¡­eh?"

    The Blooming Buddha sounded shock when his arms began to blacken, rot and fall off. He stared at his stumps in disbelief, and then glanced back at me, as if half-expecting me to be wielding that sword that I first used to cut off his arms.

    Nope. I was still holding a staff.

    "What did you do to me?"

    "Unlike a certain someone, I''m not in the habit of explaining my techniques to my opponent."

    "W¡­what?!"

    Then the Blooming Buddha noticed that his stumps were blackening. The rotting rapidly spread all over his body, causing his green flesh to decay and his bones to soften internally. Falling to his knees, even as his legs decomposed, the Blooming Buddha let out a loud shriek.

    "What did you do to me?"

    I remained silent, but the Blooming Buddha''s head whirled about and caught sight of the staffs that I had summoned ¨C staffs that stood in the shadows of my thousand and eight giant gravestones and emanated a black wisp of corruptive energy.

    "¡­! Those staffs!"

    "I told you earlier, didn''t I?"

    I sighed and shook my head before tapping my staff against his decaying body, which broke down further.

    "I combined my summoning technique with Corrupting Darkness. The effects might seem insignificant at first, but I''ve been infecting your Flora and Forbidden Garden with corruption."

    I smiled, knowing that it was safe to explain now. The Blooming Buddha''s body had rotted to the extent where only his head was left intact, perched precariously on his decaying shoulders. His flesh had peeled away, revealing putrefying organs.

    "No way¡­!"

    "No matter how powerful your Natural Regeneration is, you were relying on your Forbidden Garden to provide you with the energy and¡­should I say materials to restore yourself. So once those energies and materials such as your Flora are infected and corrupted, what do you think will happen when you ingest them?"

    "¡­!"

    The Blooming Buddha fell silent when he understood what I had done. He gritted his teeth as his head finally teetered off and dropped to the ground.

    A hole opened up in his rotting chest, and the Forbidden Fruit fell out. Alone, untouched by the corruption and decay, the fruit shone brightly, still as pristine as when the Blooming Buddha first revealed it.

    I instinctively caught it before it fell to the ground, and ended up staring at it blankly. I had no idea what to do with it.

    It''s interesting how it''s totally unaffected by my Corrupting Darkness.

    "You planned all this from the start!" The Blooming Buddha spluttered, and then his emerald eyes lit up when realization dawned on him. "That''s why you provoked me into using my ultimate attack! To increase the rate of which I draw energy from my Forbidden Garden!"

    The guy was certainly astute. Then again, he was a fellow follower of Lyia, the Goddess of intelligence, so I wasn''t surprised.

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    "Yeah." I nodded. "I noticed how you were using energy from your Forbidden Garden to charge your spells and attacks, and realized I could increase the rate of which you draw from it by forcing you to use more demanding attacks."

    "You had me dancing in your palm this whole time!"

    There was dismay in the Blooming Buddha''s voice. His disembodied head lay in the grass, staring haplessly at me. All around us, the grass, trees, foliage and artificial forest were disappearing, leaving behind only the temple grounds.

    With the Blooming Buddha defeated, his area of effect spell was dispelled.

    "Phew."

    It wasn''t just the Blooming Buddha''s Forbidden Garden. My chest felt a lot lighter and my movements were faster and easier than before. I was no longer coughing out blood or uncomfortable. It was evident that the Cursed Pollen was gone.

    "Oh?"

    "Ah¡­"

    The knights felt it too. They were rising to their feet and gazing around in disbelief as the forest melted away, disappearing right in front of our eyes. Several of the sharper ones turned their eyes on me, having witnessed the whole thing from start to finish.

    "I don''t believe it¡­!"

    "The kid won. The kid actually won!"

    "I knew that rascal had it in him! I knew he could do it!"

    "Don''t lie! You were in despair and moaning about death just like the rest of us!"

    "That was you, not me!"

    Regardless of several banters, the surviving knights were cheering. Moving amidst my zombies, who had stopped and stood completely still, the knights exchanged high-fives and whooped, delighted to be alive.

    "Great job, kid!"

    "Amazing! He''s just like the heroes!"

    "Who is he? Where is he from? Why haven''t we heard about such an amazing guy?"

    "Well¡­for one thing, he''s a necromancer. Of course no one would know about him."

    "Eh? So is he an enemy or an ally?"

    "Don''t be silly...he just saved our lives, didn''t he?"

    Ignoring the knights'' chatter, I focused my attention on Asura''s head, which had shrunk to its normal size.

    "You''ve won," the Guardian of the temple admitted grudgingly. "You''re the real chosen of her holiness Lyia."

 19 Chapter 19: The fruit of victory

    "So how do I use this thing?"

    I held the fruit up in my hand as I knelt in front of the disembodied head.

    "Ah...that. Bring it to the temple and you''ll understand."

    I raised my head and glanced at the temple, which was now exposed to the elements now that the protection of the forest had disappeared.

    "I hope you''re not asking me to eat it."

    "¡­"

    Asura didn''t reply. His metallic mask and green, glowing eyes gave off an eerie feeling, but there was no longer any hostility or killing intent. I wouldn''t go so far as to say I trusted him, but I at least knew that he wasn''t going to attempt anything.

    I grimaced when Asura didn''t reply. There was no way I would eat a fruit that served as a heart of a demon and been inside his body for goodness knows how long.

    But there was another thing that concerned me. The Forbidden Fruit served as Asura''s core, the source of his power. If I ate it¡­

    "What will happen to you when I take away your core?"

    "¡­"

    As I waited for an answer, the knights bustled about me. The surviving soldiers surrounded me excitedly, staring at the defeated boss and my kneeling figure.

    "He actually defeated the Blooming Buddha!"

    "That kid¡­he''s really strong, isn''t he?"

    "Shouldn''t we recruit him to our order?"

    "Yeah, he''ll make a fine knight!"

    I ignored them and focused my gaze on Asura''s head, waiting patiently for a reply. When he didn''t, I prodded him.

    "Will you disappear?"

    "Kid¡­are you pitying me?"

    I closed my eyes and placed my staff down on the concrete floor, shaking my head.

    "Not really. But I do feel that it''s a waste to kill off a fellow follower of Lyia, especially when there''s so much I can learn from you¡­Senpai."

    "Whatever you need to learn, you can learn from the temple. Now that you''re the victor, all its resources will be made available to you."

    Asura seemed to hesitate a little, but then he continued.

    "As for me¡­don''t worry. As per the conditions of our battle, now that I have been defeated, I will die."

    The Blooming Buddha didn''t seem very dismayed at his fate. Rather, he sounded very pleased and satisfied.

    "It has been an honor to lose to someone smarter than me."

    "I''m not smarter than you."

    "You give yourself far too little credit."

    Asura''s eyes shone a little, and for some reason I had the impression that he was smiling.

    "You knew that you couldn''t win me in direct combat¡­that you were far weaker than me in terms of physical and magical capability. So you devised a plan to corrupt me from within. Very impressive. I revise my opinion of you."

    The Blooming Buddha boomed with laughter.

    "Rage? No. I admire such deviousness. That is the path of all who worship the goddess of knowledge. To rely on our intelligence instead of raw power. For me to have forgotten all that¡­I must thank you for reminding me¡­Kouhai."

    I bowed my head respectfully, then rose to my feet. While I did so, the knight commander stepped forward.

    "Honorable sir¡­"

    "I''m not any honorable sir," I responded wearily. The knight commander shook his head.

    "Nonetheless, you saved me and my men. I would like to express my thanks."

    "No problem."

    I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and used Absolute Appraisal. The knight commander''s information immediately materialized in front of my eyes.

    Name: Dante Infernius

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Knight/Captain

    Special Abilities: Swordsmanship, Charisma

    "Captain Infernius¡­?"

    The veteran knight raised an eyebrow, taken aback when I addressed him. It was clear that he was wondering why I knew his name.

    "I am very sorry for using your men like this. I''ll put them to rest immediately."

    "No¡­not at all." Dante looked sorrowfully at the zombies. "I''ll admit that seeing my men like this does not sit well with me, but in the end you saved our lives."

    "Yeah! You killed the demon!"

    "You were amazing, kid!"

    "As long as you bury our dead, all is cool and forgiven."

    The knights added their support. I glanced at them, and then bowed.

    "Right."

    I dismissed Thousand Astral Graves and was about to dispel the Reanimation spell that I casted on the zombies when the Blooming Buddha''s voice boomed out again.

    "Wait."

    The knights and I turned to him, surprised, but he continued, unfazed.

    "There are new enemies approaching."

    "Huh? Enemies?"

    I tensed up, and the knights drew their swords, only for the Blooming Buddha to chuckle.

    "No, not for the humans. For you."

    "I''m a human, though?"

    "Former human," the Blooming Buddha''s beheaded head corrected. "You''re an undead. Anyway, even if they''re allies of those humans, they''re not necessarily your allies."

    "What are you talking about?" one of the knights demanded, but his question was answered abruptly as a horde of horses stampeded into the clearing.

    "Hey, get out of the way!"

    The lance-bearing knights rode ferociously into the temple grounds, placing a gauntleted hand on one of the swordsman knights to shove him aside. At the arrival of the newcomers, the first group of knights spun around.

    "Eh? You guys are¡­"

    "Be careful."

    Before I could crane my neck to get a good look at the newcomers, the Blooming Buddha drew my attention back to him.

    "Be careful, kid. There are many deadly enemies among the humans. Among them are their so-called heroes, the Chosen of the goddess, Evelyn. Even I cannot predict their future, but I can see that your fate is closely intertwined with theirs."

    I smiled ominously. "I wouldn''t have it any other way."

    The Blooming Buddha regarded me for a few more seconds, and then understood the meaning behind my words.

    "I see¡­so you''ve chosen the path of vengeance. Is that the reason why you seek knowledge?"

    "Uh, no. well, maybe."

    I thought for a while, and scratched my head.

    "It''s not the only reason. I don''t need a reason to seek knowledge, do I? I like to learn. Knowledge is power. It''ll help me have an advantage over those so-called heroes, but that''s not all. Knowledge is beneficial in general."

    "That''s a good answer."

    "Really?" I glanced at the fruit in my hand and scoffed. "I''ll probably end up upsetting a lot of people. But then again, that''s the whole point¡­"

    "Yes. Now enter the temple. The torch of knowledge has been passed to you. I hope you''ll make better use of it than I ever did¡­"

    The Blooming Buddha was about to say something else, but someone stomped on his head, cutting him off before he could finish.

    "Hey!" I snapped, glaring at the intruder. Like the knights who had fought by my side earlier, he was dressed in silver armor, but his heraldry was different. Unlike the crimson heraldry with double lions and crossed swords, he sported a cool, blue heraldry with a snake coiled around a spear. Sneering, he pointed his spear at me.

    "So¡­you''re a necromancer, aren''t you?"

    I pushed my glasses up as I regarded him. Behind the solitary armored figure, dozens of spear or lance-bearing knights formed up behind him, putting on a show of intimidation.

    But I didn''t fall for it.

    "Yes. So what if I am?"

    "Be careful."

    Dante Infernius stepped forward, and I could tell that he was being cautious.

    "They''re the 5th Lancer Dragoon Company. One of the strongest knight orders in our kingdom of Legnica."

    "They''re also known for being extremely ruthless," one of the surviving red-heraldry knights added, his voice quivering.

    I watched them warily, but the name sounded familiar. And then it struck me.

    "5th Lancer Dragoon Company? The ones who were supposed to reinforce you earlier?"

    "That''s right," Dante affirmed. I snorted.

    "Some reinforcements they are. Showing up late to the party, long after we''ve defeated the demon."

    "Hey," one of the knights whispered to me urgently. "You don''t want to mess with them. They''re extremely dangerous."

    "As dangerous as the heroes?"

    "No, but¡­"

    "Then whatever," I cut him off impatiently before turning back to the lead lancer knight. Narrowing my eyes, I scowled at him. "Hey."

    The lancers stared at me, stupefied, but I didn''t have the patience for them to wrap their heads around the simple fact that someone could be unintimidated by their aggressive appearances and arrogant attitude.

    "Can you move your leg?" I asked, gesturing with my hand.

    The lead lancer responded by grinding the Blooming Buddha''s head further into the concrete, cracking the helmet.

    "What''s wrong? This is a demon, isn''t he? I''m giving a demon the proper treatment that he deserves."

    Uh, what?

    I held his ominous gaze evenly. Unlike Dante, his face was concealed behind his helm, but I could almost see his glowing eyes that were supposedly hidden behind his visor. There was no question that this guy was strong.

    But I wasn''t afraid.

    "You got a problem?" the lancer sneered. I sighed and shook my head.

    "Well, for starters, he is my senpai. And for another, I was talking to him. If you continue stepping on him like that, he won''t be able to answer my questions."

    "Hey, brat, do you know who you''re talking to?" the lead lancer snarled. I''m the second in command of the 5th Lancer Dragoon Company."

    He slammed his spear against the ground before infusing it with divine energy. The entire shaft of the silver spear glowed white.

    "And your attitude is pissing me off."

    "Wait, Monka¡­"

    Dante Infernius tried to step in, but the lancer dismissed him.

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    "Ah, Captain Infernius. Commander of the 8th Knight Company from the Order of Blood. I see that you''re still alive."

    "I ask of you, Monka, this kid means no harm. Please do not¡­"

    The lancer named Monka didn''t even wait for Dante to finish his sentence. He lifted his spear and aimed it at me. A white blast lanced out of the spearhead and arced toward me. I instinctively ducked, and the immense beam sailed over my head and shoulder. It slammed into a tree in the forest behind me before detonating.

    "!"

    My jaw dropped when I saw the enormous explosion wipe out an entire segment of the forest, erasing a dozen trees and leaving a colossal crater in the woods.

    You''ve got to be kidding me¡­and this guy isn''t a hero, right?

    "Hey, brat."

    Lowering his smoking spear, Monka glared at me in disbelief.

    "Not bad. To think that you were able to dodge that¡­"

    This guy¡­just one attack and it was so strong?

    "What, don''t tell me you''re impressed by this level of attack?"

    The white shroud of divine energy around his spear intensified.

    "That''s¡­!"

    "Captain Monka''s signature attack!"

    "Huh, doesn''t look all that impressive."

    I rolled my eyes and suppressed a sigh. I was already getting bored with all this talk and bragging. If he wanted to attack, he should shut up and hurry up.

    "Hmm? There''s something strange about this kid."

    "He doesn''t seem all that afraid."

    The lancers were murmuring amongst themselves, but Monka shut them up with a glare. Turning back to me, he smirked.

    "Ah¡­I see. This brat doesn''t know."

    "Doesn''t know what?" I snapped impatiently. God, if he was going to continue talking any further, I would doze off there and then.

    "Our boss is one of the heroes. The spear hero, the Divine Lancer, Suzuki Shirou. Mess with us, and you''ll surely regret it."

    The beads of perspiration on Dante''s face was clearly visible. His men too were backing away, shrinking when they heard Suzuki''s name.

    However, I smiled broadly.

    "Suzuki? That Suzuki Shirou? Oh. He might not be one of my direct bullies, but because of his nonchalant attitude when Kobayashi Kenji and the others beat me up, he''s one of my targets for revenge."

    My grin broadened.

    "I wonder¡­if I beat you guys up, will Suzuki show up?"

    "You¡­!"

    "Wait!"

    Dante intervened, stepping in between us to defuse the situation. He glared at me, as if trying to get me to shut up.

    As if I would listen to him. I wasn''t one of his subordinates.

    "Please, Captain Monka. This boy saved the lives of my men¡­of my knight company. He is our benefactor. Could you let him go?"

    "Hah! Have you sold your honor and soul to the devil, Infernius?"

    Monka sneered, and then pointed his spear at my zombies.

    "He''s clearly a necromancer¡­someone who committed a taboo and engages with forbidden rituals to raise the dead. The price of such heresy is¡­death."

    "Wait!"

    Dante wasn''t able to stop him in time. Monka unleashed a second blast at me, which blew up the entire area and sent several of the nearby Knights of Blood staggering from the shockwaves. Monka and his lancers laughed as the smoke billowed about the temple grounds.

    "If you dare to shield a heretic like him, then we''ll arrest you for treason, Captain Infernius."

    Dante gritted his teeth, but he was powerless to act. His knights also backed away, their jaws dropping in horror.

    "This guy¡­!"

    "How despicable¡­"

    "All heretics should die. Isn''t that the law of Legnica?"

    "Well, I''m technically not a citizen of Legnica, so I shouldn''t have to follow your laws. I''m not under your jurisdiction."

    "¡­!"

    The lancers reeled back when they heard my voice. As the smoke cleared, I stepped out, completely unscathed. My Dark Barrier shimmered before shattering into translucent fragments. Casting them a glance, I shook my head.

    "Man, you''re not even half as strong as my friend there."

    "!?"

    It was Monka''s turn to drop his jaw in disbelief, but I didn''t bother waiting for him to digest the scene that was unfolding before his eyes.

    "¡­and I already told you to take your leg off him, didn''t I?"

    Monka never saw my attack coming. My staff collided with his face, smashing half of his helm and sending him hurtling across the temple grounds and crashing into a tree several dozen meters away. The thick trunk groaned from the impact before snapping cleanly in half and falling on top of the lancer, burying him in splinters and wood.

    "Captain Monka!"

    "Sir!"

    The rest of the lancers cried out, but they were too stunned to move. I didn''t even bother to deal with them. Walking past them, I headed straight for the temple after scooping up the Blooming Buddha''s disembodied head.

    "I don''t want to waste time fighting you guys."

    They recoiled from my glare, but none of them dared to challenge me. Especially after witnessing what I did to their leader a few seconds ago.

    "Thank you for your help, Captain Infernius," I told the commander of the Knights of Blood. "But from here on out, I''ll handle this place on my own. This is probably where we part."

    "Eh? Wait¡­"

    Dante tried to stop me, but he was too slow. Ignoring him, I walked through the entrance of the temple of Lyia. The zombies moved between the entrance of the temple and the lancer knights, forming a defensive row that barred their entrance.

    The message was clear. If the Lancer Dragoon Company wanted to stop me, they would have to get through my zombies first.

    I felt bad for breaking my promise and keeping them under my control even though I was supposed to release them, but my life and goal were more important than honorable promises to someone I didn''t know.

    With my back being guarded by familiars that would never betray me, I entered the temple.

    The doors then slammed shut behind me, sealing me and the Blooming Buddha''s head inside the sacred place and cutting us off from the outside world.

    "¡­?"

    I glanced around, surprised by my surroundings. There was nothing inside the temple. Literally nothing. Not even a floor or ceiling, or walls.

    "This is inside the temple?"

    "That''s right."

    Blooming Buddha''s head replied. I stared at him inquisitively, then glanced back at my surroundings in disbelief.

    The two of us were floating in a white, empty space. There was nothing inside the temple except pure whiteness. I couldn''t even feel the ground beneath my feet even though I was walking across the vast expanse.

    The whole thing felt so surreal. I glanced at the Blooming Buddha''s head warily, in case this whole thing was a trap.

    "What''s going on? Why is the interior of the temple like this?"

    The Blooming Buddha boomed with laughter.

    "There''s no mistake. You''re the one who misunderstood. The temple of knowledge isn''t a fixed place. It''s a place of knowledge¡­and what better place is there to store knowledge than your very own mind?"

    "At least ask if I mind having my mind used in this way¡­"

    The Blooming Buddha ignored me and floated forward.

    "Come, this way."

    "What way?"

    I couldn''t tell front from back, left from right, up from down. So disorientating was the place that I almost felt dizzy. There were no indications of a three-dimensional space ¨C not even constellations of stars or planets to orientate myself with. The whole place was just empty space.

    At least, that was what I thought, until I saw the altar in the middle.

    "What''s this?"

    "The altar of knowledge. That''s where we shall complete the ritual."

    "¡­ritual?"

    I didn''t like the sound of that. But I didn''t want to waste eternity walking around this massive, white space, so I complied and approached it.

    "What ritual is this for?"

    "The transference of ownership. For now, you shall be the new owner of all this knowledge."

    "Uh, what knowledge?"

    I was feeling a bit apprehensive. I didn''t want my mind to be overloaded with knowledge. Having seen what it did to Asura/Blooming Buddha, I wasn''t very keen on having an avalanche of information snap my mind into insanity.

    "No, don''t worry. It''s not like what you imagine. You''ll see. Trust me."

    "Hard to trust a guy when he spent the last hour or so trying to kill me," I muttered before I stopped at the altar. It was a short, stumpy structure that resembled a desk. Spread atop it was a single, blank grimoire that displayed its empty pages. "So what do I do?"

    "Eat the fruit."

    "Seriously?"

    I grimaced and stared at the fruit, but having gotten this far, there was no turning back. Holding back my revulsion, I took a bite out of it.

    As a zombie, I couldn''t eat fruits or vegetables. I had become exclusively carnivorous. From previous experience, I knew I would throw up after biting the fruit. The juice dribbled down my throat, and the taste of the soft fruit made me retch¡­

    ¡­eh?

    I blinked. The fruit didn''t taste as bad as I thought it would. Even though I was an undead, I still found the fruit sweet and juicy. Shaking my head, I quickly devoured the rest of it. When the last of the fruit went down my throat, the grimoire atop the altar glowed.

    "Whoa!"

    I shut my eyes as the entire space vanished in a single, bright light. When I opened my eyes, I found that I was no longer floating suspended in empty, white space.

    Countless shelves, each packed full of books, surrounded me. Chairs and tables were placed in the center, and one of the desks had a pile of books spread messily over it. Soft, brown carpet laid out across the floor, while chandeliers hung from the ceiling that was so high above they seemed like stars dispersed across the heavens.

    I looked around me. Circles upon circles of many levels surrounded me. The bookshelves were stacked in what looked like a tower-like interior. I couldn''t find any ladder or stairs, but when I headed toward a particular level four stories overhead, a luxurious-looking plank floated down toward. Without thinking, I stepped onto the plank, and it immediately floated toward the level I wanted to visit. Hopping off, I stepped onto the carpeted floor and gazed at the shelf before me.

    "History of Restia. Introduction to the Geography of Restia¡­History of Nations. Rise and fall of Kingdoms. The Great Wars."

    Exactly what I was looking for. The books I needed to get the basic knowledge of the world I now found myself in.

    "Thank you."

    Without glancing back, I knew that the Blooming Buddha''s head had floated next to me.

    "Time travels much more slowly here than in the outside world. For this is your mind, so you can control the temporal dilation. That said, do not get overly obsessive and spend too much time in here. If you get too carried away with acquiring knowledge, your mind will crumble and you will lose your humanity."

    And go insane like you.

    I didn''t voice that out, though. Fortunately, it seemed that the Blooming Buddha had recovered a portion of his sanity after I defeated him.

    "Thank you."

    "I shall pass the torch of knowledge to you, young man."

    The disembodied head drifted around me, his eyes shining emerald.

    "This Library of Eden now belongs to you."

    "I''ll take good care of it."

    "I know you will." The emerald eyes flickered a bit and then he seemed to bob in midair, almost as if he was nodding. "My mission is now accomplished. For the battles ahead, and to increase the glory of our goddess, Lyia, allowed me to bestow upon you one last parting gift."

    "Huh? Parting gift?"

    Emerald lightning danced around us, the force of the electricity causing the pages of the books to rustle. From his severed neck, a green, serpentine body of lightning emerged, snaking around like the Green Dragon (Seiryuu) I saw him summoned as his ultimate technique.

    "I do not want to be part of the war between humans and demons, but alas, conflict is inevitable. To survive against the Chosen of Evelyn, you cannot fight alone."

    "¡­"

    I didn''t deny that, but I had no idea where I was going to find allies on this world that would help me stand up against the so-called heroes of humanity.

    "But remember this, my successor. I''ll always be fighting by your side."

    The whole place vanished from view as green electricity washed over me.

 20 Chapter 20: The Spear Heroâ€™s Spear

    "This feeling is¡­!"

    "Oh!"

    Outside the Temple of Lyia, the Knights of Blood realized that something had changed. The ominous presence of the demon had disappeared, and with the demise of the Guardian, the temple was crumbling.

    "Amazing!"

    "That kid really did it!"

    "What happened inside the temple?"

    "Oh no! Isn''t he still inside the temple?"

    The knights of Blood were panicking when they saw that the temple was demolishing itself even though I hadn''t emerged. However, they couldn''t get near because my zombies formed an impenetrable wall and barred their entry.

    "Hey! Now isn''t the time for this!"

    "Don''t you want to save your master?"

    "Technically, they''re supposed to be our comrades¡­"

    "Everyone, calm down."

    It was Dante. The knight commander raised his voice and barked for everyone to remain calm. Stepping to the front, he turned to the Knights of Blood.

    "The zombies are still here and reanimated¡­which means their summoner is still alive and well. He''s okay."

    "Oh¡­!"

    "That''s right!"

    "Yeah, somebody who killed a monster like that wouldn''t die so easily!"

    The simple-minded knights nodded and agreed with their commander''s assessment. They cheerfully banged gauntlets and cheered.

    "We should celebrate with him when he comes out."

    "Bring him to a tavern, and treat him to the best ale they have. That''s the least we can do."

    "He doesn''t seem old enough to drink ale, though."

    "You kidding? Age doesn''t matter!"

    While they chattered, Dante turned back toward the zombies, clenching his fists.

    "You promised you''ll set my men free." The commander of the Order of Blood swept his unwavering gaze over the uncompromising line of undead. "And I know you''re not the type to go back on your word. I''ll be waiting for you."

    Meanwhile, the second-in-command of the Lancer Dragoons Company, Mongeigh Monka, slowly shoved the broken off his body and clutched his head.

    "Ugh¡­my head hurts¡­"

    He blinked when a shrill shriek sounded from his pocket. Reaching inside his armor, he retrieved a magical device, which beamed incessantly.

    "That''s the communication scroll!"

    Frustration welled up inside him, compounded by pain and rage. Clutching his face, he realized that the majority of his visor had shattered.

    "Damn it! It hurts! He even broke my helm! Next time, I''ll definitely kill that brat!"

    While cursing, the shrill, incessant ringing of the communication scroll continued to badger him. Annoyed, he snatched it up.

    "Hey¡­"

    "Who is this?!" he snarled into the receiver.

    "Fucking bastard!"

    "You don''t even recognize my voice?!"

    A chill ran down Monka''s spine and he immediately straightened up unconsciously.

    "B¡­boss! Ah, sorry¡­I was fighting, and so my mind is in a fluster right now. I''m very sorry, boss! What do you need?"

    "¡­I just sensed something. The demon in the area you were dispatched in has just vanished."

    Monka''s eyes widened as he spun around to stare at the crumbling temple. Indeed, he could no longer sense the ominous presence of the defeated demon''s head he had stepped on earlier. Not only that, the temple that the demon was guarding was also being razed to the ground by some sort of spell. And there was no sign of the kid.

    "I just finished on this end."

    On the other side of the communication scroll, Suzuki Shirou was holding a magical device that resembled a smartphone that was from his original world. Leaning against his spear, he glanced with disgust at the horde of demons that he had just slain singlehandedly after pursuing them during their flight from the castle.

    "And I''m sure neither you nor the Order of Blood possess the power to slay such a powerful demon. Did another hero arrive on scene to save you? No¡­I''m pretty sure they all went the other way. I''m the only hero in this area."

    "He¡­he wasn''t a hero, boss."

    "Oh? So someone did come and slay the demon?"

    Monka balked at that, but having come this far, there was no point denying it.

    "Yes, sir. A strong kid came and killed the demon."

    "A¡­strong kid?"

    Beneath his helm, Suzuki''s mouth twitched into a sneer.

    "Is he¡­human?"

    "I doubt it, boss. He''s a necromancer. He kept us at bay with his zombies, and then disappeared into the temple. The temple is self-destructing at the moment, and I don''t see him anyway, but his skills are no joke. He took me out with one hit!"

    "Ah¡­necromancer, huh¡­" Suzuki''s lips curled into a sinister smile. Rising to his feet, he plucked his spear out of the gargantuan corpse of a three-headed monster and slowly strolled toward the direction where his subordinates had went ahead to. "In other words, an enemy to Legnica. A heretic. Tell me, where is he right now?"

    "Boss! Don''t be reckless! Even if you want to fight him, you should get the help of the other heroes first!"

    "Don''t make me repeat myself." Suzuki''s fingers tightened around his smartphone. As powerful as the kid was, he was no hero or Demon Lord. There was no way Suzuki wouldn''t be able to handle him by himself. "Where is he?"

    "Okay." Monka turned around frantically. One of his subordinates had shown up and was urgently pointing toward the crumbling temple. "That guy should be at the entrance of the Temple of Lyia. That was the last place where anyone saw him."

    "I see."

    Straightening, Suzuki pressed the red button on his smartphone. In his other hand, his spear glowed golden as he drew tremendous amounts of mana into it.

    "Sounds like the boss hung up," one of the lancers remarked, perspiration dripping down from his helm. More of the Dragoons were gathering around the pale-looking Monka, who stared at his communication scroll in defeat.

    "Relax," Monka assured them. "Boss is a hero. There''s no way that brat can beat him. And even in the event that the boss has trouble, as brothers, we''ll fight together with him."

    At the far end of the forest, Suzuki came to a stop at the middle of the bloody carnage. Raising his spear, which flared brightly with golden flames, he snorted.

    "Hmph¡­I have no idea what manner of a necromancer you are, to be able to defeat such a powerful demon that serves as a Guardian of a temple¡­but today, whoever you are¡­"

    He leveled his spear, almost parallel to the ground. A blast of energy exploded and funneled into the blunt end of his spear, flaring like a rocket''s engine.

    "I''ll use my God-slaying Strike to slay you."

    The flames converged into a single beam of energy that got ready to propel the spear forward like a missile.

    "Die."

    Meanwhile, back at the Temple of Lyia, the Knights of Blood were growing restless. With the Lancers gone, the Swordsmen gathered around Dante impatiently.

    "Captain, are you sure about this?"

    "The temple is almost completely destroyed, yet there is completely no sign of the kid."

    "Is he really all right?"

    "He should be emerging shortly." Dante assured them. He had noticed a slight movement in the zombies. Like soldiers, they suddenly snapped up and broke apart, forming two neat rows on the steps, almost as if they were acting like a parade guard for a commander.

    At that very moment, the doors blew open, falling onto the steps and shattering into chunks of concrete.

    "Finally!"

    "That took a while!"

    The knights were about to cheer, but they suddenly spun around when they realized something was amiss.

    "Hey, look! Everyone!"

    One of the knights in the rear was waving and pointing toward the horizon.

    "There''s something over there!"

    "Yeah¡­something''s flying from the other side of the forest?"

    "What is that? A beam of light?"

    "No¡­"

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    Dante turned pale when he caught sight of the golden projectile that streaked across the heavens.

    "That''s a long-range spell with enough firepower to travel across entire battlefields and raze a fortress," one of the veteran knights remarked, a quiver in his otherwise composed voice. "That''s the attack the heroes used to break open the walls of the Demon Lord''s castle."

    "Ah¡­don''t tell me¡­!"

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    Back at the woods, the Lancers were laughing. Monka, in particular, was crowing in triumph as he watched the fiery projectile sail across the air with divine fury.

    "I forgot that the boss has such a killer technique. This isn''t your regular long-range spell! No matter how strong that brat is, he has no chance of winning!"

    He glanced at the temple, where the zombies were still arrayed in formation, and then smirked.

    "In fact, this God-Slaying Strike grows even more powerful the more enemies there are in a battlefield! If that brat thinks that he can hide behind his meatshields of zombies, he''s in for a rude surprise! Those zombies will be his downfall!"

    Laughing along with his subordinates, he jabbed a finder rudely toward the temple.

    "You''ll pay for ever daring to think that you can cross us Dragoon Lancers and walk away without suffering the consequences! It doesn''t matter how powerful you are¡­in fact, the stronger you are, the more likely you''ll get killed by this strike! Ha ha ha ha!"

    "Sir Suzuki¡­he''s launching his attack, even when there are allies within the vicinity?" Dante growled. He quickly gestured and order for his soldiers to withdraw. "Go! Everyone, get away! Take cover! Or you''ll also be obliterated by this strike!"

    "We can''t get away in time!"

    "We''re going to be killed by friendly fire?!"

    The armored knights panicked, several of them dropping to the ground. The rest of them crashed and collided with each other in their haste to escape, ending up getting tangled.

    "Kid!" Dante shouted toward the temple, even as he tried to organize his troops into an orderly escape. "Don''t come out just yet¡­!"

    "Nah. All of you, please drop to the ground. Stay as low as possible."

    Dante blinked at my voice, but then he instinctively dropped to the ground.

    "Do as the kid says!"

    The knights of Blood obeyed, immediately diving to the ground and shielding their hands over their heads. The golden projectile sailed over them and slammed into the entrance of the crumbling temple, engulfing the whole structure in ravenous flames. An enormous explosion expanded rapidly, obliterating what remained of the temple in a single instance.

    From a distance, Suzuki watched the aftermath of his devastating strike.

    "Hmph," he smirked triumphantly as he rested his spear on his shoulders.

    "The kid should be blown to smithereens along with the temple now¡­"

    One of the lancers remarked excitedly. But beside him, Monka went still, his eyes widening in shock as he studied the blazing scene.

    "Eh¡­boss¡­"

    He swallowed, still unable to believe the sight unfolding before his eyes. As the smoke dispersed, a single figure stalked out of the flames, totally unscathed. The knights surrounding him had survived, suffering nothing worse than smoot and ash on their once pristine armor.

    "Eh? Why is he still alive?" Monka mumbled in disbelief. Shaking his head, he tried to wrap his mind around the impossible sight. "No¡­it''s impossible! There''s no way this is possible¡­!"

    I kept my right hand raised, smoke billowing from it. In my left, I continued to hold onto the staff I took from Tsukishima Tomoyo.

    "He blocked it with his hand?!"

    "Kid!" Dante called out as he raised his head from the ground. He balked when he saw me. "You look different from before¡­"

    He was referring to the black and red jacket that I now wore in replacement of my lost uniform jacket when I fought Asura earlier. The red stripes on the otherwise rough, black fabric almost glowed in ominous contrast with the flames.

    "That outfit¡­is it a drop item from the Guardian of the Temple, Asura?"

    "Yeah."

    I casually flicked my right hand to clear the smoke away from it, and slowly proceeded down the steps, amidst the roaring flames. My zombies flanked me, like some kind of honor guard, silently shambling in disciplined formations.

    "I''m back, guys. And I''m here to keep my promise."

    Turning to my zombies, I nodded.

    "You guys can go now. Rest in peace."

    With a final salute, the zombies stepped into the flames surrounding them and allowed themselves to be cremated. With their bodies destroyed, their spirits were released from servitude and they seemed to ascend to Heaven.

    "Thank you."

    Dante bowed as he rose to his feet. I shook my head.

    "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

    While that was the main reason, I had also released them upon looking at the abilities of Suzuki Shirou''s. His God-Slaying Strike grew more powerful when there were more enemies present. As such, the strike earlier contained tremendous power by virtue of my zombies being part of that huge number of enemies present.

    By dismissing them, I had drastically reduced the power of whatever second strike he chose to throw at me. Come to think of it, Suzuki never used that attack against the Demon Lord. That made sense, given how the Demon Lord was all alone, fighting the twenty-nine heroes by himself in his throne room. With the conditions unmet, there was no point executing the God-Slaying Strike on such a powerful solo opponent.

    "Whoa! It was actually able to block such a powerful attack!"

    One of the knights rose and stared at my new jacket in admiration. His comrades joined him, studying the black and red outfit in awe.

    "Does this outfit hold some special power?"

    I glanced at the jacket I was now wearing. Absolute Appraisal had kicked in automatically and information flowed into my mind the first time I donned it. Otherwise I wouldn''t be stupid enough to pull the stunt I did.

    "Well¡­sort of. This Redwood Robe is a defensive equipment with several protective layers that regenerate constantly. Break through the first layer, and there will be several more ''rings'' of defense that the attack has to get through. But even before that, the first layer would have regenerated and repair itself." I smiled. "Just like the massive, old redwood trees in Earth, this jacket has countless layers of defense that will continue regenerating no matter how many times you damage it."

    The knights stared at me, utterly amazed. But I lost my smile as I studied the damage on the sleeve of my jacket that was slowly repairing.

    "I blocked that attack earlier with raw power, but that spell was extremely strong. It penetrated five layers of my Redwood Robe."

    Faraway, Suzuki Shirou stared into the distance as he placed his smartphone back into his armor in disbelief.

    "Oh? God-Slaying Strike didn''t kill him?"

    His fingers tightened around his spear. At this distance, he couldn''t make out the fine details, and he had completely no idea that I was his target. And none of his lancer subordinates were even aware that I existed.

    "Interesting."

    Suzuki began chuckling sinisterly.

    "Interesting!"

    Glowing flames crackled around him as he turned and stalked away from the direction of the temple. Each step he took left incinerated grass and soil in his wake.

    "Next time I''ll personally kill you. But for now, it''s time to withdraw and meet up with Kobayashi and the others."

    At his orders, the 5th Lancer Dragoon Company fell back, disappearing into the wilderness and leaving just the Knights of Blood and me behind.

    "Hah! Run away like the cowards you are!" one of the knights shouted. The rest added to his enthusiasm, taunting the fleeing lancers.

    I studied their interactions with interest. It seemed that this human kingdom of Legnica wasn''t a monolithic entity. There were factional rivalry and internal strife even within the supposedly united human army. Especially with the threat of the Demon Lord now gone, this rivalry and conflict would no doubt surface in full force.

    Glancing at the cheering knights, I allowed myself a smile. I turned to Dante, who nodded at me gratefully.

    "I''ll be in your care for a while," I told him. Dante stepped forward and offered me a gauntleted hand.

    "Sure. We''ll also be in your care."

    As we shook hands, I spared another glance at the army of surviving knights. Like Asura said, I was going to need allies to fight against the "heroes," my former classmates. I couldn''t rely on these guys because of their loyalty to Legnica, but I could first begin by asking them to lead me to a village or human settlement where I could start my preparations for surviving in this world. Once I had established a solid foundation for living, then I would turn my attentions to revenge.

    With the knowledge I gleaned from the Library of Eden, I knew just where to begin.

 21 Chapter 21: Tanaka the Wizard

    "Are you sure here is fine?"

    Knight Captain Dante Infernius looked at me, concerned. I nodded and hopped off my borrowed horse before handing its reins to the nearest knight.

    "Yeah, thanks for the ride. Here is fine."

    I had hitched a ride with the depleted Knights of the Blood Company and reached the nearest city. I bowed gratefully to the company of knights as they reined their horses to a trot across the paved street of the city. Without the knights, I wouldn''t have reached the city this quickly. Riding a horse was completely different from traveling on foot.

    "I just need you to point me toward the nearest mercenary guild," I explained as I glanced around. The streets were wide and huge, and the districts were packed full of large buildings reminiscent of shop houses in Kyoto''s famous shoutengai.

    Unlike most Japanese light novel stories, "adventurer" guilds or adventurers didn''t exist in reality. Adventurers weren''t a profession. Instead, Restia was filled with something called mercenaries ¨C people who execute specific jobs for money. Having arrived in this world not too long ago, I was still penniless. I had nothing but the shirt I had on my back, and even my uniform jacket was ruined. Fortunately, I had the Redwood Robe as a cool replacement for my jacket (though it really should be called jacket rather than robe, but that wouldn''t sound magical enough).

    In the face of such a predicament, I decided that the most practical route was to take up jobs from the mercenary guild to earn some money for living expenses. Thanks to the knowledge I had garnered from the Library of Eden, I roughly had some sense of how Restia operated. Fortunately, I didn''t go around asking for an adventurers'' guild or I would have made a fool out of myself. It was a pity, but such fictional fantasies didn''t always exist in reality.

    Well, mercenaries were close enough.

    "The nearest mercenary guild is down that way," Dante pointed out. "Just follow the road down, and you''ll see a gigantic building with a blue domed roof and golden entrance a few blocks south. You can''t miss it ¨C it''s literally labeled as mercenary guild."

    "Thanks!"

    I saluted Dante, but he shook his head.

    "No, I should be the one thanking you. For saving me and my men."

    "I didn''t manage to save all of them¡­"

    I glanced down, but Dante waved my discouraged demeanor away.

    "Are you joking? You aren''t obligated to save even one of us, yet you saved more than half of my company. I swear, we ¨C the knights of the Order of Blood ¨C will definitely repay this favor one day. Call upon us and we''ll come to your aid."

    "I look forward to that."

    "May our paths cross again!"

    Pulling on the reins, Dante turned his horse around and galloped to the nearest barracks, his surviving knights following him. Most of them threw me a salute or a thumb''s up before they spun away to follow their commander.

    I waited until the last of them were gone before I continued on my quest to find an actual job to make money from. As per Dante''s instructions, I walked along the road and passed a few blocks, keeping an eye out for the fancy building he told me to look out for. It didn''t take me long before I located the blue domed building with the extravagant golden entrance that had a huge sign with the words "Mercenary Guild" scribbled on its wooden surface.

    How conspicuous.

    Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I proceeded to climb the gilded steps and approached the giant door that was framed by what looked like an arcane archway. Before I could reach for the handle, however, the doors flew open and caused me to jump out in fright.

    "Ah! Again!"

    A beautiful girl with long, blond hair strode out of the guild building, sounding frustrated. A black cloak swept from her shoulders, and white, fleshy thighs peeked out from under her short skirt before being hidden in long, silky thigh-length socks. Placing a hand on her hip, she glanced back with her sapphire eyes at her companion, a handsome knight in silver armor who wouldn''t look out of place in Dante''s company.

    "Why do I need to request for a new party member?" she whined, pouting as she brushed off the front of her blouse.

    "We need someone who can heal, Alicia," her male companion replied. Like her, he sported golden hair and blue eyes, but his body was a lot more covered in silver armor. A single large sword hung from his back, and some decorated heraldry that was different from the Order of Blood''s hung from armor, most likely the crest of a noble family.

    "That''s true, Alan, but¡­"

    Grumbling to herself, the girl named Alicia sulked and strolled past the door, only to stop when she noticed me.

    "Hmm?"

    I had backed away to avoid being struck by the door, and as such my line of sight was aligned with her and her companion. Feeling uneasy by my gaze ¨C and acting exactly like my female classmates ¨C Alicia scowled.

    "What are you looking at? Pervert."

    "¡­"

    What was it with me and girls? Was it a curse I had? Even though this was the first time we met, she already thought I was creepy and disgusting. And I didn''t even do a single thing. Perhaps it was the way I was looking at her? What was wrong with the way I looked at her? Was it my glasses? My eyes? My expression?

    "Ah, Alicia!"

    As Alicia stomped off, the guy named Alan chased after her. He turned to me and bowed apologetically.

    "Sorry. She''s in a bad mood, so please forgive her lack of manners."

    "No worries." I waved him away. At least there was one guy who had the decency to realize that I was being treated unfairly.

    I watched the girl and guy leave the guild before sighing. The girl certainly was beautiful, almost like a princess from a dream or fairy tale, and the guy was no slouch in looks either. He was such an ikemen that most of the girls in my class would fall head over heels for him at first sight. It was just a pity that the girl''s attitude sucked.

    Typical¡­this is starting to sound like a clich¨¦d manga or light novel.

    Perfect characters didn''t exist in reality. Well, I wasn''t interested in creating a harem or whatever nonsense, so I decided not to dwell on it too much. Chances were, I would never run into that girl with a rotten attitude again. Rather, I would prefer not to run into any girls at all. I was cursed or something ¨C every girl other than the goddesses hated my very existence.

    Besides, for what I plan to do, it''s much better if I move around solo.

    Scratching my head, I glanced at the open double doors. The fact that the handsome knight and beautiful magician (I guess) walked out of there complaining about needing party members meant that I was in the right place. This had to be the mercenary guild that Dante was talking about. If the couple from earlier needed to form a party, then they must be considering taking a job from this place. And a job was the one thing I needed right now.

    I stepped into the guild house and paused when I caught sight of the occupants. I wasn''t expecting a harem of beautiful girls or youngsters running about and looking for quests¡­actually, I didn''t even know what I was expecting. But bitter reality slapped me in the face when I caught sight of a bunch of muscular, middle-aged men with beards, mustaches or scars huddling over the tables. There were women too ¨C but middle-aged women with rough skin, ponytails and hostile scowls that sent chills down my spine.

    To all them pretty would be stretching it. The best word I could use to describe them was comely, but even that was flattering them.

    "Huh? What do you want, brat?"

    One of the older women ¨C who resembled more like her male comrades than a lady ¨C growled at me. The only reason I could tell that she was female was the two huge bulges from her chest, that was barely held in by a tattered leather tunic. She had completely no fashion sense, or she just didn''t care about her appearance at all.

    That suited me fine.

    "I''m looking for a job."

    "Huh? A greenhorn brat like you?" she sneered. Ignoring her, I walked past and toward what looked like the reception desk.

    "Um, excuse me, sir?"

    I approached the bald, dark-skinned man behind the desk.

    "I''m looking for a job¡­I don''t mind doing mercenary work¡­"

    "Huh?" the muscular receptionist boomed as he towered over me. "Are you aspiring to become a mercenary at your age?"

    "Yeah, sorry. Circumstances forced my hand and I really need some means of earning money."

    "Hmph." The receptionist sighed and shook his head. Relenting, he sat back down and retrieved a scroll and a pen. As he put pen to paper, he glanced up at me. "Well, okay. Let''s start your registration. Name?"

    "Tanaka Tomoyuki."

    "Age?"

    "16."

    As I answered the receptionist''s questions, there was a furor among the other mercenaries at the tables inside what seemed like the dining hall of the guild.

    "Oi¡­he says he''s 16."

    "He''s young enough to be my son," a thickset man with a beard chuckled. Ignoring them, the receptionist continued.

    "Class?"

    "¡­necromancer?"

    He gave me a stare as if he thought I was joking. When I didn''t smile or respond, he shook his head and just scribbled in the scroll.

    "I''ll just put wizard then."

    Seriously? Did you have something against necromancers or something? Are you discriminating against us? I was telling the truth, you know!

    At least that was what I wanted to say, but I doubted he would take me seriously. So I essentially became Tomoyuki the Wizard. Or Tanaka the Wizard.

    Meanwhile, the other mercenaries continued to chatter, sending glances in my direction. Bloody hell, they were still talking about my age. Evidently, mercenaries were for more experienced veterans who had been through countless battles. Ex-military, rogues, former criminals¡­hardened warriors who had seen much of the world and survived whatever dark forces conspired to throw against them. A kid like me who was still wet behind the ears strolling up and asking for a job would cause heads to turn and surprise them.

    However¡­

    "He doesn''t look like a noble."

    "Yeah, he doesn''t look rich or spoiled."

    "He''s different from those other kids earlier. No guardian, no bodyguard to escort and protect him from the actual dangers?"

    "Those spoilt kids didn''t seem to bring along protection either¡­"

    "But they have money. They have excellent weapons and equipment. This kid looks completely broke and unequipped."

    For your information, I had one of the best defensive equipment in all of Restia, the Redwood Robe. Not that I was going to show that off to a bunch of grizzled, cynical middle-aged men. I didn''t want to get robbed.

    "Do you have any special skills?"

    The receptionist continued to interrogate me, paying no heed to his comrades.

    "Um, yes. Magic. Necromancy¡­summoning the dead¡­Regeneration"

    The receptionist raised an eyebrow, but merely noted summoning and healing. Well, in a way, he wasn''t incorrect¡­

    "All right then."

    Once the application was filled out, the receptionist casted some sort of spell to create a card. He passed the card, which featured my photograph (when did he take my picture?!) and personal information. I took it and stared at it dumbly.

    "This is your guild identification card. Don''t lose it, okay?"

    "Yeah, I''ll do my best to safeguard it."

    I immediately placed the card in my pocket. The receptionist nodded in approval.

    "Right now, you''re Porcelain rank."

    "Porcelain?" I almost snorted in laughter. That sounded so fragile, as if it could break any time. I wondered if it was an insult, but from the knowledge I gained from the Library of Eden, I knew it was the most basic and lowest rank.

    "Yes, sir," I said instead. The receptionist had looked like he was expecting me to protest, and was relieved when I accepted the rank without arguing.

    "If you want to earn money, then go to the sewers and hunt rats, or go to the forest and collect herbs. Simple stuff. When you get a bit more experience and honed your combat skills enough, you can move on to hunt goblins. Bring the remains back and the guild will purchase them at the appropriate price."

    "Yes, sir. I understand."

    I almost saluted. The receptionist glanced at me strangely, and then nodded as realization dawned on him.

    "Were you serving in the knight corps?"

    "¡­not really, but I did fight alongside them once."

    "Ah, that explains it." he nodded understandingly, then gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck!"

    "Thank you, sir."

    I turned away, my mind churning and calculating what to do next. If I remembered correctly from what I read in the Library of Eden, this was the standard system for mercenaries. Complete quests and I would gradually rank up. As my rank increased, the types of quests that were available would broaden for me. Higher-ranked mercenaries were allowed to take quests of increasing difficulty, which would in turn pay more.

    "I''m Porcelain rank now, huh?"

    Taking my card out of my pocket, I glanced at it again. Reaching out, I conjured my blue holographic window and swiped it to locate the eBook I was looking for. Having the Library of Eden inside my mind, I was somehow able to convert it into an online reading service that displayed the books electronically on my blue screen.

    "Mercenaries¡­where are mercenaries¡­ah, there it is."

    Finding the book I was looking for, I tapped the title, Mercenaries: a study of the underground vocations, and opened it.

    "Where are the ranks?" musing to myself, I scanned through the table of contents and located the page. But instead of flipping to the page, I directly tapped on the word "Ranks" in the table of contents and the system automatically brought me to it.

    Immediately, a list of ten ranks were displayed for me to see.

    Platinum Rank

    Gold Rank

    Silver Rank

    Bronze Rank

    Copper Rank

    Chrome Rank

    Steel Rank

    Iron Rank

    Obsidian Rank

    Porcelain Rank

    So these were the 10 ranks, listed from highest to lowest. As expected, I started from the bottom. Despite having killed and devoured a Demon Lord and a Guardian of a temple, I ironically was assigned the lowest rank.

    Well, it wasn''t as if I was eager to claim fame or anything. If anything, it would benefit me more if I kept a low profile. My former classmates would never imagine that I was operating under their noses as a bottom-ranked mercenary.

    For now, I have to find a way to survive. To do that, I need money. I guess I''ll start with something easy first.

    I wasn''t exactly eager to visit the sewers to hunt rats. I had just escaped from the sewage about two days ago, running for my life after devouring the Demon Lord. I had no desire to repeat the experience. The place was dark, disgusting, dank, and stank like hell. That said, if I had no choice, I would go to the sewer to hunt rats. In the worst case scenario, I would unleash my zombies into the sewer and clear them out within a week.

    Unfortunately, with the current restrictions placed upon my summoning skill, I needed to find corpses to reanimate first. Yet another unpleasant task.

    Fortunately, I had a far less undesirable option. Searching for herbs in the forest. I could skip the steps and go straight for hunting goblins, but that would draw too much attention to myself if I went and hunted them solo. Furthermore, I wasn''t going to underestimate the enemy just because they were goblins. Goblins were still among the most dangerous monsters in Restia. They might be weak individually, but they usually gather in tribes and were cunning, ruthless and cruel. Even the most experienced mercenary would find himself outwitted and surrounded by a screeching pack of goblins if he wasn''t careful.

    Not to mention that there are plenty of stories where newbie mercenaries go out in a party to hunt goblins for their first quest, mistakenly believing them to be easy prey¡­only for them to get wiped out. The men get brutally slaughtered, and the women raped. Goblins are terrifying creatures, indeed.

    Even though I had killed a Demon Lord and a Guardian, I wasn''t going to get carried away and think I could get away with goblins. For one thing, the Demon Lord had been fatally wounded and incredibly weakened by the heroes before he stumbled upon me, and I had the help of Dante and his entire company of knights when fighting Asura. I wasn''t delusional enough to think I could have soloed either of them by myself.

    Herbs it is.

    Pushing my unnecessary glasses up my face, I proceeded toward the forest. This had to be the easiest job ever¡­and while it paid pittance, it was still enough for me to procure food, water and some clothing for today.

    Unfortunately, as usual, I underestimated my task.

    "Where are all the herbs?!"

    Scratching my head, I conjured my blue holographic book to refer to a herbology book, but there was nothing in there to clue me in on how to find herbs except a vague "found in the forest". A throwaway line that didn''t help narrow down possible areas. Even if there was, the forest was so large that it would be impossible for me to find specific herbs. It was literally searching for a needle in a haystack. Or finding a tree that was hidden in a forest.

    Worse, I didn''t even know what kind of herbs the guild was looking for. I regretted not asking the receptionist earlier. How stupid of me. I had grown overconfident, thinking that this would be a simple task because of the complete lack of danger, but even after a couple of hours, I was nowhere near completing the quest.

    I don''t believe it. I''m going to fail a quest as easy as collecting herbs!?

    Truly, to underestimate the missions in another world and dismiss them as easy was a fatal mistake.

    "Ugh¡­looks like I''ll be hungry for today. Or I might have to hunt something."

    Now that I thought about it, it didn''t seem that the mercenary guild accepted meat or wild animals as quests. Killing a wolf or rabbit and bringing it back to the guild wouldn''t earn me any money. Rather, I didn''t need to be a mercenary to hunt wild animals. I might as well be a butcher or hunter. Actually, I should say the same about herbs. Why did collecting herbs fall under the purview of mercenaries? Couldn''t farmers or children handle that?

    I found out the answer a few minutes after fruitless searching. When I thought collecting herbs was in no way a dangerous activity, I was sadly mistaken. As I stumbled past a tree, I encountered danger in its very visceral form.

    "Hu¡­"

    A creature was huffing as it leaned against a tree. It was green, humanoid and the size of a small child, but by Lyia was it ugly as f. With a weird Mohawk stretching across its otherwise smooth and bald scalp, and warts exploding throughout its skin, the goblin leaned against the tree, breathing heavily as it clutched its torso.

    "Ah, hello."

    I didn''t know what to say, so I greeted the goblin.

    "H¡­human!"

    On the other hand, the goblin jolted upright and screeched in panic, perspiration pouring down its hideous face.

    I studied it, but didn''t move. So this was a goblin. It was as ugly and ferocious as the books had me believe. Wild intelligence gleamed in its demonic eyes, and it snarled at me, reaching for a dagger with one hand, while the other continued to press on the side of its torso to stem the bleeding. Evidently it had been grievously wounded.

    Even without Absolute Appraisal, I could tell that it was a fatal wound. There was so much blood leaking from the injury that the goblin would evidently perish from blood loss in another few minutes. Hell, I could see its intestines. The goblin was desperately pressing its guts back into its body to keep them from falling out.

    Hunting goblins, huh¡­

    I recalled the receptionist''s instructions. But as cruel and ruthless as goblins were, according to the books, to take advantage of a wounded goblin and kill it for money seemed¡­inhuman somehow. I couldn''t blame goblins for being the way they were ¨C such murderous instincts were hardwired into their biology. I couldn''t blame a goblin for slaying the way I couldn''t blame a shark for preying on fish or a tiger for hunting buffaloes.

    If I killed the wounded goblin like this, I felt like I would lose my humanity¡­and become the very monsters I swore to take revenge on. I was better than those bastard classmates of mine, those so-called heroes who abused the weak and exploited the vulnerable. If I acted the same way they did, then how could I justify my revenge?

    Frothing at the mouth, the goblin held its dagger as it tried to lunge at me. Unfortunately, it was too weak from the blood loss and it was all it could do to stand and lean against the tree. If I so much as pushed it, it would topple over. I was sure of it.

    I approached it and held up a hand. Closing my eyes, I tried to use Regenerate on the goblin.

    It worked¡­sort of. The wound closed up, and the goblin recovered. Within seconds, there was no trace of the fatal injury that had brought it to the brink of death. After checking its body, the goblin glanced at me, astonished.

    I returned its glare with a smile and held up both my hands to show that I meant no harm. The goblin wasn''t stupid. It understood I was the one who healed its wounds and saved it. Now, it should probably feel gratitude and return the favor or something¡­

    "Kreeee¡­.!"

    With a shrill shriek, the goblin lunged at me, stabbing with its dagger. I barely managed to avoid the slash from its rusty ¨C and most probably poisoned ¨C blade. Drawing my staff, I parried the next blow and cuffed the goblin at the side of its head. Staggering, the goblin shook its head before it pounced on me again.

    ¡­only to have its head blown off by my Doombolt.

    I stared at the dead goblin in dismay and shook my head. Well, I couldn''t say I was surprised. I was expecting it, even. A goblin was a goblin, no matter how you dressed it up. It wasn''t going to change its nature miraculously just because I saved it.

    Still, I was hoping that my Machiavellian Charisma would at least convince it to cease hostilities and attempt communication¡­

    I sighed. I was probably hoping for too much. Restia wasn''t a kind, nice world full or rainbows and unicorns where everything could be solved by the power of friendship and love. It was a cruel, unfair world filled with betrayal and murders.

    Well, at least I have something to bring back to the guild for cash. It''s much sooner than I thought, but I''ll take it.

    When the alternative was to starve, I would much rather draw unwanted attention to myself. I could survive being stared at or gossiped about. But I needed food and shelter to survive, as well as equipment.

    "All right, let''s¡­"

    I trailed off when I heard the bushes rustle. Within seconds, I found myself surrounded by a chittering horde of enraged goblins. Drawing their daggers or notching their bows, they prepared to slaughter me.

    I sighed and placed my staff on the ground. I just couldn''t catch a break, could I?

    On the bright side, I should at least earn enough to last me for a week¡­

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    *

    The receptionist was astonished when he saw me lug back a horde of goblins.

    "You slaughtered a tribe of goblins¡­by yourself¡­on your very first day?"

    I had a bit of help from Corrupting Darkness, which wiped the whole pack out within thirty seconds, but I doubted the receptionist would want to hear the grisly details.

    "I got lucky."

    "Kid, this goes beyond the question of luck! Not even Obsidian or Iron ranked mercenaries can kill a horde of goblins on their own!"

    "As I said, it was just a fluke."

    I tried to calm down the amazed receptionist, who still couldn''t believe his eyes. He tallied up the kills, and then conjured a small magical window.

    "This is the amount of reward that will be credited to your name. You can use your identification card to purchase whatever you need."

    "That''s convenient."

    So basically Restia had its form of credit and debit cards, huh? That was much better than carrying cash around.

    "Good job today, kid. It seems that we were all mistaken about you."

    Chuckling, the receptionist pounded my back. I winced, but didn''t complain. Instead, I smiled and endured it.

    "Well, it''s late tonight, so I''m going to retire early¡­is there a place I can stay temporarily?"

    Even though I could see that I had earned quite a substantial amount of gold, I doubted it would be enough to buy a house. The receptionist thought for a while, and then nodded.

    "There''s the Blue Moon Inn down the corner from here." he pointed out of the door and then jabbed his thumb to his right. "It''s cheap and affordable, especially for newbie mercenaries like you. With the amount you''ve earned, you should be able to stay there for a week and still afford new equipment, weapons and food."

    "Thanks."

    Tsukishima Tomoyo''s staff should be a high quality weapon, a legendary item that was fit for heroes, so I wasn''t lacking in that area. As for armor, I had the Redwood Robe, which was probably another legendary item, so I didn''t need that either. What I did need was fresh clothes, personal hygiene stuff like soap, proper shoes or boots and other miscellaneous items.

    "Hu¡­"

    I stifled a yawn. Whatever I needed, I could worry about tomorrow. For now, it was pretty late at night and I was completely exhausted. I wanted to go to bed and sleep.

    "Thank you, sir."

    Expressing my gratitude to the receptionist, who was busily closing up the desk and boarding up the guild house, I left the place and headed straight for the Blue Moon Inn he pointed me toward. All I wanted for now was a soft bed to lie on.

    I could worry about tomorrow when I woke up the next day.

 22 Chapter 22: Survival in a new world

    Blue Moon Inn was, unsurprisingly, full when I walked in. as one would expect in a fantasy setting, the first floor was a tavern, with drunken middle-aged men raising mugs of ale and clinking them together before chugging them down. Bellowing laughter and loud bragging filled the space below as several men competed, either by drinking or by tales of heroic feats.

    I was interested in neither. I just wanted a bed, so I wandered toward the innkeeper, who was polishing a wine glass at the counter, and tried to catch his attention.

    "Um, excuse me, sir."

    "Hello there."

    Like the receptionist, the innkeeper was burly and muscular. Unlike the receptionist, his head was full of hair, down to the stringy mess on his head and the thick mustache and beard hanging down from his nose and chin.

    "I would like a room, if you don''t mind."

    "Of course I don''t mind!" he laughed as he slapped me in the back, almost sending me sprawling over the counter. "As long as you pay up front, we''ll give you the best service possible!"

    "Oh, no need to go that far. I just want a place to sleep."

    I held up my card. The innkeeper glanced at it, and his face fell in disappointment when he saw that I was a Porcelain ranked mercenary.

    "Budget, I''m guessing?"

    "Sure."

    "Hmm, I''ll see what I can do. We should have a couple of cheap rooms in the corner. Miranda here will show you the way."

    His attitude sure changed quickly when he found out my rank. I didn''t complain, though. As this was the first day of my job, I needed to save money wherever possible, so I nodded and accepted whatever he gave me. The innkeeper swiped my card at a magical-looking cashier register, then returned it to me.

    "Dear guest, please follow me."

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    I raised an eyebrow when I caught sight of the waitress dressed in a maid uniform. Her long, golden hair was tied in a side ponytail, with a huge black ribbon and the usual frilly maid hairband. Complete with an apron over her back dress, revealing blouse and extremely short skirt, she looked more like a part-time worker in a maid caf¨¦ than an actual bar waitress from a medieval fantasy world. Not that I was going to question the logic, but hey¡­

    "No thanks. I appreciate it, but right now what I need is sleep."

    Miranda nodded as she handed me a key.

    "Here''s a key to your room. If you need anything, feel free to approach me at any time! Have a great stay!"

    "Thanks."

    I watched as she went back down the corridor, then glanced at the key in my hand. Sighing, I inserted it into the knob and twisted, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Stepping into the room, I took stock of my surroundings.

    Well, it could be worse.

    Having slept outside in the wilderness for days, I had no complaints. In fact, as dreary and minimal as the room was, it was clearly an upgrade from sleeping on the cold, hard ground outside. I flopped onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

    The next morning, I woke up with a start, noticing the sunlight that was streaming into my window in isolated streams. The room was located in a shadowy part of the inn, so it didn''t get a lot of sunlight. Now that I was fully awake, I found the air musty and dusty. The wooden surface of the wardrobe was peeling off, and there was no desk or other furniture except the bed. At least there was a private bathroom for me to wash up in.

    That reminds me, I need to buy necessities.

    Soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, a towel and new clothes. I had arrived in this world with nothing more than the shirt off my back, and even now I still hadn''t changed out of it.

    Maybe that''s why the girls hate me.

    It probably went beyond that, but for now I accepted that as the explanation. Suppressing a yawn, I stretched my arms and put the key in my pocket before venturing out of the room.

    "Honored guest, would you like some breakfast?"

    Miranda was still working in the inn when I got down the stairs. I wondered if she ever managed to catch some sleep. Given how bright, fresh and cheerful she was, she most probably did. I wouldn''t be surprised if I had overslept until noon.

    "I''m fine. Thank you."

    "Let me know if I can help you with anything!"

    "Ah, about that¡­" I raised a hand. "I need to find a shop that sells clothing, soap and other personal hygiene stuff."

    Miranda listened, then nodded. "That way¡­you should be able to find a grocery store that sells soap and other hygiene items. Further down should be a clothing shop, but if you''re a mercenary, you might also want to visit the armorer right next to it."

    "Roger that."

    I followed the direction she was pointing at and nodded. Expressing my gratitude, I left the inn and began my shopping spree.

    Surprisingly enough, the money I earned from slaying goblins amounted to more than I imagined. I still had over three quarters of my original reward money left over even after procuring all the necessities such as soap, towels and clothing. I wasn''t fond of the fashion in this world, but I couldn''t continue wearing my uniform forever. While my Redwood jacket was one thing, my uniform was in a clear need of a wash. I needed to ask Miranda about laundry later. For now, I settled for the cotton garments of this world.

    I missed polyester fabric.

    Hmm, even counting the fees for the inn, there''s still quite a bit of money left over.

    Checking the credit in my card, I decided that I could afford a bit of equipment, so I visited the armorer.

    In the end, I almost didn''t buy anything. None of the armor could measure up to the protection my Redwood Robe afforded me, and my staff was superior to whatever weapon the armorer had in his store. That was only natural. Of course the heroes would be given the best weapons in the kingdom. There was no way a little city armorer would be able to match up to such quality.

    That said, feeling sorry for the armorer, I decided to buy a dagger. My staff, while powerful, was clunky and unwieldy in close combat, so I preferred something I could use in extreme quarters. A dagger was perfect for the job and could double as a sneaky weapon for a surprise attack. I was tempted to buy a sword, but I wasn''t enthusiastic about buying unnecessary things, especially when faced with the possibility that I would be tight on money in the following days.

    I did get some combat gloves and boots that were more appropriate for the missions I planned to undertake. Pulling them on, I felt more like a real mercenary.

    "Thanks," I told the armorer before leaving. With the necessities procured, I headed back to the inn to dump my stuff, wash up, and get changed. Fortunately, there was a magical washing machine in the basement of the inn, so I loaded my clothing there and washed them. There was also a magic dryer, so I made full use of everything to get my uniform and Redwood jacket cleaned and dried.

    By the time I was done with my errands, it was past noon. I returned to my room to stow away my stuff and then headed to the forest to collect more herbs or something. I wasn''t going to rely on my current pool of money forever. I intended to save up so that I could live comfortably, perhaps upgrade to a better room.

    We''ll see.

    As I entered the forest, I realized to my horror that I had completely forgotten to ask about the type of herbs I was supposed to collect. Again. Even though I had just gone to the guild house yesterday to deliver the goblins, I didn''t ask the receptionist about the herbs. I wasn''t too fond of the idea of hunting goblins again.

    Besides, I killed the goblins in this area yesterday. It''ll be unlikely that new ones would spawn here again¡­

    Once again, I made the fatal mistake of assuming. As I groaned over my stupidity, something struck me from behind.

    "Ugh!"

    I toppled over, clutching my head. Blood coursed through my fingers, but the wound at the back of my skull was slowly closing. I moaned and raised my head, only to see an entire pack of goblins emerged from the surroundings and aiming their weapons at me.

    Twang!

    An arrow struck my arm, piercing it. I let out a shrill cry of pain and clutched at my arm. The goblins let out triumphant howls, and another let loose a second arrow, which slammed into my shoulder and sent me spinning.

    The goblins were now upon me, stabbing me with their daggers. Burning, caustic sensations ran through my wounds, and I realized that their weapons had been coated with poison. Suddenly I regretted not buying healing potions and antidotes. Even worse, I recalled that I had left my Redwood Robe back in the inn, thinking that I didn''t need it for a mission as simple as collecting herbs. I never thought I would be ambushed by a bunch of goblins.

    What a stupid mistake. I couldn''t believe I had left my Redwood Robe behind in my room after washing it. The fabric was still warm after being put into the dryer, so I subconsciously spread it over my chair and forgot to put it on when I left my room.

    Looked like I was going to pay for the mistake with my life.

    Am I going to die here?

    Hell, no. I had already died once, if not twice. I wasn''t going to let myself get slaughtered by a bunch of ugly bastards.

    Gritting my teeth, I drew my dagger and stubbornly resisted. Kicking one of the goblins away, I slashed at the nearest one, gutting it. It screamed and staggered back, but I slit its throat before it could escape. As it fell, I stabbed the next goblin, which was busily stabbing me with its own jagged knife. I endured the pain and sank my dagger into its skull, plunging the blade all the way to the hilt. Blood sprouted from the wound, drenching my hand, but I twisted the dagger instead of releasing it.

    The goblin shrieked and fell, its body wrecked with spasms. I tried to pull the dagger out, but another goblin lunged at me, clawing at my face.

    "Get off me!"

    With a defiant yell, I grabbed my staff and unslung it, smacking the goblin. Its hold slackened and I seized the chance to wedge my staff between myself and my assailant before cracking its skull. Heaving, I twirled my staff around and knocked a few goblins aside.

    "Ugh¡­"

    The poison was coursing through my veins, making me sick and nauseous. I fought down the hurling sensation in my stomach and raised my staff. The chittering goblins climbed back to their feet before surrounding me once again.

    Perfect.

    Gagging, I gritted my teeth and slammed my staff against the ground to unleash a single Corrupting Darkness spell. The goblins shrieked as they were caught by the miasma, and toppled over. Their skin blackened and withered, and they thrashed about desperately as the curse took hold of them. With a final, strangled cry, the horde went still.

    I lay on the withering grass, heaving. I still felt like throwing up ¨C the poison was burning my veins and ensnaring me in a terrible fever. My stomach was in knots, fully in the grip of nausea, and my head spun. I wanted nothing more than to die just then, just so the pain would end. Choking, I shut my eyes and waited for the pain to end.

    My Regeneration kicked in.

    I didn''t know how long I was out, but the next thing I knew, the nausea was gone and my injuries were healed. I slowly staggered to my feet and studied my surroundings. I was still surrounded by dead goblins, their once-green skin blackened by corruption.

    Oh, Regeneration works for poison too.

    However, I knew I couldn''t rely too much on Regeneration. There was a point of time when I lay helplessly on the ground, completely incapacitated and vulnerable to other forms of attacks. If there was another enemy nearby¡­

    "Hu¡­"

    I exhaled in relief before I turned my focus to gathering the remains of the goblins as proof that I had killed them. Actually, my mercenary ID would collate the information and beam it to the guild, but physical evidence remained the best method of confirmation.

    "Kree¡­!"

    Just when I thought I was out of the woods, another shriek caught my attention. This time, a goblin shaman who was dressed in feathers with fetishes and what looked like arcane tools hanging around his neck and waist, emerged from the forest. He was surrounded by a bunch of goblins, one of which was enormous.

    A hobgoblin. A goblin that was taller than a man and three times as thick and muscular. It growled as it dragged a massive club across the forest.

    The goblin shaman uttered something incoherently and pointed at me.

    "Kree!"

    I noticed that like me, it was carrying a staff. But its gnarled staff seemed to be made out of wood ¨C oak, if I wasn''t mistaken ¨C and had some horrid, unholy shape at the top. Animal fangs and teeth hung in a string necklace around its neck, jingling as the goblin shaman jabbered and pointed, and wisps of mana swirled around it.

    There was no mistaking it. The goblin shaman intended to cast magic.

    I stood very still and waited. As I expected, the goblin shaman finished its incantation and blasted me with a fireball. I wasn''t able to dodge in time, and the fiery projectile incinerated my head, right arm and shoulder, and a huge part of my chest.

    My body flopped down lifelessly. The goblins chittered and cheered, buoyed by the apparent demise of the hated enemy that had viciously slain their brethren.

    But despite the severe damage to my body, I wasn''t dead. Far from it.

    Regeneration kicked in, my missing head restoring itself as bits of bone, brain and flesh replicated from ruined tissue and wove together. The goblin shaman shrieked in horror as it watched me sit up straight, waiting for my arm and shoulder to finish mending. I picked up my dropped staff, cocked my head from side to side, and then returned its horrified gaze.

    "My turn," I said simply and raised my staff.

    A Doombolt obliterated the goblin shaman before it even knew what hit it. Its destroyed body toppled over, the upper half of its body ceasing to exist.

    The rest of the goblins went into a frenzy, howling furiously when their leader was killed. Turning their attention toward me, they lunged as one.

    I sighed.

    "You guys just don''t learn, do you?"

    Another wave of Corrupting Darkness struck the approaching goblins and fried them. I shook my head, almost feeling sorry for them, but then a meaty fist struck me.

    "Guh!"

    I managed to instinctively parry the punch with my staff, but I was still lifted off my feet and sent sprawling across the forest. Coughing, I rose to my feet and stared in shock as a horribly disfigured hobgoblin lumbered toward me.

    "I see. So Corrupting Darkness didn''t kill you."

    The hobgoblin was severely wounded, judging from the black patches of skin and scars, but it was still clearly alive. Enraged, it bellowed before swinging another fist at me. Despite its fatal injuries, it still possessed a great measure of strength. I dug my feet in as I tried to endure its next blow, the staff vibrating violently in my hands.

    "Ugh¡­"

    My arms were trembling so badly that I almost dropped my staff. Gritting my teeth, I looked up before parrying another punch. The hobgoblin''s fist lifted me off my feet and sent me skidding a few meters back. I regained my balance and slammed my staff onto the ground to steady myself. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself for the next punch.

    "Guooo!"

    If I was wearing my Redwood Robe, I wouldn''t have to worry about taking a punch or two. The protective, regenerative layers of my jacket would have absorbed the damage. But right now, I was faced with the dilemma of being unable to counterattack.

    "Koho!"

    I coughed as the next punch knocked the wind out of me. Even with Regeneration, I was being hurt far more quickly than I was healing. Gritting my teeth, I met the gaze of the roaring hobgoblin, who was delivering another punch.

    I''ve to time my attack perfectly.

    The hobgoblin''s fist reached my staff, and at the same moment I unleashed a burst of mana.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang!"

    The crescent-shaped arc of black, demonic energy decimated the hobgoblin, erasing almost half of its body. What remained of its head stared at me blankly, then fell to its knees. I kicked its destroyed body, sending it toppling over.

    "Huff¡­"

    That was a much harder battle than I thought. If I didn''t have Regeneration, I would have been killed at least three or four times over.

    "Hu¡­"

    I exhaled and dropped down, exhausted overtaking my senses. There was also a gnawing hunger, which didn''t surprise me. I had used up most of my energy in regenerating so many times that u needed to replenish it by feeding. Probably the best method now was to hunt an animal in the forest and eat it. As much as I wanted to eat the food at the inn, preferably served by Miranda, my body could no longer ingest human food.

    Meat it is¡­after I recover a bit of my strength.

    I lay on the ground and closed my eyes, only to open them again when I heard the bushes rustle. Too tired to get up, I glanced in the direction of the noise and caught sight of someone emerging from the corner of my eye.

    "Hey! Are you all right?"

    "Yeah."

    To my relief, it wasn''t another bunch of goblins but a human. A mercenary, from the looks of it. He was dressed similarly to me, in a simple cotton garb and leather vest, while knives were arrayed around his waist. A single sword hung from his back, strapped to him by a single leather sling, and his hands were covered in gloves.

    He stared at the carnage, astonished.

    "G¡­goblins?"

    "I believe so."

    "Did you kill all of these by yourself?"

    "¡­yeah."

    There was no point denying it. I was the only mercenary around. Who else could have killed the goblins?

    "Amazing¡­how did you do it?"

    "With much difficulty."

    The older mercenary chortled and shook his head. He gazed upon the massacre, and then rested his eyes on me.

    "All these goblins¡­even a hobgoblin too! They''ll fetch a fair price, yeah?"

    "I wouldn''t know. The guild will pay me whatever they think the goblins are worth."

    "Yes, they will indeed." The mercenary sank into deep contemplation for a moment. "And they are worth a whole lot."

    There was something in his tone that made me sit up in alarm, but I was almost too late. The mercenary had drawn his sword and he rammed its blade into my chest.

    "Gah¡­!"

    "Sorry, kid. But this is way too much for you to handle. You should just give the reward to me."

    The mercenary was crackling. I croaked, blood dripping from my lips, as I gripped the blade of his sword.

    "You won''t get away with this. The kills are recorded in my ID."

    "Then I''ll have to destroy your ID. And even if they''re not awarded to me, it doesn''t matter. All I need to do is bring the corpses of the goblins back as evidence. Physical proof is the best kind of evidence, remember?"

    Once again, I was the victim of human treachery. I wondered briefly how humans were not so different from goblins, after all. Perhaps these scum ¨C whether it was this murderous mercenary or my bullying classmates ¨C were the exception rather than the rule, but I had been a victim of such betrayals or abuse far too many times to count.

    Then again, there were people like Dante Infernius and his knights who were honorable and helped me out. Not all humans were evil.

    That said, I''m currently being attacked by an evil human.

    Coughing out blood one last time, I teetered over.

    "Finally."

    The mercenary pulled his blade out of me before turning around to start gathering the goblins. The moment he turned his back toward me, I forced myself to lunge at him.

    "What¡­you brat!"

    He spun around, trying to throw me off, but I stubbornly held on. Hauling myself up, I took a bite out of his neck, tearing the flesh off with my teeth and swallowing. Licking my lips, I drank some of his blood before he finally threw me off him.

    "Fucker! You bit me! You fucking bit me¡­!"

    His words trailed off when he noticed that something was amiss with me. I was slowly standing up, the fatal wound he dealt to me with his sword rapidly closing up and healing. His eyes widened and he backed away, his hand clamping down on his neck.

    "You¡­what the hell are you?"

    I shrugged as I picked up my fallen staff. "I''m a mercenary like you."

    Then I swung my staff and clobbered him in the head with such force his skull cracked. He went down, and I struck his head again for good measure, to make sure he was really dead.

    Crouching down, I began to feed.

 23 Chapter 23: Time to party!

    For the next week, I managed to earn quite a bit of money by taking various quests. Thanks to the second day, where I hauled in a bunch of goblins, including the goblin shaman and hobgoblin, I had managed to rake in enough income to last me for two months. After that day, I never left home without my Redwood jacket.

    I also made sure to inquire about the types of herbs and find out about them, so I could rely on those simple, non-life-threatening quests to make some more money over the next week or so. The two days of goblins had given me enough excitement for the week, and I wanted something milder. Thankfully, I didn''t encounter any new pack of goblins after the first two days.

    "You''re now an Obsidian rank," the receptionist ¨C his name was Hughes ¨C told me as I brought in a bunch of herbs. "You know that you can take quests with higher difficulties, right?"

    "Even if you say that¡­I''m not sure what kind of quests I should take. I barely started a week ago, you know?"

    "Ah. That''s right. But we''re a bit shorthanded at the moment." Hughes frowned as he glanced at the mercenaries milling inside the guild house. "Speaking of which, have you seen Murdock? He''s been missing for about a week now."

    "¡­who?"

    "Uh, never mind. You''re new, after all. You wouldn''t know anyone from here." Hughes scratched his head and sighed. "Maybe Murdock got into some trouble. He''s always been a greedy fellow, looking for the easiest way to make the most money. I wouldn''t be surprised if he bit off more than he could chew this time."

    Somehow I remembered the mercenary who tried to murder me for my loot on my second day as a mercenary. Perhaps that was Murdock¡­no, it was highly likely that guy was Murdock, but I wasn''t stupid enough to tell Hughes that I was the one who killed him and ate him.

    That would certainly not go down well with him.

    "Oi, Tanaka."

    Hughes suddenly remembered something and called out to me just as I was about to leave. I turned back, cocking my head in puzzlement.

    "What is it?"

    "If I recall correctly, you''re a user of Regeneration magic, right?"

    "Eh?"

    Now that I thought about it, I did use Regeneration successfully on the goblin on the first day. Never mind the goblin ungratefully tried to kill me after I saved its life, but the important point was that I could cast it on other people.

    "Ah, yes. I suppose I am. What about it?"

    "Good. Follow me."

    Hughes waked around his desk and gestured for me to follow him. I obeyed and found myself standing in front of a bulletin board, which featured lots of quests. I stared at the details, and saw that they were almost exclusively subjugation or hunting quests that were worth a lot of money in terms of reward and difficulty.

    "But I don''t want them," I muttered. "Other people are a liability. They''ll just get in the way."

    "¡­"

    Hughes stared at me, wondering if I was joking. Yet, he recalled that I was the guy who took on a bunch of goblins solo in two consecutive days and wiped them all out by myself. However, he was troubled by my edgy attitude, so I sighed.

    "I understand. If they''re fine with me, then I''ll join them."

    I wasn''t very enthusiastic about it, but admittedly there was strength in numbers. If I was in a party, the incident with Murdock probably wouldn''t happen. He wouldn''t be bold enough to attack a group, even if they were exhausted after a mission.

    "All right then." Hughes sounded very relieved. "Just be careful and try not to bring any trouble to the guild."

    "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "Ah¡­you know, scandals and all that."

    "What kind of scandals?"

    Hughes wore an expression that seemed to say, just how innocent is this kid? He caught me glowering at him impatiently, and sighed.

    "No, nothing. I was thinking that you''ll be more suited for a particular party, given your age. You''ll probably get along with them more than the others."

    So Hughes already had a specific party in mind to recommend me to. That was kind of suspicious, given the timing and all that.

    "Okay¡­what kind of party are they?" I asked, pushing away my apprehension. If worst came to worst and they betrayed me, I could just kill them and have them for lunch, like I did with Murdock and my other enemies.

    "It''s a party called ''Pure Guardians.'' They''re a low-ranking group whose members are around 16 years old ¨C the same age as you, if I remember correctly."

    Just as Hughes was elaborating, the door creaked open and a couple of girls stepped into the guild house. Hughes looked up and smiled.

    "Ah, speak of the devil. They''re here."

    As I said, I found the timing super-suspicious. Did Hughes plan this all in advance? Holding back a sigh, I turned around.

    Oh?

    I recognized the first girl. She was the beautiful noble-like lady with a short, black skirt and a black cape, as well as long, flowing golden hair that I saw on my first day visiting the mercenary guild. Behind her was a second girl, equally beautiful, but her faint, violet hair was obscured by a darker purple hood that ran seamlessly into what seemed like a magician''s cloak, that was pinned to her chest by an arcane-looking jewel.

    "Uh, okay¡­"

    I didn''t know what to make of it, but Hughes just gestured for me to stay where I was.

    "I''ll introduce you to them later."

    Hughes waited for the third member of the party ¨C the handsome young man with blond hair and pristine silver armor that I saw on my first day as well ¨C to enter before he waved him over. I watched as the bald, dark-skinned receptionist spoke to the three-man party for a few minutes before he stepped away and handed the reins to the young man.

    "Over here! You''re the new party member that Hughes is introducing, right?"

    The young man waved to me affably, and I scurried over. Bowing my head politely, I expressed my gratitude.

    "Ah, that''s right. Thanks for having me. I look forward to working with you."

    "I''m Alan," the blond knight introduced himself with a smart posture. "As Hughes has already told you, I''m from Pure Guardians. The pleasure is all mine."

    "Hello, I''m Tanaka." I almost gave my full name, Tanaka Tomoyuki, but decided against it. If word got out that there was a "Tanaka Tomoyuki" going around having adventures in a party of mercenaries, I was sure it would draw the attention of my murderous former classmates. I wasn''t sure what they had against me exactly, but I knew they would try to track me down and kill me if they found out that I was still alive. Like Tsukishima Tomoyo, Minamoto Kureha, and Kijima Takeshi.

    Ah, damn it. I''m such an idiot.

    To my horror, I realized that I had registered myself as Tanaka Tomoyuki under the guild. That was such a stupid mistake. If the heroes conduct even the lightest of investigations, they would uncover my name easily and track me down to the mercenary guild. I should have used an alias, but it was too late.

    Unaware of my troubled thoughts, Alan excitedly shook my hand.

    "During our last mission, a member in the rearguard was hurt. We''re a man short, so it''s really great that we''re able to find someone like you to help us out!"

    "Ah, nah, I''m not sure if I''ll be able to do much¡­"

    As I brushed off Alan''s excited greeting and friendly handshake, a sharp voice cut into our male bonding.

    "Hey."

    Folding her arms, the girl named Alicia was glaring at me sourly and keeping her distance. The hooded magician girl beside her was also warily watching me and staying silent. I felt hostility radiating from the both of them.

    "Is this the guy?"

    Alicia evidently didn''t seem pleased that I was the recommended replacement for their injured member.

    Why do girls always seem to have something against me? I wondered, my shoulders sagging. I had thought it was only my female classmates, but even in another world, girls naturally gravitated toward hating me. I was beginning to think I was cursed. Then again, girls from other classes didn''t dislike me, and Miranda treated me quite decently. Even if I was a guest, she showed no signs of unease or hatred when talking to me.

    Maybe it was just my luck.

    Alan ignored his companions'' hostility and gently pushed them over. Alicia sent him a sharp glance, but he pointedly disregarded her and continued smiling at me.

    "Let me introduce them to you. They are Alicia and Sophia."

    Alicia stared at me coldly, not saying a single word. Sophia at least had the decency to bow her head politely but she also remained silent. I was relieved to see that Sophia wasn''t as hostile as Alicia, but the latter was blatantly glaring at me in a condescending manner. I suppressed a sigh and lowered my head, partly to greet them politely, and partly to avert my gaze. It had been a year of hell in my high school, but I still wasn''t used to such unreasonable hatred from girls. It was as if they seemed to naturally dismiss as creepy and disgusting.

    Was it my appearance? Some sort of aura I was emanating? My plain looks and glasses? My slouched posture?

    Noticing my gloominess, Alan quickly stepped forward and bowed his head.

    "I apologize for Alicia, she seems to be in a bad mood."

    "Ah, I don''t really mind." Desperate to change the subject, I glanced at the bulletin board to avoid noticing the hostile glare from Alicia. "So what are we doing?"

    "Our mission this time is the subjugation of orcs," Alan told me. Alicia blanched at that, looking even more disgusted than before.

    "Orcs?" she whined. "Uwa¡­.that''s the worst."

    What the hell was she, spoiled? If she couldn''t stand subjugating orcs, then why was she a mercenary?

    "Orcs¡­are they stronger than goblins?" I asked apprehensively. Given how I was almost killed by goblins on the second day of being a mercenary, I was understandably cautious. I wasn''t afraid ¨C if I needed to slay orcs, I would gladly do so ¨C but even with my Redwood Robe, I didn''t want to get caught by surprise again.

    "Ah, yes. They are, but don''t worry. They''re still enemies that we can handle easily enough. We''ll make sure to keep you safe. All you need to do is stay at the back and heal us."

    "No, that''s not what I mean¡­"

    I was about to explain, but then I gave up. Alicia was now glowering at me, revolted by what she perceived to be cowardice. There was a difference between caution and cowardice ¨C underestimating the enemy would get one killed. But I felt like she would refuse to listen to any explanation I might have, so I said nothing.

    She 100% hates me. Ugh.

    I didn''t care if she was a beautiful bishoujo or a noble lady, it was not a pleasant sensation and I wasn''t masochistic enough to enjoy being hated by others, especially girls. Chewing on my lip, I pulled together the tatters of my pride and forced a smile.

    "I understand. Please look after me. And don''t hesitate to use me in frontline duties if you have to. I can do more than healing."

    "Ah, no¡­the healer is like the most important member of the group. It''ll be a disaster if you get hurt and taken out early."

    "Don''t worry, I won''t die that easily."

    I was telling the truth, but Alan didn''t know that. He merely smiled and waved his hands frantically as I bowed politely, evidently relieved that I was still willing to work with them despite Alicia''s atrocious attitude.

    "Sure, I believe you. And thank you! The pleasure''s all mine."

    With the formalities done, Alan straightened up and turned away, his bright smile still plastered across his ikemen face.

    "Now then, let''s head toward the designated village."

    "Ah, yes." I paused and stared at him. "Wait, designated village?"

    "Oh, right." Alan nodded. "The request comes from Mura Village. They''ve sighed a horde of orcs approaching their two, probably remnants of the demon army that the heroes defeated last week. Ever since the heroes slew the Demon Lord, the demons have fallen into a disarray and surviving bands have been roaming about, attacking villages and towns in the outskirts."

    "I see."

    Without a leader, the demonic forces had fallen into anarchy and were just desperately lashing out to survive on their own. At this rate, the demons were doomed.

    It wasn''t as if I was counting on the demons to help me in my revenge against the heroes, and it seemed less likely that I would be the next Demon Lord. Hell, even with Machiavellian Charisma, the goblins refused to obey me. Either my current level was not high enough or I wasn''t using the special skill correctly.

    For now, I''ll just live and hide among the humans.

    Following Alan and the girls, I saw that the handsome knight had hired the services of a carriage. The four of us climbed atop the wooden carriage, and once we were seated comfortably, the driver glanced back at us with a grin.

    "All ready?"

    "Yes, Mister." Alan flashed him a thumb''s up. "Let''s go."

    "Right-o!" the driver yanked on the reins of the horse and directed it to go. Before long, the carriage sped out of the city and toward the village.

    The girls pointedly ignored me as they conversed among each other, sometimes dragging Alan into the conversation. While Sophia didn''t seem to hate me that much, and true to form was quiet most of the time, Alicia almost strove to exclude me from the conversation. Actually, it wasn''t that bad. She just pretended that I didn''t exist.

    Left out of the conversation, despite Alan''s best attempts to politely pull me in, I decided to drift off and take a nap. I had no idea how far Mura Village was from the city, but from what Alan said, it was a few hours. So I seized the chance to take a nap.

    "We''re here!"

    I woke up when the carriage came to a stop, my body aching from lying against the hard wood. Unlike modern transports, the carriage didn''t have cushions or comfortable seating ¨C it was nothing but solid wood that resembled park benches than actual chairs.

    I wasn''t the only one who was aching. As we got off and pulled our luggage out of the carriage, Alicia was complaining.

    "Ah, I''m tired, and my butt hurts."

    "Don''t say that, Alicia," Alan reprimanded her gently. I silently agreed. If you were tired, why didn''t you sleep in the carriage like I did?

    That said, I was in no position to talk to them. The three of them were walking some distance ahead of me while I hung back, a solitary figure in the streets. Sighing, I glanced up and saw that it was evening. The journey had taken so long that the afternoon had flown by and the sun was already on the verge of dipping beneath the horizon.

    "So we''re going to locate the orcs and subjugate them tomorrow?" I asked loudly from the back. Alan turned back and nodded with a smile.

    "Yeah. We''ll start the mission proper tomorrow. For now, we''ll just check in as soon as possible and rest for tonight. Sounds good to you?"

    "Yes, please," Sophia said in a soft and dignified manner.

    "I second that!" Alicia added excitedly as she pushed Alan forward.

    "Sure," I mumbled, but I was under no illusions that my vote or opinion meant anything.

    The four of us dropped by the nearest inn, which was at the edge of the village. Alan and the girls headed to the counter and spoke to the innkeeper, who nodded and issued us two keys. Turning to me, Alan smiled reassuringly.

    "We''ll be taking two rooms, if you don''t mind. Of course the rooms will be split by gender, so you''ll be rooming with me."

    "I understand."

    Private rooms were more expensive, so we had agreed on this accommodation earlier. With that settled, I helped the girls carry their luggage upstairs to their room, and then hauled mine to the room I shared with Alan.

    Again, the girls'' attitudes were in stark contrast with each other. While Alicia blatantly ignored my existence, Sophia politely bowed to express her gratitude when I placed her luggage on her bed. She didn''t talk much, but at least she had manners.

    I returned her thanks with a nod, then proceeded to follow Alan out of the girls'' room and toward ours with our luggage in tow.

    "What do you plan to do tonight?" Alan asked as I flopped down on the bed. I pushed my glasses up my nose as I stared at the ceiling, keenly aware that I had no need of such visual aid after my transformation into an undead but wanting to keep up appearances.

    "Hmm, maybe I''ll go look around town or something. Do you guys want some food?"

    "Nah, I''m not hungry. I''ll go hang out with the girls or something."

    "Sure." I got up from the bed. "Let me know if you need anything."

    "Have fun!"

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    Alan waved as I left the room. I smiled before I shut the door and proceeded down the rickety stairs.

    Hang out with the girls? Yeah, right.

    Unfortunately for them, I knew exactly what they were going to do. I had read Tanaka the Wizard, after all. I was well aware that they were going to have a threesome in the girls'' room, and I didn''t want to be a fourth wheel and listen to all the moans and groans.

    So instead I headed straight to the tavern after leaving the girls. Unfortunately, the inn didn''t have a tavern, so I was forced to make a detour and explore the town instead.

    Where should I go?

    I sure as hell wasn''t going back to the inn. I didn''t want to stumble upon the three of them fucking each others'' brains out like a certain ossan. Nope, I had better things to do. Plus I would get reported for plagiarism because people hated parodies for some reason.

    "Um, where''s the nearest tavern?" I asked the innkeeper the moment I returned to the first floor. The innkeeper barely looked up as he mumbled a reply and vaguely pointed out of the door. I rolled my eyes, knowing that his directions were useless, but still thanked him and departed.

    "What should I do now?"

    There was the option of exploring the town. So I took that option and wandered around the streets, trying to satisfy my curiosity.

    Mura Village was bustling with activity, and it was nearly sundown, so all the farmers and laborers were returning home. I smiled as I watched the children spill out of their houses to welcome their parents. It was such a moving scene.

    It reminded me of my own family. I wondered how they were doing now. My parents must be worried, especially after I had disappeared for so long. Though I didn''t know how temporality worked in Restia, and through the transportation spells, it was possible that six months had passed in my previous world. It was also possible that no time had passed at all, and if I tried to return there, I would find myself back in the classroom one second after everyone was summoned to Restia. Yet it was entirely possible that I would myself transported to an Earth a few hundred years in the future.

    The ways of the Warp¡­uh¡­otherworldly travels worked in mysterious ways.

    Well, no point thinking about it. Whatever happens, happens. I''ll worry about it when the time comes. If it will ever come.

    There was also the scenario of me not being able to return to my original world. But I didn''t want to think too much about that.

    "Ha¡­"

    Getting overly depressed over such gloomy thoughts, I proceeded down the streets alone. In a small village like this, there was no brothel, and no hookers coming out to hook men. Which was a good thing because I wasn''t interested in such things. I was a romantic person and would prefer to do it with a girl I liked, not some random prostitute that I had to pay.

    Unfortunately, it''s clear that no girl in this universe will ever like me.

    I scowled when I remembered Alicia''s scorn. That bitch. She would regret ever treating me like this.

    While I was toying with the notion of playing a prank on her, I suddenly noticed a strange movement in the corner of the village.

    "That''s¡­?"

    Blinking, I rushed forward. There was a little green creature clawing at the fence of a house.

    "H¡­help!"

    The residents of the house seemed pretty terrified for some reason, despite the intruder being such a tiny, scrawny thing. I raised an eyebrow at them, but said nothing and proceeded toward the little green thing.

    It was a goblin.

    To be precise, it was actually a gretchin. Or a grot. You know, one of those tiny greenskins that accompanied the Orks, looting and searching for opportunities to get rich while simultaneously trying not to get killed by their bigger cousins.

    "Hey!" I called out to it.

    The gretchin growled and then twisted around to lunge at me. I sighed and shook my head, raised my hand and punched the poor thing through its gut.

    Let''s be honest. With my Redwood jacket, the damned thing wouldn''t be able to scratch me anyway. Plus it was what, Strength 2? It would need to roll a 5 to wound me. And that was assuming it would even land a hit, given its poor WS.

    Unfortunately, reality wasn''t dependent on dice rolls and the gretchin would have hit me anyway. So I killed it before it could even touch me. It was so weak that my fist could easily punch a hole through its body. It was practically like swatting a fly.

    I almost felt sorry for the poor gretchin. Almost.

    "It''s okay now!" I called out to the frightened farmer, who was still holding a rake and guarding his family despite being terrified. He stared at me, his mouth wide.

    "You¡­you''re a soldier? A mercenary?"

    "Yeah."

    I nodded and showed my ID. The farmer gaped at me for a moment, then noticed the staff I had slung on my back.

    "A wizard?"

    Why the fuck did everyone insist on calling me a wizard? Just because I am Tanaka, doesn''t mean I am a bloody wizard! Do I look like a forty-year-old ossan to you?!

    Despite the irritation building up inside me, I took a deep breath and calmed down before nodding vaguely.

    "If you want to believe that."

    "Thank Evelyn!" the farmer sank to his knees. "I¡­"

    Whatever he was about to say was cut off by heavy grunting. To the left, at the remote corner of a garden, I saw a massive brute charging its way through. It wielded a choppa, hacking and slashing through the filmsy fence.

    "Aieeeeeeeeeee!"

    The farmer''s wife screamed. The farmer himself stood up and raised his rake, perspiring profusely in fear but nonetheless resolute in defending his family to the death.

    "I''ve got it."

    I raised my hand and approached the brute. As I drew near, I saw that it was one hell of an ugly monster, with green skin, tusks and filmsy armor that exposed broad muscles and tough skin. This monstrosity looked tougher than the gretchin I just killed.

    Noticing that I was there, the Orc lifted its head and leered at me.

    "Puny hummie," it growled. I grinned back and imitated an Orc as best as I could.

    "Waaagh!"

    The Orc was stunned, and then it grinned back.

    "Waaagh!"

    "Waaagh!"

    "Waaagh!"

    The farmer and his family watched, bemused by the sudden of events as the Orc and I took turns yelling at each other.

    "Uh¡­what are you doing?"

    "Trying to be a warboss," I replied. When it heard that, the Orc scoffed.

    "Puny hummie wants to be a warboss? Hah! I is gonna bash your head in and wear it like trophy! Weak hummie! All hummies will die!"

    While it ranted, I blasted its head off with Doombolt. The headless Orc slumped down, blood bursting out of its neck like a geyser.

    "E¡­eh?"

    The farmer and his family were staring at me, half in amazement and half in shock. I shrugged flippantly.

    "He didn''t want me as his warboss, so I offed him. Best way to prove my mettle as a warboss is through strength."

    "Couldn''t you have done that from the start?!" the farmer''s wife wailed. I glared at her and she went still.

    "I''m a mercenary. I don''t work for free."

    "Uh¡­so why were you yelling ''Waaagh'' at it?" the farmer''s eight-year-old daughter asked nervously. I smiled at her, and she relaxed with a giggle.

    "I told you¡­I was trying to be its warboss. If I succeeded, I can get a bunch of looted weapons, shootas, Battlewagons and Trukks. Maybe a Deff Dread or even a Morkanaut, if I''m lucky. Nah, maybe a Gorkanaut would be better¡­I doubt they''re able to build Stompas or Gargants yet¡­"

    Though I said that, the real reason was for me to test my Machiavellian Charisma. I wanted to see if I was finally able to talk demons into following me or conscript them under my leadership. As it turned out, I failed badly.

    Machiavellian Charismas still wasn''t working.

    "Oh well¡­at least I tried. This sucks. I knew expecting a Stompa or a Gorkanaut would be unrealistic, but I was hoping to get a looted Battlewagon at least¡­"

    "What the heck are you talking about?!" the wife demanded. I shook my head.

    "Sorry. Anyway, to prevent future Orc infestations, can you please kindly burn the bodies?"

    "S¡­sure," the farmer stammered. I smiled and bowed gratefully.

    "Oh, and one last thing¡­where''s the tavern in this village?"

 24 Chapter 24: The orc arc

    Obviously, I didn''t go to a tavern to drink and drown my sorrows. I was under the legal age for drinking anyway¡­or I would have been in Japan, but that didn''t mean I was going to start drinking in Restia because of different laws.

    Alcohol just didn''t appeal to me.

    "Is there a library?" I asked one of the villagers, who stared at me strangely and shook his head. Evidently the mass printing industry hadn''t taken off yet and most of the citizens were illiterate. There wouldn''t be a point in establishing a library in a small village like this.

    It was a pity. Reading was my only source of entertainment. With nothing else to do, I headed to a tavern and ordered some meat. While dining, I began conjuring my blue holographic screen and reading the eBooks stored inside my Library of Eden.

    Oh, wow. So I can do something like this too.

    Since we were subjugating orcs the next day, I decided to read up on orcs. Even though I had just slain one, I thought I would read up on them. Selecting the encyclopedia on demon and monster species, I scanned the contents page for the relevant topic and tapped on the orc tab, which immediately brought me to the appropriate page.

    EBooks were so convenient.

    "Yvonne-chan! Over here!"

    Hmm?

    I glanced up as one of the customers called out to the waitress. Unlike Miranda from the Blue Moon Inn, Yvonne was a brunette with shoulder-length hair. She wasn''t dressed in a maid uniform, but the tight outfit clung to her feminine curves and emphasized her assets, and her short skirt revealed a lot of thigh.

    "Sure!"

    "Another cup over here!"

    "Right away!"

    She was busily running up and down, serving customers to the best of her ability. But never once did she lose that bright smile.

    Wow, I''m impressed by her professionalism.

    She couldn''t be much older than me, but she was a lot more mature. She certainly was more matured than the 16-year-old teenagers in my party, even the usually composed and polite Alan. There was a lot Alicia could learn from her.

    I decided not to disturb her. If possible, I wanted to make her job as easy as possible, so I sat in my own corner, poked my meat and engrossed myself in reading my eBook. Orcs were basically like hobgoblins in terms of size and strength, but in much greater numbers. They might lack the cunning of goblin shamans and chieftains, but they possessed tremendous strength and great skill with weapons. They usually wielded melee weapons such as clubs, broadswords and axes while outfitted with heavy armor that made them impervious to blade and arrow.

    Fortunately, I didn''t use such physical weapons. It appeared that they were vulnerable to magic, so my best bet of defeating them was my destructive spells.

    Even though Alicia was dressed in a noble-looking dress that seemed more like a uniform from an academy, from what I gathered, she was a knight like Alan. Alan might seem strong, but Alicia probably wouldn''t have the sheer power to punch through the orcs'' armor. Probably she relied on speed and dexterity, in which case she could pinpoint the vulnerable spots with precision and deal fatal wounds. But at this point this was all speculation.

    Well, I''ll get to see her fight tomorrow, I guess.

    It was too bad the Orcs here didn''t have shootas. The one I met had a choppa, but that was it. So no looted Battlewagons, Trukks or any of those things they would have if they were Orcs in space.

    How disappointing.

    I popped another slab of meat into my mouth and washed it down with fruit juice. Flipping the page, I was disappointed to see that the entry on orcs was over. Maybe I should switch to a novel or historical records of warfare against orcs¡­

    Before I could find the relevant books, someone came crashing into the tavern, screaming.

    "Th¡­there''s trouble!"

    Slamming the door open, he staggered into the tavern, blood flowing down his destroyed arm. His face was as pale as a ghost and he was shivering violently, probably from shock. He was on the verge of collapse, which wasn''t surprising, given the amount of blood he had lost.

    "It''s the orcs! There are a lot of orcs!"

    He fell, but I caught him before he hit the ground. With a wave of my hand, I casted Regeneration on him, and his mangled arm was restored.

    "What¡­?"

    The man stared at me blankly, his jaw dropping.

    "What did you do?"

    "Healing spell," I replied, but my voice was drowned out by panicked screams. The customers in the tavern were yelling and screaming in panic.

    "Kyaaa!"

    "What do you mean a lot?"

    "We''ve to get away from here!"

    "Hurry up and run!"

    "Hide all the girls! Don''t let them find the girls!"

    I glanced outside the window and caught sight of massive, lumbering shapes whose silhouettes were barely outlined in the night. Fortunately, thanks to me being an undead, I could see them clearly as if it was day.

    The orcs looked exactly like the picture as depicted in my monster encyclopedia. Humanoid boars that walked on two legs, they were over three meters tall, with dark brown skin and tusks sprouting from their lower jaw. Unlike goblins, whose noses were hooked, the orcs'' noses expanded into a boar-like snout, and their triangular ears were perched atop their bald heads, twitching as they listened to the cries of human victims.

    As I thought, they were heavily armed and dressed in armor that was half metal and half leather. They were smashing resisting men apart with clubs or cleaving village guards with broadswords while grabbing hold of whatever women in sight.

    Like the goblins, I doubted I could reason with them. I briefly wondered if I could get them under control with Machiavellian Charisma, but as usual I couldn''t count on that to produce any tangible results. In other words, I had no choice.

    "Yvonne-chan."

    I stood up from my table after swallowing the last of my steak, and walked toward the exit.

    "Eh? Um¡­" the waitress was flustered as she watched me leave the safety of the tavern for the dangerous outside. "Dear customer, the orcs are¡­"

    "I know. I''ll deal with them. For now, here''s my payment."

    "Eh?"

    I placed a single silver coin on the table. Even though most of my pay was input as credit in my guild card, I had drawn some money over the week for pocket change because there were many outlets and shops that didn''t accept payment by credit.

    "That''s a little too much¡­"

    The meat and fruit juice was only 15 bronze coins, but I paid a silver coin, which was equivalent to 100 bronze coins.

    "I don''t need the change, so you can just keep it. Consider it a tip."

    "O¡­okay."

    Perspiration dripped down Yvonne''s face as she watched me go, but she didn''t protest any further. She probably thought I was a suicidal idiot.

    In a way, she was probably right. I was stupid.

    Why the hell was I imitating a 40-year-old ossan from a light novel? Especially when his actions were so stupid¡­come to think of it, was he really a 40-year-old ossan? His actions and behavior seemed so juvenile. I mean, when a bloody teenager like me can pull this off so naturally, then why was a middle-aged man doing it? What was the point of making your protagonist 40 if he was going to behave like an impulsive, horny high school student?

    I kicked the door open and drew my staff before striding boldly into the open. Much to my dismay, most of the village was already in ruins, with the orcs going to town on the residents. Blood spurted to my right as a man fell, screaming.

    There were two orcs right in front of me. While the one on my right was slicing the poor male victim to bits, the one of my left had taken hold of a girl and ripped off her clothes, getting ready to **** her.

    Typical¡­same as goblins. The orcs killed the guys and raped the girls. I could see the female victim in front of me pleading and weeping.

    "W¡­what do we do?"

    There was a single villager who had followed me out of the tavern, clutching a spear nervously. He was useless in combat, clearly an amateur who had never fought before. The guy was shaking so badly that he was close to pissing himself.

    "You stay back."

    The two orcs had noticed me. Letting go of the girl and leaving the poor guy alone, they straightened and lunged forward.

    "Waaagh!" they shouted as they charged with their choppas. I sighed and shook my head.

    "It must be nice to be such idiots."

    Raising my staff, I unleashed a Doombolt that obliterated the both of them in a single go. Their smoking corpses dropped to the ground, almost like puppets with their strings cut. The armed villager beside me flinched.

    "What¡­how¡­?"

    "Help the wounded back into the tavern. I''ll take care of the rest."

    As I stepped past the weeping woman and the wounded man, I casted Regeneration on the latter. His eyes widened as his severed arm was reattached and his fatal injuries mended in less than a minute.

    "Whoa¡­how?!"

    "Healing spell. Now get into the tavern if you don''t want to get cut up again."

    The guy didn''t question the stroke of fortune and quickly scrambled into the tavern. The armed villager helped up the poor girl and escorted her back into the safety of the tavern. As they did so, I continued into the junction.

    An entire horde of orcs awaited, slaughtering, raping and looting. They noticed that two of their comrades had just been annihilated, and they turned toward me.

    "The first who strikes has the advantage."

    I let loose a couple more Doombolts to destroy at least five more before the rest of them closed in on me, enraged. There were so many of them that they formed an impenetrable ring around me, their broadswords, clubs and axes held in front of them. Bellowing in guttural voices, they charged forward, hoping to make use of their superior numbers to overwhelm me.

    Doombolt wouldn''t be practical here. At least not before they cut me up. Actually, I doubted they had the ability to cut me up, especially when I had my Redwood jacket on. There was no way their crude weapons could pierce the multiple protective defensive layers that my Redwood jacket projected around my body.

    That didn''t mean I was going to stand around and let them hack at me.

    "Corrupting Darkness."

    I slammed my staff against the ground and unleashed a colossal tide of miasma from the center, which spread rapidly and engulfed the attacking orcs. The boar-like beasts howled in agony as their skin blackened and they crashed onto the ground, rolling about. The nearest orcs died immediately, turning into desiccated corpses as the foul magic depleted their life forces, but the remaining creatures were tenacious enough to survive.

    Growling in vengeful fury, they picked themselves up and resumed their charge, hoping to kill me before I could launch another devastating attack.

    Corrupting Darkness was a great area of effect attack that could hit multiple targets at once, and was great for anti-horde tactics, but it lacked the power and strength of Doombolt. Consequently, a single blast of Corrupting Darkness wouldn''t be able to clear out the entire pack of orcs. Having fought the goblins the other day, I understood this very well.

    That said, it wasn''t the only trick in my arsenal.

    "Reanimate."

    The dead orcs rose jerkily to their feet. Whether they had been split apart by my Doombolt or corrupted by my Corrupting Darkness, it didn''t matter. They were all equal before my necromantic spell, conscripted into serving me as undead warriors.

    The living orcs spun around, horrified by the sudden onslaught from their once-living comrades. They felled a lot of the undead, but the zombie orcs felt no pain and continued to stubbornly claw at the living, biting, scratching, slashing or attacking in whatever manner that suited them the most. Most of the orcs fell before the relentless tide of the dead, which only grew bigger after every skirmish.

    The zombies weren''t immortal, though. Many of them succumbed to their living brethren, who loped heads off rotting necks, or disarmed them by amputating their limbs. Despite their best efforts, the dwindling number of orcs found themselves vulnerable to my snipes as I picked them off with well-aimed Doombolts.

    At the same time, while my zombies were keeping the enemy orcs busy, I casted Regeneration on the wounded villagers, healed them and sent them running to safety. It didn''t matter how badly they were hurt, or if they were on the verge of death. As long as they were still alive, I could restore them to full health. I could do nothing about the dead, or psychological trauma (particularly the **** victims) but I was going to save as many people as I could.

    "Go! Run!" I snapped at the male victims, who were staring at their restored bodies, amazed that they were brought back from the brink of death. "Hide first, ask questions later! You don''t want to get cut up again, do you?"

    That was persuasive enough to get them to listen to me. Rising to their feet, they scrambled into safe refuge while the battle between the dead and the living raged on.

    Within a few minutes, the village was left with nothing but a zombie horde. Many of them had fallen, but it a still a healthy number¡­about six or seven.

    Compare that to zero living orcs.

    "Hmph. Small fries."

    I was the guy who killed two heroes and devoured the Demon Lord. There was no way mundane orcs could pose a threat to me¡­at least that was what I wanted to say, but I wasn''t stupid enough to underestimate my enemies like I did with the goblins. The moment I became complacent was the moment my foes took advantage and kill me.

    "Ah¡­"

    I turned around and caught sight of a couple of armored mercenaries who were staring at something enormous. A gigantic foot crunched against the gravel stone of the village, almost causing a tremor.

    "It''s the high orc!"

    The male mercenary shouted in fear as he looked upward. Unlike the normal orcs that reached a maximum height of three or four meters, this orc towered over ten meters, dwarfing even the buildings and houses in the village.

    The two mercenaries staggered backward, reeling from the horrifying sight. I glanced up calmly, recalling the information that I had read from my encyclopedia.

    High orc¡­so the leader of the orcs, basically¡­only that it was over twice the size of a normal orc and ten times more powerful. Just one of them could level an entire village by himself. They were basically on par with giants.

    "Why is he here?"

    "Hurry up and run away! You need to escape too!"

    The two mercenaries fled before the terrifying visage of the gigantic high orc, sprinting past me. I ignored them and stood my ground, glaring defiantly at the high orc.

    "So¡­if this is a game, he''s the equivalent of a boss monster, correct?"

    Licking my lips, I gripped my staff tightly and prepared to cast a spell. It didn''t matter if it was a high orc or a boss monster. They were all the same to me. I was a hero-killer, the ultimate antihero. If I couldn''t slay a high orc, how could I ever achieve my goal of vengeance?

    "Tanaka-san!"

    As I exhaled and got ready to finish channeling my magical energy, a familiar voice called out to me. Turning around, I caught sight of the flustered trio rushing out of the inn. They were all fully dressed. Allen and Alicia were clad in the pristine, silver armor of knights while Sophia had her magician cloak on. The two girls had drawn their weapons, but Alan''s broadsword was still sheathed on his back. The guy was so panicky that he had forgotten about his sword.

    "Sorry for the wait! I heard that there were orcs¡­"

    The three of them paused when they saw the carnage and the seven orc zombies, their expressions turning into absolute shock.

    "What¡­?!"

    I didn''t blame him. He must be completely terrified, particularly at the sight of the high orc.

    However, I didn''t know why they bothered to come. They were completely useless.

    My seven orc zombies launched themselves at the high orc, who didn''t hesitate to crush his former comrades. The first one was squashed to a pulp underfoot, while the next two were cleaved apart by his gigantic broadsword. Snarling, the high orc swatted a fourth zombie away, sending the undead orc flying into the wall of a nearby building. So tremendous was the force that the zombie went splat and burst like a ripe fruit against the brick wall.

    In the space of ten seconds, more than half of my zombie squad had been obliterated.

    "Come on," I muttered. The remaining three zombies, deprived of their free will and fear, continued to claw away at the high orc, but he smashed one of them against the ground with a hand, turning it into bloody paste. He kicked the sixth one, sending it flying sky high, its body folded unnaturally. Needless to say, it was broken beyond repair, disappearing over a couple of buildings. The final one was diced into pieces by the sheer weight of his broadsword.

    "That''s not good."

    It looked like I had no zombies left. Maybe I should have used Thousand Astral Graves, after all. Enhanced zombies would have stood a much better chance against an enemy of this magnitude. It didn''t matter. Even without my zombies, I was still confident of defeating that big, ugly brute.

    If worst comes to worst, I can still use that.

    "Tanaka-san, what''s going on?"

    Before I could answer his question, the dark shadow of the high orc enveloped us in utter darkness, and the three of them gazed up in horror.

    "Eh? T¡­that''s a hi¡­high orc?"

    "Why is it in a place like this?" Alicia demanded, her voice quivering in fear. I shrugged and gave a speculative reply.

    "Must be one of the survivors from that last battle who fled after the Demon Lord was killed. I guess he and his war band was wandering around the area aimlessly."

    "No, that''s not what I meant¡­"

    "Anyway, that''s the last one left." I ignored Alicia. It was so good to return the favor. Childish, yes, but absolutely satisfying. "Let''s all try our best."

    "Are you an idiot? That monster is no longer on the level where we can beat it by trying our best!" Alicia snapped. Alan nodded in agreement.

    "If it''s just us, then it''s impossible. Normally, high orcs are high-level monsters that can only be defeated by several parties of at least mid-ranked mercenaries or warriors." He placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from advancing. "We need to call the knights!"

    "Then call the knights," I replied, my gaze falling upon a wounded couple who had failed to get away in time. The high orc was passing by them, but it suddenly stop to rest its gaze on the immobilized couple. "But there''s still people who are unable to escape. I''ll draw the high orc''s attention and buy them some time to get away."

    "Even so! We need to retreat!"

    "Uwaaaa!"

    The couple screamed as the high orc reached out to crush them into a bloody pulp with its gigantic broadsword.

    Before its massive weapon could reach them, however, several explosions buffeted its colossal body and sent it reeling backward.

    "Sophia!"

    Alan and I glanced back at Sophia, who had raised her staff and launch the devastating bombardment of fireballs. She was panting heavily from the exertion, her face red and perspiration dripping down.

    "Amazing! If it''s magic, then he''s weak against it¡­"

    Alan trailed off even as the smoke dissipated from the colossal high orc''s face. It gritted its teeth and roared. Other than its ugly face being singed, the high orc looked completely unscathed.

    "Eh¡­?"

    Alan and Alicia trembled when the high orc turned toward us. The two knights stood their ground firmly, but I could hear their teeth chattering and their armor jangling as they trembled in fear. Meanwhile, Sophia had sunk to her knees, completely exhausted from using that massive spell earlier. The three of them remained behind me, unsure whether to run away or put up a last-ditch fight. As for me, I already knew what I wanted to do.

    The high orc, sensing my intention, bellowed as it lumbered toward us. Raising its titanic broadsword, it slashed at us.

    "Uwaaaa!"

    Alicia screamed as she tried to shield Sophia with her body. Despite trembling in far, Alan firmly stood in front of the girls to protect them the best as he could. As for me, I stepped forward and parried the blow with my staff.

    The massive blade stopped as it clashed against my staff¡­no, it wasn''t just my staff. The broadsword failed to penetrate even one layer of the protective enchantment my Redwood Robe provided. And I had a dozen layers.

    "Is this some sort of a joke?" I murmured, staring at the dozens of invisible layers that shielded my body. The high orc''s arms trembled as it tried to force its broadsword down, and it finally broke through the first layer. However, the top layer regenerated and repaired itself near instantaneously, rendering its efforts wasted. Roaring in frustration, the high orc put all its weight into it, and the ground beneath my feet split from the pressure. Despite that. I felt absolutely nothing, the multiple barriers of my Redwood Robe holding up. The first layer broke a couple of times, but it regenerated almost immediately, much to the high orc''s infuriation. "Is this the best you can do, you giant oaf?"

    "Guoooh!"

    "Oh, shut the hell up."

    I was feeling bored. Time to end this.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang."

    The entire village was enveloped in an enormous crescent-shaped arc of black magical energy. The high orc bellowed thunderously as it was swept off its feet, disappearing in the overwhelming wave of destruction.

    The shadowy crescent surged all the way up and sliced into the heavens, breaking apart clouds and almost reaching the moon. The silvery rays of the moon then bathed the desolate ruins of the village, casting some sort of illumination on the aftermath.

    The high orc lay on its side, most of its body obliterated by that blow.

    "Hmph."

    I lowered my staff and shook my head while pushing my glasses up my nose with my other hand.

    "Wha¡­what are you¡­?"

    Alicia stammered as she stared at me in disbelief, still being shielded by a completely confused Alan, who was watching the entire scene, dumbstruck.

    What a useless bunch of mercenaries. In the end, if I wanted to get the job done, I had to do it myself. As I thought, I was better off being a solo mercenary.

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    "Hah¡­" I exhaled in relief. As much as I wanted to look cool, that last attack took a lot out of me. I was feeling exactly like Sophia right now, completely drained and exhausted. But I refused to turn back and reveal my true state, and instead remained standing. "Not a problem at all."

    "What¡­?"

    "I got high from blasting the high orc sky-high."

    Despite himself, Alan couldn''t help but burst out laughing.

    "You sure did, Tanaka-san," he chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. "You sure did."

 25 Chapter 25: Tanaka the Wizardâ€¦again

    I found myself back in our home city before I knew it.

    "Well then, Tanaka-san, thank you very much for working with us together this time."

    After alighting from the carriage, Alan bowed deeply. I tried not to sneer.

    "Working together? I did all the work. You guys did absolutely nothing at all."

    "Sorry," Alan apologized. The other two girls lowered their heads in shame. I suddenly felt as if I was being a little too harsh on them.

    "That said, I''m not sure if I should be receiving the entire reward for myself."

    "Yes," Alan assured me, waving his hands to dismiss my uneasiness. "This time, we mainly watched from the sidelines and did absolutely nothing."

    "No doubt because the three of you were too busily fucking around. Like, literally."

    Alan flushed in embarrassment, but he good-naturedly offered his hand. "All the villagers agreed to it as well. Since you''re the one who saved everybody''s lives, this is the least we can do to repay you. Truthfully, you were the one who did all the work."

    "I don''t need repayment¡­" I sighed as I accepted his handshake. As much as I felt guilty about accepting this, to be honest, I was in urgent need of cash. "But I understand. Then I''ll take you up on your offer."

    "That makes me even happier then."

    Wow, Alan was really a nice guy. I was so glad I could befriend him. He was definitely someone I could trust, someone who was unlikely to stab in the back and betray me, unlike my former classmates. I wished I had known someone like him back on Earth.

    I nodded and took a step back.

    "Then I''ll excuse myself for today."

    Before I could turn and leave, however, Alicia stepped forward.

    "Hey, you!" she snapped, folding her arms as she glared at me. "What was with that magic?"

    "¡­"

    I stared at her for a few moments. Was she talking about my necromancy? My zombies? Or the final Shadow Lunar Fang?

    "I''m a necromancer, if that''s what you''re asking."

    "Don''t mess with me!"

    For some reason, Alicia was furious. She glared at me before jabbing a finger frantically, jabbering away in rage.

    "The healing magic! The destruction magic! What''s with all of them? Their levels are all abnormal! Just what the hell is that magic?"

    "You don''t have to believe me if you don''t want to," I returned coldly, not wanting to put up with her bullshit.

    Alicia gritted her teeth, evidently refusing to believe me. Well, there was a stigma against necromancy, after all, and it was completely unheard of for someone to so casually declare himself a necromancer. Rather, no necromancer would be walking around in broad daylight and working as a mercenary like me.

    "Are you making fun of me?!" she shouted so loudly that even Sophia was taken aback. I took a step back in reflex and shook my head.

    "Yes, I am. That''s why I''m telling the truth."

    As much as I enjoyed teasing Alicia, I began to wonder if she was an idiot. They did see my zombie orcs, right? Why couldn''t they believe me? Granted, the zombie orcs got splattered and crushed before my previous party could see much of them, but even then what else did they thought I used? Mind control magic?

    "Alicia, stop."

    "A¡­Alan."

    Alicia realized that she was kicking up a huge fuss and regained her composure, her reddened face perspiring from the effort. She forced herself to calm down, her expression looking a little guilty when she realized she was out of line.

    "He has his own reasons," Alan told her. He stepped in closer to placate her. "It''s not good to carelessly intrude his privacy."

    "But¡­" Alicia turned to him, stubbornly refusing to move on. "But he won''t tell us anything!"

    Hey, I had no obligation to tell you anything.

    I so wanted to say that, but Alan seemed to have the matter well in hand, so I decided to leave it to him. There was little point offending the already annoyed Alicia, and if Alan could settle the whole thing amicably, then all the better.

    "Even so, there are things that even you wouldn''t want others to know, right?" Alan asked in a reasonable tone.

    "That¡­that''s¡­"

    Alicia fidgeted as her face turned even redder than before, and she nearly burst into tears, which caused Alan some consternation.

    "That might be true, but¡­"

    Alan turned to me hurriedly, trying to shield Alicia from the public eye. He quickly changed the topic. It was obvious he wanted me to leave.

    "Ta¡­Tanaka-san, sorry about this. Ah, about your reward, I''ve already spoken to Hughes about it, so please head to the guild house ahead of us and receive your credits there."

    "You certainly have it tough, having to deal with a bitch like that."

    "What did you say?!" Alicia screeched, but I had already quickly fled the scene before she could continue yelling at me. Hasta la vista, bitch.

    Poor Alan. He sent me an apologetic look as he held Alicia back, but I was fleet-footed. Even if he didn''t restrain Alicia, there was no way she could have caught up with me. She was utterly incompetent, weak and stupid.

    Alan had dropped me off a block away from the blue guild house, so it didn''t take me long before I found my way inside. As expected, Hughes was already waiting for me. When I entered, he waved for me to see him at the counter.

    "Give me your card and I''ll update your account," he told me. I obeyed and handed him my guild ID. Glancing at the register, my eyes grew wide when I saw how many gold coins were being transferred into my bank account.

    "Holy throne! The high orc is really worth something, eh?"

    "Well, yeah." Hughes grunted as he ran a check through the system to make sure he didn''t make any mistakes with the transfer. "Since it''s normally something that can only be defeated by a party. I doubt even a Bronze-ranked party can pull that off."

    "Bronze-ranked?" I blurted out. Even high-ranked mercenaries would have trouble with a buffoon like that? Just how low were the standards of mercenaries?

    "I still can''t believe you did it by yourself," Hughes growled as he folded his arms. "Well, it''s fine. 16 gold coins, transferred into your account."

    "Yes, thank you."

    I took my card back before staring at it. The numbers glowed on a holographic screen that beamed from the card''s arcane surface. 16 gold coins¡­I had never seen such a huge amount of money before.

    "Well done, I guess?" Hughes scratched his head. "I''ve upgraded you to Iron rank now. Actually, I would bump you up to Bronze or Silver if I could, but the system doesn''t allow it. Just keep plugging away and you''ll be Silver in no time at all."

    "Thank you." I noted the new rank on my card. "But that was just a fluke."

    "Ha ha ha, a fluke only happens once. That time with the goblins, and now you took out a high orc on your own? That can''t be a fluke. You''ve done it too many times for it to be good luck. I saw the report from Alan. You were a monster."

    "He''s just exaggerating."

    Hughes snorted, evidently thinking I was being modest. But I knew I had been incredibly lucky.

    "One last thing," Hughes called out before I could leave. I turned to him, and he nodded solemnly. "Be careful, though. Don''t get robbed. That said¡­that''s the good thing about guild IDs. The money is all in the system, so you won''t get robbed unless you stupidly decide to draw all the coins and carry them around with you. And since the ID cards are magically hardwired into your biological system, other people can''t use them. So you''re actually safe."

    In other words, I didn''t have to worry about getting robbed unless I drew my money as cash. Hooray for cashless system.

    "Okay. I''ll keep them in my account."

    I saluted the guild receptionist, then spun away sharply to head for the Blue Moon Inn. As I made my way to the inn, I did a mental calculation of the money I had just gotten my hands on. If I remembered correctly, 1 bronze coin was equivalent to 100 yen, 1 silver coin was equivalent to 10,000 yen, and 1 gold coin was equivalent to 1,000,000 yen. So 16 gold coins were essentially 16 million yen.

    Holy Terra! 16 million yen?! Wasn''t that a hell lot of money, especially when I considered that I had only been here for about two weeks at the longest?

    No wonder everyone wants to be mercenaries. It''s such a lucrative job.

    That said, it was insanely dangerous too. If I hadn''t shown up and kicked the high orc''s ass, it was likely that every single mercenary, along with the entire village, would have been raped and massacred in a single night.

    With so much money, should I go buy a house?

    As much as I would love to do so, I had reservations regarding that. For one thing, I didn''t intend to stay in this city for long. There was no point having a permanent lodging when I would eventually end up on the run once my former classmates discovered that I was alive. I needed to be nomadic, flexible and mobile.

    That means a caravan¡­right?

    I scratched my head as I considered that possibility. A caravan was certainly a lot more mobile and would suit my needs¡­but there was the problem regarding the lack of a bathroom. Plus the technology in this medieval fantasy world was not exactly confidence-inducing. I was probably better off moving from inn to inn.

    "Miranda-chan!"

    I put on my best smile as I burst into the Blue Moon Inn, half-expecting to see my favorite waitress in her maid uniform. As I thought, she was serving customers again, ferrying jugs of ale from the counter to the table.

    "Oh? Welcome, dear customer."

    That same friendly smile again, but I saw in her eyes that she didn''t recognize me. It was only natural. I was but one faceless face among the countless customers that streamed into the inn everyday. Why would she remember an insignificant customer like me?

    "I''m here to book a room."

    "Ah, sure." Miranda flashed me a dazzling smile. "Please proceed to the counter and my boss will deal with you shortly."

    "Thank you."

    Ah, a pity that I wouldn''t get direct treatment from Miranda, but at least I got to see her. I made my way to the counter where the innkeeper was drying a bunch of mugs. He glanced up, and like Miranda, didn''t recognize me.

    "How can I help you?"

    "I would like a room."

    I handed him my ID for payment up front, and his reaction when he saw that I was an Iron rank differed greatly from when I was a Porcelain rank.

    "What sort of room would you like?"

    Not exactly the most courteous tone ¨C I wasn''t a Chrome rank, after all ¨C but certainly better than when I was a Porcelain. How attitudes quickly changed when money and status were involved. As a side note, Bronze rank and above most likely could afford houses of their own, and thus didn''t need to stay in inns unless they were traveling.

    "Just a normal one would do."

    I didn''t rent the cheapest room like I did for the past week, but I wasn''t going to squander my hard-earned gold coins on a luxurious room either. The innkeeper seemed to have expected my reply, because he smiled and immediately recommended a room for me. I had no idea what the difference was, but as long as I had a bed to sleep on, I couldn''t care less.

    Speaking of beds¡­

    I grimaced when I recalled overhearing the orgy party have a threesome that fateful night when the orcs attacked. It was a pity they didn''t invite me to join them, but now that I thought about it, it was a good thing. I would end up being humiliated when compared to Alan''s well-toned, muscular and well-endowed body.

    Besides, orgies weren''t my thing. I didn''t even like threesomes. I preferred having just one girl to myself, plain and simple.

    "Here''s the key to your room."

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    I snapped back to attention when the innkeeper''s voice broke into my erotic imagination, and nodded dumbly. The innkeeper deducted the appropriate fee, handed my ID back to me, and I went on my way.

    Well, I don''t have to worry about money for a while, I reckoned to myself as I plopped down on the bed and shut my eyes.

    16 gold coins. That would last me for a year if I didn''t spend my money crazily. As long as I was prudent and thrifty, I could live off that amount of savings for perhaps even longer than a year. And I wasn''t going to slack off on my mercenary job just because I had earned a fortune in my first two weeks. I took a job and I was going to responsibly work dutifully for as long as I could.

    It wasn''t just for the money. Higher ranks entailed more access to valuable resources such as libraries and education, and better weapons and equipment. I had heard rumors of a VIP underground market for Bronze ranked mercenaries and higher, who served as assassins or hitmen that charged exorbitant fees. However, they got the job done by whatever means necessary, and were usually well worth the price.

    If I can get access to that¡­Continental or whatever it''s called, then I can begin my plans to assassinate the heroes.

    I couldn''t wait to achieve that goal. For now, however, I had to occupy myself with the concerns of the present and slowly work my way up.

    *

    So what sort of job should I do today?

    Now that I had made quite the name for myself, I couldn''t go back to collecting herbs. With my new Iron rank, I had more jobs opened up to me, missions that required a bit more skill and effort. Mostly combat and subjugation ones.

    After breakfast, which was bacon and egg (as always, I was a carnivore), I headed to the guild house and went straight for the bulletin board where all the requests were pinned. As I did so, Hughes spotted me and called out.

    "Oi, Tanaka!"

    "Yes, sir?"

    I hurried over, wondering if he had some sort of special request. He looked pretty excited, grinning from ear to ear as he watched me jog over.

    "What''s up, boss?"

    "I''ve great news! The heroes would be visiting soon!"

    A chill went down my spine. The heroes, coming so soon? I wasn''t ready yet¡­at least not ready to face a whole group of them. If it was taking them out one by one, I could probably pull it off like I did with Tsukishima and Kijima, but if two or more arrived in a group, then I would be in huge trouble.

    I hid my unease and forced a smile.

    "That''s cool. When are they arriving?"

    "This afternoon, I believe. If you''re still around, make sure to look smart and sharp! We got to show the heroes just how high quality our mercenaries are!"

    "Yes, sir."

    Hughes evidently regarded me as one of his most promising mercenaries, a newbie star on the rise after my various exploits with the goblins and the high orc. I hated to disappoint him, but I didn''t want to be anywhere near the guild house when the heroes arrived.

    If they recognized me, I would be in huge trouble.

    "Sure, I''ll keep that in mind. But¡­what about the quests?"

    "Oh, working hard as usual, huh? Don''t worry. If you''re here when the heroes are here, then I''ll want you to look smart and fresh. If not, then do your thing." He slapped me on the back with a grin. "I''ll be expecting great things from you again."

    "What would you recommend?"

    "Hmm? Whatever''s appropriate for your rank, I guess? Though, knowing you, you''ll end up taking a quest that''s way over your head, and accomplishing it."

    "Yeah¡­maybe I should take a trip all the way out in the wilderness¡­"

    I was dropping some hint, slowly guiding Hughes toward recommending me a mission that would take me as far away from the city as possible, which also meant I would be spending quite an inordinate amount of time outside.

    Perfect for avoiding the heroes.

    "Ah, there''s a manticore in Millennial Town, about a hundred and twenty kilometers southwest of here."

    A manticore¡­I had heard of that terrifying monster before. Perfect.

    "Normally, I wouldn''t recommend that job to an Iron ranked mercenary, but you''re known to punch above your weight. Besides, none of the mercenaries are available for that job right now¡­probably because Millennial Town is too far away."

    "I don''t mind making the trip."

    Hughes laughed. "I knew you''ll say that."

    I took the request from the counter and studied the details for a few moments before nodding.

    "All right, I''ll get right to it. I''ll see you when I''m done."

    "Yeah. Good luck. And try not to get yourself killed!"

    "You should be more worried about the manticore."

    Hughes guffawed. "That''s true."

    With the request in hand, I proceeded out of the guild house and looked to borrow a horse or carriage. There was no way I could make the journey on foot, and there were no trains or buses in this medieval fantasy world. So a horse was the next best thing.

    As I looked for a stable, however, I saw a commotion. Apparently, there was a huge column of soldiers speeding along the roads in the city. A crowd had gathered, the city folk whispering excitedly as they watched the entourage.

    "The heroes!"

    "The heroes are here!"

    "Awesome!"

    God-Emperor of Man! I didn''t expect the heroes to be here so soon. I gritted my teeth and glanced around for a place to hide. To better camouflage myself, I blended in with the crowd and removed my glasses. It was a long shot, but I hoped my classmates wouldn''t recognize me without my glasses. Even if they did, if I blended in with the crowd, I wouldn''t stand out without my glasses. They wouldn''t be looking at the horde of spectators to find me, and even if they did, they would be picking out people with glasses.

    Thanks to my zombification, I could see as clearly without my glasses. I just kept them because they felt part of me.

    "They''re here! The heroes!"

    I held my breath as my former classmates stampeded past on their horses. Leading the way was Minamoto Kureha, dressed in that beautiful red and white knight outfit and an elegant white sword sheathed at her side. Kobayashi Kenji followed closely, flanked by Yamada Yuji and a group of guys and girls.

    I studied them, trying to use Absolute Appraisal, but nothing came out. No personal information, no details, nothing.

    "¡­eh?"

    I blinked and rubbed my eyes, but nothing happened. As my classmates rode past me, I risked taking my glasses out and putting them on.

    Absolute Appraisal worked. Hoshizaki Kozue, the last person in the rearguard, had her personal information revealed before me, her stats and abilities reflected in the lenses of my glasses. The sudden influx of information caused me to suck in a deep breath in surprise.

    Name: Hoshizaki Kozue

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Stargazer/Hero

    Special Abilities: Shooting Star

    I finally understood. Like Machiavellian Charisma or Summon, which I had devoured from the Demon Lord and Kijima, most of my plundered special abilities were incomplete or immature. I could only use Absolute Appraisal when I was wearing my glasses.

    It was a good thing I didn''t throw them away, or I would have regretted it.

    Wow¡­I wonder why.

    I wasn''t surprised, though. Despite having Machiavellian Charisma, none of the monsters or demons listened to me. Despite having Summon, the only thing I could summon were weapons and not beasts or monsters.

    It was only natural that Absolute Appraisal required something like my glasses to be activated. I guess Devour wasn''t omnipotent.

    Either that, or I need to level up these special abilities from scratch.

    I made a mental note to test them out, especially Summon. If there was a way to strengthen them to the point where I could use their full potential, then I would take it. I needed to perfect Summon, especially, to complement my necromantic abilities.

    Giving my disappearing former classmates one last glance, I disappeared into the crowd and headed for the nearest stable to buy a horse.

    Now might not be the time¡­but I''ll definitely take my revenge on all of you.

    But to fulfil that vow, I had to first attain the resources and strength necessary to become the true antihero.

 26 Chapter 26: In hot pursui

    "Um, hello? Anyone here?"

    I poked my head warily into the stable, which was reputed to sell great horses, steeds and other rides. Having been recommended by the place by Hughes, I had no doubt it was a trustworthy place. At least until I actually stepped into it.

    Where''s everyone?

    I wondered briefly if they were perhaps out watching the parade of heroes. It was a good thing none of my former classmates sought to look for me in the crowd. It helped that I took off my glasses. Without that single visual aid that made me stand out otherwise, the heroes probably couldn''t tell me apart from the masses.

    That said, I preferred to be able to activate Absolute Appraisal if I needed to, so I had put on my glasses again. A quick appraisal of the stable told me that there were no staff present. I wasn''t going to ruin my reputation or record by stealing like a common criminal, so I sighed and left. Perhaps I should drop by again later, but I really wanted to leave the city as soon as possible. The longer I stuck around, the more likely I would run into my former classmates.

    Should I try another stable then?

    Pushing my glasses up my nose, I considered, but then decided against it. Hughes had recommended this place because it was the best. Given how I would spend at least the next week traveling over a hundred kilometers, I didn''t want to settle for an inferior steed. If I was going to spend money on a horse anyway, then I might as well buy a good one.

    It''s going to cost me quite a bit, though¡­

    I scratched my head as I glanced at the row of horses penned up inside the stable. Come to think of it, I had never ridden a horse before. Even if I bought one, there was no guarantee that I would be able to ride it. I lacked the training and experience.

    Ugh¡­don''t tell me I have to hire a carriage.

    That was the more expensive and impractical option. Not only would it cost several times more than a horse, I would have to find a driver willing to ferry me across such a far distance. Moreover, while I could probably afford it with the bunch of gold coins I had just earned, I didn''t want to squander my newfound wealth so flippantly.

    Well, I''ll just come back later.

    I gloomily left the stable and headed to the outskirts of the city, hoping to keep a low profile and stay out of view of the heroes for the day. Speaking of which, this was a great opportunity to test out my summoning, to see if it had leveled up over the past few days. I had defeated a high orc and his war band after all. Maybe that would have netted me enough experience points or the equivalent to level up my Summoning ability.

    Once I was deep inside the forest, I closed my eyes and raised my right hand. Concentrating, I tried to focus my magical energy and shape it into a creature.

    My eyes flew open when I heard the moan. Raising an eyebrow, I studied the zombie I had just summoned, testing out my Absolute Appraisal on it. Yeah, from its personal information, it was a "Summoned Familiar".

    Definitely a product of my summoning spell.

    "Oh! I succeeded!"

    I was trying to summon one of the lions that Kijima owned, but I failed. But I could settle for a zombie. Now that I thought about it, it made sense. I was a necromancer, after all. Of course I would only be able to summon zombies.

    Another restriction on the special abilities that I devoured?

    Obviously I couldn''t wield the full potential of the plundered special abilities like my victims. Originally, because I was using Absolute Appraisal so well, I didn''t think there were such limits. If I didn''t take off my glasses to blend into the crowd, I would never have guessed that my Absolute Appraisal had its restrictions as well.

    "So I can only summon weapons and zombies with Kijima''s Summoning, I can only use Tsukishima''s Absolute Appraisal with my glasses as a medium, and my Machiavellian Charisma still doesn''t work. If I''m not mistaken, the power of my Lord of Darkness special ability is actually a nerfed version of the one the Demon Lord originally has."

    If that was the case, I shuddered to imagine just how powerful the Demon Lord''s authentic Lunar Shadow Fang, Corrupting Darkness and Doombolt were. Well, it made sense that I wasn''t as powerful as him. Otherwise I would be going around and mopping the floor with the whole class instead of struggling against even just one of them.

    "But I need to summon something that I can ride¡­something that is able to carry me to Millennia Town."

    It was fine being able to summon zombies and all, but I couldn''t possibly ask a zombie to piggyback me across 120 kilometers. Furthermore, the damned things were slower than me. I would be faster if I moved on foot than if I hitched a ride on them.

    Well, if all I can summon are zombies, then maybe I can summon a zombie horse? A zombie dragon?

    Scratching my head, I took a deep breath and tested out my theory.

    "Neigh¡­"

    Success. I created a zombie horse.

    "Awesome!"

    I pumped my fist into the air excitedly. This was better than I thought. One of the problems that plagued me regarding buying a living horse was its living expenses. It wasn''t just a one-time payment. I had to continually feed it, buying hay, food and water, find a stable for it whenever I got into town or some alternative space, make sure it was in tiptop shape, etc. and all that costed a fortune. Well worth the money, admittedly, but still something I didn''t want to think about too much.

    A summoned beast didn''t pose the same issues. They didn''t need to eat or drink, and I could dismiss them to wherever I summoned them from whenever I was in town or a building. They would never fall sick, and if injured, most likely dismissing them and summoning them again would heal them completely.

    Plus they were free. They didn''t cost a single cent.

    "Hah! With this, I don''t have to buy a horse."

    I would still need reins and a saddle, but to my surprise, I found that I could summon them along with the undead horse.

    "Not bad¡­"

    I decided to try riding my summoned horse. Placing my foot on the stirrup, I swung my other leg up and over, and then adjusted my position on the saddle. Gripping the reins, I gently urged my horse into a trot.

    I didn''t even need to pull on the reins. With just a mental command, my undead horse moved according to my will. Trotting across the forest, it gradually sped up to a gallop and we burst free of the woods and stepped onto a road.

    "Hell, yeah!"

    I glanced at the staff that was slung behind my back. All I needed to do was modify Tsukishima''s staff into a lance and I would become an awesome Death Rider. With a few adjustments, I could tune my zombie horse up into a terrifying, enhanced steed that was near unkillable, then smash into my foes with a power lance or hunting lance. I remembered how there was an awesome corps of cavalry called Death Riders that hailed from the death planet Krieg.

    I probably needed a gas mask as well, but I doubted they had such things in this medieval fantasy world.

    "Oh, wait. I can summon an explosive hunting lance."

    That made sense, it also fit the Warhammer 40,000 lore where you could only use the hunting lance once, when you charged. A kamikaze attack where I slam the lance into the enemy, blow them up, and then summon another lance. Perfect.

    "Let''s go with that then."

    I stared at my horse, and then thought for a while before beaming.

    "As for you¡­I''ll call you Matsukaze."

    Matsukaze stared at me hollowly. His undead eyes were mere red flames that flickered inside otherwise empty sockets. But the message was clear. He would obey me and answer to the name I had just given him.

    I felt like a freaking samurai now. I actually felt like Maeda Toshimaru in particular.

    "Let''s go!"

    With a shout, I urged Matsukaze into a rapid gallop across the gravel road.

    *

    We hadn''t traveled very far when I realized I was being followed.

    "¡­eh? Who could it be?"

    Leaving Matsukaze to keep his eyes on the front, I glanced back and caught sight of a squad of knights pursuing me on horseback. One particular knight in front stood out, her long light brown hair gently flowing in the wind.

    "¡­that''s Minamoto Kureha!"

    I frowned. Wasn''t she heading the parade earlier? When did she¡­?

    "Tanaka Tomoyuki!"

    Kureha was shouting my name. I ignored her and turned my gaze back to the front. With a mental command, I urged Matsukaze to run faster.

    However, my summoned zombie horse, while possessing immense strength, was not as swift as my pursuers. I could see them slowly catching up with me. In my greed for power, I had opted for durability and aggression over speed, and now I was questioning my choice.

    Well, if it comes down to it, I''ll fight them. It seems like Minamoto is alone. The knights who are accompanying her seem to be normal humans from Restia.

    If that was the case, I didn''t have to worry too much.

    "Tanaka Tomoyuki!" Kureha shouted again, drawing her sword. "You are Tanaka Tomoyuki, aren''t you?"

    "No!" I shouted back. "I''m afraid you''ve gotten the wrong guy!"

    "Stop lying! You''re definitely Tanaka!"

    "¡­"

    If you weren''t going to believe me anyway, then why bother asking in the first place? Sometimes the sheer stupidity of my former classmates left me speechless.

    "Halt! That''s an order!"

    "Since when do I take orders from you?" I shot back. Kureha muttered something viciously under her breath, then snapped more clearly.

    "You''re just a pathetic loser who should just accept your fate as our punching bag and obediently die!"

    "Uh, Minamoto-sama?"

    The knights who were accompanying her were staring at her strangely. Realizing that she had voiced out her true intentions, Kureha cleared her throat and hurried corrected her words while her face was flushed crimson.

    "I mean, you''re under suspicions of murder! Stand down for investigation!"

    I brought Matsukaze around to face them, frowning. Suspicions of murder? Did my former classmates already figure out that I was the one who killed Tsukishima and Kijima? I thought they always believed me as weak, so it shouldn''t have occurred to them that I had the ability to kill not one, but two of their number.

    Interesting.

    "Murder of who?"

    "I''m under no obligation to tell you."

    I shook my head in disbelief. This was getting ridiculous.

    "You''re accusing me of something but you can''t tell me what you''re accusing me of? How is that fair?"

    "There''s no need to show fairness to a loser¡­criminal like you," Kureha sneered as she rode her horse forward, closing the distance. "Surrender now and we might spare your life. We''ll just be questioning you for a bit."

    Somehow I doubted it would go as simply as that, but I was always one to give people the benefit of the doubt. No, I was highly skeptical about Kureha''s promise, but I decided to play along for now. That didn''t mean I wasn''t expecting her to go back on her word and backstab me. I had been betrayed often enough that I no longer trusted anything my classmates said.

    But it''ll be fun to see what Minamoto attempts.

    I dropped off my horse and held up both my hands. Matsukaze snorted, almost as if voicing his disapproval, but he galloped off and disappeared. The knights didn''t seem to care about my horse ¨C along with Kureha, they kept their steely gazes riveted on me. To my not-horror, they weren''t slowing down at all.

    "Uh, what happened to questioning me?" I asked, but Kureha ignored me. Keeping her sword drawn, she pointed her blade at me.

    "Kill him!"

    "Eh?"

    "Minamoto-sama?"

    The knights stared at her in surprise but she scowled at them with a terrifying expression that caused them to turn pale under their armor.

    "I gave you an order. That man is an extremely dangerous criminal. We must not let him live at all costs."

    "Y¡­yes, ma''am!"

    The knights, along with Kureha, increased their pace. While Kureha got ready to slash me, the knights lowered their lances, as if getting ready to impale me. I could see that they weren''t expecting to deliver the killing blow. They believed that Kureha would be more than enough to kill me with her first strike.

    They were so wrong.

    I waited until the last moment before I moved. Bending my legs slightly, I propelled myself off the ground and jumped up high, twisting my body in midair to sail above Kureha. My former classmate gaped as her sword slashed through thin air, completely missing me. She spun around, quickly diverting the trajectory of her attack, but I was completely out of her reach. Her knights tried to pierce me with their lances, but the weight of their huge, clumsy weapons meant that they were too slow and cumbersome. By the time their lances struck the heavens, I was long gone.

    Landing behind the entire contingent, I flipped my body around as if to land on my legs. But I didn''t touch the ground. Instead, Matsukaze materialized under me, galloping at full speed. I landed atop my faithful steed and summoned my hunting lance. With a black power field crackling around the weapon, I lunged forward and lanced through the rearmost knight.

    "Ugh!"

    There was a huge explosion as my hunting lance exploded. But it had done its job, spearing through my victim and blowing him and his ride to smithereens. As blood splattered across his stunned comrades, I summoned two swords and slashed another two knights, sending them toppling from their mounts with shrieks.

    "You¡­!"

    Minamoto Kureha turned her horse around to face me, completely flabbergasted at how I turned the tables on her. She brutally charged her horse through the confused ranks of her subordinates, shoving them over and causing their horses to panic. Her Saint Sword shining in the air, she slashed at me.

    I crossed both swords and parried the blow, but Kureha''s sword was no ordinary weapon. It was a sacred blade forged in some legendary mountain or whatever, a sword designed for a hero ¨C if I believed the rumors in the books I read in the Library of Eden. Whatever the truth was, the sword was powerful enough to shatter my hastily summoned weapons.

    "¡­!"

    Fortunately, my block was more than enough to deflect her blade ever so slightly away from me. Kureha''s sword grazed my Redwood jacket, but the light touch did nothing more than scratch the first protective layer, which immediately regenerated.

    "Damn!"

    The momentum of her charge carried Kureha past me. She would have to circle around to charge at me again. As for me, I found myself surrounded by enemies ¨C which was a good thing, as far as I concerned.

    It meant I had a lot of targets to choose from.

    Summoning another hunting lance, I smashed another knight into oblivion. As he screamed before exploding, I had Matsukaze circle around to face Kureha. She too had turned her horse around to confront me, her face a mask of fury.

    "Tanaka¡­!"

    I briefly wondered why my former classmates hated me so. It was one thing to bully me, but they were really going over the top with this hatred and attempts to murder me. What did I ever do to them?

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    "Just fucking die already, you loser!"

    I summoned another sword to block Kureha''s next strike, but it was no less successful than my previous attempt to block. The blade broke again and the immense force behind her attack sent me tumbling off Matsukaze.

    "Ugh!"

    I managed to land on my feet, dropping to a crouch to lessen the impact on my knees. Glancing up, I saw Kureha circle around again, getting ready for a third charge.

    That horse was annoying as hell.

    "Thanks, Matsukaze, but you can stand down for now."

    I dismissed my concerned horse. From here on out, it was time to battle. I wasn''t trained in horseback warfare, so fighting like a cavalryman was a mistake to begin with. Kureha had far more experience and skill in that area. There was no way I could match her, not especially when I only had two weeks of combat experience and she had six and a half months.

    However, that didn''t mean I was out of options.

    As the remaining trio of knights and Kureha stampeded toward me, their weapons leveled lethally to take my head off or obliterate my body, I unslung the staff from my back. I might not be adept at jousting, but I was sure as hell confident in my magic.

    "Corrupting Darkness."

    Slamming my staff against the ground, I unleashed a wave of miasma that spread out and blasted the horses. Whinnying, the steeds fell, throwing their riders off their backs as they kicked and thrashed about wildly. Their brown skin blackened and they began rotting away, their lives slowly sapped away by the volatile curse.

    The knights were protected by their armor, which glowed brightly as the defensive runes carved into the pristine, silver surface dissipated most of my curse. But having already expected that, I was launching a Doombolt at them.

    Her reflexes as the Sword Saint being godly, Kureha dodged immediately, springing into the air, tucking her body into a ball and spinning to make herself as small a target as possible. Her comrades were not as lucky, however.

    The knight in the center cried out as he was struck, but his voice was abruptly cut off as the upper half of his body simply ceased to exist.

    The surviving knights stared at me in horror.

    "What the hell is he?"

    "I''ve never seen such magic before!"

    "No, wait¡­isn''t this demonic magic?"

    "Is he a demon?"

    Including the two knights who had charged along with Kureha, there were still about another five left. A full contingent of twelve, reduced to seven after I had killed almost half of them.

    But that wasn''t the worst thing.

    Their dead comrades, along with their fallen horses, were rising from the dead. Moaning, the zombie knights stumbled toward the remaining knights, reaching out with their weapons and rotting fingers.

    "Eek!"

    "What the hell?!"

    "Necromancy?! Is that guy a necromancer!?"

    The knights fell back, only to find themselves surrounded. The zombies ¨C both knights and horses ¨C lunged at them. Credit to the knights, they didn''t panic but rallied to form a circle of steel to resist against the horde of undead.

    "Don''t falter! Don''t panic! They might be zombies, but they still can be killed!"

    "As long as we stand together, we should be able to exterminate them!"

    "Yeah, we owe them that much!"

    Indeed, the knights would have survived against the zombies¡­if I wasn''t present.

    With their attention completely focused on the zombies, they didn''t realized that they were so tightly clustered together that a single Doombolt could obliterate them. I showed no mercy, unleashing the cruel spell and annihilating the last seven knights.

    Four of them died instantly, disintegrated from the sheer blast. The other three were alive for just a few seconds longer, enough to see whole segments of their bodies gone.

    "My¡­my arm¡­"

    "I can''t feel my legs! Where''s my legs?"

    "Aaaaah!"

    One of the knights was wailing, clawing at the dirt, his entire body from the waist down simply erased from existence. Another had lost his arm and sword, and could only stare dumbly as the zombies closed in on him. The last was screaming in pain at the massive hole in his torso, his liver, stomach and intestines completely gone.

    There was no need to bother with them. They were doomed. I could leave them to my zombies, and in fact, they would be joining my horde of undead shortly afterward.

    "You¡­you monster!"

    Kureha had managed to land safely, and she was watching the massacre in horror. I snorted when I saw that the irony was completely lost on her.

    "Look who''s talking."

    "Unforgivable¡­unforgivable!"

    With a swing of her sword, Kureha unleashed a holy blast from her sword. The divine assault harmless dissipated against the Dark Barrier I conjured with my staff. Noticing the weapon in my arm, Kureha narrowed her eyes for a few seconds before gasping.

    "Where did you get that staff?"

    "A staff member gave it to me."

    "Fuck you!" Kureha swore. "That''s Tomoyo-chan''s staff! What did you do to her?"

    I shrugged innocently. "Who said I did anything to her?"

    "You liar!" Kureha clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white¡­or at least I guessed they did, given that she was wearing gauntlets. "I see¡­no wonder Tomoyo-chan''s been missing for almost two weeks now. You killed her!"

    "Are you sure someone as pathetic and weak as me can kill Tsukishima?" I taunted. But Kureha was beyond reasoning. She was so incensed with rage that she was no longer paying attention to anything I said.

    "I''ll kill you! I''ll never forgive you for killing Tomoyo-chan!"

    Yet you guys were all right with trying to kill me. A bunch of hypocrites. Oh well, it just justified my revenge.

    Gripping the staff I stole from Tsukishima, I braced myself for a vicious onslaught from the girl known as the Sword Saint.

 27 Chapter 27: The Sword Sain

    I managed to parry the first few blows from Minamoto Kureha, but she delivered a vicious series of attacks that almost knocked my staff out of my hands. Dropping down, she sliced from below, presumably to get under my guard, but I succeeded in blocking her blade with the thick shaft. Undeterred, Kureha spun around with a slash at my neck, which I barely deflected in time by hastily pulling my staff back and blocking it.

    Twisting her body like a serpent, Kureha spun around and kicked my knee, almost bringing me down. I dropped to a kneeling position, but managed to raise my staff in time to block her next strike, which would have cleaved me from my shoulder if I didn''t react fast enough.

    My staff glowed as I prepared to unleash a Shadow Lunar Fang at pointblank range, but sensing the danger, Kureha leaped up and kicked me in the chest, catching me by surprise. I stumbled back and rolled, managing to shakily rise to my feet before parrying Kureha''s next blow. She twisted her blade and slashed again, forcing me on the back foot.

    Minamoto''s good, I thought grudgingly, impressed. She''s not giving me any time to cast any of my spells.

    Without my magic, I was inferior to Kureha in terms of melee combat, and she was capitalizing on her advantage. I felt myself being pressured, perspiration forming in my brow as I struggled to fend off blow after blow.

    Fortunately, my magic wasn''t the only trick I possessed.

    While Kureha was occupied with killing me, my zombies had circled around for an attack from the flank. Silently, stealthily, they swung their swords from behind, their dead bodies still retaining a measure of their martial skills from when they were alive.

    But their opponent was a hero.

    In a movement I thought impossible, Kureha spun around to parry their strikes in swift, precise movements. She kicked out at me before I could swing my staff, catching me off guard and sending me stumbling back, and then knocked away the zombie knights. Despite their heavy armor, her blade found gaps in their defense and carved through their rotting flesh and bones, causing them to stagger or retreat while moaning.

    They couldn''t feel pain, but the instinct that was hammered into them during training when they were alive stuck true and they fell back before Kureha could do any real damage. She made to pursue, but I was swinging my staff at her from the back. As usual, she responded with godlike reflexes, spinning around to knock my staff away and even had the luxury to retaliate with a counterattack. I twirled my staff, knocking her blade away from my heart, and took a step back.

    Kureha glared at me, revulsion clearly etched across her pretty face.

    "Desecrating the dead¡­that''s quite the foul magic you have."

    "You should have just let us kill you and stay dead!" she snapped.

    "Why?" I snorted. "Why do I have less a right to live than any of you? What''s the difference between you and me?"

    "You''re just Tanaka," Kureha sneered. "A pathetic, weakling loser. That''s how the world works. The strong eat the weak and live. The weak succumb to the strong and die. Know your place."

    "Somehow you have no idea what the concept of strength is, or you are so delusional that you refuse to acknowledge the possibility that I might be stronger than you." To emphasize my point, I slowly spun Tsukishima''s staff to taunt Kureha. "You can deny it all you want, but the results speak for themselves."

    Kureha shrieked in fury, realizing that I was indirectly admitting to having killed her best friend, and lunged forward in rage. Her blade disappeared into a silver blur, her movements far too fast for me to follow. Despite my best efforts, blocking with my staff, cuts and wounds ripped open in my hands, shoulders and body. I stumbled back, bleeding profusely from multiple cuts. They were mere flesh wounds, but at this rate I might bleed out.

    If I wasn''t an undead.

    "Huff¡­"

    I knocked away another powerful slash from Kureha before jumping back to place as much distance between us as possible. Panting, I watched my opponent from afar while using the opportunity to take a breather. Even though it was a short moment, my superficial injuries were rapidly healing, closing up and disappearing.

    "You¡­"

    Kureha''s eyes narrowed when she noticed my unnatural rate of regeneration. She instinctively understood that it was not a normal healing spell.

    "It matters not," she murmured, holding her sword parallel to the ground. "Heal yourself as much as you want. I''ll just make sure to deal so much damage that even your rate of regeneration can''t keep up with my attacks."

    I stepped back, and then braced for the next strike. However, Kureha literally disappeared from view. Blinking, I stumbled back and raised my staff instinctively, but a fountain of blood spurted from my body. Realizing that I had been viciously eviscerated, I fell to my knees. Another slash appeared, severing my arm from my shoulder and causing both the amputated limb and my staff to fall onto the ground helplessly.

    When did she¡­?

    I stumbled back and turned around, only to see that Kureha was now standing behind me, flicking the blood off her sword. She stupidly had her back to me, acting cool and all that. It would have been a fatal mistake, had I been in any position to do anything about it.

    As it was, she was easy prey for my zombies.

    Kureha narrowed her eyes as my zombie knights pounced on her from all directions. Raising her sword, she uttered a vow.

    "Don''t worry. I''ll make sure you all rest in peace."

    I almost couldn''t see her next movements. She sashed up so swiftly at the first one that he was in pieces before he could reach her. Before his many body parts even reached the ground, Kureha was already moving on to the next zombie, slicing through his armor and sending him spinning to the ground with a groan. She kicked a third one before taking his head off, then spun around to block the attacks from the fourth and fifth one. Her blade twisted slightly, and suddenly both assailants stumbled back, their arms detached from their shoulders.

    Amazing.

    Even though Kureha was an enemy, I couldn''t help but be impressed by her display. Knowing that I would lose more zombies if I pressed the attack, I called them off. Reacting to my mental command, the remaining seven jumped back, returning to where their horses were. Kureha frowned as she warily watched them retreat, but she made no move to pursue. Instead, she turned to glower at me.

    The supposedly fatal wound that she had dealt me was now closing up, the huge gash across my chest and stomach knitting and mending along with my internal organs. My right arm had reconnected to my stump by strands of blood, which was pulling the limb together and restoring it to its original condition, almost as if I never had my arm cut off in the first place.

    Kureha scowled.

    "You¡­what manner of monster are you?"

    "A different kind of monster from you, Kobayashi and the others," I replied. "A monster that doesn''t go around bullying and murdering someone just because you perceive him as weak and pathetic."

    "Shut up!"

    Unable to believe that she couldn''t defeat or kill me, Kureha lunged at me again. I fired off a Doombolt, but she gracefully twisted her body in midair and dodged it. Landing on her feet, she bounced off the ground to propel herself toward me again, her blade slashing at incredible speed. By now, I had slightly acclimatized to her godlike speed and was able to properly parry her strike this time. I dug my feet in as I struggled to endure Kureha''s strike, but even though she was a girl with a slightly smaller frame, she was physically stronger than me.

    "Whoa!"

    I found myself actually lifted off my feet. Making use of my momentum, I allowed myself to be hurled backward, widening the distance between us. Kureha, refusing to give me a moment''s rest, sprang at me once again.

    "Huff¡­!"

    I blocked her slash, but just barely. A cut opened up on my cheek and shoulder, but they quickly closed up a few seconds later. Kureha scowled at the sight and intensified her attacks. While she did so, the zombie horses that I reanimated charged from behind.

    "You¡­!"

    Kureha turned around and decapitated the first horse, sending its skeletal head flying. She jumped and sailed over the second horse, slashing its flank, but because it was an undead, a wound that would be mortal to a¡­well, mortal, was otherwise shrugged off. Feeling no pain or fear, three horses charged at her, neighing terrifyingly, but she cut them down in short order. Her sword flashing, she spun around to snarl at me.

    "I swear, I''ll destroy you and your foul magic! How dare you desecrate the dead?!"

    "Funny hearing that from a hypocritical bully like you." I shook my head in disgust. "You really should get off your uh, high horse."

    As I said that, one of the zombie horses sought to trample her, but without even looking back, her blade lashed out and sliced the undead beast into two.

    "Welp¡­" I muttered. "Seven zombie knights and seven undead horses left."

    Kureha wasn''t listening. She was lunging at me again, her sword turning into a brilliant, divine display of slashes. I managed to fend off the first four attacks, but her next three attacks gouged out huge chunks of flesh from my chest and body. Grunting in pain, I fell back, dodging under her sword, but she kicked me in the solar plexus and sent me flying through the air.

    "Gah!"

    I crashed onto the ground, sliding and leaving a broken trail in the soil. Heaving, I closed my eyes for a moment as I let my Regeneration kick in and heal my wounds. Kureha wasn''t patient or merciful enough to give me the opportunity, for she was closing in almost immediately.

    I flipped over whole skidding backward, throwing out one hand to grab the ground while raising my staff with the other. Kureha slashed forcefully, her blade clashing against mine. Sparks flew as metal screeched against metal, and I was forced to use two hands to endure her superior physical strength. Grunting, I twirled the staff to force her off, but Kureha managed to leave a deep scratch on me somehow.

    "Kuh¡­!"

    I stumbled back, clutching my wounded shoulder with my left hand. Blood dripped from beneath my fingers, but it closed up soon enough. Kureha scoffed when she saw that, and she wasted no time coming at me again.

    I stood my ground as she lunged, but this time, she switched her tactics. Her hand seemed to almost disappear as she delivered countless thrusts that moved at the speed of light. Try as I could to block the pinprick points, I was unable to avoid no less than a dozen stab wounds where her blade found openings with uncanny precision.

    "Argh!"

    Staggering backward, I swung my staff to knock her away, but Kureha casually deflected my heavier weapon before countering with a riposte that opened up a new wound. Huffing, I unleashed a Corrupting Darkness spell at close range by slamming my staff into the ground. Despite being buffeted by the encroaching miasma, Kureha didn''t seem affected at all.

    Her pristine, silver armor blazed, defensive runes gently glowing as they reacted against the dark curse. Never mind her unblemished snow-white skin ¨C there wasn''t even a smudge on the white and red dress and miniskirt she wore underneath her armor.

    "Your pathetic spells won''t work against me."

    With a sneer, Kureha slashed me. A blast of divine energy sent me tumbling away, smoldering. This time, I allowed the momentum to carry me away to a safe distance. Dropping to the ground, I rolled away before slowly rising to my feet.

    "Huff¡­"

    Breathing heavily, I glanced up at Kureha mercilessly closed in on me. Twirling my staff, I smacked her sword away before getting another slash across my chest. Blood dripped from my wounds as my breathing grew labored, and I allowed myself to be pushed back. Kureha launched another heavy swing that exploded with holy magic, and I allowed the blast to hurl me backward. My body singed, I flipped in midair to land on my feet.

    "Hah¡­"

    I exhaled. The old wounds were already closing up, leaving no trace of a scar. Kureha frowned, a hint of frustration creeping into her expression.

    "Just what is it with you? Even after sustaining an overwhelming number of wounds, your rate of Regeneration hasn''t slowed down one it."

    I was surprised at that too. In the past, after suffering so many injuries, there would be a noticeable drop in my Regeneration rate. But right now, the speed of healing hadn''t dropped at all, and I was still recovering as if I was at full energy.

    I see. Did my Regeneration special ability grow stronger? Level up after I experienced so many battles?

    Without actual stats and numbers, it was difficult to tell. But I could clearly see a huge difference between my Regeneration in the past and my Regeneration at present.

    Kureha stepped forward without waiting for my reply, and her sword flashed forward at the speed of light. Most likely she was planning on delivering the multiple thrusts again. As much as my Regeneration ability had strengthened, I wasn''t going to rely on it too much. My pool of magical energy was still limited, after all.

    Before Kureha could reach me, I launched a Doombolt. Without breaking a sweat, Kureha sliced the dark bolt of energy into two, causing my spell to dissipate harmlessly on either side of her. I wasn''t surprised, given the caliber of my opponent, so I was able to raise my staff and parry several of her strikes in time.

    Damn it, is there no way to defeat her?

    As I tried to follow Kureha''s speed and movements, I seized an opportunity to use Absolute Appraisal. Kureha''s personal information popped up on the lenses of my glasses and I gave it a quick glance to see what I could use.

    Name: Minamoto Kureha

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Sword Saint/Hero

    Special Ability: Sword Saint

    Nothing I didn''t already know. So her special ability was the same as her class or job, Sword Saint. I tapped the Sword Saint tab and watched it display even more details across my lenses.

    Sword Saint: Blessed by the Goddess Evelyn, the ultimate warrior in close combat endowed with peerless swordsmanship. Extreme mastery of the sword.

    Bonuses: Resistance to magical and physical attacks enhanced by 200%, Agility, Attack, Durability, Stamina, Speed and Strength enhanced by 200%. Spells: Divine Destruction, Saint Strike and Holy Holocaust.

    Yeah, I already knew that. I just wanted to know if she had any weaknesses. Given how she had a 200% resistance to magical and physical attacks, I could see none. Additionally, I was terrible in melee and physical strength, so my best bet was magic after all.

    Resistance is increased, but it''s not like she''s impervious or immune to damage. Minamoto is not invincible.

    Right. If she was, she could have defeated the Demon Lord. But even with Kobayashi and the rest of the class aiding her, she was unable to do so. Why was that?

    Moreover, if I was thinking about this in gaming terms, all I needed to do was slowly chip away at her health and stay alive until she reached 0 HP. It was going to be painful, tedious and take a very long time, but it was doable.

    Unless the rest of the heroes show up while we''re still fighting.

    "Where''s the others?" I asked, glancing around. Grinning in a mocking manner, I taunted her. "You don''t honestly think you can win by yourself, can you? Even Kobayashi needed his cronies to beat me up."

    Kureha''s expression turned sour.

    "I can beat you just fine by myself!"

    "Oh, come on. Even if it''s the truth, I won''t call you a coward or a bully if you call for help. Go on, call Kobayashi and the rest. I especially have a score to settle with Kobayashi anyway, so I don''t mind killing you all together."

    "There''s no need to trouble Kobayashi-kun with a loser like you," Kureha sneered. Her sword glowed and she blasted me at point blank range with her Saint Strike. The holy energy engulfed me and threw me off my feet.

    "You''re finished."

    Kureha raised her sword to deliver the finishing blow from a distance. Her blade pulsed with holy energy as she prepared to launch a massive Divine Destruction to raze the whole place to the ground. I managed to conjure a Dark Barrier just in time to endure the attack, which reduced the forest around me into a smoldering crater.

    "Wow¡­that was powerful," I remarked, looking at the surroundings with wide eyes. Kureha merely scowled and launched herself at me once again. This time, I was ready for her.

    Shadow Lunar Fang.

    Black mana swirled around my staff and I unleashed a crescent-shaped blast of destructive energy at close range to blow Kureha away.

    "Ugh!"

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    Kureha was too close to evade. She was forced to defend against the devastating spell head-on, using her sword to slice the powerful magic. Unlike the time with Doombolt, Shadow Lunar Fang did not simply get apart when she slashed at it. The destructive spell flared and billowed about her as she struggled to endure the blast, before detonating.

    "Aaaah!"

    Kureha''s shrieks were drowned out by the explosion. I huffed as I took the opportunity to recover, watching as the black inferno raged around my target. Breathing a sigh of relief, I was about to lower my staff when a white burst of divine energy lanced from within the black flames.

    "¡­!"

    I just barely managed to knock away Kureha''s Saint Strike when my opponent launched herself out of the smoking crater. Her body was still fuming a little, and there were finally smudges and signs of mild injuries on her otherwise near-perfect skin.

    Wow, that Sword Saint''s bonus of 200% resistance to magical attacks is really annoying, I thought in dismay.

    With a determined yell, Kureha came barreling down on me, swinging her sword and striving to cleave me from shoulder to hip. As usual, I managed to somehow parry her blow, but the sheer force of her strike, as well as her massive momentum, caused my legs to buckle. The ground split beneath my feet, unable to endure the immense forces it was subjected to.

    "Kuh!"

    I managed to shove Kureha off and kick her in the abdomen. This time, it was Kureha''s turn to be sent sprawling backward.

    The damage from my spell was finally taking its toll.

    "You¡­!"

    However, Kureha was far from defeated. Defiant and enraged, she swung her sword and unleashed a Divine Destruction at me. I countered with a Shadow Lunar Fang. The white and black energies clashed against each other and exploded, razing the entire place and turning it into a desolate wasteland. The only witnesses to such catastrophic destruction were my zombies, who under my command, had gotten to a safe distance and waited on standby.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    I was beginning to tire. Unlike Kureha, I didn''t possess that much stamina to begin with, and that was even before taking into account the Sword Saint bonus she received. She was truly the strongest opponent I had met thus far. Even more powerful than both Tsukishima Tomoyo and Kijima Takeshi.

    There has to be a way to defeat her¡­

    While I desperately sought for a plan, Kureha lunged at me again, not at all winded from the last attack. I succeeded in parrying her vicious strike, but she spun around and dropped to the ground. I staggered back, but was unable to avoid her kick to my solar plexus.

    "Gah!"

    It didn''t matter if Kureha was using a sword or her bare hands. Her close combat skills were unparalleled. I found myself hurtling across the devastated crater and skidding across the scorched ground. Even as I continued skidding, leaving a trail of broken soil in my wake, Kureha was neither patient nor merciful enough for me to come to a stop.

    She was already pouncing on me, her sword raised to cut me in half.

    That was when I sprang the ambush.

    Three zombie knights on horseback charged at her, thrusting their lances from three different directions, the momentum behind their fearsome strikes increasing their power. Kureha swore but she reacted just barely in time, jumping high up. The three lances clashed and clattered against each other, tangled in a heap, and Kureha landed on the three entangled lances, her foot daintily balancing on the thick, curved tips.

    Whirling around like a ferocious tornado, her sword whipped out and Kureha easily dispatched the trio of cavalry by slicing them into pieces.

    Landing elegantly on the ground she spun around to point her sword at me, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

    But with their sacrifice, my zombies had bought me enough time to heal and cast my ultimate spell.

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    "¡­!"

    Kureha jumped away as dozens of tombstones burst out of the ground, towering high above the both of us.

    "What the hell is this?" she demanded. I smiled as I stood under my gigantic gravestones, my silhouette slightly concealed by their shadows.

    "Welcome to my battlefield."

    Not far away, the four remaining zombie knights and the skeletal horses they were riding were undergoing transformations. Standing under the combined shadows of my tombstones, each of them were blessed with twelve incredible buffs. Within seconds, they had evolved into something monstrous, colossal, armored knights with highly destructive weapons and magic.

    "And allow me to introduce you to my¡­Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

 28 Chapter 28: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

    "W¡­what?" Kureha stammered, watching the four titanic zombie knights and their evolved, armored steeds in dismay.

    "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," I repeated with a shrug. "Don''t tell me you''ve never heard of them before. It''s a Biblical reference."

    "I know what they are!" Kureha snapped. "I''m asking how you managed to summon something like them?"

    I shrugged. The four zombie knights and their corresponding horses had taken on new, vibrant colors. Even their weapons had transmuted into terrifying shapes to match their current power and statuses.

    The first knight was now adorned in white armor, riding upon a horse that was equally as pure and unblemished in color as his master''s armor. Raising a lance in one hand and bearing a regimental standard in the other, the knight named Conquest strode forward confidently. The zombies that had been cut apart were slowly being revived once more and piecing themselves back together in grotesque new forms, flocking to his large, banner. If they were living, their morale would be boosted, but in death, that morale was transformed into near-immortal tenacity.

    The second knight wore crimson armor, the rusty surface the color of blood. His horse also sported equally terrifying fur, almost as if it was bleeding perpetually. The bloody knight who earned the title of War wielded a curved, gleaming sword the color of rust, which glowed with undeniable power ¨C power that he had accumulated over countless battles. His sheer presence and the murderous aura he emanated appeared to mark him out as a one-man army.

    The third knight was clad in entirely black armor the color of night, riding on a shadowy horse whose fur seemed to squirm and shimmer creepily. Unlike the other two knights, this knight was completely unarmed ¨C at least not with conventional weaponry. All manner of insects were buzzing around him ¨C flies, locusts, millipedes, scarabs and beetles ¨C crawling in an unstoppable wave. The eerie knight known as Famine slowly trod forward, swarms of bloated insects flooding ahead to devour foes amidst countless trashing wings and limbs.

    The fourth and last knight was a gigantic skeleton equipped in minimal greying armor. Riding atop a skeletal horse that was covered in similar gray armor, the skeletal knight carried a massive scythe that was almost as large as him, curved cruelly into a perfect crescent. Wherever the knight called Death walked, death literally followed. What little grass in the devastated soil withered and decayed, turning as gray as the armor on the two gigantic skeletal figures.

    "You¡­what the hell are these?! What the hell are you?!"

    On one subconscious level, she recognized that the foes in front of her were no ordinary undead. My Thousand Astral Graves had done something to them, metamorphosed them into existences beyond any monster that dwelled in Restia. Existences so powerful that even the revered hero known as the Sword Saint feared them on an instinctive level.

    I merely smiled in response and shrugged.

    "We are your enemies. I''m an avenger, come to take revenge on you¡­and all the other heroes to repay you in full for everything you did to me."

    "¡­!"

    "You said earlier that the strong has the right to bully and kill the weak, and the weak has no choice but to succumb and die, right?" my smile grew wider. "I''m merely subscribing to your philosophy. How do you feel, now that you realize how deluded you were to believe yourself as one of the strong and look down on the supposedly weak? How does it feel to finally comprehend how just truly weak you really are?"

    "Shut up! I don''t believe I can''t destroy these freaks of yours!"

    Drawing her magical energy desperately, Kureha plunged her sword into the ground and cast Holy Holocaust. A brilliant flash of light suffused the entire place, engulfing the remnants of the forest in white, holy light. The recently revived zombies vanished, unable to withstand the sheer power of Kureha''s ultimate spell despite the buffs they received from Thousand Astral Graves. The insects swarming around Famine were obliterated as well.

    "Wow¡­"

    Despite conjuring Dark Barrier, I was buffeted by the powerful spell that shattered my defenses and devoured me in an agonizing cacophony of light. I stumbled back, my body smoking. If it weren''t for the additional defenses of Redwood Robe, I would have been completely erased by Kureha''s ultimate spell.

    That was how terrifying Holy Holocaust truly was.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I raised my hand as my Regeneration kicked in. My Redwood Robe was beginning to repair itself, restoring its multiple protective layers almost immediately. Suddenly, I understood why I only suffered such light and superficial injuries when fighting against Kureha despite being completely overwhelmed by her in terms of sword skills.

    My Redwood jacket had saved my life countless times, the multiple defensive layers serving as a buffer to soften and vastly reduce the power behind Kureha''s strikes. Each of her attacks were supposed to be fatal, aimed at a vital point, or packed enough power to obliterate whole parts of my body. Yet, the worst I received were cuts and grazes. Even her kick, which should theoretically be strong enough to demolish a thick, concrete wall, should have broken my spine and pulverized my internal organs. Yet all I did was fly about.

    I had completely forgotten about the insane defensive buff my Redwood Robe had bestowed upon me. A chill ran down my spine when I realized that I would have died several times over if I hadn''t been wearing my Redwood Robe.

    It also explains why my Regeneration rate has remained so fast. It''s not only because my special ability has "leveled up." it''s also because my Redwood Robe has reduced the damage I had taken so drastically that they were all minor wounds. That''s why they could heal so quickly. I didn''t even take any major damage in the first place!

    I dusted off my Redwood jacket, silently uttering a word of thanks to it before focusing my attention to the battle at hand.

    Kureha''s Holy Holocaust had indeed devastated the battleground and took out a lot of my tombstones, but I casted Thousand Astral Graves again to replace the gravestones that I had lost. As I did so, the shadows once again crossed over the remains of my Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and casted them into darkness.

    They instantly began to pull together and regenerate. Within seconds, they were fully restored and riding their monstrous steeds. Swarms of insects flocked toward Famine while the dead rose around Conquest.

    "No¡­no way."

    Kureha fell to her knees. That Holy Holocaust, while a devastating spell, was a double-edged sword. She had just spent most of her strength in her attack and was now exhausted. It was clear she couldn''t just throw out another one of those ultimate spells again. At least not in the near future.

    "How¡­how¡­?"

    "They''re undead, like me." I shrugged almost callously as I gazed at her coldly. "It''s no surprise they can regenerate too."

    "Just what the hell are you?!" Kureha screamed.

    War swung his sword, too impatient to wait any longer. Kureha, true to her status as the Sword Saint, was able to block his blade easily. However, crimson energy crackled around his sword and blasted her at pointblank range.

    "Gaaaah!"

    Kureha shrieked as she was lifted off the ground and thrown clear. She landed and rolled, tumbling helplessly as she desperately flailed to arrest her slide. She managed to roll to her feet, looking up as War bore down on her again.

    "Saint Strike!"

    War smashed her ranged spell aside with brute force, deflecting the holy lance of energy to one side. He continued riding toward her and swung his sword. Unable to duck in time because she had chosen to launch that spell, Kureha parried the blow.

    However, the momentum of his strike lifted her off her feet and sent her hurtling through the air. She tumbled through a canopy of trees, breaking branches before crashing down amongst tangled roots, crying out in a muffled voice as pain shot through her body.

    "I¡­I don''t believe it¡­that monster overwhelmed me in strength?"

    As the Sword Saint, there were few things in Restia that could match Kureha in physical strength. Yet, she was clearly overpowered by War. She could scarcely believe it. War, probably buoyed by his victory, circled his horse around and charged at her.

    I was suddenly reminded of the time when Kureha did the same thing against me less than thirty minutes ago.

    Kureha didn''t seem to remember, however. Growling, she accumulated holy light into her sword and raised it high into the air. The divine beam surged out of her blade and pierced the heavens. Yelling, Kureha swung her massive Divine Destruction down and obliterated War.

    Or almost did. Though only an arm was left, the crimson gauntlet shook and vibrated, beginning to regenerate from almost nothingness.

    "What the hell is that?" Kureha whispered, staring at the vanquished remains of her foe. Before she could ponder much on the subject, however, she found herself being swarmed by countless insects that were pouring out of the forest. She shrieked, trying to swat them away. "Get off me! Get off me! Aaaaah!"

    Famine slowly rode toward her, directing his endless swarms of locusts, flies and beetles at the struggling Sword Saint. Kureha tried her best to bat the offending bugs away, but she was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. She desperately swung her sword, cutting a deadly swathe through the hordes of black, bloated bugs, but it was like cutting a river with a knife. There were far too many of them, and they were too tiny for her sword to cleave through.

    Her sword wasn''t the appropriate weapon for a disgusting, revolting army such as this.

    "Ah¡­aaaah! No! Get off me!"

    Even though Kureha didn''t seem all that hurt by the sheer number of insects, the damage she suffered was psychological. The insects, as persistent as their snapping mandibles and clawed limbs were, couldn''t pierce through her divine defense. However, that didn''t stop Kureha from being horrified as the insects crawled all over her, entering her clothes, squirming into her ears, swarming into her nose and mouth to suffocate her¡­

    With a scream, Kureha desperately unleashed a second Holy Holocaust. As I suspected, her ultimate spell was weakened this time, lacking the sheer power and ferocity of the first one. It was enough to annihilate the insects around her. Heaving, with tears streaming down her eyes and snot dripping from her nose, the traumatized Kureha gave a yell before she swung her sword at the nearby Famine. Unlike War, Famine didn''t possess much martial skill or strength, and he easily came apart under Kureha''s slash.

    But that didn''t kill him off.

    In the next instance, Famine''s form began squirming and shifting, the two halves of his body seeming to teem with countless bugs. Right in front of Kureha''s horrified eyes, Famine''s body melted away into clouds of flies before reforming into a single entity. Letting out a terrified and disgusted shriek, Kureha fell back and unleashed a single Saint Strike that disintegrated most of his body. The wriggling mass of Famine''s remains began to reform and regenerate, but it would take some time. For now, Kureha was free of his revolting clutches.

    However, now it was Conquest''s turn.

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    As she stumbled away from Famine''s writhing form, Kureha suddenly found herself surrounded by enhanced zombies that had been rallied to Conquest''s banner. While the buffed zombies were more ferocious, stronger and faster than before, they were more in line with the enemies Kureha was familiar with. Almost as if she was relieved, Kureha spun around in a deadly whirlwind of death and destruction, slicing the zombies to pieces and cutting a swathe of blood and gore in her path. Her sword lashed out, carving a bloody path out of the ring of undead soldiers, and she charged straight at Conquest, who responded with a joust.

    Spear met sword and Kureha found herself flung off her feet. Flipping her body around, she planted her feet against the trunk of a tree and got ready to spring herself back at the undead commander. However, she found herself suddenly surrounded by hordes once more.

    "!"

    Kureha slashed through the reanimated zombies, which had been revived once more by Conquest''s banner to fight under him. Kureha struggled and cut through them with her peerless sword skills, but the tenacious zombies continued to resurrect under the banner and persistently threw themselves at her again.

    Conquest had won most of his wars through a bloody battle of attrition.

    Realizing that she wouldn''t be able to last at this rate, Kureha decided to get to the root of the problem and launch herself at Conquest once more. Unfortunately, her intentions had been read through by his brilliant tactical mind, and he commandeered his undead puppets to serve as meat shields to bar her path. Kureha desperately hacked and cut through the mass of powered up zombies, her sharp, elegant swordsmanship slowly turning rough and desperate. Where once her strikes lashed out with precision, they were now gradually becoming sloppier, her sword used almost like a blunt club to bludgeon her enemies out of her way instead of cutting them into pieces. Kureha fought against the endless tide of undead, frustration growing inside her when she discovered that she was no closer to Conquest than she was at the beginning.

    Howling, infuriated, Kureha switched her tactics and retreated a little. Throwing a bunch of zombies off, she jumped back to widened the distance between herself and her foes. As tactically astute as Conquest was, he was still a zombie and his intellect had been dulled somewhat. Furthermore, Minamoto Kureha was the Sword Saint ¨C she didn''t achieve her title with just her sword skills alone. She also possessed a flexible tactical nous that allowed her to adapt to any combat situation. If cutting her enemies apart one by one didn''t work, then she would just blow them away with magic. She might be spent, but if she could pull it off a third time¡­

    "Holy Holocaust!"

    She obliterated the surrounding zombies. Before Conquest could revive them, she was already charging at him, her blade crackling with magical energy.

    "Saint Strike!"

    The holy beam lanced through Conquest''s shoulder, sending him spinning from his horse. The white knight dropped to his knees, but quickly got up and planted his standard on the ground before raising his lance to parry Kureha''s strike. They exchanged several furious blows, sparks flying as sword hammered against spear.

    Conquest managed to successfully block Kureha''s first few attacks, memories of his former self as a skilled knight vaguely retained in his undead brain. But as experienced in combat as he was, his opponent was the Sword Saint.

    Kureha''s attacks came faster and harder, her movements growing more precise with each passing second. In mere moments, she began to overwhelm Conquest and pressure him back. Even as more zombies rallied to the standard and crawled toward her, she stomped on them with her legs before they could fully reform, halting their resurrection. Turning back to the cornered Conquest, she unleashed a powerful strike that sent him flying.

    "Divine Destruction!"

    With a single swing of her sword, Kureha finished off the hapless zombie knight, turning him into molten metal and slag. However, before she could crow in triumph, she spun around in reflex to parry Death''s strike.

    Metal sang as the crescent-shaped scythe collided with Kureha''s blade. The two closed in on each other, locked in battle, and then Kureha sprang away. Death rode his horse closer, twirling his scythe before he launched another attack.

    "You think a skeleton like yourself can match me in combat?" Kureha sneered as she parried his strike before sending a riposte that gouged out a chunk of his greying armor. As before, Death was being outmatched in close combat like Conquest. No. Even with that terrifyingly shaped weapon, Death was inferior in terms of martial prowess.

    Kureha easily beat him back, her flawless swordsmanship overwhelming him one-sidedly. She was delivering an onslaught of short, swift strikes that pierced through his large, unwieldy weapon and punctured holes in his brittle bones.

    Within seconds, Death would crumble.

    However, Kureha had failed to take into account one important thing.

    Death had swung his scythe at her, forcing her to parry the deadly, crescent-shaped blade with her sword.

    Clang!

    "¡­?"

    Kureha watched dumbly as her sword snapped ¨C the legendary sword forged for the sole purpose of serving the hero, the Sword Saint herself ¨C and fall uselessly to the ground. Blinking, she raised her broken weapon to defend herself from another slash, but¡­

    Flop.

    "¡­eh?"

    Kureha stared at the bloody stumps that were her hands. Blood was gushing out of rotting skin. Rolling next to her feet, still clutching the broken remains of her legendary sword, were her arms. But their skin were withering, growing wrinkles before turning gray and decaying.

    "Impossible?"

    I smiled to myself. The aspect of death was absolute and inevitable. None could escape it. None could conquer it. Death and decay were a part of life, just as integral to the natural cycle as birth and growth.

    It didn''t matter if you were a legendary hero, blessed by the goddess to save the world. Death would still come and claim you eventually.

    "Ah¡­"

    Kureha''s voice cracked as she looked up at Death. For the first time, she saw him for what he truly was.

    The grim reaper, come to collect her soul.

    The scythe swung downward.

    Kureha''s head rolled, detached from her shoulder, and even as blood spurted from her severed neck like a fountain, her body toppled over lifelessly.

 29 Chapter 29: Millennial Town

    After the ferocious battle, I took the opportunity to devour Minamoto Kureha''s corpse. I posted my four zombie knights on the outskirts of the devastated crater to keep a lookout for any enemies that might approach.

    I had half-expected the other heroes to come out here, looking for Minamoto Kureha, but none of them showed up.

    That''s weird. Why did she come chasing after me then? Did she not tell the others that she spotted me or something?

    There were a lot of questions running in my mind. I was riding by myself, not bothering anybody when Kureha and her contingent of knights showed up suddenly from nowhere, pursuing me for no other reason than her recognizing who I was.

    Wait. If Minamoto knew who I was, why did she come after me alone, not counting those human knights? Why didn''t she get any of our other classmates to follow her?

    I was sure that she wasn''t the only one who wanted me dead. Kobayashi Kenji and Yamada Yuji would jump at the chance to hunt me down and kill me as well. Yet they were nowhere else to be seen. The only reason I could think of was that Kureha didn''t tell them that she had spotted me riding off by myself somewhere.

    Why was that?

    "Hey," I called out to the zombie knights who were standing guard at all four corners. I had dismissed Thousand Astral Graves to preserve my magical energy, and they had reverted to their normal forms. Even if they were no longer buffed into the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they were more formidable than regular zombies, so I wasn''t that worried. In any case, even if they were dead, they should possess several vestiges of their memories when they were alive, and I sought to extract the information from them.

    "¡­"

    The nearest knight turned to me.

    "What happened? Why did Minamoto come after me alone? What about the other heroes? In fact, why did she know I was riding this road?"

    The zombie couldn''t reply verbally, now that his vocal chords were rotting. Being a necromancer, I could hear his thoughts telepathically as I interrogated him. Images flashed into my mind, causing me to stagger. I closed my eyes and absorbed the thoughts from my thrall, allowing my mind to automatically rearrange the images in a clear, chronological manner.

    It was like a flashback. How convenient¡­if this was a game, it would be a cinematic, I supposed. Well, whatever worked, I guess?

    The knight in question had been standing at attention after the parade dispersed. The heroes were heading toward the governor''s palace when Kureha noticed something.

    "Rawne, take a squad and follow me."

    "Where are you going, Minamoto-san?" Hoshizaki Kozue asked curiously as Kureha mounted her horse and urged it to a gallop.

    "To the edge of town."

    "Eh? Why?"

    "What? Tsukishima-san? Where?"

    It was only natural for Kozue to get excited. Tsukishima had gone missing for at least a week now, ever since the battle with the Demon Lord. While the class wasn''t that worried ¨C they strongly believed that there was nothing in Restia who could kill Tsukishima ¨C they were growing impatient that both she and Kijima Takeshi hadn''t contacted them for so long. If they wanted to have an adventure on their own, or even elope, that was fine.

    At least inform everyone else beforehand!

    While watching the flashback, I smirked. So none of them had even remotely suspected that I was still alive, never mind that I was behind their disappearance.

    "It might just be a mistake. I could be seeing things. That''s why I''m going to have a look around, to make sure it''s really her. If she is, I''ll let you know."

    "Make sure you don''t run off on your own just like Tsukishima-san and Takeshi."

    It was Kobayashi, who was wearing a mocking grin. Kureha shrugged and smiled back, knowing that he was joking.

    "Perhaps I will. Now that the Demon Lord''s dead, I might just join Tomoyo-chan and go on a vacation with her. If I see that Kijima-kun is with her, I''ll tell him to send you a postcard."

    "Heh, he doesn''t have to. He''s a big boy, he can do whatever he wants. Even better if he finally succeeded in confessing to Tsukishima-san and going out with her."

    No wonder Kijima was following Tsukishima so closely that time after the battle with the Demon Lord. He had always kept his eye on her because he was in love with her. I almost laughed. How fitting it was that the two died together.

    "All right, I''ll see you then!"

    After getting Rawne and his knights to follow her, Kureha rode on to the outskirts of the city, futilely searching for any signs of Tsukishima. Her lack of success was beginning to frustrate her, so Kureha ventured further and further out.

    "Send my classmates a message¡­um, the other heroes a message. I''ll be exploring the forest outside the city. It might take me a while."

    "Yes, Hero-sama!"

    The runner saluted before taking off on his horse. With the remaining squad, Kureha rode toward the forest.

    "Are you sure about this, my lady?" Rawne asked, but received a glare in return. To be honest, he saw no point in continuing the search. There was no sign of the two missing heroes at all, no matter how long and hard they searched.

    But it was clear that Kureha didn''t want to return emptyhanded.

    "Let''s search a bit more," she insisted stubbornly. Without the authority to overrule a hero ¨C one of the heroes who had defeated the Demon Lord, won the war for humanity and saved countless human lives, Rawne merely obeyed quietly and reformed his troops to flank the hero in a protective formation. If she had noticed, Kureha said nothing.

    They had spent quite some time in the forest until Kureha spotted somebody. I recognized my own figure riding off into the distance.

    Kureha tensed, and then whipped her horse around.

    "Tanaka¡­" she hissed.

    "What, Hero-sama?" Rawne asked blankly, but she didn''t explain. Instead she urged her horse forward while shouting at the knights.

    "After him! Don''t let him escape!"

    Rawne didn''t understand what was going on, but he couldn''t let Hero-sama go alone. Rallying his men, he instructed them to follow Kureha and give pursuit.

    "Who is that guy, Hero-sama? A demon?"

    "Worse," Kureha growled. "A pathetic loser who doesn''t deserve to live. A weakling who refuses to accept his place in the order of things and resist even though he should just allow himself to get beaten up."

    Rawne didn''t understand what Kureha was talking about, but he did know that he didn''t want to be the target of his rage. So he kept his counsel and followed the hero in hunting the poor, unfortunate soul who had drawn her ire.

    And the rest, as they say, was history.

    As the cinematic flickered off, I opened my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. So Kureha wasted these men''s lives like this on a whim, just so she could teach me to "know my place"? For such an absurd reason she tried to kill me, and in doing so forced me to massacre an entire squad of knights in self-defense?

    What kind of stupid joke was this?

    For a long time, I knew that my classmates harbored a hatred for me that bordered on irrational, but I didn''t understand why. I was still no closer to comprehending why they were so determined to kill me, even though I had done nothing to them. They probably reasoned it as karma, or "Nature" where the strong ate the weak, but even though their reasoning failed and I proved to be stronger than them, they refused to accept reality and continued to distort their justifications for murdering me. It was like they were being evil and murderous for the sake of it.

    Or to drive the plot forward.

    Meh, sometimes they don''t need a valid reason. They want to do it, so they will.

    Giving up on understanding these murderous bullies, I turned my attention to more important matters. Raising my hand, I conjured my blue holographic screen.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich Lord

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint

    There was not much change other than the new Sword Saint special ability that I had plundered from the deceased Minamoto Kureha. I was about to dismiss the holographic screen when I realized that there was a slight change, particularly with Lord of Darkness.

    "Hmm?"

    Scratching my head, I tapped on the Lord of Darkness tab while staring at the small bell that hovered over it as an update.

    Lord of Darkness: As Master of Darkness, you have gained access to powerful arcane spells and bonuses of ominous origins.

    Spells: Reanimate, Thousand Astral Graves, Doombolt, Corrupting Darkness, Shadow Lunar Fang, Dark Barrier

    Bonuses: Resistance to darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, power of darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, energy cost of casting darkness-type spells decreased by 500%, durability and magical energy buffed by 50%, Machiavellian Charisma (all demons are 50% more willing to obey you + Lich Bonus)

    While initially it appeared that there was no change whatsoever, I saw that the Dark Weapon Mastery had completely disappeared. Not only that, there was a new + Lich Bonus in Machiavellian Charisma. I had some idea of what that entailed, but given my current situation, I knew that the skill was currently useless.

    "Oh well. At least I now have Sword Saint."

    I picked up Kureha''s sword. She no longer had any use for it¡­except that it was broken because of Death''s attack. No matter¡­even when it was broken, it was still the pieces of a legendary sword used by a hero. If I could repair or reforge it anew, then it would certainly serve my purposes.

    The problem was finding a competent enough blacksmith to repair the broken sword¡­

    "Ah, well¡­I don''t need a sword anyway."

    I was a Lich Lord, not a Sword Saint. If I tried to fight with too many styles at once, I might end up confusing myself in the heat of battle. Speaking of which, I was curious about one thing.

    Is there a limit to the number of special abilities I can earn through Devouring?

    Sword Saint was great and all, and it would certainly apply to my proficiency with my staff, but it didn''t complement my other special abilities, not like Kijima''s Summon. Tsukishima''s Absolute Appraisal was an odd one ¨C useful regardless of what other special abilities I had, but Sword Saint? Was I going to be a bastardized magic swordsman-lich or something?

    Focus on one thing and master it to the extreme¡­I would prefer that.

    On the other hand, it would be a waste not to take full advantage of my Devour special ability and gain as many of them as possible. I was more worried about the side effects of having too many special abilities, or reaching a limit.

    Speaking of which, maybe there''s something about Devour in one of the books¡­

    I got up and glanced into the distance. There was still a chance that someone might come looking for Minamoto Kureha if she didn''t return for a while, and I didn''t want to be here when they found her. I would feel safer searching my Library of Eden inside a secure, enclosed room than out here in the open, where I was just begging to be found.

    "Let''s go," I told my zombies. I had several of them bury Kureha''s remains, and then picked up the pieces of her sword. Summoning Matsukaze, I hopped onto him and got him to gallop out of the smoldering crater and onto the road.

    My four zombie knights followed, their skeletal horses silently plodding after me.

    We rode for what seemed like hours, unmolested or unpursued by any more contingents of knights or murderous heroes. Matsukaze was a strong and durable horse, even though he was just a summoned familiar. He didn''t slow down, not even for a second, as he galloped across the gravel pathway that Legnica was wise enough to construct.

    By the time Millennial Town came into view, night had already fallen. I glanced back at my four knight zombies, and they nodded. After escorting me this far, I felt that they deserved the right to be laid to rest. I made a stop and removed the Reanimation spell from them before proceeding to bury them. Since it was quite the exhausting task that I couldn''t do alone, I had to summon a few zombies to help me out.

    It was ironic. Now that I thought about it, I remembered reading somewhere that the original zombie myth was from Haiti, where they used voodoo or black magic to reanimate the dead, not to devour the living, but to work as plantation slaves, planting and harvesting sugar or some crops for their living masters. They were originally meant to be servants or laborers, not fearless soldiers or mindless carnivores that fed on any living thing they could get their hands on.

    "Thanks," I told my summoned undead before dismissing them. Brushing the dirt from my hands, I stared at the gravestones of the knights before saluting them. "You guys fought bravely, regardless of whatever side you were on. Rest in peace."

    It continued to irk me that Kureha had thrown away their lives needlessly just to bully me or kill me. Even though I had already vowed vengeance on her and the rest of my former classmates, it wasn''t comfortable thinking about the innocent people who were inevitably drawn into the crossfire. Did Kureha and the others think of the knights and the people of Legnica as non-playable characters, to be used and discarded as expendable pawns?

    I had seen their treatment of their soldiers, first during the final battle against the Demon Lord, and now, how casually Kureha ordered them about without appreciating their efforts. Even Rawne, the commander whose mind I peered into earlier, wasn''t entirely pleased with the way the heroes were treating them.

    Perhaps I can use that against them somehow¡­

    There were exceptions, though. The Fifth Lancer Dragoon Company who tried to fight me after I defeated Asura¡­they seemed to adore Suzuki Shirou. Well, my former classmates couldn''t possibly all be murderous assholes. That said, Suzuki still tried to kill me as well. Granted, he probably didn''t know the person he threw his spear at was me, but I doubted his decision would change even if he knew that his target was me.

    With that task completed, I jumped back onto Matsukaze and finished the remainder of the journey. Millennial Town loomed ahead, dark, seemingly empty and lifeless.

    "Where is everybody?" I wondered aloud as I neared the town. Even though the sun had set and night was taking a firm grip on the place, it was still strange to see the streets as empty as they were. The buildings were dark, as if everyone had already gone to bed early¡­or as if they were deserted. There was not a single soul outside.

    I jumped off Matsukaze before dismissing him. Even though he was technically an undead horse, his skin was black, which concealed any sign of rotting, and unless one looked clearly enough, they wouldn''t be able to tell that he wasn''t a living horse the same way they couldn''t differentiate me from a living human. So I doubted it was his presence (or mine) that scared away the townsfolk.

    A chill ran down my spine.

    In the distance, something howled. It wasn''t the howl of a wolf. It was too low-pitched, too deep that it sounded more like the roar of thunder than a bestial bellow. Even so, it was unrecognizably a sound only a creature, living or undead, could make.

    The manticore?

    I shuddered when I remembered the purpose of my mission here. I was to slay the manticore, a terrifying beast that plagued the town. With such a monstrous thing lurking so close to town, it was little wonder that the townsfolks were firmly staying indoors and bolting themselves inside their houses after dark.

    Where the hell is it?

    I looked around, wondering if I should get the battle done and over with. If the manticore was already in town, then I could just take care of it immediately.

    Or so I thought, until I saw a dark shadow in the sky.

    "¡­"

    My jaw dropped when I saw just how immense the thing was. It had wings that blotted out the moon as it sailed across the skies. Even though it was so far away, to be able to see its bulk so clearly at this distance meant that it had to be enormous.

    It was the size of a small hill, bigger than even a house or building. Probably as tall as the high orc I had faced a couple of days ago, and several times longer.

    The reason why I could estimate its size was because it was silhouetted and perched atop one of the mountains that was supposed to be at least five miles away from the town ¨C according to the map I received from Hughes, anyway. It was almost dwarfing the mountain, its wings wrapped around to swallow the peak as it howled at the night.

    Just how huge is that thing!?

    I shook my head. This was going to be troublesome. No wonder the request was normally meant for several parties of silver-ranked mercenaries, or even two or three parties of gold-ranked mercenaries. Yet, none of them wanted to venture out this far for a town that was over a hundred and twenty kilometers away. If Matsukaze wasn''t an undead horse, I doubted I could have covered that distance in nine hours. A normal horse would have run out of stamina and needed rest, food and water. Matsukaze and the zombie horses didn''t.

    That was how we managed to make the journey, by plunging forward for nine hours straight.

    "Hey!"

    The voice was so soft that I almost didn''t hear it. But when the manticore''s bellow ended, I finally heard a persistent man calling out to me.

    "You there! Kid! Psst! Over here!"

    I blinked and turned around. There was a balding, middle-aged man with a mustache and a beard waving toward me urgently from an open door. It was clear that he was gesturing for me to come into his house.

    "Quickly, now! Before it spots us!"

    I found that notion absurd. The manticore was at least five miles away. There was no way it could see us¡­

    ¡­except that I could see its immense bulk, even from this distance. Even if we must look like ants to it, the thing might just be able to spot us.

    "Sorry."

    Mumbling an apology, I jogged toward the open door. The balding man stepped aside to let me in, then quickly shut the door and bolted it shut.

    "Are you an idiot?" he hissed. "Riding into town at this time of the night? You''re lucky you didn''t get picked off by the manticore!"

    "Well, actually, I''m here to kill the manticore."

    The balding man stared at me in disbelief. I sighed and produced my ID, showing him my affiliation with the mercenary guild.

    "Eh? Iron ranked mercenary? Ah¡­Lord Beltayn sent a request for the manticore to be eliminated last week. So you''re part of the vanguard?"

    "Vanguard?"

    "You know, the front elements! When''s the rest of your party arriving? Tomorrow? Were you sent ahead to scout the manticore''s location?"

    Ah, I finally understood what the man was getting at.

    "No, I''m not the vanguard, and I''m not part of a party. I''m all you''re getting."

    The man turned pale and began trembling.

    "You''re kidding!"

    "No, I''m dead serious." I looked around the interior of the building and saw that it resembled a tavern. A tavern that was out of business, given the empty tables, the chairs that were put away neatly and the empty, untouched mugs on the counter.

    Yeah, it would be hard for anyone to make a ruckus with the manticore prowling outside.

    "Is this an inn?"

    "Uh¡­yeah? It was. Until the manticore came and drove away our business."

    "Great. Do you mind if I rent a room? I need some place to sleep for the night."

    The balding man, who I assumed was the innkeeper, nodded.

    "Sure, go ahead. Should I prepare rooms for the rest of your party as well? When can I be expecting them?"

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    I sighed. The guy still believed that I was part of a larger force that was coming to subjugate the monster.

    "No. I already told you, I''m all you''re getting for now. There will be no other mercenaries coming to this town."

    "Impossible! Are you telling me you plan to fight the monster alone?! That''s suicide! There''s no way you can defeat the manticore by yourself!"

    I shrugged. "Don''t worry. If I fail the mission, I''m sure Guild Master Hughes will send another party to hunt the manticore. Eventually."

    "That''s not going to work! What are we supposed to do in the meantime? Every week we lose more of our people to that monster!"

    I clamped my hand on the man''s shoulder and grinned.

    "Worry about it after I fail."

    The balding man stared at me, his mouth hanging open from shock and disbelief. He tried to say something, but it took him several attempts before he could finally form a few words with his mouth. Swallowing, he glared at me.

    "You don''t seriously think you can defeat that monster on your own!"

    "Oh, but I''m not alone." I patted the balding innkeeper''s shoulder reassuringly. "Just because there aren''t any other mercenaries participating in this mission doesn''t mean I''ll be fighting all by myself."

 30 Chapter 30: Meeting the manticore

    The night passed without incident. I was relieved that the manticore didn''t decide to pay the town a visit and feast on the residents. Even though everyone was safely indoors, the monster was so massive that it could easily topple buildings over like a miniature Godzilla, and then feed on the helpless humans that spilled out.

    After waking up, I washed up before heading downstairs. The sun had already risen pretty high by the time I woke up ¨C I was a night owl even before I became an undead and had a habit of sleeping late and waking up late ¨C and the innkeeper was already working behind the counter. He looked up when he saw me descend the stairs.

    "Breakfast?"

    "No, thanks. I''m good."

    I couldn''t eat bread, unfortunately. I needed meat, thanks to my current physical constitution. It wasn''t a very convenient thing, and I sometimes wished I could eat the same variety of food as normal human beings, but I had learned how to live with it.

    "I''ll be heading out now."

    The innkeeper raised his head and stared at me in disbelief before I could step out of the inn.

    "Are you really going to face the manticore on your own?"

    "Yeah."

    "¡­"

    The innkeeper still didn''t know whether he was supposed to take me seriously or not, but he didn''t stop me. Shaking his head, he muttered something before returning to his task of wiping the mugs. Before I left, I had a question for him.

    "Uh, sir, is there a blacksmith in this town?"

    "Yes, there is. It is a few blocks down this road, you can''t miss it. It has a sign with a sword on it. Look for Mr. Smith."

    "Thank you, sir."

    "Replenishing your weapons or maintaining them?"

    "Repairing one of them, actually."

    "Ah."

    The innkeeper stared at the staff slung on my back and frowned. It obviously had no need of repair, but that wasn''t the weapon I was talking about it. I kept Minamoto Kureha''s sword hidden in my bag. I wondered if anyone would recognize the sword as the one wielded by the legendary Sword Saint. Then again, nobody had pointed out that I was carrying a staff that used to belong to one of the heroes either, so perhaps no one could tell them apart.

    Furthermore, there was no Internet here, no photographs and visual media, so it would be hard for images of the heroes'' legendary weapons to be distributed around Legnica. I shouldn''t have to worry about anyone recognizing the weapons.

    I tilted my head toward the innkeeper as one display of thanks before leaving the inn. Sparing the empty place one last glance before I walked out of the door, I felt sorry for the innkeeper. It was completely deserted ¨C I must be the only business he had in weeks. At least ever since the manticore arrived to terrorize the town, anyway.

    "Let''s see¡­"

    Well, I guess this is exactly what I was looking for.

    To be honest, I would have preferred to bring the sword back to the city, where more renowned blacksmiths resided in, but there was a high chance that they would recognize the weapon given how the heroes often patronized the place. Furthermore, I couldn''t wait that long. I wanted to at least have the sword as an option against the manticore.

    I have 16 gold¡­it should cover the repair costs.

    If I wasn''t mistaken, most repair costs were about 50 silver at most. There was no way the blacksmith would charge me 16 gold or more for a single sword, right? I could buy 160 new swords with that kind of money. Of course, they wouldn''t be anywhere near the quality of this sword, but¡­

    Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. There was a grunt on the other side, followed by a gruff "come in."

    "What do you want?"

    The bald, muscular man sitting at a bench and hammering at a piece of metal glared up at me. He blinked when he saw that I wasn''t anyone he recognized, and softened his expression. Squinting at me beneath dark, bushy eyebrows, he growled gently.

    "A traveler?"

    "A mercenary," I corrected. The blacksmith, who I guessed was Mr. Smith, raised a thick eyebrow in disbelief.

    "A kid like you?"

    I shrugged. "Somehow."

    "Well, Mr. Mercenary, what can I do for you?" Putting his hammer and the blade he was shaping down, he stood up and dusted his hands off a black, stained apron before placing them on his hips. A light shone in his eyes as he looked me up and down. "Well, I''ll be. You must be one of them mercenaries Beltayn-sama called to exterminate the manticore."

    "That''s correct."

    Smith grinned. "Finally¡­business has been slow for a while."

    The guy evidently believed that I was part of a much larger vanguard, the first scout to arrive before the rest of my party. Just like the innkeeper, I suppose. Looking at how delighted that he was, I didn''t have the heart to tell him the truth. Instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out the broken pieces of Kureha''s sword.

    "Do you think you can fix this?"

    Smith''s eyebrows rose when he stared at the broken sword. He had me place them on his workbench before appraising them closely. After a few minutes of studying, he raised his head and shook it in disappointment.

    "Sorry, kid. This weapon is way out of my league. It was crafted not by men, but by elves. You''ll need a demon artificer or blacksmith for a weapon as magnificent and powerful as that." he frowned suspiciously. "How did you get your hands on a sword like that?"

    I couldn''t tell him that I looted it from the late Minamoto Kureha, so I concocted a vague reply that wasn''t far from the truth.

    "I picked it up from the battlefield. It was broken, but it somehow caught my eye and I thought it would be a waste to leave it so I took it, hoping that I can find someone who has the ability to repair or reforge it."

    "Ah, tough luck. I''m afraid I can''t repair it. It''s beyond my skills. The only way is to get those demons to fix it, but obviously they''ll kill you the moment you step into their territory. Maybe wait for the heroes to conquer and enslave the demons first before you try your hand, eh?"

    "¡­"

    I didn''t know how to respond to that. Enslave? The heroes were planning on enslaving the demons? Well, I wouldn''t put it past Kobayashi to approve of such an absurd plan. The guy was so drunk in his self-perceived superiority that he viewed everyone in the world as his servants. The rest of my classmates were little better.

    "You''re nothing but a pathetic loser who should know your place! The strong eat the weak, and the weak succumb to the strong! Accept that fact of life!"

    Kureha''s words rang in my head and I sighed. Yeah, the whole class had gone insane, probably having allowed the power to go into their heads and swell their egos into unbelievable proportions. Maybe I should side with the demons.

    Nah, I''m not going to take part in this war. My only goal is to kill my former classmates. Not to liberate the demons and save the demonic world.

    That said, if helping them would further my goal of revenge, then I had no qualms participating in a demonic revolution.

    However, before that¡­

    "What about the blacksmiths in the capital? Do you know if anyone in the city can fix this?"

    Smith snorted, as if insulted.

    "Kid, I''m one of the best blacksmiths there are. I don''t mean to be tooting my own horn, but I can forge and repair event he highest quality weapons forged by human hands. Take it from me, that sword was not forged by human hands. It was created by spirits, suffused with magic and blessings. Mark my words, there is not a human smith in Restia who can repair or reforge that sword, unless he''s a hero. Perhaps the Sacred Swordsmith can, but you''ll have a hell of a time arranging a meeting with one of the legendary heroes."

    And they might just take away the sword from you. Even though Smith left that unsaid, I could almost hear those words.

    "I understand."

    I had no desire to meet my former classmates and ask them to help me repair a sword. The only time I wanted to meet the heroes was during an ambush where I had planned how to kill them. I doubted any of them would just accept my request and repair the sword ¨C plus they would most likely recognize it as Kureha''s sword and demand to know what I did with her.

    That was, of course, assuming they didn''t kill me at first sight.

    With those thoughts running through my head, I bowed politely.

    "Thank you, anyway. I appreciate the advice."

    If there was no chance of repairing Kureha''s sword at all, I would have just left it with Smith to scrap it for raw materials. I had no sentimental attachment to the sword, after all. However, after hearing that there was a way to restore the sword, I decided to hold onto it for a little longer. If even the demons couldn''t repair it, then I would just give it to them for scrap metal.

    It didn''t matter to me. This weapon was just another tool in my arsenal.

    Waving at Smith, I left the blacksmith store and proceeded to the outskirts of town. With the knowledge that no human blacksmith could repair the weapon (except the heroes), I decided to try my luck with the demons. Particularly if I could convince them that I would be useful in their efforts to resist the heroes'' tyranny and genocidal cruelty, they might even repair the sword for free. Not that I was counting on that last bit¡­

    What should I do now?

    I glanced toward the mountains. Since Smith couldn''t fix the weapon, there was no point lingering around waiting for my sword. I might as well go straight and tackle the manticore. The sooner I got this job done, the earlier I could return.

    Except that I don''t want to return to the city too early¡­not when the heroes are still there.

    I didn''t know how my former classmates would react to Kureha''s disappearance. Would they send out a search party to look for her? Or dismiss her as running off somewhere by herself like Kijima and Tsukishima? Given her last conversation with Hoshizaki, they had to be complete idiots to continue assuming that.

    I mean, there were stories that worked by virtue of the villains being too incompetent and stupid to pose a real threat, but reality didn''t work that way. Kobayashi, for all his tyrannical personality, was shrewd. He would notice something was amiss.

    Best to keep my distance from the city for a few days, at least until they give up and leave.

    I had buried Kureha''s remains in the middle of nowhere without leaving a gravestone or anything to mark her final resting spot. It would be a miracle for the heroes to find her, unless they had some sort of godly magic.

    Despite my lack of enthusiasm regarding returning to the city early, I knew I couldn''t allow the manticore to run rampant for much longer. The townsfolks'' livelihood and even their lives depended on it. They had sought help but didn''t receive any for too long because of the distance from the city. The mercenary guild owed them that much.

    Besides, I might gain lots of experience and maybe a new special ability from defeating such a terrifying monster.

    Thinking of the benefits, I proceeded toward the mountains. Summoning Matsukaze, I rode off from the edge of the town and toward the mountains. Under broad daylight, there was no sign of the manticore, but I refused to let my guard down.

    There''s no way something as big as the manticore would be able to disappear from sight like that. It''s somewhere around here.

    The sun had reached its zenith by the time I made it to the mountains. Urging Matsukaze gently up the slope, I scanned the mountains warily for any sign of the gargantuan monster. Slowly ascending to the peak, I glanced downward on the valleys.

    "Holy Terra!"

    I almost toppled over from the sight. For as far as the eye could see, there were bones. Mountains of skeletons, both human and animal, lay scattered in sharp and white heaps, piled atop each other indiscriminately. It was like a sea of white death, the flesh ripped off the bones and the skeletons bleached by the sun after a long while.

    "God-Emperor of Man¡­" I mumbled, closing my eyes and making the sign of the Aquila. Seething, I dropped down from Matsukaze and cautiously drew near the bones. Using my necromantic magic and Absolute Appraisal, I was able to roughly estimate how long the skeletons had been lying in the mountains.

    It varied. Most of them were days¡­months old. A few were fresh, their flesh stripped from their bones as early as last night.

    I treaded through the boneyard, feeling a chill run down my spine despite the intense heat of midday. The manticore had to be here somewhere¡­it was the only culprit I could think of that was capable of such wanton massacre. A beast of that size surely needed this much food to sustain itself. But the ecology wouldn''t last long¡­if not the humans in town, then certainly the organisms living in the forest would be preyed to extinction by this monster.

    No wonder the heroes are so bent on the genocidal extermination of demons and monsters¡­

    However, monsters were one thing and demons were another. My meeting with Lieutenant Elia Kratz and her subordinates had told me that demons could be reasoned with. They were sentient, intelligent beings just like humans.

    If the heroes didn''t drive them to a corner and into such desperation, there was a chance for coexistence.

    The manitcore, on the other hand, was more likely to devour the poor soul who naively thought he could reason with it.

    "Speaking of which, where is the manticore?"

    I didn''t see any sign of the manticore so far, despite traversing over large swathes of skeletons. It was a freaking boneyard filled with mountains of death. I winced every time my feet crunched over the brittle bones, crushing aging skeletons to powder.

    "Sorry."

    However, I had to marvel at the scale of death that the manticore had brought forth to these lands. While I felt sorry for the victims, I couldn''t help but think that this was advantageous for me. A place full of countless skeletons.

    There was no better battleground for a necromancer.

    Well, even if this is advantageous to me, it''s meaningless if I can''t find the manticore. Maybe I have to wait until night.

    From what the townsfolk told me, the manticore was only active at night. Just like me, a night owl, huh?

    Then again, the whole point of me showing up during the day was to catch it by surprise when it was asleep and deliver the first, fatal attack.

    Change of plans, I guess.

    Fortunately, I still had a lot of time before the sun went down. I decided to spend it scouting the place and preparing for fields of overlapping fire and attack. At night, the dead was certain to rise, and I wanted to lure the manticore here at all costs.

    The ground moved beneath my feet.

    "?"

    I glanced down at the skeleton I was inadvertently stepping on. Sighing, I rolled it over with my foot but it didn''t move again. The skeleton was most obviously dead. Looking around, I saw that the ground had stopped moving.

    It wasn''t my imagination. I could tell from the clouds of dust that were fluttering down from the skeletons. A huge mass of them were rattling, rolling down each other as a result of being shifted by the earlier tremor.

    "An earthquake?"

    Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I experienced an earthquake in Restia. I had almost forgotten that such phenomenon existed. It had been so frequent in Tokyo that I was no longer afraid every time the ground shook beneath my feet, but at the same time I had gotten so desensitized to it that I forgot that they existed.

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    However, I was sure that wasn''t an earthquake. Having experienced lots of them when growing up in Tokyo, I knew what a real earthquake was right.

    This could only be one thing.

    "The manticore."

    Swallowing, I jumped up the skeletons and proceeded toward the peak of one of the hills. Matsukaze neighed from where I left him, but I dismissed him with a thought. If my suspicions were proven true, then I didn''t need him. I would need more appropriate warriors to face my enormous enemy.

    Boom!

    A shower of skeletons were thrown up high into the air as something massive rippled from underneath. Roaring, the creature lunged out, swiping a colossal paw in my direction. Twisting around, I immediately switched my trajectory and hurled myself in an opposite direction.

    Just in time, too. The claws swiped past the air where I had occupied a few seconds earlier. Hitting the spiky ground of the boneyard, which had turned completely black due to the colossal shadow that now loomed over it, I rolled to my feet just in time to catch sight of a titanic beast lumbering toward me, its scorpion tail stabbing forward to pulverize me.

    The manticore.

    It had finally shown up.

 31 Chapter 31: Match with the manticore

    As the immense beast burst out of the ground, sending broken shards of bone flying in all direction, I instinctively dove for cover. Landing hard amongst the mountains of skeletons, I scrambled to find my footing before I found myself buried along with the fleshless dead.

    Above me, the manticore bellowed, a bestial sound that reverberated fearsomely across the confined space of the valley. I risked a glance upward and for a moment froze at the terrifying visage of the gigantic beast that now loomed before me.

    Like I suspected, the monstrosity was about ten meters in height and three times that length. A lion''s head turned to glare at me, its majestic mane swaying as it framed a feline snout lined with teeth the size of long daggers. Wings sprouted out from its back, resembling bats ¨C except that there were no bats ever that big. At the end, a gargantuan scorpion tail rose and arched above the monstrous creature, venom dripping from its cruelly curved tip.

    I sure as hell wouldn''t want to be stung by that that. I doubted it would feel like a sting.

    The manticore growled, scanning the area before fixing its gaze upon me. It was only natural that I would stand out among the white skeletons, given my black and red jacket, dark pants and black hair. Plus I was the only thing in the valley besides the manticore who still had his skin on.

    The manticore lunged at me without hesitation, its incredible speed belying its immense size. I barely managed to draw my staff and let loose a Doombolt that smacked against its ugly face, sending it sprawling back with a roar of pain.

    "?"

    I had half-expected it, but I was still dismayed to see that my Doombolt had scarcely managed to scratch the gargantuan beast. Snarling, it turned toward me before swiping a claw that sent a shower of bones raining down on my position.

    Scrambling through the uneven terrain and struggling to find a foothold, I managed to evade its paw, which was tipped with huge claws the size of an adult. Crashing through the skeletons, I dove away in time to avoid the enormous scorpion stinger that buried itself past the shattered skeletons and deeply into the mountainside.

    "Gosh, if I get hit by that thing, it''s going to sting."

    I gulped as I stared at the gigantic stinger for a second before I swung my staff vengefully to capitalize on the manticore''s momentary immobilization. Unleashing a powerful Shadow Lunar Fang, I sent the manticore toppling to the side, yelping in agony. Black smoke billowed from its scorched flank as the manticore crashed into a bed of bones.

    "Gr¡­"

    However, in less than ten seconds, the immense beast had rose to its feet again, lashing out with its paws in fury.

    "I don''t believe it," I muttered as I dodged the manticore''s vengeful strikes. Staring at its superficial wounds, I shook my head in disbelief. "I hit that thing with two Shadow Lunar Fangs and I only scratched it a little?"

    The manticore was less surprised. Growling, it charged at me with open jaws. I hit the ground, allowing the massive thing to fly above me and smack right into the mountain. Even as tremors reverberated throughout the mountain, I was already scrambling back up and dashing away from the massive beast.

    "Whoa!"

    It was my instincts that saved me. Sensing danger, I threw myself at the messy ground in reflex. That action saved my life as something massive flew above me. The stinger, curled and poised to punch a hole through me, stabbed into thin air before arcing down into the ground. I looked up and stared at the black, barbed stinger that was piercing the dirt, then scrambled away in fear. Even if I was an undead, I wasn''t exactly enthusiastic about suffering such immense damage.

    Twisting around, I sent another black arc of Shadow Lunar Fang at the manticore''s face, bruising it, and then leaped away to widen the distance between us as much as possible. Slipping on the uneven ground of the boneyard, I righted myself and turned back.

    The manticore was slowly getting back to its feet with a feral snarl, shaking its head after the smarting it received from my Shadow Lunar Fang. With my most powerful attack doing little more than uh, stinging it, I felt helpless.

    Fortunately, I wasn''t restricted to spamming energy blasts. I was a necromancer, after all. Not a Shinigami wannabe.

    "Rise from your graves, skeletal ones," I murmured as black energy spread out from my staff. The black fog unfurled across the valley, suffusing the skeletons that had been lying dormant since their brutal deaths. With the shrieks ad laments of hundreds¡­no, thousands, the skeletons jerkily stood up, their bones clattering wildly with vengeance.

    As one, they turned to glare at the manticore, red light blazing in their otherwise empty sockets. Their jaws clacking, the skeletons rushed at the monstrosity like an unstoppable tide of bones. The sea of white washed over the stunned manticore, clawing and scrabbling at its thick hide, seeking to bring their killer down with sheer numbers.

    "Grr¡­!"

    The manticore howled as it flung the skeletons off, but the broken bones merely regenerated and pieced themselves back together again before they lunged at the behemoth again. Even as the gargantuan scorpion tail whipped out sending scores of skeletons hurtling against the mountainside, even as the corrosive venom dripping from the stinger disintegrated the bones of vengeful dead with its sheer acidity, the dead continued to come.

    "Go forth. I''ll allow you to claim your revenge on the creature that killed you."

    I stood alone at the back, and watched the handiwork of my army of undead. The skeletal warriors ¨C both human and beasts ¨C were crushing the manticore under the weight of their numbers. Jumping and grabbing onto the flailing manticore, they buried it under a ball of white, tangled bones, hacking, scratching and clawing at the shrieking behemoth.

    "Regret killing so many now?" I mocked the manticore. "This is the weight of your sin, the burden you''ve to bear for slaughtering so many. Now, they''ve come to demand their price, and you''ll pay for their violent deaths in blood."

    The manticore didn''t understand human language, presumably. It didn''t have to, and in any case it was too occupied by the skirmishing skeletons to listen to a word I said. I shrugged and sat down at my corner, waiting for my army of undead to eventually subdue it.

    It helped that the battlefield was to my advantage, a boneyard of countless skeletons and dead that I could turn into my minions. The moment the manticore left such a vast number of resources in its backyard for me to use, it had handed over the home advantage to me. And I wasn''t going to squander this chance.

    What irony. To be killed by the dead of the very prey you massacred in bulk. There wasn''t anything sweeter for the dead than to enact this final revenge of theirs.

    However, despite being a solitary hunter, the manticore was still a massive behemoth of a monster. There was no way it would go down that easily.

    "¡­!"

    A ball of skeletons flew past me and slammed into the mountainside, shattering from sheer force. Turning back, I watched as the manticore slowly but surely shook off the forces of the undead and trampled their bones underneath its mass. Even as more skeletons swarmed over to replace their destroyed brethren, the manticore lashed out with its tail and claws to smash them into oblivion. As much as the broken bones regenerated themselves, even my unholy magic couldn''t completely restore the shattered shards of bones to their original state.

    My endless numbers of skeletons were gradually declining.

    "Well, that''s fine."

    I had been waiting for this.

    "Thousand Astral Graves."

    The thousand and eight graves rose from the slopes of the mountain, casting the sun-bleached valley in darkness. Golden light began crackling around the surviving skeletons and they grew. They didn''t just expand ¨C they consumed and devoured their fallen comrades, the broken bones and shattered shards rapidly flowing toward them and adding to their individual bulk.

    This was the reason why I didn''t use Thousand Astral Graves right from the start. It would be disadvantageous to my gargantuan skeletons, who wouldn''t be able to make use of their sheer size and numbers when clustered tightly together in the confined spaces of the valley if there were too many of them. Furthermore, I had instinctively understood that my enhanced skeletons required to feed off the bones of their brethren to grow.

    The manticore found itself surrounded by a dozen gaikotsu that actually towered over it. Snarling, it swiped at the nearest gaikotsu, actually shattering it, but the pieces seemed to flow seamlessly and regenerate much more fluidly than the unenhanced skeletons. The Thousand Astral Graves were certainly doing their job.

    The twelve or so gaikotsu pounced on the hapless manticore and began tearing it apart limb from limb. The manticore struggled and managed to smash a brittle gaikotsu. As large as they were, they were still fragile. In exchange for enhanced regeneration, size and strength, they had traded away endurance and durability.

    Not that it mattered. They were already dead. The gaikotsu didn''t mind dying a few more times as long as they were able to bring the manticore down with them.

    Yet, for all their numbers, the skeletal warriors'' attacks weren''t very effective. Even as they battered ineffectually against the manticore, the behemoth sent them flying in pieces with each strike. Its immense stinger jabbed out repeatedly, corroding bone with acidic venom at a damaging rate that surpassed their regeneration.

    However, their enhanced strength was proving to be a problem for the manticore. One of the gaikotsu punched the roaring manticore, leaving a huge, gaping hole in its body where blood gushed out like a river. Another grabbed hold of the wildly swinging stinger and pinned it in place. The others began grabbing hold of the manticore''s legs and holding them still. With brute strength, they ripped off the shrieking manticore''s legs, leaving its hapless body to topple over.

    The remaining gaikotsu closed in to finish the manticore off.

    Before they could, the manticore swung its tail with such force that the gaikotsu clinging onto it was carried along. With a final surge of strength, the manticore sent that particular gaikotsu clattering into its brethren in an untidy heap of fallen bones. With a roar, it flailed about before going into spasms, its tail smacking more gaikotsu and sending them flying.

    And then, something unexpected happened.

    Blood sprouted out of the severed limbs with the force of a geyser, but unlike a random fountain, they began twisting in and intertwining, different shaded streams of fluids weaving together to form new bone, muscle and flesh.

    Within an instant, the manticore had regenerated its limbs. No, it didn''t just restore its limbs ¨C its paws looked different, more dangerous somehow.

    With a roar, the manticore lunged forward and shattered a gaikotsu into pieces with a single swipe of its new claws.

    Adaptive Mutation?

    My glasses took on a faint glow when I used Absolute Appraisal. It appeared that the manticore had a special ability called Adaptive Mutation that was allowing it to uh, adapt to the battle. The growing back of its limbs wasn''t just an ordinary regeneration. It was an adaptive mutation that allowed it to grow stronger, more powerful claws and limbs. After being overwhelmed by the gaikotsu, it had mutated to match their strength and account for their numbers.

    You''ve got to be kidding me¡­

    I licked my lips as my mouth went dry, but took a deep breath to calm myself down. Well, that explained the manticore''s immense size. Every time it was injured in battle, it mutated to adapt to the changing demands, and as it survived, its transformations and enhancements accumulated. That was how it got so enormous and so powerful.

    I''ll have to finish this quickly, before it mutates even further!

    I didn''t use the word evolve, because it seemed that everyone had the misconception of what evolution was. Evolution wasn''t used to refer to changes in a single organism, but the process of how advantageous traits were retained and passed down genetically to offspring for them to survive better in a particular environment. Mutating and transforming in the middle of a battle was not evolution. A lot of people seemed to misinterpret what evolution was (especially a lot of self-proclaimed scientifically minded atheists who loved to use evolution to mock religious people without understanding either evolution or religion clearly).

    But how? Summon new monsters? My Shadow Lunar Fang clearly isn''t able to do much damage to it¡­

    I gritted my teeth as I considered my options.

    Well, I have no choice but to use "that".

    Sword Saint. The special ability I devoured from Minamoto Kureha''s corpse. I had to use it in conjunction with my undead and overwhelm it before it could mutate into something even stronger and harder to kill.

    But I don''t have a sword¡­

    It mattered not. I had an ability that could provide me with whatever swords I needed. I strapped my staff to my back and held out both hands, conjuring twin swords in my hands. Taking a deep breath, I raced forward while the manticore was still occupied with razing my gaikotsu to the ground. With its new limbs, it was able to overpower them physically, knocking them over and pulverizing them with sheer force.

    Ducking under its swinging paw, I slashed at the manticore, opening up a new gash in its body. The summoned sword in my right hand shattered from the sheer power of the strike, unable to endure the strength of the Sword Saint.

    That was all right. I immediately summoned a new sword while hacking with the other sword in my left hand. The manticore screeched as another huge chunk of flesh was gouged out of its chest. It tried to swat me away, but a gaikotsu clamped down on its arm, distracting it for a precious few seconds and diverting its attention from me.

    That was all I needed.

    Holding my newly summoned sword with both hands, I unleashed another strike that I had no doubt Kureha would be proud of. The powerful strike sent the manticore tumbling backward, and my gaikotsu wasted no time in clambering on top of the behemoth and tearing into it. The manticore writhed and kicked them off, but the damage had been done.

    Adaptive Mutation was not the same as Regeneration. The manticore clearly couldn''t heal its wounds at the same rate as we undead could. Even though it could grow new limbs, it couldn''t heal the more superficial ones.

    However, I could see its skin hardening and becoming more impervious to my gaikotsu''s onslaught as they clawed at it. I hoped the damned Adaptive Mutation had a limit, or my sword strikes would eventually become ineffective against it.

    "¡­!"

    I almost paid the price for not paying attention. The manticore had lashed out at me, almost catching me off guard. Taken by surprise, I loped off its paw in reflex, causing the flailing limb to crash heavily onto the ground.

    "Holy Terra! My mistake!"

    I never meant to do that. Over the next few seconds, the manticore grew a new, more powerful leg that was disproportionately bigger than the other three. Like an oversized pincer, the manticore''s new claw was powerful enough to reduce the mountain to dust, as demonstrated when it pulverized the nearest gaikotsu.

    What''s the point of buffing them with Thousand Astral Graves if they still end up dying so easily? I wondered.

    Well, at least they weren''t dying as easily as before the buffs, and they were still doing enough damage to annoy the manticore. They weren''t powerful enough to defeat the gargantuan monster, but they posed enough of a threat and were distracting it long enough for me to continue whittling away at the monster''s health.

    However, if dismemberment couldn''t kill the manticore, then I needed something more drastic. Something catastrophic enough that I could kill the manticore in a single strike. Jumping away to avoid another slash from the manticore''s odd claw, I studied the creature and analyzed it. The manticore had to have a weakness somewhere.

    A vulnerable spot that''s not armored, a place where it wouldn''t have been hurt enough to require the mutation¡­

    Absolute Appraisal kicked in, the lenses of my glasses literally blazing with blue fire as I shifted the special ability into overdrive. There were so many numbers that they were almost meaningless. I just needed to know where the weakest spot was¡­

    There it is!

    As overwhelming as the numbers were, they provided vital information. My glasses were automatically sifting through the information and displaying the most relevant data, and that numerical value stood out as being the lowest.

    Lowest in terms of thickness¡­that meant the least protection or armor. In other words, a weak spot.

    Sending a mental command to my gaikotsu, the remaining giant skeletons piled forward in a near suicidal manner, clutching and grabbing the bellowing manticore. More of them were smashed to the ground ¨C by now, I only had four left. They struggled, grappling with the huge stinger and the limbs, but the tail whipped free after the manticore crushed another gaikotsu with that disproportionately large paw of its.

    Three left.

    "Uwaaah!"

    With a determined yell, I lunged at the manticore, summoning a new two-handed sword. The manticore didn''t flinch, its gigantic paw swiping over to swat me to death. I did a cartwheel and flipped my body over the soaring claws, landing on the back of its paw before running along its arm. Snarling, the manticore struck with its tail, the immense stinger streaking toward me with deadly accuracy.

    In reflex, the Sword Saint working its way into my mind, I swung my sword and severed the tail. The scorpion tail crashed down, jumping wildly even when disembodied. The manticore roared in agony and reared back, almost yanking the surviving trio of gaikotsu off their feet but they remained firm, digging their skeletal feet into the wasteland and holding it down.

    Long enough for me to jump off the manticore''s paw and summon a new sword.

    The manticore darted forward, attempting to seize me with its teeth, but I spun around in midair and landed on its nose with a single foot. Just barely avoiding a fall into the deadly pit of teeth, I kicked off from the manticore''s nose and launched myself further back, above the majestic mane. Sailing above the air, I twisted my body around to glare at my target.

    The neck, just barely exposed beneath the shock of brown mane ¨C unlike the other parts of the manticore, the flesh covering its spine and neck was hardly armored. Probably because any wound dealt to that area would be undoubtedly fatal.

    It was here that I would deliver my fatal strike.

    Channeling black mana into my summoned sword, I gripped it with both hands before swinging it as hard as I could. I wasn''t just releasing a blast of Shadow Lunar Fang. I was executing a technique of the Sword Saint and extending the slash of my sword on a metaphysical level. The black blade seemed to expand momentarily before arcing outward and slicing through the manticore''s neck cleanly. Blood spurted out of the wound, almost like a volcanic geyser erupting from the core of a mountain. As I landed on the ground behind the manticore, the behemoth staggered for a few moments and went still, as if it didn''t believe what had just happened.

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    And then, slowly, its head slid off its neck. At the same time, the summoned sword in my hands broke apart and fell into pieces.

    "Phew."

    I exhaled in relief as I turned back to the falling manticore. Using Absolute Appraisal, I ensured that it was clearly and undeniably dead. Even after a few seconds passed, there was no new head growing out of the manticore''s neck. Smiling, I shook my head.

    "Try adapting to losing your head."

    The headless manticore jerked in its death throes one last time before finally going still.

 32 Chapter 32: Downtown

    "Hu. That was a good meal."

    I rubbed my stomach as I went down the mountain, feeling very full. The manticore was massive, and this time I didn''t eat all of it. I had kept several portions of the manticore in my magical pouch, as evidence that I had slain it. Other than that, I had tried to eat as much of the manticore as possible, but being bigger than the anaconda, I finally found a meal that was impossible for me to finish.

    Fortunately, I didn''t have to finish the manticore to gain its ability. Just a few bites and a swallow netted me Adaptive Mutation. Like the other special abilities, I bet Adaptive Mutation would be a little too low level for me to actually make full use of it at the moment, but in the future I could see it combining with my Regeneration to turn me into a true monster.

    I don''t exactly want to lose my humanity, though¡­

    As uncomfortable as I felt when thinking about the monstrous possibilities regarding Adaptive Mutation and Regeneration, I had to admit that I was no longer human. At least not in the biological sense, anyway.

    Thinking about that, I recognized that it was useless to think about preserving my humanity. The moment I fed on the necromancer, I had discarded my humanity long ago. To pretend that I could somehow preserve some semblance of humanity would be deluding myself. I should focus on gaining as many special abilities to give me an advantage over the heroes.

    Taking a deep breath, I summoned Matsukaze and rode him back to town. On the way back, I conjured up my status screen to confirm that I had indeed plundered the special ability from the deceased manticore.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich Lord

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint, Adaptive Mutation

    Eight special abilities so far. Was there a limit to the number of special abilities I could possess? I remembered that Takeda Junpei had a limit of ten. If I was under the same sort of restrictions, then I only had two slots left.

    What will I get rid of if I do have restrictions?

    All eight of my current special abilities were indispensable. Probably the one that didn''t fit me the most was Sword Saint, but without that special ability, I wouldn''t have defeated the manticore. Honestly, I didn''t mind getting rid of Adaptive Mutation because of my anxieties over losing my humanity, but from a practical point of view I had already lost my humanity and it was one of the abilities I should definitely keep alongside Regeneration.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Well, I would worry about it when I reached that point. For now, I still had two slots left. And I didn''t know if I had a limit for sure.

    "I''ve killed the manticore!" I yelled.

    There was no reply. Someone creaked a window open end peeked outside, only to gasp when he saw the manticore''s stinger, but he disappeared back into his room, blubbering something to his wife, who also fell back in shock from the sight.

    The couple was so stunned that they fell into silence.

    They weren''t the only ones. A few windows were slowly and quietly opened here and there as the residents cautiously peered outside, only to crash back in silence and disbelief. I slowly rode through the town before getting to the inn. Shaking my head, bemused at the townsfolks'' response, I got off Matsukaze and dismissed him.

    "Sorry for being late."

    I walked right into the inn, only for the innkeeper to drop the cup he was polishing. It hit the table and thankfully didn''t crack, but the innkeeper wasn''t paying any attention to his wares. Instead, his jaw dropped open when he saw me.

    "You''re¡­alive."

    "Yeah. And you guys don''t have to worry about the manticore ever again."

    I held up the stinger, and the innkeeper fell back, fumbling as he crashed into a chair. Pulling himself upright and sitting down because his knees were shaking too violently to keep him upright, he stared at the manticore''s stinger in my hand in disbelief.

    "H¡­how¡­?"

    "With great difficulty."

    "No¡­but even then, how did you defeat a manticore by yourself? Without a party? Going into the mountains and fighting it solo? That''s not possible. Even the heroes would have to fight such a monster in a party!"

    "I''m not a hero," I replied, tensing at the word. How dare he group me together with those foul former classmates of mine? I wanted nothing to do with them, not a single association. They were my targets for revenge, nothing more.

    The innkeeper must have detected the undercurrent in my voice, for he quickly shook his head and hands in a placating manner.

    "I mean no offense, of course."

    "Sure. Anyway, with my task done, you shouldn''t have to worry about the manticore again. If another one ¨C or even other monsters ¨C shows up, please send another request to the mercenary guild. I''ll come exterminate it again."

    "Y¡­yes!"

    The innkeeper was so overwhelmed that he was trembling in disbelief. He shook his head to clear his mind of any doubt and continued staring at the stinger until I stuck it into my pouch. Even though the stinger was so massive that it was as tall as me, it could somehow fit into the magical pouch that was twice the size of my hand.

    Apparently there was spatial magic in the pouch that allowed me to stuff objects bigger than its exterior into it. There was almost no limit to storage space. It functioned as some sort of inventory in a game. Given the blue status screens, special abilities and guild, I wasn''t surprised that this world operated similarly to a game.

    "I''ll need to return to the city and hand this over," I grumbled. I didn''t like the idea of having the stinger in my pouch. Despite the lack of spatial restrictions, I would much rather not have such a dangerous thing lying around my possessions. I didn''t want to sting myself while looking for an item or weapon.

    It was where I stored Minamoto Kureha''s broken sword, by the way.

    "Mr. Customer?"

    The innkeeper was staring at me, at a loss. I smiled and gestured upstairs.

    "Sorry, just tired after a hard battle. My room is still open, right?"

    "Ah, yes! Please help yourself! And don''t worry about the fee. Tonight''s on the house." The innkeeper blubbered, almost in tears. "I can''t thank you enough for helping us! For saving us from the manticore! Thank you!"

    "Uh, no problem. Don''t worry about it."

    I was too tired to argue, so I decided to push the issue of paying for my room the next day. There was no way I could accept charity like this. After all, I was already going to receive the reward from the guild when I return to the city.

    That was enough. I didn''t want to rob a living from an innkeeper who was probably in the red after all those weeks of not getting any business.

    "Good night."

    Suppressing a yawn, I climbed the stairs and headed for my room.

    *

    The next morning, I was surprised to see a crowd of townsfolk gathering outside the inn. I had barely gotten up when I heard the commotion, and I glanced out of the window, only to see a large number clustering at the entrance of the inn and chattering excitedly. Apparently the innkeeper didn''t let them in or they didn''t want to enter.

    What''s going on? I wondered as I scratched my head. Some sort of event?

    Well, it wasn''t my business. Washing up, I changed out of my casual clothes and back into my uniform and Redwood jacket. Come to think of it, the manticore wouldn''t have been able to hurt me because of the layers of protection that my Redwood jacket offered. With this, I could consider getting rid of both Regeneration and Adaptive Mutation because those two skills would hardly come into play anyway.

    Nah, I''ll hold onto them.

    Those were powerful life-saving abilities, and I would be a fool to get rid of them just because I had an impenetrable armament that rendered me immune to attacks. I couldn''t put all my eggs in one basket. There would be times when I didn''t have my Redwood jacket on, or if there existed enemies with attacks powerful enough to break through Redwood Robe''s defense. Suzuki Shirou''s God-Slaying Spear was one example.

    The commotion continued outside, much to my annoyance. Taking a deep breath, I packed up and got ready to leave. Fortunately, packing was as easy as throwing everything into my magical pouch, but I had to be careful not to accidentally sting myself.

    My Redwood Robe will protect me from that, though¡­

    I had no idea how the defensive enchantments on my Redwood Robe worked, but they had never failed to defend me from anything they deemed harmful. Even those that I didn''t even conceive as dangerous.

    I descended the stairs, only to see that the innkeeper was waiting on the first story. The tables were empty, a stark contrast to the bustling crowd outside the building. He caught sight of me and bowed fervently.

    "Sir mercenary! Good morning! Would you like breakfast?"

    "Nah, I''m fine. I''m not hungry."

    Having eaten so much manticore meat yesterday, I was still feeling stuffed. I couldn''t possibly eat another bite.

    "Speaking of which, I''ll need to pay you for the room yesterday."

    "No, don''t worry about it."

    "I insist. I don''t want to get into trouble with the guild or they''ll accuse me of taking advantage of you."

    "You''re not taking advantage of me at all!" the innkeeper protested, but I shook my head and placed a couple of silver coins firmly on the table.

    "That''s not how the guild will see it. Anyway, thank you." I smiled. "As I said last night, if any monster plagues your town again, feel free to contact the guild."

    I opened the door, only to stumble instinctively when a rush of bodies poured in. Not to visit the inn, but to surround me.

    "He''s here!"

    "The mercenary is here!"

    "Awesome job!"

    "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

    "I can''t express my gratitude enough!"

    I was stunned when I found myself swamped by grateful townsfolk, weeping or cheering as they surrounded me. The men patted me on the back and shoulders while the women sobbed and sniffled in joy.

    "¡­eh? What?"

    I could only stare at them dumbly, not comprehending what was going on. It took a while, but I managed to piece together the details.

    Apparently, after my ride through the streets last night, the townsfolk realized that there were no longer any howls or sounds from the manticore. One man even risked stepping out of his horse and running around to stare at the mountains, but¡­nothing happened.

    The manticore was gone. The dangerous threat that plagued Millennial Town for weeks had finally been eliminated, and it was safe to walk the streets at night again.

    "I can''t believe it! When I heard you were going to face the manticore alone, I thought you were crazy, and that you''ll get yourself killed!"

    "Yeah, I thought you were an insane kid spouting nonsense!"

    "Hah! I never doubted him for one second!"

    "Shut up, you liar. You were predicting that he will get killed by the manticore in one second!"

    "We heard it too!"

    "¡­ugh."

    I scratched my head in embarrassment and smiled awkwardly as I tried to face the crowd.

    "Uh, well, I''m glad you guys are all right. The manticore''s gone now, so you should be safe. But if another monster shows up, feel free to contact the guild again. I''ll definitely come and help you if I''m available."

    "Thank you!"

    "We definitely will!"

    The townsfolks tried to clasp my hands, but I tried to politely get past them without offending anyone.

    "Well, I''m in a hurry. The next town awaits me, so¡­I hope you understand."

    "Sure!"

    "We''ll see you again, kid!"

    "Thanks again!"

    The townsfolks cheered and waved as I hastily made my exit. Reaching the edge of Millennial Town, I summoned Matsukaze and rode the hell out of there.

    As much as I felt flattered and delighted to be on the receiving end and praise, I didn''t like being the center of attention. After all, I was more the shy type, and I couldn''t deal well with crowds. Still, I couldn''t help but feel pleased at having helped people in need.

    The ride back to the capital took almost the whole day. By the time I reached the city, it was almost nightfall. The sun was dipping just beneath the horizon and the skies had turned a dark yellow. I noted that there was still quite some bustling activity in the city, but after showing the city guards my guild ID, I was allowed back into Havia City.

    I rode Matsukaze back in the direction of the guild house before disembarking and dismissing him. Dusting myself after the long ride, I pushed the door open.

    As usual, the mercenaries were all drinking and cheering ¨C at least the older men who were in their thirties or above. The youngsters such as Alan were nowhere to be seen, probably because they had some place to be.

    Ugh, don''t remind me.

    I shrank back when I remembered hearing how Alan was having sex with Alicia and Sophia in the girl''s room. I didn''t want to imagine what Alan was doing with those two girls now, or what the other youngsters were doing.

    Yeah, I''m a virgin, and the number of years I don''t have a girlfriend equals the number of years I''m alive. Okay? Now shut it.

    Shaking my head, I proceeded to the counter where Hughes was seated. The bald, dark-skinned guild receptionist was chugging down a mug of mead or something, and he slammed it down when he saw me, his face a little red.

    "Oh, Tanaka. You''re back already. Did you really go and tackle the manticore on your own?"

    "Yeah."

    I handed him my guild ID before producing the manticore''s stinger, claws and even the gigantic head, dumping it on the ground.

    "Holy Emperor¡­!"

    Hughes sobered up and jumped in fright when he saw me dropping the contents of my magical pouch on the table. It wasn''t just him. Behind me, chairs clattered as the drinking mercenaries (and those who were playing cards) jumped to their feet.

    "What the hell?!"

    "Is that a manticore?!"

    "I''ve never see a manticore''s head or stinger that big?!"

    "No wonder I don''t see the rest of his party. Did they all get slaughtered?"

    "Holy Evelyn!"

    Several of them began approaching to study the manticore, their eyes wide in disbelief.

    "Hey, hey! Get back!" Hughes waved them back, but they refused to listen. The middle-aged mercenaries gathered around me, swallowing skeptically.

    "Did you really kill the manticore, kid?"

    "Yes, he did. And he did it all by himself, so don''t go pissing him off and get back! All of you!"

    Hughes had quite the reputation, so even if the older mercenaries didn''t quite believe his words, they listened to him and stepped back.

    "Now, where were we? Ah, right. Confirming the evidence." Hughes sighed and swiped my ID card in the counter. "Evelyn, goddess of Man¡­that''s twenty-five gold for killing such a monstrous manticore. Courtesy of Millennial Town. It says here they want to send you their regards and gratitude for defeating such a monster."

    "I already received it before I left their town," I muttered as I remembered the excited crowd who were waiting outside the inn.

    "Yeah, I don''t blame them. No mercenary has taken the quest for weeks now. It''s not hard to imagine that they were being driven to the brink of despair." With that statement, Hughes casted a glare at the middle-aged mercenaries, who shrank away shamefully.

    "The town was too far away."

    "Didn''t you see the size of that thing? There''s no way we could have defeated it."

    "Don''t be unreasonable."

    Hughes snorted as he listened to their excuses and shook his head. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he muttered to himself.

    "Yet this kid here made the journey and killed the manticore all by himself."

    "It was luck."

    "Yeah, you said that for the goblins, and then for the high orc. And now a titanic manticore that most mercenaries wouldn''t dare face, even if they were in parties. Just what the hell are you? Oh, and you''re now officially chrome rank. I skipped steel rank, because honestly, you''re definitely not steel. Actually, you''re not even chrome. You''re at least bronze or silver. If you pull off another quest like that again, I''ll bump you up to bronze."

    "Don''t worry about it. I don''t care about the ranks."

    "Oh, you have to." Hughes sighed. "Not just for yourself, but for the guild''s reputation too. The more high-ranked mercenaries we have, the more people who will hire us, and the more they''re willing to pay for our services."

    I said nothing. From what I saw, mercenaries were involved in a lucrative business. I had forty gold right now, which would probably last me for a year or two if I didn''t carelessly splash them on living luxuriously.

    "On behalf of the guild, a job very well done, Tanaka. You''re quite the amazing rookie. I''ve never heard of a newbie mercenary who''s rising the ranks as quickly as you and achieving such insane feats. Quite frankly, you''re becoming a legend."

    I turned pale when I heard that. I didn''t mean to stand out, but it seemed my original plan to keep a low profile had completely fallen apart.

    Hughes mistook my complexion for exhaustion, so he placed a hand reassuringly on my shoulder and gestured for me to leave.

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    "You look really tired. I don''t blame you. Must be one hell of a job fighting that manticore, eh? Now go home and rest. You deserve it."

    I didn''t have a home to go to, to be honest. But I couldn''t exactly tell Hughes that, so I nodded and headed toward the Blue Moon Inn. Before I could leave, however, I heard a commotion outside the guild house as a carriage and a platoon of soldiers rushed by.

    "Whoa!"

    I stepped back to duck out of sight as the carriage practically flew past the street in front of the guild house, followed by yelling soldiers on foot. Hughes chuckled at my reaction.

    "Don''t worry about that. The Imperial Army''s just going a little crazy over the last few days. It''s a routine patrol."

    "Routine patrol?" I repeated dumbly.

    "Ah, yeah. You were out of the city when it happened so you probably didn''t know, but about two days ago, one of the heroes went missing. They''re running the city ragged and turning it inside out just to find her. Or any clues pertaining to her."

    "One of the heroes went missing?"

    I swallowed, knowing who Hughes was referring to. Minamoto Kureha. The "hero" I killed while traveling to Millennial Town.

    "Yeah." Hughes looked at me strangely. I realized that I had an unnatural expression on, so I forced a puzzled frown.

    "Who?"

    "Ah, the Sword Saint, I believe. Uh¡­what was her name¡­Mimamoto Claire?"

    "Minamoto Kureha!" one of the mercenaries shouted from his seat. The ossans had all returned to drinking and playing cards.

    "Yeah, that one. Apparently she went to look for her friend and never came back."

    Heh. She was never coming back. Her remains were buried somewhere in the middle of nowhere after I had eaten most of her.

    But that was something I couldn''t tell the mercenaries.

    "Thanks to her little stunt, the whole city''s in an uproar. They''ll probably continue to look for her for the next month or so. But I wouldn''t be worried if I were them. I''m sure she''s fine. After all, what could possibly kill a hero?"

    Oh, you have no idea.

    I hid my smile, and was about to leave when Hughes suddenly called out to me.

    "Oi, Tanaka. That jacket you''re wearing. You mind giving that to me?"

    "Huh? Why should I?"

    I stared at Hughes suspiciously, but he merely sighed and gestured with his hand impatiently.

    "That''s a treasure item, isn''t it? I need to appraise it. Don''t worry, once I''m done appraising it, I''ll return it to you through your inventory."

    "Why do you need to appraise it?" I demanded, tightly clutching my Redwood jacket. This treasure equipment was one of the reasons why I had survived this long. I wasn''t about to hand it over just like that.

    "To register it under your name. You know how rare treasure items are? If the nobles find out, they''ll confiscate it from you. I''m just going to make sure you''re the sole owner of them, so your possessions will be protected and guaranteed by us. Don''t worry, it shouldn''t take more than a week."

    A week? That sounded like forever. I swallowed, but Hughes had been trustworthy so far. Sighing, I reluctantly took the Redwood Robe off and handed it to him.

    "Make sure you return it."

    "Of course I will. Have I ever let you down before?"

    "Plenty of times."

    Grinning mischievously, I bade Hughes farewell and left for the Blue Moon Inn. Glancing at the soldiers marching throughout the city even as day turned into night, I realized that it was not a good idea to stick around in the city for a while.

    Tomorrow, at first light, I would immediately set off again¡­and this time, the further and longer the mission, the better.

 33 Chapter 33: Midgardia

    Now that I thought about it, the whole purpose of taking the manticore mission in Millennial Town was to avoid the heroes in the first place. Unfortunately, I finished the manticore mission much earlier than expected and returned while Havia City was still embroiled in the search for the missing Sword Saint Minamoto Kureha.

    I was so excited about getting the reward for slaying the manticore and dumping its grisly head and stinger off at the guild (freeing my magical pouch of space) that I had completely forgotten about that. No, that wasn''t true. It was still I the back of my mind. I guess I was just being hopelessly optimistic about the heroes leaving after me spending two days out in Millennial Town.

    How na?ve.

    "Ugh, what do I do now?"

    I sure as hell wasn''t going to hide in my room in Blue Moon Inn. I had much bigger goals such as taking revenge on the heroes and I didn''t want to waste too much time hiding out when I could be gathering information or accumulating wealth to buy better equipment and weapons. I needed to be properly armed when going up against the heroes.

    Well, this is still an opportunity¡­

    I could still execute my strategy of luring the heroes out individually and killing them one at a time. That was the best plan I had for now. Isolate them, draw one of them away from the others, and then go to town on him or her with my zombies. It worked with Minamoto Kureha, Tsukishima Tomoyo and Kijima Takeshi.

    It should work on the others.

    Those three, plus Samejima Hiroki who Kobayashi murdered¡­that means there are twenty-five of my former classmates left.

    Slowly chipping away at their numbers while keeping a low profile, and then accumulate more special abilities and weapons that might help me get strong enough to face the whole lot of them at once. Yeah, that should work.

    For now, I still needed money to survive in this new world, so I headed to the guild house for a new job.

    I didn''t get very far. About a few blocks away from the guild house, I caught sight of a huge crowd gathering in front of the place.

    Those are not¡­mercenaries, are they?

    They didn''t look like mercenaries at all. While most of the curious onlookers were normal civilians, there was a fair number of armored knights surrounding a couple of seemingly important people. I stopped and stared for a few moments, activating my Absolute Appraisal. Even if I couldn''t make out their features from this distance, I could at least guess what was going on.

    I knew it.

    I could see at least two heroes. One of them was Sakaguchi Seiji, and the other was Asakura Akane. They were talking to a mercenary outside the guild house, who was gesturing animatedly. I shrank back so as to stay out of sight, but I could feel a chill.

    I can''t stay here.

    Sighing, I turned around and quickly made my way to the city exit. Perhaps I should ride out toward Millennial Town and hide there for a few weeks or so. The townsfolks were grateful to me for slaying the manticore so they surely would be more than happy to help me out. Additionally, the town was quite a distance from Havia Town so it was unlikely any of the heroes would make the trip all the way out there.

    However, I stopped when I saw the number of knights and soldiers marching out of the southern gate, accompanied by more heroes. There was no going out that way. Apparently someone must have reported on Kureha leaving through the southern gate a few days ago when she and her knights chased after me.

    Oh boy.

    Forcing myself to calm down, I suppressed my panic and made an about turn. This was stupid. I should have stayed in Millennial Town instead of being greedy for the reward. I picked the quest to stay away from Havia City for a long time, so why did I let greed get the better of me and returned to get rid of the manticore and grab the gold coins? What was the point of getting so many gold coins when I found myself trapped in Havia City?

    Don''t panic. There''s still a way out, surely.

    There were four exits in the city. North, south, east and west. If the knights and military were busily occupying the southern gate, then I theoretically could leave from the northern gate and then circle around toward Millennial Town.

    No, wait. Sakaguchi and Asakura are questioning the guild. If they find out I''m still alive and a member there, they will attempt to trace my footsteps and hunt me down. That means they''ll look for me in Millennial Town too.

    I realized there was a silver lining in the cloud after all. Had I not been aware that the heroes would eventually track me down through the guild, I would be caught off guard when they showed up in Millennial Town one day. Truly a blessing in disguise.

    But even so, where do I go?

    It didn''t matter. Anywhere was better than here. I just needed to get out of the city. Then I could think of a destination later.

    Fortunately, the northern gate was not occupied by any troops so I silently left through there before summoning Matsukaze and riding out of there. I quietly apologized to Hughes and the other mercenaries in the guild for leaving without telling them. Maybe in the far future, I would be able to get some intelligence regarding what the heroes were there for. If I was merely being paranoid and they were asking questions about Kureha normally, then I could return after the whole commotion regarding Kureha died down.

    Otherwise¡­this was farewell forever. It was a pity. I liked Hughes and a few of the mercenaries I traveled with, especially Alan. I couldn''t say the same for Alicia, but at least Sophia wasn''t annoying and arrogant.

    Maybe we''ll meet again.

    For now, I should focus on escaping.

    I rode aimlessly along the road, heading toward the north. I had no idea where I was going. Probably toward Midgardia, where Helsfort and the northern lands belonging to the demons lay. Speaking of which, I found it intriguing that the heroes and the army had returned to Havia City rather than seize the initiative and capitalize on their momentum to push into demonic territory and eradicate them from Restia. Perhaps the war of extermination was proving more difficult than they thought? Or the loss of three of the heroes (including Samejima) caused them to cut their losses and turn back?

    As usual, I need more intelligence and information.

    Such information I could collect if I was a higher-ranked mercenary. I had heard that bronze-ranked mercenaries and above had access to military information, which was why I planned to slowly rise through the ranks. I was on course to reaching that goal and infiltrating into the military. It irked me to have fallen just short of the goal.

    I had finally reached chrome rank, and was just a couple ranks shy of my goal. My former classmates had chosen the worst timing possible. Or perhaps I was just blaming everything except myself for not going my way.

    After a few hours of riding, I managed to reach Midgardia without any incident. There was a small town on the border, close to where skirmishes with the demons often took place. Fortunately, there was a garrison of significant strength also stationed there to ward off such demonic incursions and keep the population safe. The town lived off traded and profited off the military presence, selling the soldiers comfort goods and offering services.

    Much like how the Japanese businesses thrived off profit from the American military forces stationed in the air bases on Okinawa.

    I couldn''t help but compare this world with that of Japan, where I had grown up in. there were eerie parallels with Earth, even if the place was completely different. While the presence of magic significantly altered the culture and the way this world operated, the politics and economics of both worlds functioned in the same manner.

    I didn''t know whether I should feel comforted about the similarity or not. It did make it easier for me to apply the logic from my world to here and act accordingly. As long as I could anticipate how to make money and how the people in this world interacted on a level similar to Japan, I could survive indefinitely.

    "Oh, hey! A visitor! We haven''t had one of these for a while!"

    While I rode into town, I overheard a vendor exclaiming to his customer. A few soldiers glanced in my direction, but when they saw that I wasn''t a threat, they looked away. I was initially surprised at the lack of checkpoints and security, but I quickly realized I had arrived from the "correct" way ¨C the route from the city. In contrast to the southern entrance, the northern entrance of the town was fully fortified, with barracks lined up behind a formidable wall.

    The fortified town in Midagardia, Fortellia. It was my first time here, but I had heard Captain Dante Infernius mention it to me while we were riding back, and also read about it from one of the books in my Library of Eden.

    Unless the demonic army recovered and organized a retaliatory strike, or the heroes planned to return and invade Helsfort and the demon-held lands in the north, those heroes wouldn''t visit here for a while. And if they did, I would just leave and head for demonic territory. I would much rather take my chances with the demons than my former classmates, who were all bullying, murderous maniacs.

    Not only did I have Machiavellian Charisma that might or might not help me in negotiating with the demons, I knew my former classmates would never listen to reason and would do their absolute best to kill me.

    I got off Matsukaze and dismissed him before entering the nearest inn. The innkeeper looked surprised, mostly because the garrison-town of Fortellia rarely had any visitors. Most people stayed away from the fortified town because of the demonic threat, and only the most reckless of merchants would do business here. Even so, they would arrive in large groups, escorted by military troops or mercenaries, and not alone like me.

    "You here by yourself?" the innkeeper asked. I nodded. As he rummaged for a key to one of the rooms, he casually threw out a question. "Ah, a merchant? On business?"

    "Not exactly," I replied and handed my ID to pay for the room. He took it and nodded when he saw my details.

    "A mercenary, then. Makes sense. They''re hiring you guys to scout ahead into Helsreach, aren''t they?"

    "They?" I repeated. The innkeeper stared at me, perplexed.

    "The military, of course."

    "Ah, yeah. Of course." I hastily nodded. "That''s what I''m here for¡­but not for scouting. More for the fighting, actually."

    The innkeeper snorted as he handed me my ID and keys. "Another glory hunter? Youngsters these days¡­I know the heroes succeeded in killing off the Demon Lord, but there''s still plenty of demonic nobles and monsters out there. Try not to get yourself killed."

    "Yes, sir."

    I couldn''t believe my luck. The army was hiring mercenaries? To push further into Helsreach? That was the best way of getting away from the heroes as quickly as possible. And if the heroes did show up, it would be a simple matter off disappearing into enemy territory where they didn''t have the jurisdiction or ability to launch a full-scale hunt for me.

    I had best find out more details about this tomorrow.

    *

    The military installation was pretty robust and intimidating, and true to form, the security checkpoints to the garrison were pretty severe. I was turned away by the soldiers guarding the place before I could even tell them that I was a mercenary. It appeared I needed a special pass or ID to even get close to the place.

    "What do I do now?"

    While at a loss, I caught sight of a group of mercenaries returning from the forest, battered and wounded. Escorted by a group of soldiers, they argued and complained loudly before being led into the garrison.

    "We risked our necks doing your jobs! Don''t you tell us what to do!"

    "You knew the risks when you accepted the job, sir."

    "Yeah, scouting in Helsreach? We applied to be scouts! Not frontline soldiers!"

    Contrary to what I told the innkeeper, I didn''t care about glory or fighting. Scouting suited me just fine as long as I could leave human-held territory and hide from the heroes. I wanted to follow them, but the mercenaries disappeared into the garrison while under the protective gaze of their military escorts. The sentries glared at me when I took a step in their direction, which discouraged me from getting any closer.

    I sighed and returned to the inn, wondering what I should do.

    That night, my peace was disturbed when a raucous group tumbled into the inn, gathering into the tavern at the first floor and ordering a round of drinks.

    "Hey, innkeeper! More mead!"

    "Coming right away, sir."

    I could hear the din from my room, which annoyed me. Voracious laughter and loud voices rang through the first floor down below, assaulting my ears and disturbing my peace. I sighed and peeked out of my room.

    With the door open, I could hear the laughter and taunting banter even more clearly. I winced as the loud voices slammed into my ears, almost like thunder.

    "Did you see Meek? He wet his pants the moment he saw that demon!"

    "Shut up, Bold! You crapped your pants too, didn''t you?!"

    "No, I didn''t."

    "Ha ha ha ha! He got you there, Bold!"

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    "Shut it."

    "Man, those hot demon chicks¡­I know they''re not human, but I want to bang one of them someday."

    "Really, Rusty? Didn''t you hear how they''ll drain the vitality of all the men they fucked? You''ll get fucked if you do them, in more ways than one."

    Another round of laughter.

    I frowned when I overheard the topic of their conversations. Demons? Curious, I shut the door to my room and made my way to the stairs. Peering from above, I saw that it was the group of mercenaries that I saw earlier that morning.

    "Ah¡­!"

    I wanted to approach them and ask if I could join them, but I felt a little awkward. Surely they wouldn''t just let any stranger join them, even if I was a mercenary from the same group? Would they find me suspicious?

    "Man¡­I need to send a request back to the guild to recruit new members," the biggest mercenary in the group complained before he downed a mug of mead. The frothy alcohol dribbled down his thick, dark beard before he let out a hearty yell of satisfaction.

    "Fresh meat for the grinder, boss?" a lanky mercenary with a scar over his face asked with a grin. The boss scowled.

    "Well, we''ve got to replace our losses, Meek. We lost Rack and Lessa today. Damned military never tells us anything and sends us on suicidal scouting missions. If they weren''t paying us fifty gold, I would never let them order us around like that."

    "Yeah, we''re doing their jobs for them. What right do they have to act so high and mighty?" a thickset mercenary with broad shoulders growled.

    "Well, they''re paying us," a thin, almost intelligent-looking man pointed out. "As the guy said, we knew the risks when we took the job. If we wanted a safe job without risking our lives, then we have plenty of other quests to consider."

    "This one pays the best, though." The boss shook his head. "But the rate of attrition is pretty high. We''ve lost and replaced at least eight members in the past two weeks. Those demons certainly don''t play around."

    "Makes us wonder how those heroes do it, eh?" Meek smirked.

    "Idiot, they''re the chosen of the goddess Evelyn. They have powers none of us can even imagine, granted to them by the goddess herself."

    "I wonder why the goddess has to summon them from another world," the thickset mercenary grumbled. "She could have just given us those powers and we can fight for Legnica ourselves. Why bring in outsiders?"

    "If you were that noble and responsible, Bold, why aren''t you in the army?" Meek taunted, eliciting a laugh from the others.

    "Yeah, Bold! There''s no way the goddess Evelyn will look at someone like you!"

    "You want the powers of the heroes? Dream on!"

    Even as the mercenaries laughed the question off, I alone considered it seriously. Indeed, why couldn''t the goddesses just bestow powers upon the residents of Restia? Why go through all the trouble of summoning people like me from another world? Was there some sort of restriction regarding the bestowment of powers? Or were the humans of Restia unable to withstand the divine powers that the goddesses grant the heroes?

    That makes no sense, given how the follower of Lyia, Asura, is granted powers from the goddess of knowledge.

    I stopped. Wait, was Asura even from this world? He was an oni, right? A Japanese demon that shouldn''t belong to a medieval fantasy Western-styled world like Restia. Was he summoned from another world too?

    Ugh, this was confusing.

    "Well, anyway, I need at least one more mercenary or Metzen''s squad will be severely understrength, especially after losing both Rack and Lessa."

    "He can have Rusty," Bold suggested as he gestured to a weedy-looking man with stringy hair and a balding scalp. Rusty blanched at that.

    "You throwing me away, Bold? I''m hurt!"

    "I''m tempted to move members around," the boss agreed while flatly ignoring Rusty''s feigned objections. "But your squad is already understrength, Bold. I don''t want to increase the burden on you. We need at least five new members¡­but even just one guy will make a difference. I''ll talk to Burge and see if he can spare a guy¡­"

    "Um¡­"

    I was trying to hold my excitement as I descended the stairs. The mercenaries were chatting so loudly that they didn''t hear me approach. I cleared my throat, but none of them paid any attention to me despite my waving about.

    "Um¡­"

    "Isn''t Burge understaffed too? He lost ten men the other day to an ambush from the demonic army. Those long-eared demihumans, I believe, shot a bunch of them down with those magic ranged weapons."

    "Apparently they aren''t magic ranged weapons, Bold," the intelligent-looking guy spoke up. "They''re muskets. They operate on gunpowder and some sort of propellant mechanism that ejects a projectile at high speed and force. If his majesty will see the value of such weapons and mass produce them, we would see a revolution in warfare."

    "If you''re so smart, Reading, why don''t you try building one of those things yourself?" Meek sneered. The man named Reading spread his hands helplessly.

    "I have neither the resources nor the knowhow. I think the blacksmiths would be the more appropriate people to ask."

    "Then in the end this is all just pointless speculation and chattering. Let''s just stick with what we know, eh?"

    Meek twirled his blade around and flipped it into the air before snatching it by the hilt. Toying with the dagger, he grinned.

    "This little Shadow has never let me down!"

    "I''m sure your prized dagger is reliable, Meek," the boss said mildly. "But it''s unfortunate that you are not."

    Another round of laughter that drowned out any attempt I made to attract their attention. I sighed as I stood behind the boss, at a loss of what to do.

    "Sorry, sir¡­"

    I was about to tap the boss''s shoulder when he suddenly whirled around with a dagger. I ducked on instinct, throwing my head backward and watching the deadly blade whizz past my face. I flipped myself back with a cartwheel and got back to my feet, widening the distance between us. Already, my hand was moving toward my staff.

    "Relax, boss! That''s just a kid."

    "Yeah! Stop attacking!"

    It was his men who stopped him. The boss blinked and stared at me for a few seconds before he sheathed his dagger. He huffed.

    "Goddess Evelyn, kid. Don''t sneak up on me like that. After spending so much time in Helsreach, I''ve gotten a little paranoid."

    Clearly he had been acting on reflex when I moved to tap his shoulder, and not because he intended to kill me.

    "Sorry," I apologized with a bow of my head. My hand drifted away from my staff and fell to my side.

    "You have some business with us?" Reading asked. I nodded.

    "I couldn''t help but overheard your conversation earlier."

    "Which one? The one where Meek sucks at wielding his dagger?"

    Bold broke in roughly and sent everyone into stitches. Except the guy in question, of course. Meek was protesting futilely, but nobody paid him any heed.

    I cleared my throat.

    "Actually, if you don''t mind, I want to join you."

    "Join us?"

    The boss''s eyes narrowed as he spun around in his chair to study me. He looked up and down, his lip curling in disapproval.

    "Are you talking about the scouting mission to Helsreach?"

    "Yes, sir. If you would have me, I would be happy to help out."

    "Kid, you do know that we''re not going there for fun and game, right?"

    I wordlessly produced my guild ID and showed it to him. The boss scanned through it, and then nodded.

    "I see. A chrome ranked mercenary, huh? Fine." He turned to a young man with a beard and handsome features. "You mind taking him, Metzen?"

    Metzen shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Any help will be appreciated. Like you said, we''re pretty short on men after Rack and Lessa recklessly surged far ahead today."

    "All right, then make sure you get this kid up to speed." The boss turned back to me and frowned when he tried to read my name. "T¡­Tanaka, eh? Welcome to the team. Try not to let us down or drag our heels. And most of all, try not to get yourself killed."

    "Yes, sir." I saluted. "I''ll do my best."

 34 Chapter 34: First and Only

    "We need you to scout this area, check for dangers and enemy positions, find a route through this forest, and then report back to us."

    The military officer was talking to the boss as he trailed his finger through the map. Apparently the military wanted a safe trail through the forest in Helsreach, without drawing too much attention from demonic patrols. Without the heroes, it would be suicide for the soldiers to get caught out in the open, for the demons possessed potent magical spells that could wipe out entire battalions.

    I wondered why they didn''t just use military scouts. Why hire mercenaries to do the job? What was the point of training scouts and devoting resources to an existing unit when you were going to spend unnecessary money for someone else to do that job?

    Perhaps they don''t want to sacrifice their own valuable soldiers that they spent so much resources training on suicidal scout missions. Unlike those soldiers, we mercenaries are expendable. No one cares if we get killed during the mission.

    I could guess from the way the officer looked at us that he didn''t think highly of mercenaries. He did well to hide that condescending attitude, concealing his scorn behind a pleasant and polite fa?ade, but having experienced a tremendous amount of emotional, physical and verbal abuse from Kobayashi and my former classmates, there was no way I couldn''t detect the underlying condescension from him. But at least this time it wasn''t directed solely at me.

    "We''ll get you the route," the boss promised. But he frowned. "Still, the problem would be solved if the heroes would just come to the frontline and cast a protective spell. Doesn''t Nagano or what''s her name have such a spell?"

    "The heroes are not to be disturbed," the military officer replied stiffly. "After their great success against the Demon Lord and bringing down the fortress at the border between Helsreach and Midgardia, they deserve a break."

    "¡­and you soldiers don''t?"

    "It is none of your business," the military officer snapped. "We exist only to serve the Emperor."

    "Right, right." The boss shook his head, but didn''t probe further. "Don''t worry. We''ll get the job done. We justify the high fee with a thorough job. You''ll see."

    "Yeah." The military officer didn''t sound like he believed the boss, but then again he needed us to do a good job so he wasn''t exactly dismissing us either. "Good luck. If we work together, we''ll be able to defeat the demons. I''m sure of it. For the Emperor."

    "For the Emperor," the boss echoed. And that was it.

    I was a guy, after all. A little injury was nothing.

    However, it wasn''t the injuries that bothered me. It was the bugs.

    It wasn''t the first time I had to trek through a forest ¨C I was forced to travel through it shortly after I came to Restia, having been unceremonially dumped in the middle of nowhere and forced to flee through a forest from Minamoto Kureha and Tsukishima Tomoyo (both of whom were now dead, so I had gotten my revenge). But it still wasn''t a pleasant experience. Most people claimed to love nature and wanted to experience the great outdoors, but they had no idea what the reality was like. The mountain trails for hiking, the nature reserves¡­all of those were human constructed simulations of nature that weren''t even close to the real thing.

    No, the real "Nature" was harsh, cruel and merciless. The uneven forest terrain that made it hard to traverse¡­the countless bugs that buzzed around, leaving angry red welts, itchy scabs and other forms of terrible marks with their bites and stings ¨C and that wasn''t even taking into consideration the possibility that they were capable of carrying diseases. More than once, I overheard one of my comrades cursing as he tried to burn a leech off his skin.

    Ugh. I hated leeches. Fortunately, there was something about my undead blood that was unappealing to them, so most of them avoided me (along with mosquitoes). Unfortunately, the flies and beetles were attracted to me a lot more than the others, precisely because of the same undead characteristic that protected me from bloodsuckers. They swarmed around me annoyingly, no matter how many times I swatted them away.

    "Huff¡­"

    One of the mercenaries stumbled over a log, only for Reading to catch his arm and keep him upright.

    "Sorry."

    "Don''t worry about it. Just keep moving."

    Even the veteran mercenaries were finding it difficult to move across the forest. The terrain wasn''t flat and were filled with bumps, sudden clumps of soil, soft ground that easily gave way, mud, overgrown roots, shrubs, dense foliage and thorny branches. The boss was leading the way, hacking with his machete as best as he could, but even his big knife and even bigger form wasn''t able to completely clear the route.

    I wondered how an entire troop of Imperial Army was going to move through this trail quietly and unnoticed. Even our small group was making quite the ruckus as we bashed our way through the forest. Ironically, it was the dense vegetation of the forest and the cacophony of animal cries and screeches that camouflaged our noisy journey, our forms concealed by the tightly clustered trees and our heavy breathing and footsteps easily mistaken for that of creatures. Occasionally we could hear the snapping of branches and growls in the distance, but we dismissed them as wild animals ¨C if it was the enemy, they would have attacked us the moment they heard us.

    "How long more, boss?" Meek panted as he struggled to keep up. He wasn''t exactly lagging behind, but it was clear that most of the men were tiring.

    "How would I know? Depends on the forest, doesn''t it? You know how it is. It can take anything from three hours to two days."

    "Ugh¡­damn it!"

    Meek threw up his hands in despair, but he quitted his whining. The boss wasn''t unaware of the predicament of his men, so he raised a hand and called for a break.

    "All right. Break time. Everyone, drop and hydrate yourselves."

    The humidity of the forest was practically steaming, and I could see rivulets of perspiration rolling off the mercenaries'' faces. At the boss''s order, they gratefully dropped to their rumps, some of them actually splaying across the forest. They didn''t even bother to get rid of their baggage, using the field packs as some sort of cushion. A few of them unscrewed the caps of their bottles and took a huge gulp of water.

    It was a good thing the boss forced us to bring at least three liters of water. Over the hours, our water supply had been slowly dwindling as we consumed them to replace lost fluids, and we probably had one-third of our water gone. Even though the burden had been lightened, there was still no sign of the destination in sight.

    "The army wants us to find a route through the forest so that we can circle around the fortress and find a backdoor to it?"

    Sitting down and leaning against a log, Reading asked. The boss nodded.

    "Yeah. The military''s top brass thought it would be impractical to try and siege the fortress from the front. It''s sturdily built, and it''ll take far too much time. In addition, there''s too much of an open space where they would just slaughter the soldiers¡­like shooting turkey in a barrel with lots of arrows. They want to make use of the forests from the sides as cover, to minimize losses taken when sieging the fortress. We''re here to ensure there''s a safe route there and take note of enemy sentry positions or patrols in the forest."

    "Right."

    While the two more authoritative men discussed our objectives, several of the men lapsed into idle chatter.

    "Hey, kid."

    Bold was glancing at me, looking intrigued.

    "You seem pretty¡­used to this. I half-expected you to be whining or falling behind, but you''ve done well in keeping up."

    "Hah! He''s even better than most of the others!" Metzen scoffed, the mercenary lying down on the grass despite getting his ponytail messed up. He resembled a geeky computer programmer or writer, what with his slightly overweight constitution and unkempt appearance. It was kind of fitting that he was my squad leader.

    "Yeah, that''s why I''m surprised. You don''t seem to be a stranger to these woods."

    "I''ve been through a forest before," I replied shortly and left it at that.

    After my first few days in Restia, I had been forced to escape through the forest and survive in the wild all by myself. Truthfully, though I somehow managed to survive by feeding off the wild animals, it wouldn''t have been good for me long term. Becoming one with Nature and living off the land was not as simple as most na?ve people thought. I was a city kid from Tokyo with no knowledge of the land, creatures and plants of the new world. If I wasn''t undead, I probably would have died from starvation because I didn''t know what plants were edible and not. Even as an undead, I couldn''t survive indefinitely by living in a forest infested with dangerous creatures such as anacondas, cockatrices and even more powerful monsters.

    I might had succeeded in killing one or two of them, but that was after much trouble. It was impractical for me to rely on luck and circumstances to keep up such a lifestyle ¨C one small mistake, one tiny slip, and I would end up in the stomach of alpha predators rather than the other way around. It was so easy to tell me that I needed more confidence of self-belief, but such people were just armchair critics or keyboard warriors who had never truly been in a life-and-death situation before. Trying to live in the forest with such threats bombarding you from twenty-four seven¡­even if I survived, it would eventually wear my spirit down and I would collapse from exhaustion. The nutritional balance ¨C if I was alive ¨C would also be messed up. I didn''t know how nutritional balance worked for an undead, but it appeared I wasn''t suffering from scurvy, malnutrition or any usual symptoms of nutritional deficiencies that most people would display. That said, I probably would succumb eventually to the predators¡­

    Speaking of which¡­

    "¡­where are the monsters?"

    If this was the territory of the demons, then it stood to reason that there would be monsters dwelling in the forest. Yet, all I had seen so far were bugs, plants and trees. There was no sign of dangerous creatures like the anaconda or cockatrice I had encountered during my first few days here. Their absence was making me uneasy.

    "What, you want to run into them or something?"

    "Not really, but¡­their absence is making me jumpy. Like¡­there''s something wrong with the place."

    "Oh, we''ll run into monsters soon enough," the boss told me. "When we push deeper into the forest. When we do, just follow Metzen''s lead ¨C we have a few formations and tactics to deal with them. I''m surprised you know about them."

    "I''ve encountered them in the forest before."

    "And you got out alive?" Bold demanded, his eyes going round from shock. "Wow, kid¡­you''re quite the surprising one."

    "He''s a mercenary, Bold." Reading was shaking his head and sending me an apologetic look. "He might look young, but you don''t get to chrome rank without being in a few skirmishes. The kid can handle himself."

    To my relief, the conversation slipped away from me and into more idle matters. I didn''t want to have to explain about my past and experiences.

    After fifteen minutes, the boss decided that we had enough resting and clapped his hands to get us back to our feet.

    "All right, enough slacking around. Let''s get up and continue! We don''t want to be stuck in this forest forever, do we?"

    There were collective groans and complaints, but every single mercenary picked himself up and followed his lead. It wasn''t long before we fell back into the usual rhythm of hacking and slashing our way through the thick foliage.

    This time, the journey wasn''t as smooth.

    It wasn''t even an hour before the boss suddenly stopped, his eyes and ears peeled for strange sounds. As I mentioned earlier, the forest had been saturated with ambient sounds, whether it was the chirping of birds, the cries of tiny mammals, the buzzing of insects and even the growls of distant predators. But it seemed that at least several of those "distant" predators were no longer that far away. I could hear snarls drawing closer to our position.

    "Dire Wolves," the boss murmured. Turning back to us, he nodded. "Arm yourselves, man. Formation delta. Ring of steel, and don''t let them in. Cover each other''s backs."

    The mercenaries efficiently and silently carried out his orders, drawing their weapons. I obeyed, taking my staff out of my magical pouch and holding it in both hands. Glancing at Metzen, I followed his lead and stepped into the spot where he quietly directed me to.

    "Here?"

    "Sh!"

    I felt stupid when Metzen hushed me. Right, we weren''t supposed to give our positions away. As much as I had survived the forest on my own, this was my first time fighting as part of a group. I was still unfamiliar with the rules and manner of combat.

    The gray wolves came out of the forest, snarling and growling. I almost couldn''t see them, just a flurry of claws and teeth before they hit us. Men shouted before they were knocked down by a couple hundred kilograms of pure muscle and fury.

    I wasn''t in any position to help them. I had to fight on my own, twirling my staff as I kept a Dire Wolf at bay, preventing it from tearing my throat out. I struck it in the snout, causing it to fall back with a whine, and then blasted it with a Doombolt spell.

    If I was alone, I could probably flood the place with Corrupting Darkness, but that would mean drawing my allies into friendly fire. The whole point was to support them and help them, not to kill them along with the enemies.

    Would summoning work?

    I wasn''t sure what the reactions of my allies be if I summoned zombies. Worst case scenario, they would set upon me and I would be forced to kill them. Not exactly a wise decision because that would leave me stranded alone in the middle of a forest in foreign territory without any way of getting back to civilization. As I said, I wasn''t very keen on surviving on my own in the wild. A few days in the wilderness was fine, but the cruel reality of Nature would wear me down eventually and drive me to my death. I was too much of a city kid.

    Besides, it seemed that the mercenaries were holding their own. I could see from the corner of my eye that Metzen had sliced the throat of a Dire Wolf, sending the monster plunging downward in a spurt of blood. Bold had used his not insignificant bulk to stand forward and bludgeon another Dire Wolf before finishing it with his axe. Meek was darting in and out of the pack, his dagger Shadow stabbing with lethal fury. In spite of the speed and sheer size, the Dire Wolves never knew what hit them, their vital points suddenly leaking blood.

    I was impressed. The mercenaries were clearly professional killers, methodically setting about their work with cold efficiency. They were very different from my former classmates, the so-called heroes who treated everything like a game and played accordingly. If they didn''t receive the divine, cheat-like powers from the goddess Evelyn, I was sure the whole class would have been slaughtered in their very first battle.

    It wasn''t long before the forest was stained with blood of the wolves and the surviving members of the pack turned and fled. Again, another difference from the game. The pack of wolves didn''t stay until the very end to get killed by the mercenaries. Once they had sustained heavy losses, they were smart enough to fall back and retreat.

    "Why you bastards¡­!"

    "Hold your ground! Don''t give chase!"

    The boss''s cool, composed voice rang across the forest, and in an instance the crimson haze of bloodthirst that had gripped the soldiers vanished. Breathing deeply, they obeyed and took a step back, shaking their heads.

    "Good job, everyone. Report."

    There were not many mercenaries who were wounded. A few had sustained light scrapes and cuts, but nothing major. The medics treated them with healing spells that closed up their wounds, so there was no need for me to reveal my Regeneration ability.

    "Yeah, well¡­these are just small fries. It would be weirder if any of us died from that."

    Meek scoffed, but his hands were still shaking. Swallowing a gulp of water from his bottle, he sheathed his dagger with his other hand and glanced around warily. In spite of our victory, he was still jumpy.

    I didn''t blame him. Having lived in the forest, I knew that the moment I let down my guard, I would get killed. That was why I said it was mentally unsustainable for me to live off the land and hide in the wild for any extended period of time.

    "Five minutes'' break and we move again."

    There were groans and moans from the mercenaries, but no one argued against the boss''s decision. They were probably grateful that we had a break at all.

    Taking a deep breath, I gratefully dropped onto the ground and shut my eyes for a few minutes.

    After five minutes, I reluctantly dragged myself to my feet. The mercenaries were moving now, grimly soldiering on despite the recent skirmish. The boss in particular, looked more solemn than ever, as if expecting more trouble ahead.

    That didn''t bode well.

    "Boss?"

    It wasn''t just me who was worried. Reading had stepped forward, lowering his voice to a concerned whisper.

    "You okay?"

    "Yeah. Why wouldn''t I be okay?"

    Reading studied our leader for a second before turning away.

    "You seem more on edge than usual."

    The boss laughed hollowly. "Of course. We''re venturing deeper into a hostile forest that''s infested with monsters. Those Dire Wolves are only the beginning. Mark my words, there would be more terrifying things crawling out of the woodwork."

    At the back, I gulped. I didn''t like the sound of that. Fortunately, I was no longer on my own. With my comrades beside me, I could relax a little more instead of jumping over every little thing like I did back during my first days in Restia.

    Having a group of teammates watching your back made a world of difference. Even if I couldn''t unleash all my magic, I didn''t have to. My teammates had proven to be more than capable of taking care of themselves.

    Or so I hoped.

    That sentiment was put to the test later when, not even thirty minutes after our first encounter with the Dire Wolves, we ran into a new pack of more formidable monsters.

    I didn''t even see them coming.

    The pack of Kobolds silently emerged from the forest, almost like shadows. There was a scream, and then¡­silence. The whole group of mercenaries spun around, but saw nothing. Except¡­

    "Feth! Rawne is gone!"

    "¡­what?"

    "Holy Terra!"

    "Aaaaah!"

    Another scream ripped through the air, and a second man went missing, dragged into the foliage. There was no sign of him except a trail of blood and the violent rushing of bushes.

    "Bush!"

    "Draw your weapon!" the boss roared. We did so, falling back into Formation Delta and creating a ring of steel where we could cover each other. The vegetation all around us continued to rustle ominously, but we kept our eyes peeled out.

    "Kobold!"

    One of the mercenaries shouted as something leaped from the grass. I caught sight of something huge and imposing, a flash of gray that was larger than an adult man, and claws, teeth and muscle. The man who shouted swung his sword at the lunging beast, having spotted it pouncing on his comrade beside him.

    The formation allowed us to deliver overlapping fields of fire. A row of mercenaries dropped to their knees and fired off a bunch of fireballs that knocked into the creature. With a yelp, the canine beast toppled back into the forest, its fur smoking. The second, standing row of mercenaries unleashed a second volley of fire, but the kobold had already vanished into the foliage.

    "Behind!"

    A wolf-like creature burst out from behind the two rows of mercenaries, only for a barrage of fireballs to hit it from a second squad that was covering the first. The kobold howled and thrashed about, its body dancing as a second hail of fireballs struck it. Fuming, the kobold dove back into the thick vegetation for cover.

    "Damn, we didn''t kill it?"

    "Careful, there''s more of them!"

    The mercenaries were sweeping round in circles, keeping a vigilant eye peeled for the enemies'' movements. Beyond the trees and dense shrubs, I could see and hear at least dozens of beasts loping about.

    "We should just burn the whole forest to the ground," Meek spat as he held his dagger out.

    "What, and kill ourselves along with the Kobolds?" Bold chided. "Don''t be stupid."

    "At this rate, all of us are gonna die anyway."

    "No one''s going to die," the boss snapped, overriding Meek''s despair. "Close ranks and don''t let any of them through. The moment we kill a bunch of them, they will back off."

    "We haven''t even killed one of them yet," another mercenary muttered. "Those things took a bunch of fireballs to the face and weren''t even fazed!"

    "Then keep firing until they''re dead! Quit your whining and focus on killing!"

    That shut Meek up.

    The Kobolds continued to circle around us, and this time they came in greater numbers. Realizing that they were throwing away their advantage by coming at us one at a time, they came in greater force, hurling themselves at them.

    Men cried and the line buckled as tons of muscle, claw and teeth hit them. Weapons and magic flared out, stabbing and burning, but the Kobolds tore relentlessly into the armored warriors. A few men went down, blood streaming from their wounds as the Kobolds ripped into them, but their comrades seized the advantage to stab into their flanks.

    "Go! Kill them!"

    Having ditched his machete, the boss was wielding his broadsword ferociously. Dueling with a Kobold that swiped and slashed at him, he ducked under its immense paws before thrusting his blade up from below. The Kobold yelp as it fell back, blood gushing from a wound in its chest. The boss stepped in and beheaded it.

    "See?!" he shouted. "They''re not invincible after all! Stand together, men, and make them pay! They bleed, just like us! They die, just like us! Show them who the real master of Restia is!"

    Buoyed by his success, the mercenaries let out a roar and fought even more ferociously. Two Kobolds went down, punctured by all sides by blade and fireballs. The men poured in, hacking and slashing at a third, even as several Kobolds were held at bay by massed ranks of heavily armored warriors who carried the bigger weapons.

    As for me, I had blasted a Kobold with a Doombolt, and despite grievously wounding it, it refused to go down. The damned things were tough. Perhaps I needed a Shadow Lunar Fang to kill it in one hit, but I couldn''t unleash such a powerful attack in the middle of the mercenaries, and given the sheer numbers of Kobolds, it wasn''t practical to spam and hit every single one of them with Shadow Lunar Fang. I would run out of mana before then.

    Corrupting Darkness wouldn''t be effective either. If the Kobold could survive a hit from Doombolt, I bet it had an even higher resistance to Corrupting Darkness than the orcs or tougher beasts. This was going to be difficult.

    The Kobold growled, baring its teeth, before pouncing on me again. I smacked it away with my staff, almost as if I was batting for a baseball team, and sent it sprawling onto the ground. Panting, I obliterated its head with Doombolt, finishing it off.

    If I hadn''t wounded it with the first Doombolt, I would never have succeeded in hitting it when it pounced on me¡­

    Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to glance upward. There were still several more Kobolds around the edges, attacking from the sides and slashing at the mercenaries at the fringe. We were sustaining quite a few casualties, but to my relief most of them were still alive. The mercenaries were determinedly driving them back, taking out another three Kobolds.

    Falling back beside Metzen, whose squad was desperately struggling against two Kobolds, I covered one of my squad mates with a well-aimed Doombolt that knocked the lunging lupine creature off its trajectory.

    "Thanks!"

    I nodded and left the fallen Kobold to the rest of my squad mates. As I expected, the Doombolt failed to kill it, but my squad was on hand to finish the fallen Kobold off. While they delivered the killing blow to the injured Kobold, I scanned around to make sure there weren''t any other Kobolds lying in wait to ambush us while we were distracted.

    My caution paid off when I saw the Kobold pounce on Metzen. Unleashing a second Doombolt, I knocked it out of the air and sent it sprawling on the ground.

    "Thanks!" Metzen shouted to me as he spun around, realizing what I had done. With a furious yell, he raised his sword and stabbed the throat of the stunned Kobold, opening up its carotid artery and jugular vein and leaving it to thrash about in its death throes.

    "Form up again!" the boss barked, and we repaired our formation. After taking a few losses, our circle of steel had shrunk. On the other hand, we presented more difficult targets for the encroaching Kobolds.

    Taking a deep breath, I fired off another spell to deter them while the other mercenaries worked together to bring down another two Kobolds. With their numbers drastically reduced, the Kobolds howled and backed off. Several of them tried to drag the wounded or dead with them, but a few well-placed fireballs discouraged them. I got lucky and my Doombolt exploded the head of one of them, causing it to slump, headless, on the soil as blood pumped out of its ruined neck.

    "Good job, people."

    Breathing a sigh of relief, the boss scanned the ravaged group and demanded for reports. Slowly, the squad leaders rounded us up and accounted for our strengths.

    Five dead, twelve wounded. A heavy tally for our already small group and stretched numbers. The boss bit his lip and nodded, but I could tell that he was dismayed.

    "Break. Faragut, Sig, you two stand watch. The rest of you, bury our dead and take some rest. Medics, tend to the wounded."

    The medics nodded and proceeded toward the twelve injured. The boss curled his lip grimly as he glanced at the injured mercenaries. He knew from a single look that he would be forced to make several difficult decisions.

    We couldn''t bring the injured with us because they would slow the group down drastically, nor could we spare any manpower to ferry them back through the forest, not with monsters roaming about. There would be mercy killings, and he loathed to have to resort to that.

    "How is it?" he asked the medics. The chief medic, Dorden, raised his aged head and shook it wearily.

    "Even with healing spells, we can''t save Daudlin, Freud and Ashton. They''re too far gone. If we''ve much better potions and healing facilities, we could perhaps restore them to full health, but nothing short of an elixir can help them now."

    "¡­" the boss closed his eyes for a few seconds before he nodded solemnly. "Do what you can for them. You have fifteen minutes. If they''re in no position to be moved, then¡­you know what to do."

    Dorden had a sour expression on his face. He clearly didn''t like the command, but he understood the boss''s predicament.

    "Yes, boss." Turning to his charges, he began barking orders. "Hurry! Stem the bleeding and infuse them with as much mana as possible! I don''t care if you end up draining your energy ¨C you can restore it with a bottle of ether later. Make sure these men can at least limp and hobble with us with support!"

    "Yes, Chief!"

    I watched them briefly as I shoveled the dirt over the dead. Of the five deceased, we were only able to recover three of them. Two of them had been dragged deep into the forest, abducted by the Kobolds. We hoped they were dead, or they would be subjected to a hellish far worse than death.

    The monstrous forest was hell.

    With the impromptu burial complete, I wandered over to the medics. The rest of my squad had plopped down to drink up and rest, replenishing their energies, but I couldn''t stay still. Not when I had something to offer.

    "Can I help you, kid?" Dorden asked without even looking up. The old medic, an ex-military surgeon from what I had heard, was desperately stemming the bleeding of one of the more wounded. The bandages and gauzes he used were stained red, and a whole roll of them had been discarded, having reached their limits in absorption. He had continually casted healing spells on the wound, but it had little effect.

    The damage was too much.

    "On the contrary, Chief. I was hoping I could help."

    Dorden grunted. "Unless you have some special healing spell that I don''t know of, I doubt there''s much you can do except not get in my way."

    "Actually¡­do you mind if I try my healing spell?"

    Dorden finally looked up to stare at me in surprise. "Can''t hurt," he muttered as he raised his bloodstained hands. "Daudlin is going to expire soon anyway¡­might as well take a gamble on it. Go ahead, kid. I hope you can work miracles."

    I nodded and bent down, placing my hands on the injured mercenary''s chest.

    Regeneration.

    I wasn''t just casting a healing spell. I was casting a regeneration spell that worked on very similar principles despite belonging to the undead rather than the living. To Dorden''s astonishment, the wound began knitting rapidly and the torn organs began to mend. Perspiration dripped down my face as I focused on repairing Daudlin''s battered body, but I maintained my concentration. Within a few minutes, he had fully "regenerated".

    "Dear Evelyn¡­what manner of healing spell did you use?" Dorden demanded. I smiled as I wiped the perspiration from my face.

    "Regeneration."

    "¡­Regeneration?" The old surgeon frowned. "I''ve never heard of such a healing spell before."

    I shook my head. It didn''t matter. I had to focus on saving the other two casualties who were near death.

    "Let me help with Freud and Ashton."

    "¡­sure. But are you okay, kid? You look¡­pale."

    "Yeah. I''ll be fine."

    Dorden studied me for a few seconds. "Well, such a powerful spell will of course be exhausting. Don''t strain yourself, kid. We still need you."

    I didn''t know what happened next, but I apparently managed to heal the other two before blacking out from exhaustion. The next thing I knew, I found myself being ferried along by Metzen and another squad mate named Bore.

    "You awake, kid?"

    I blinked and glanced around. The two grown men had been carrying me between them, lifting me bodily off the ground, with my feet dangling in the air and my arms over their shoulders.

    "Eh¡­?"

    "You''re really light, kid. Have you been eating properly?"

    Bore raised his eyebrow as he studied me, and then he chuckled.

    "You''re too skinny. Make sure you eat more. We''re gonna feed you when we return."

    "Yeah, great job, kid. You really saved our asses back there."

    "¡­huh?"

    "Daudlin, Freud and Ashton. You pulled them out of danger. Dorden doesn''t know what spell you used, but they''re now walking around as if nothing had happened."

    I glanced back and saw that the three I had "regenerated" were keeping up, laughing and chattering with their squad mates. Great, I succeeded.

    "But such a spell costed you. You lost consciousness after that. Good thing Dorden explained everything to the boss, so we saw the value in ferrying you along. We''re going to need that healing spell of yours down the road."

    "Ha ha ha!" Bore chuckled in agreement. "Good thing we brought you along, eh, kid? I''ve to admit, you''re one heck of a surprise. At first, most of us thought you''re just an upstart kid who''s overreaching himself. Who knew you would be capable of such awesome stuff?"

    Apparently, even though my combat skills and magic seemed unimpressive, the mercenaries were pretty taken by my Regeneration spell. I wasn''t sure how to feel about that.

    "Thanks."

    "No, we should thank you instead, kid!"

    I found myself dropped right back onto the ground, almost unsteadily. Shaking my head to clear the weariness, I began to move alongside after them. After sleeping for a good period of time, I had recovered my strength.

    Even so, despite being Lyia''s Chosen or having the special abilities of heroes, it seems that I can''t fight better than these mercenaries. Either they''re pretty high-ranked, or I still lack the experience and strength¡­

    My disgruntled thoughts were cut off by a warning shout from the front. The boss had stopped us, causing the whole line of mercenaries to halt in their tracks.

    "Another enemy?" Metzen growled.

    "Draw your weapons!" the boss shouted, almost as if he overheard my squad leader. "Be careful! There''s something huge¡­"

    He never completed his sentence.

    Ahead, something enormous burst out of the forest, its footsteps sending tremors throughout.

    "Whoa!"

    "Holy Throne!"

    "Goddess Evelyn!"

    The mercenaries cried out when they saw the ten-meter tall lycanthrope that had emerged, its slavering jaws dripping with caustic drool. Stalking forward on two legs, it snarled as it lumbered forward, each step shaking the ground. Spiky, brown fur bristled from pure muscle, and claws the size of swords curved from its carriage-sized paws.

    "Wolf Lord!"

    "Feth! How are we supposed to fight something like that?"

    "Surround it!"

    The mercenaries scattered to minimize the number of victims the Wolf Lord could target. The Wolf Lord let out a howl that sent trees shaking, causing birds to fly out of the canopies in panic, and then turned to glare at us with its crimson eyes.

    "Prepare yourself!" the boss shouted. "Formation Alpha! It''s just another behemoth-class monster! If we stick to¡­"

    He never finished his sentence. The Wolf Lord erupted with a bellow and then charged at us.

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    It never reached us.

    A sudden white flash filled the clearing ahead of us, almost blinding the mercenaries. As I flinched and tried to peer through my fingers, I watched in awe as the Wolf Lord was cut apart into pieces. A single figure strode forward, dressed in gleaming, white-silver armor. A few seconds later, he was joined by a beautiful girl in a white and red dress, her long brown hair tied into a ponytail.

    "You are¡­"

    The boss blinked as he stared at the newcomers, and then his jaw dropped.

    "Heroes-sama!"

    I felt dismay as I shrank behind my squad mates. Even though we had been saved from the Wolf Lord, I couldn''t help but feel dread when I recognized our rescuers.

    They were Sakaguchi Seiji and Asakura Akane, two of my former classmates.

 35 Chapter 35: Direct Counter

    "Ah¡­Heroes-sama. Thank you very much for saving us."

    The boss was bowing his gratefully as he greeted the couple. Sakaguchi Seiji and Asakura Akane looked at him scornfully for a moment before they swept their gazes across the band of mercenaries. I shrank back and felt relieved when they seemed to scan past my semi-concealed figure. Good. It didn''t seem that they were aware of my presence.

    "Mercenaries, huh?" Sakaguchi remarked, his voice dripping with derision. If the boss noticed the condescending tone, he didn''t rise to the bait.

    "Yes, Hero-sama. We were hired by the military to scout ahead and find a path for the main army to advance."

    Sakaguchi wasn''t paying attention to him. He was still gripping his gigantic broadsword ¨C the massive weapon that he had used to slay the Wolf Lord. I regarded it warily. In just one slash he had cut the monstrous behemoth into pieces.

    This isn''t good.

    Never mind that Sakaguchi and Asakura were together and it was highly disadvantageous for me to fight the two of them at the same time¡­I instinctively felt a chill that warned me not to fight Sakaguchi. The guy was emanating a highly dangerous aura that prickled my intuition. I unconsciously shrank further behind Metzen and Bore.

    "Are you here, as part of the vanguard?" the boss asked, trying not to be put off by Sakaguchi''s rude behavior. The tall, muscular guy merely glanced at him with disdain, and then swung his massive broadsword.

    "?!"

    "¡­"

    Thump.

    Silence reigned in the air after that single, loud noise. Time seemed to freeze as the mercenaries stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

    The boss had been cleaved cleanly into two, his two halves flopping helplessly onto the ground. A pool of blood spread under him, staining the grass crimson, and his eyes stared up lifelessly at the sky, losing their luster.

    "¡­boss?"

    Bold broke the silence. His question seemed to snap the mercenaries out of their stupor.

    "What the hell are you doing!?" Meek screamed, drawing his dagger, Shadow. "Why the feth did you kill the boss?!"

    Sakaguchi ignored him, the silver-white paladin plunging into the fray and slicing several more mercenaries into pieces. He glanced at Asakura, who was already immolating a few stunned mercenaries, causing the blazing men to scream and tumble about before they toppled over, cremated by arcane flames. She nodded.

    "Leave no witnesses."

    "What are you talking about?!"

    "Witnesses? What did we witness!?"

    The mercenaries were milling about in panic, completely caught off guard. They had never expected the heroes ¨C the mighty, divine heroes chosen by the goddess of humans, Evelyn ¨C to suddenly turn their blades upon them.

    No. his attention had already been rooted on me from the start. He didn''t look surprised, only gleeful.

    "Whoa!"

    I managed to jump and roll away as he slashed at me, his broadsword nicking a deep trench in the ground as it sliced deeply into the earth. Jumping to my feet, I hopped and backed away to avoid yet another lethal strike.

    "What are you doing?!"

    "Isn''t it obvious?" Sakaguchi sneered. "Killing you."

    "Why?!" I demanded. This was making less and less sense.

    Sakaguchi scoffed. "Do you really need to ask that question? Because you''re the loser Tanaka, of course."

    "What kind of reasoning is that?!" I snapped. "What did I ever do to you?!"

    I didn''t remember ever offending Sakaguchi or Asakura. They weren''t exactly part of the gang who directly bullied me, always keeping their distance, but they never once stepped in to intervene or help me out either.

    If they weren''t part of Kobayashi''s clique, then they should have no reason to kill me. Kobayashi might be a bully who wanted me dead, and his gang and female followers could be blind sheep who mindlessly obeyed his sentiments, but it couldn''t be possible that every single student in my class wanted me dead. There had to be at least one or two normal people among them.

    "You exist," Sakaguchi replied simply.

    "Huh?!"

    I was forced to leap away as he swung his heavy broadsword at me. Fortunately, the weight and unwieldy size of his deadly weapon hindered his movements and I could agilely evade his attacks. Asakura spun around and supported him with fireballs, but I managed to weave through the hail and emerge unscathed.

    "Well, then you can''t blame me for killing you because you exist too," I snarled. Sakaguchi snorted at that.

    "It''s no use pretending."

    "Pretending what?!"

    "We know your true nature, Tanaka. You should have died when Kobayashi pushed you off the transportation beacon. But you didn''t. You came back to haunt us, didn''t you? You just refuse to die like the cockroach you are¡­we''ve to exterminate you. Otherwise we''ll live to regret it. You''ll definitely return to seek revenge on us one day! So we have to kill you before that!"

    "What''s with that twisted sense of reasoning!?"

    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing. They were using the exact same justification Tsukishima Tomoyo and Minamoto Kureha used when they first encountered me. In their minds, they already judged and concluded that I was a fanatical avenger, and they were so terrified of what I might possibly do to them that they decided to kill me first.

    Shoot first, ask questions later. As long as they were safe and secure, with nobody to take revenge on them, they didn''t care if they killed an innocent guy.

    "When we saw your name on the mercenary guild list, we realized that you were somehow still alive. That you survived somehow, and came back to haunt us. My hunch was correct ¨C you did flee to Midgardia to infiltrate Helsreach after all. Good thing we managed to track you down here."

    "That was a lucky guess," Asakura remarked. Sakaguchi sulked.

    "Come on, Akane-san. Give me more credit than that."

    "You did guess right, I''ll give you that."

    "Hey! It''s called gut feeling! My gut feeling is never wrong!"

    I bit my lip in frustration. I didn''t know how Sakaguchi managed to guess my route of escape so accurately, but perhaps he had some kind of precognition ability. The man himself turned to leer at me.

    "Kobayashi-kun is right. If we leave you alone, you''ll eventually return as a powerful avenger and take revenge on us. We''ve to kill you preemptively before that happens!"

    "WHAT BULLSHIT LOGIC IS THAT?!" I roared.

    Asakura sniffed before she blasted me with a fireball.

    "There''s no use pretending. We know your true nature. You''re a loser who has been bullied by Kobayashi-kun and driven to the edge countless times. There''s no doubt that your sanity has snapped after suffering so much abuse. You''ll definitely fall to desperation and madness and return to kill us all if we leave you alone."

    These guys¡­they were beyond saving.

    "You even hid in a mercenary guild," Sakaguchi added casting a nefarious glance at the retreating mercenaries. "That''s evidence of your true, violent nature. Instead of settling for a peaceful job, you chose a dangerous one. That''s because you''re training and grinding to increase your levels as quickly as possible to match us!"

    "I don''t know how you made such an absurd link, but...you guys are somehow so scared of me that you''ve gone delusional and grown paranoid. All because Kobayashi tried to murder me. What is this, you recognize that you''re accomplices?!"

    "Shut up!" Sakaguchi shouted as he slashed at me. I dodged his clumsy strikes deftly before spinning out of range of Asakura''s flaming bombardment.

    "Even then, if your target is me, then just aim at me. Why did you attack and kill the mercenaries?"

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Both Sakaguchi and Asakura bellowed in laughter when they heard my question. Exchanging glances, they shook their heads in disbelief.

    "Because they''re expendable?"

    "Yeah, they''re just NPCs. Who cares if they die? Besides, we''ve to make sure there''s no witnesses. We can''t have these NPCs returning to town and blabbering about how we murdered another human in cold blood."

    Sakaguchi snickered as he elaborated on Asakura''s answer. I scowled, irritated that they were still treating this world as some sort of game. Calling the mercenaries NPCs? What bullshit was that? To me, Sakaguchi and Asakura seemed more like the fake, contrived characters ¨C caricatures who embodied the worst traits of bullies and exaggerated further for the sole purpose of becoming loathsome antagonists for the sake of it. In contrast, the mercenaries had a lot more depth and dimension to them, being actual living, breathing characters with proper personalities. I couldn''t help but be amazed at the incredible irony.

    But that wasn''t the worst thing. It was Asakura''s next remark that made my jaw drop in utter disbelief.

    "Most importantly, we gain experience points from killing high-level opponents like them, and we''ll be able to obtain all their treasure weapons and gold. We might even raise a level after wiping them out completely."

    "You¡­!"

    I was speechless at their vile, callous behavior. They had gone so far past the precipice of insanity that they couldn''t differentiate reality from game anymore. To them, Restia was one gigantic virtual reality game, populated by non-human non-playable characters whose only use was to serve as mobs for their grinding.

    And once they were done playing with them, they would loot the poor residents of Restia of their belongings, and used the "victory" to accumulate experience points to level up. It didn''t matter that they were committing cold-blooded murder. To them, this whole thing was a game, and the people of Restia were not human.

    It made my blood boil.

    Retrieving my staff from my magical pouch, I managed to parry a strike from Sakaguchi''s broadsword, then twirled my weapon around to throw him off before jabbing at his gut. Sakaguchi reacted in reflex, parrying my thrust before delivering a riposte that would have cleaved me from shoulder to hip had I not deflected it with my staff.

    Behind, Asakura launched a fireball at the fleeing mercenaries, but I broke away from Sakaguchi to conjure a Dark Barrier that succeeded in blocking the flaming projectile.

    "¡­!"

    Asakura glanced at me, stunned. The mercenaries were equally surprised, but I yelled to snap them out of their stupor.

    "Get out of here! I''ll hold the heroes back! Hurry up and escape!"

    "But¡­" Metzen protested.

    "Their target is me! It''s my fault for leading them here, for causing you guys to be attacked. I''ll take responsibility and handle this."

    "Hey, don''t be daft!" Bore shouted. "We heard what those so-called heroes said!"

    "Yeah!" Meek shouted. "They are no heroes! Talking about us as if we were livestock, and then looting our bodies? They aren''t heroes, they''re bandits!"

    "Revenge for the boss!" Bold bellowed.

    Asakura''s barrage of fireballs slammed into a group of them, incinerating the howling men after several agonizing seconds.

    "Shut up, mob characters. You exist only to be farmed. Just die already."

    "Kill them all, Akane-san. Leave no witnesses."

    "Leave it to me, Seiji-kun."

    The mercenaries were backing away now, finally comprehending how outmatched they were.

    "Aaaaah!"

    With a yell, Meek lunged at Asakura from behind. Without even looking at him, she raised a hand and engulfed him in flames. With a scream, the immolated figure of Meek ran about, thrashing desperately before he was reduced to ashes and cinders. All that remained of him was his dagger, Shadow, which dropped to the ground, charred.

    "Hmm, this looks like a good weapon," Asakura marveled as she picked up Shadow.

    "Just go!" I yelled at the surviving mercenaries. "There''s nothing you can do against them! They''re too powerful!"

    Having witnessed Meek''s instant demise, the remaining mercenaries scattered obediently. Asakura scowled.

    "After them, Akane-san," Sakaguchi shouted as he traded blows with me. "Don''t let even one of them escape!"

    "On it!"

    Asakura was about to give chase when she noticed something. Pausing at the edge of the clearing we were dueling in, her eyes came to rest on the staff I was wielding.

    "Isn''t that¡­Tsukishima-san''s staff?"

    "¡­that''s right!"

    Sakaguchi almost stopped his relentless attacks from shock. I seized the chance to quickly maximize the distance between us, retreating safely. Glaring at me from afar, Sakaguchi''s lips curled into a dangerous snarl.

    "You¡­I knew it. I knew you would start hunting us down and taking your revenge! Kobayashi-kun was right!"

    I wasn''t surprised that he jumped into such conclusions without asking me about it. My former classmates were really becoming caricatures of pure evil antagonists who were shallow, had no redeeming features and existed solely for the purpose of making my life miserable. It was as if they existed only to be antagonists, and for nothing else, completely lacking any depth or sense of realism. Or perhaps I was the one with a distorted view of them.

    "How dare you kill Tsukishima-san?!"

    Asakura''s voice was filled with righteous indignation, and she launched another flurry of fireballs at me, which I easily blocked with my Dark Barrier.

    "You guys obviously don''t realize that it was Tsukishima who attacked me and tried to kill me first, do you?" I snapped irritably despite knowing that it was futile to convince them. "I didn''t even do anything to her, she just behaved just as irrationally as you guys and attacked me! It was self-defense! What was I supposed to do? Let her kill me?"

    ""YES!""

    Sakaguchi and Asakura responded in unison. My jaw dropped. This was utterly ridiculous, and I had a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Right¡­didn''t Minamoto Kureha say the exact same thing when I protested about Tsukishima''s murder attempt?

    "You are just a lowly loser, Tanaka. How dare you even think of fighting back? You should just stand still and let us kill you!"

    "The fact that you even conceived of ever defying us is disgusting to the extreme."

    Sakaguchi glowered while Asakura wrinkled her nose in revulsion. I shook my head in disbelief. I didn''t understand what was going on. I just didn''t. Why the hell did my classmates hate me so much? Why did they enjoy emotionally abusing me to this extent?

    Just why did they want me dead so much?

    "Just die! Atone for your sins and die!" Asakura shouted as she flung fireball after fireball at me.

    "What about you guys?!" I retorted as I dodged the barrage. "Are you going to atone for your sins too?"

    "What are you talking about?" Sakaguchi sneered. "We didn''t sin."

    I glanced at the mercenaries'' corpses and shook my head. Never mind their attempted murder, they had already slaughtered a bunch of innocent people who weren''t even related to their unreasonable vendetta at all.

    As if she had read my mind, Asakura snorted.

    "It''s not a sin to kill vermin like you. No¡­in fact, it''s a good deed. We''re exterminating pests like you and making the world a much better place."

    "Have you guys heard yourselves?"

    I was completely baffled by their cruelty and fanatical determination to kill me at all costs. Unfortunately, I didn''t have much time to ponder over their mysterious motives. While I deftly dodged Asakura''s assault, Sakaguchi had closed in to swing his broadsword.

    "Whoa!"

    "Stop jumping around and let us kill you already!" Sakaguchi hollered, an insane glint in his eyes. While I evaded his first strike, he rapidly yanked his blade up to deliver a backswing that would have sliced me in half had I not pulled my upper body back in reflex.

    "Who the hell would be stupid enough to listen to you?!"

    "Of course you are! You''re Tanaka, the most stupid idiot in the universe! There exists absolutely nothing in this universe that is less intelligent than you! Even planktons are smarter than you, you brainless moron!"

    Oh, shut the fuck up.

    I had enough. I had no obligation to listen to their insane logic and endure their relentless abuse. If they were so bent on killing me, I just had to kill them first.

    "Sorry," I whispered, and then activated my special ability. All around me, the dead rose back to un-life, the slain mercenaries staggering to their feet as I breathed dark magic into their corpses. Within seconds, an army of zombies filled the forest. Clad in armor, wielding all sorts of weapons, the undead shambled forward to overpower Sakaguchi and Asakura.

    "Zombies?" Sakaguchi scoffed. "Do you think you can beat us with zombies?"

    "I knew it. You''ve sacrificed your humanity and completely given over to the darkness. It is our duty to destroy one as corrupted as you."

    In contrast to her cocky boyfriend, Asakura was glaring at me grimly, her fingers dancing daintily across the air to weave an incantation. However, Sakaguchi stopped her.

    "Leave Tanaka to me. I alone am more than enough to stomp the likes of him."

    I couldn''t help but smile. Good. Underestimate me more. Let your guard down so that I could turn this disadvantage around and kill my foes off one by one. To throw away his advantage because of pride or because he wanted to show off to his girlfriend¡­this stupidity would prove to be Sakaguchi''s undoing. Not that I was complaining.

    It was a good thing that these caricature antagonists were so one dimensional, predictable and utterly idiotic. I still had a hard time believing just how shallow and stupid they were. Thanks to that, I could use that to my advantage and claw a victory from a desperate situation.

    It was so predictable that I almost found it boring.

    Focus on the battle first. Don''t let your guard down. Just because he''s stupid enough to come at me by himself doesn''t mean I''ve automatically won the battle. I still have to actually defeat him first. And he''s tough.

    In a single swing, Sakaguchi decimated my zombies, holy magic pouring off his broadsword and expanding rapidly across the forest. Scores of zombies fell, twitching, never to get up again. Not unless I casted Regeneration on them.

    And I didn''t have the mana or stamina for that¡­

    "That the best you can do?!" Sakaguchi leered as he slowly closed the distance between us, hacking and slashing through the crowd of zombies. I shrugged and raised my hand. After using the special ability several times, I had finally managed to strengthen it enough.

    I was finally able to summon a bunch of zombies to replenish the depleted ranks of undead. Not only did I restore the number of zombies to their original count, I even added four zombie knights who rode skeletal horses.

    Sakaguchi chuckled when he caught sight of the reinforcements.

    "It doesn''t matter how many zombies you summon. The result will be the same!"

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    I smirked. The moron was absolutely clueless. He would never expect what I had in mind.

    I didn''t summon these zombies merely to replace my losses. I was already working on my next plan, gathering mana for my ultimate spell.

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    The 1,008 graves sprung all over the forest, their shadows stretching and looming over the dwindling army of zombies. Magic crackled and danced over them as their bodies grew, expanded and hardened. With the twelve different arcane symbols glowing golden in the dark interior of the dense forest, the zombies were buffed and enhanced. Transforming into fearsome behemoths with various special abilities, they pounced.

    "!"

    Credit to Sakaguchi, he reacted with godlike reflexes, his broadsword cleaving through the behemoth zombies. However, unlike before, his broadsword was unable to kill them in one swipe. Maimed, wounded, the first trio of zombies staggered back, but under the ominous golden light of the twelve astral symbols, they began to rapidly regenerate.

    "¡­! Monsters!"

    Sakaguchi gritted his teeth as he prepared for the next onslaught. Claws and fangs scrabbled at his pristine armor, which glowed gently with a silver halo to protect its wearer. I frowned when I saw that my enhanced zombies weren''t even able to leave a single scratch. Whoever forged that armor was excellent. Or perhaps it was Sakaguchi''s defensive abilities that were formidable.

    Pushing my glasses up, I used Absolute Appraisal. Within a second, Sakaguchi''s information and profile were both laid out before me.

    Name: Sakaguchi Seiji

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Paladin/Hero

    Special Ability: Divine Defense, Holy Judgement, Holy Blessings

    What the hell? Paladin was such an overpowered job, granting Sakaguchi not one but three special abilities?! Then again, Minamoto Kureha''s special ability, Sword Saint, could still probably allow her to fight on par against people with multiple special abilities, so she only needed that one. I wondered which of the abilities I would get if I ate him¡­

    "Uoooh!"

    I realized I shouldn''t count my chickens before they hatched. With a loud bellow, Sakaguchi was blowing the enhanced zombies away with brute strength. His armor hissed and glowed, the blessed defensive runes carved into its surface emanating an almost blinding light. Huffing, he glared at the approaching four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

    My trump cards. I had unleashed them as soon as possible to finish off Sakaguchi quickly before Asakura could join hands with him.

    "They''re strong¡­"

    I could see Sakaguchi perspiring profusely, his bare head gleaming with sweat as he panted from the unexpected exertion. He glanced at the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse warily, instinctively understanding the threat they presented.

    "I see¡­"

    Sakaguchi was murmuring to himself. Even though he was cornered, even though he had four formidable foes charging him, he did not panic and stayed calm. Asakura also remained cool and composed. She had not stepped forward to help her boyfriend even once.

    Even though I should be pleased that they were offering me such an advantage so freely, I couldn''t help but feel uneasy.

    What''s with this situation? It''s almost as if¡­

    "¡­so these gravestones are what''s buffing your zombies."

    Sakaguchi nodded thoughtfully. I remained silent, but inwardly my heart pounded. I tried to calm myself. So what if he knew? It wasn''t as if he could do anything about the countless gravestones even if he knew what they were the source of my zombies'' current tremendous power. No, he still had to contend with the endless waves of enhanced zombies¡­

    "Holy Blessings."

    "!"

    I stepped back instinctively and shut my eyes as night turned into day. The shadows in the forest were washed away almost immediately, replaced by a blinding golden light¡­holy light. Even when deprived of my sight, from the warmth and punishing sting, I could intuitively tell that this wasn''t just any light. It was holy light.

    F¡­!

    My unease turned into dismay when my worst fears were confirmed. I clenched my fists and slowly opened my eyes.

    My thousand and eight gravestones were gone, slowly crumbling away as they were eroded by the holy light that currently flooded the forest.

    Just like my gravestones, my zombies were shrinking, decaying and breaking apart from the sheer power of the holy light, which purified what dark or unholy magic within its domain. I could feel myself weakening, my limbs growing lethargic and my mind becoming heavier. My throat constricted, almost as if I was suffocating.

    This is¡­?

    I quickly tapped on the Holy Blessings tab and quickly scanned through the details.

    Holy Blessings: creates a holy field that buffs allies and weakens and damages enemies. Especially effective against undead and demonic beings. Reduces the effectiveness of unholy spells by 90%.

    God-Emperor of Man!

    I couldn''t believe what I had just read. What the fuck was with this stupid cheat skill? And if it was this powerful, then why didn''t he use it against the Demon Lord during that supposed final battle!? This was practically against the rules! A direct counter not just against the Demon Lord himself but against all demons!

    This bloody fucker could essentially solo the demon territories by himself and come up top! That was how freaking cheat and imbalanced that ability was! He was basically the anathema or antithesis to all demon existence!

    I could feel perspiration pouring down my face. This time it was my turn to be cornered by the bastard, who was looking around with an almost impatient expression.

    "All of them still not dead yet? Well¡­I did just only earn this special ability recently. I guess I''ll need to level it up first."

    ¡­what the f?

    Well, at least it explained one thing. Sakaguchi didn''t use such a cheat, overpowered ability against the Demon Lord because during that time he hadn''t obtained this special ability. He probably only gained Holy Blessings after that historical battle. I wouldn''t be surprised if he earned it because of the Demon Lord''s demise.

    It was like how I somehow obtained the Devour special ability after killing the cockatrice.

    However, I was more taken aback by the fact that Sakaguchi lamented his current Holy Blessings as weak. Just one blast and my entire yard of gigantic gravestones were destroyed. All my zombies were dead or dying, unable to withstand the purifying power of the divine light. Even the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, now reduced to normal zombie cavalry knights after losing their buffs, were gradually crumbling away.

    "Holy Judgement!"

    Slamming the tip of his broadsword against the ground, Sakaguchi unleashed a wave of holy light that rippled across the forest, eliminating the surviving zombies and instantly rendering them into ash and dust. The tombstones ¨C or what remained of them, anyway ¨C were completely obliterated, their titanic shapes disintegrating and disappearing into utter nothingness.

    In just a minute, Sakaguchi had turned the tables and returned me to square one. Bereft of my army, even when not buffed, I suddenly felt very alone and very vulnerable.

    There was no way Sakaguchi was going to waste the opportunity. He barreled down on me with his broadsword, swinging it and knocking me away with sheer strength. Unable to withstand the raw power, I was sent hurtling across the forest.

    "Ugh!"

    I crashed through the trees before slamming into a trunk that snapped cleanly in half, almost falling on me. I rolled away and staggered to my feet, my wounds already rapidly regenerating in spite of the damage and the Holy Blessings that suffused the area.

    At least Regeneration still worked, even under the divine domain that Holy Blessings created. I could thank Lyia for that.

    My arms trembling, I tried to raise my staff. I had used it earlier to parry Sakaguchi''s powerful strike, but I was nearly unable to endure it. It felt as if my arms were ripped off their sockets. Evidently Holy Blessings had blessed his strength to unholy lengths.

    "Akane-san, I''ll leave the mercenaries to you. Make sure you hunt every single one of them down. We can''t leave witnesses."

    "Roger that."

    Seeing that her boyfriend had unleashed his ultimate technique, Akane saw little reason to stick around. She turned away and disappeared into the forest.

    "Wait¡­" I began, but was silenced when Sakaguchi slashed at me. I grunted as I deflected his broadsword with my staff, twirling it around to parry a few more furious strikes. I almost couldn''t withstand the furious barrages, his strength amplified by Holy Blessings and my own reduced drastically. I wheezed as I was flung back several more meters.

    "You''re one tenacious bastard, aren''t you?" Sakaguchi growled as he delivered another series of assaults that I barely kept up with. Damn¡­my speed had also gone down under this divine domain, hadn''t it?

    "Have to be, when everyone is trying to kill me for absolutely no reason whatsoever, except maybe as a plot device to force me into the path of revenge and justify it?"

    "You and your trashy jokes¡­" Sakaguchi snarled. "I hope that rubbish sense of humor dies along with you!"

    "So that you can throw my rubbish sense of humor into the rubbish?"

    "Just shut up and die!"

    Another powerful swing sent me staggering backward, with new wounds opened up in my arms and chest. They quickly regenerated, but the bleeding had barely stopped before Sakaguchi attacked again and sent me skidding backward.

    "F¡­!"

    I wheezed and panted, but held up my staff again to block yet another relentless trike. Sakaguchi certainly was determined to kill me.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    Another slash took the skin off my shoulder, but I soldiered on and retaliated with my staff only for Sakaguchi to effortlessly block my weapon with his shining gauntlet. The silver-white armor glowed for a moment, and then he roughly shoved me back.

    "¡­!"

    I almost stumbled back. At the same time, Sakaguchi capitalized on the moment to deliver the finishing blow. Cursing, I dropped my staff and threw out both my hands to do a cartwheel to flip myself over and up. Blood splattered across the ground as Sakaguchi''s blade caught me in the back, but the superficial wound knitted together in no time at all. Other than a slight sting, I almost didn''t register the injury.

    "Hu¡­"

    Placing a toe under my staff, I kicked it up and snatched it from the air before parrying another blow from Sakaguchi.

    "I don''t get it."

    I didn''t get what Sakaguchi didn''t get, but I wasn''t in any condition to listen to him complain. I was too busily focusing on staying alive. Block that blow there, withstand that strike here, and then dodge that heavy, two-handed slash¡­

    My evasion wasn''t perfect and I continued to sustain minor injuries all over, but they fortunately healed quickly enough.

    "Huff¡­"

    "Why haven''t you died?"

    "Because¡­I''m still alive?"

    "Fuck you!"

    Roaring, Sakaguchi pressed on, and another geyser of blood erupted from my shoulder. Winded, I staggered back and tried to pull away.

    Fortunately, Sakaguchi didn''t try to chase me. He kept his distance and glared at me.

    "Where did you learn to fight like that? Normal people wouldn''t be able to keep up with my moves or withstand my strength. Yet, you''ve met me blow for blow and survived this long, while exchanging over a hundred blows. How is this possible?!"

    "Because it''s not impossible?"

    "SHUT UP!"

    "Then stop asking stupid questions."

    Sakaguchi growled and swung his sword, but I matched him with a well-placed block. Even then, my legs buckled and the earth split apart beneath my feet, unable to withstand the raw power from Sakaguchi''s strike.

    F¡­I think the bones in my arms just snapped.

    I winced and drew back, deftly dodging Sakaguchi''s next strike and retreating to a safe distance. Meanwhile, the bones and tendons in my damaged arms repaired themselves and before long I was as good as new.

    To be honest, I was completely outmatched. The only reason I had survived for this long was because of the immature Sword Saint ability that I had plundered from Minamoto Kureha when I devoured her. That special ability had allowed me to move like a weapon master, anticipate Sakaguchi''s strikes and defend myself flawlessly. It was unfortunate that I still hadn''t reached the level where I was proficient with a sword or staff to the point where I could counterattack or go on the offensive, but I had enough of the basics to keep me alive.

    No. that wasn''t totally true.

    It wasn''t only the Sword Saint special ability that kept me alive. Several times throughout our exchange, I had been forced to directly block Sakaguchi''s superhuman strikes. The one ton-power of his crushing strikes would have been enough to squash any target with brute force, and indeed directly blocking those attacks had resulted in no small amount of broken bones, ruptured tendons and wounded arms and legs.

    However, my Regeneration had kicked into overdrive, rapidly repairing the damage I took and allowing me to keep up in battle. But as the battle dragged on, I could feel the Regeneration slowing down. My wounds were no longer healing as quickly. The relentless hail of attacks from Sakaguchi were taking its toll and slowly draining my mana and strength away.

    I wouldn''t last in a battle of stamina with him.

    "Hah!"

    "Kuh!"

    I finally slipped up. It was a stupid mistake ¨C just a single one ¨C but it was more than enough to condemn me.

    Exhausted, I was barely able to knock away Sakaguchi''s broadsword, but my arms slipped from being continually depleted of strength. Noticing my sudden weakness, Sakaguchi exploited it and quickly rammed his elbow into my face. My head snapped back, blood flying from my broken nose and my glasses almost driven into my eyes.

    "Gah¡­"

    I wasn''t even given a chance to complain. Even as I staggered and desperately tried to recover, Sakaguchi wasn''t merciful enough to patiently wait for me.

    In one fluid swing, his broadsword cut through my collarbone and the massive weapon lodged itself deeply in my torso, sending a geyser of blood spurting violently toward the heavens.

 36 Chapter 36: Desperate Escape

    "A¡­aaaaah!"

    My knees buckled and I crashed into a kneeling position as the agonized scream tore itself out of my throat. Fuck, I regretted giving my Redwood Jacket to Hughes. Now when I really needed it, but I didn''t have it. Without its protection, Sakaguchi was cutting me apart.

    "Just die already!"

    With a snarl, Sakaguchi increased the pressure on his broadsword, and its blade bit deeper and grated against bone, sharply amplifying the red-hot agony that burned its way through my torso. I let out another scream and almost blacked out from the excruciating pain.

    Oh God-Emperor of Man, help me¡­Throne on Terra¡­aaaaaah!

    My hands scrabbled at the broadsword, as if trying to dislodge or remove it, but my hands went slick with blood ¨C not just the blood pouring from my wound, but also from the deep line of cuts that the blade tore open in my palms.

    "F¡­!"

    I let out a shriek as the broadsword cut so deeply that it cut into bone. If I increase the pressure and tried to yank it off, it would slice straight through my hands. Tears leaked from my eyes, and my vision turned into a haze of red.

    I can''t die here¡­I can''t¡­!

    Gritting my teeth, I abandoned my efforts and dropped my hands. I scrabbled frantically for my fallen staff and snatched it up. The broadsword dangerously sunk lower, chewing through bone, sinew and tissue and cleaving my lung and stomach further. With a hiss, I brought the staff up and parried the broadsword to stop the downward slide.

    It was almost too late. My body was almost falling apart. I almost couldn''t feel my right arm, which felt as if it was severed away from my body. My shoulder was hanging away from my neck and chest, the massive blade wedged between and beneath them.

    I had to do something quickly. I wasn''t going to survive at this rate, even with my prodigious Regeneration or undead abilities.

    Forcing myself not to black out, I gritted my teeth harder and channeled as much mana as I could to my staff. I didn''t care that dark magic was weakened by 90%. I didn''t have the intention of killing or injuring Sakaguchi.

    My sole purpose for now was to escape.

    Shadow Lunar Fang!

    "What?!"

    Sakaguchi swore as his view was suddenly obscured by a violent swirl of darkness. His divine armor glowed white as the defensive runes protected his body from the sudden devastating spell ¨C but even without Divine Defense, the vastly weakened Shadow Lunar Fang would only scratch him at most. More shocked than hurt, he waved the swirling miasma away and glared at me.

    I was gone.

    "¡­bastard! Where did he go?!"

    I ran away, of course. What, did he honestly think I would just lie flat and let him kill me so simply? He was clearly deluded.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Fortunately, the thick armor that provided him his formidable defense was heavy and clunky, which slowed him down massively. Even though I was heavily injured, I was already widening the distance and outrunning him on foot. It also helped that my grievous and fatal wound was already slowly closing up and healing. I had been afraid to leave a trail of blood as I escaped, but the bleeding had stopped the moment my flesh knitted.

    The dull pain as my organs, sinew and tissue tried to mend told me that my Regeneration was not as fast as before. I flinched every time I took a step, but it was no longer at the point where I would black out from the sheer agony.

    I''m really running low on energy.

    Hunger was gnawing at my stomach, a sign that I had depleted vast reserves of mana.

    Most probably from all that regenerating¡­plus I used quite a few spells. And before that I even helped to heal three mercenaries.

    Ah. Fuck.

    Dismayed, I plunged through the woods as the memory hit me. Not only were the men I saved now being hunted down and slain by Asakura, I also realized just how feeble and helpless I was against Sakaguchi.

    Every single one of his special abilities were a direct counter to mine. It was as if he was created solely to fight me. No matter what I did, there was no way I could win against him, not unless I solely relied on the Sword Saint special ability.

    In fact, it was only because of my immature Sword Saint ability that I even survived the battle at all. I shuddered to think of what would have happened if I didn''t possess that ability. Even if I had my Redwood Robe, its regenerative protection might not be enough to protect me from the constant barrage.

    "Where are you, fucking Tanaka!? Get your ass out here!"

    Sakaguchi was still roaring, swinging his broadsword about and chopping down trees in frustration. I wasn''t stupid enough to respond, and quietly widened the distance between myself and him. It was a good thing he was being so noisy and conspicuous ¨C I knew where his location was and could move accordingly in the opposite direction.

    It wasn''t long before the white light from his Holy Blessings disappeared from sight and I could no longer hear his howls.

    Great. The bloody bastard wouldn''t shut up. I had enough of listening to him. Relieved, I stopped to take a breather and ended up slumping against the nearest tree. My legs suddenly lost their strength and I fell over.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I used up too much mana and energy early for my spells and Regeneration. Now I was completely and thoroughly exhausted. My body was no longer willing to listen to me. It almost felt like it had shut down.

    F¡­move, damn you!

    I willed my body to move, but it disobeyed. My legs refused to stand and I could only lean against the trunk of a tree, sucking in a huge lungful of air as I tried to catch my breath. Shutting my eyes, I reluctantly relaxed and allow myself to rest.

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    I hope Sakaguchi and Asakura won''t be able to find me.

    Ideally, I wanted to move as far away as them as possible. If I could, I would like to track down the surviving mercenaries and protect them, but I had absolutely no idea where they went. Furthermore, Asakura had gone after them to hunt every single witness down. I grimly realized that the chances of anyone escaping were pretty slim.

    But if she can track all the mercenaries in this forest, doesn''t that mean she will be able to find me too?

    To my horror, I realized that Asakura most likely had a tracking skill of some sort, or she wouldn''t have agreed to Sakaguchi''s order to hunt the mercenaries down. Cursing, I tried to force myself back onto my feet. If that was true, I couldn''t afford to stick around here.

    I had to move and increase the distance as much as possible.

    Wait, isn''t it entirely possible that the reason why Sakaguchi and Asakura were able to find me because Asakura has a tracking special ability that allowed her to track me all the way from the city when they learned from the guild that I was still alive?

    If my guess was correct, then I wasn''t out of the woods yet. And I didn''t mean that literally.

    Feeling an icy spike of fear in my chest, I hauled myself to my feet. It seemed I had managed to recover just a tiny bit of my strength. My stomach still growled, empty after the efforts of earlier, but at least now I was able to walk.

    I went straight. Or at least what I thought was straight. My mind was in a mess and I clearly couldn''t tell one tree apart from another. I was just trudging in the direction I thought was opposite from Sakaguchi''s location. At that time I was feeling drained from the battle so it didn''t occur to me that I could be walking in circles.

    The bushes beside me stirred. I froze and gripped my staff tightly. Taking a deep breath, I trained my eyes on the roughly rustling bushes, the leaves and branches swaying violently as if something huge was trying to force itself through.

    I tried to pull whatever little remains of my mana together for a spell. Whether it was Asakura or a monster, presently I was in no shape to tackle them.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I waited patiently, but in the end, a weird-looking mammal poked its head out. It was a rabbit the size of a dog, scrambling on all fours. Seeing its chubby figure squeeze through the thin hole of the shrubs, I was reminded of a wombat. It looked up at me with its cute, beady eyes and then sniffed disinterestedly.

    "¡­"

    Holding my silence, I held my gaze on the cute little creature that wriggled out of the bushes. From what I remembered, it was a warm wombat. It was practically harmless, but hunters sometimes hunted them for their fur coats, which were incredibly popular in the capital, especially among noble ladies.

    There were also several rich people who kept these warm wombats as pets. They had the special ability to emanate heat, and their owners took full advantage of that ability to keep themselves warm during winter by snuggling with their pets.

    So cool.

    "Phew¡­"

    Relieved that it wasn''t a predatory monster or one of the heroes, I exhaled and relaxed a little. Glancing warily in the direction of the warm wombat, as if I could see into the distance, past all the trees that served as a barricade, I wondered if I was heading in the right direction. I honestly had no sense of direction and no clue where I was.

    Keep moving. It''ll be better than staying still.

    That was right. If I heard so much as a whisper from my former classmates, I could just turn around and head in the opposite direction before they spotted me.

    But if they spotted me¡­then, well¡­

    Don''t think about it.

    I drew a deep breath and continued plodding forward despite my utter exhaustion.

    I didn''t get very far when I felt an ominous presence.

    "Oh, boy. So they''re already here, huh?"

    I couldn''t help but groaned as I stopped to catch my breath. Placing a hand on a tree, I glanced up and peered hard into the foliage. Even with Absolute Analysis, I couldn''t see a single thing. But I instinctively knew that my mortal enemies were here.

    She was silent, creeping through the forest like the wind. Completely opposite to Sakaguchi, Asakura didn''t make a single noise as she closed in on my position.

    "!"

    I was knocked back by a basic fireball, which I managed to dispel with my staff. I felt a huge measure of relief ¨C the fireball had revealed Asakura''s position. All I had to do was turn toward the direction in which it came from!

    Doombolt!

    I blasted thick vegetation apart, disintegrating them with the potent black spell. However, not a sound was made, and the aftermath of my magic left nothing but barren soil and decaying grass and shrubs.

    "?"

    Asakura wasn''t there.

    "!"

    I felt cuts and injuries slicing into me from behind. Staggering, I spun around, but my assailant was gone. Or she had remained unseen throughout the entire ordeal, stealthily sneaking through the grass and foliage.

    "¡­damn it."

    I gritted my teeth as I felt blood dripping from my wounds. This time, I didn''t see the fireball or projectile. It was invisible, yet swift, sharp and deadly. Unlike the fireball, which was heat and brute strength, the new attack didn''t explode upon contact.

    Worse, if I had my Redwood jacket on, this pathetic spell wouldn''t even scratch me.

    Wind magic.

    It was an offensive spell with wind attribute. Wind blades or something. Invisible, formless and almost impossible to evade.

    I heard the wind sigh, almost like a groan, and dodged instinctively. The wind blades emitted a shrill shriek as it sliced through the forest, loping off branches and actually chopping down a tree. Rolling to my feet, I glanced at the direction where I heard the wind blow from.

    If I couldn''t see the wind, I could at least hear it. Now I had to rely on my ears a lot more than my eyes.

    This is bad.

    Asakura was still nowhere to be seen. She had camouflaged her position perfectly. Not only that, the wind blades came from a completely different direction each time. She was an excellent sniper who knew that she had to switch position after every shot, to prevent counter-fire or counter-sniping from her target.

    So my former classmates were not merely incompetent caricatures who existed solely for me to kick their asses. They were pretty skilled too. Sakaguchi might lack Asakura''s finesse and stealth, but his incredibly formidable defense and area-of-effect buffing and de-buffing had overpowered me. The guy was clearly stronger than me.

    Heroes indeed.

    To be honest, it didn''t matter if I was fighting them one on one ¨C hell, I was actually fighting them one on one right now. I would still lose. Asakura didn''t intervene in Sakaguchi''s battle at all and he kicked my ass all by himself.

    And now Asakura was handling me fine all by herself. I might injured but I could still fight. Yet I didn''t summon my zombies because they wouldn''t be able to sniff her out. She would just slice them apart, unseen, almost like shooting fish in a barrel while they milled around helplessly trying to flush her out.

    This was highly disadvantageous to me.

    What should I do? Retreat?

    If I couldn''t attack her, especially in my weakened state, then that was the only choice left to me. Slamming my staff down, I used Corrupting Darkness to shroud the area. If I managed to hit the invisible Asakura with that, that would be great, but right now I was utilizing it more to create my own cover and conceal my movements.

    "You really have sunk so low, haven''t you, Tanaka?"

    Asakura''s voice dripped with sarcasm as she sneered at me, unseen in the forest. I snorted as I ran under the cover of the miasma.

    "I don''t want to hear that from you, so-called hero who goes around murdering innocent people. Even if you accuse me of not being innocent, you still killed the mercenaries who had nothing to do with this."

    "Hah! You call them people? They''re just NPCs, you know. They exist for the sole purpose of being farmed."

    What kind of fucking logic was that? Right. The heroes from another world were so deluded that they treated Restia as some sort of game world. There was no point in convincing them, so I held my silence and focused on running.

    "You think you can hide yourself?"

    The wind suddenly blew the entire place apart, dissipating the miasma very easily and exposing me. Even though I had managed to dive into a thick cluster of trees, I could sense killing intent all about me. No longer bothered with subterfuge, Asakura blasted my wooden cover apart with fireball and immolated huge swathes of the forest.

    "What do you think you''re doing!?" I yelled as I scrambled out, desperately trying to put out the flames on my back and arms. Ugh, I was suffering serious burns, which were taking quite a while to heal because of my lack of mana.

    "Flushing you out, of course. If I have to burn down the whole forest to kill you, I will."

    "Why are you going this far?!"

    Asakura laughed, almost as if she couldn''t believe how na?ve I was, or she deemed my question as stupid to the extreme.

    "You''re Tanaka. That''s all the reason we need."

    "Huh?"

    "If we don''t kill you now, we''ll regret it. You''ll come back to haunt us. You''ll take your revenge on us. Tsukishima-san had the right idea. That''s why you should just let us kill you ¨C to give us a peace of mind!"

    "You''re just as bad as Kobayashi!"

    "No, no." Asakura giggled. "Kobayashi-kun is a genius. He''s correct. The weak like you should all just die. There''s little point in allowing useless people to live."

    While I would scoff at the logic, at the moment it was true that both Asakura and Sakaguchi were stronger than me. Frustration welled up in me as I escaped the burning forest.

    The whole place was in flames now, with smoke billowing throughout. Coughing as I accidentally inhaled a large lungful of fumes, I staggered away from the blazing foliage and sought safer ground while making use of the smoke to hide myself.

    "It''s useless, you know."

    A gigantic gust of wind blew the smoke apart and actually extinguished the flames in one blow. I continued moving, but I was thrown up and above, my body tumbling from the hurricane. The gale hurled me across the forest.

    "Ugh!"

    I scrambled to my feet after landing, using the staff to shove myself to my feet. Almost using it as a crutch or walking stick, I hurtled across the forest to maximize the distance between myself and Asakura.

    But I was just running blindly. I had no idea where she was. I couldn''t see or sense her at all. For all I knew, I could be running straight at her and falling into another trap.

    Don''t think too much. Moving and make myself less of a target is infinitely better than standing still!

    "Still struggling uselessly, you worm?" Asakura sneered. I was smacked by another wind blade, which tore open a huge injury on me. Knocked off course, I stumbled and toppled over, groaning. Rolling in the grass, I tried to get back to my feet, but the pain was inhibiting my movements.

    "Argh¡­"

    "Wow, you''re annoyingly tenacious. You''re still alive after that?"

    "You''re annoyingly persistent," I retorted as I used my staff to force myself to my feet. Shaking my head, I ran again.

    Wind howled at my back and I threw myself to the side to avoid the hurricane. A cluster of trees in front of me were reduced into splinters from the sheer force of the spell.

    "Holy Throne!"

    Praying to the Emperor, I struggled to dash through the falling splinters, hoping that they would obscure Asakura''s view. She definitely wouldn''t expect me to run into the spot where she had just devastated with her magic.

    "Getting desperate, aren''t you?"

    Asakura chuckled before she launched another series of wind blades that cut up my surroundings. Relying on my instincts and hearing alone, I wove through the crumbling trees and blown up grass and soil, hoping that they masked my presence. My foot slipped on something and I found myself tumbling as the whole earth literally vanished beneath my foot.

    "What¡­?!"

    My words were cut off as I simply tumbled into nothingness. While dodging and escaping Asakura''s assault, I had unknowingly ran straight off a cliff. Now I was plunging downward, crashing through nothingness and falling into the abyss below.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Asakura''s laughter thundered loudly behind me as she threw taunts.

    "Fall to your death, you insect loser!"

    That was the last thing I heard before I disappeared into the abyss below.

    ¡­or would have, but Asakura suddenly realized something.

    "Hmph. I don''t want to have this same old clich¨¦ of someone supposedly falling to their death from a cliff, their corpse never found, only for them to suddenly show up in future alive and well, and particularly vengeful. I had best confirm your death."

    I could see a shimmer at the edge of the cliff as Asakura appeared, the outline of her body telegraphed against transparent air. Turning my body in midair, I could see her preparing several wind blades to hurl at me.

    That was easy. Now that I knew where the attacks were coming from, I had ample time to prepare my defenses.

    Dark Barrier!

    I conjured a dark barrier to deflect the wind blades from Asakura. Even invisible, I could see the shock on her transparent face. Using Absolute Appraisal, I secretly read her stats and noted her personal information.

    Name: Asakura Akane

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Huntress/Hero

    Special Ability: Artemis Assault, Invincible Invisibility

    What the f? Invincible Invisibility? No wonder I couldn''t sense her at all. In fact, if I didn''t know she was on the edge of the cliff, I wouldn''t have noticed her presence at all.

    Mirroring my frustration, Asakura conjured a fireball and hurled it at me. Unlike Sakaguchi, however, her attacks were not as powerful ¨C they lacked the strength to penetrate my defenses. The fireball merely dissipated across my barrier.

    "Fucking loser insect! Like a cockroach to the very end! Just die!"

    Screaming, Asakura hurled more fireballs at me. Even though I had fallen off the cliff, this misfortune turned out to save my life because Asakura''s attacks could only come from one direction. It was a good thing she couldn''t fly or she would have jumped off the cliff to chase me down until I was confirmed dead.

    As it was, she wouldn''t have any trouble confirming that anyway. Turning around, I saw the ground rush up to meet me.

    Except that it wasn''t the ground.

    "!!!"

    SPLASH!

    A geyser of water sprouted out as I hit the surface of the river before disappearing into its depths without a trace, even as Asakura''s enraged wails echoed throughout the forest above.

 37 Chapter 37: Demon Territory

    "Gah!"

    I burst out of the river, a fish caught firmly between my teeth. Even as I clamped down on the slippery scales with my jaws, the desperate fish flailed and flopped about in an attempt to break free and escape back to the depths where I caught it.

    With a force of will, I bit down hard. My teeth sank deeply into the fish and blood gushed into my mouth. The fish''s resistance increased but I maintained the pressure. Within a minute, the fish finally went limp.

    With my catch firmly ensnared in my mouth, I crawled ashore. I flopped down on the riverbank and lay in the mud, my limbs utterly depleted of energy. I chewed on the fish, ripping the flesh from its bones and then swallowed.

    "Phew¡­"

    It was but a very tiny amount of energy ¨C not a lot, but enough to sustain me for now. Whatever injuries that didn''t heal over time were now slowly closing up, and the pain in my body faded away. I must have suffered heavy internal injuries while on the run from Asakura Akane and ran out of energy to Regenerate.

    Good thing I managed to find some nourishment when I was washed away by the raging rapids, or the situation would have gotten very dangerous.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Though I wasn''t at full strength yet, I had recovered just enough energy to lift myself off the riverbank and stagger to my feet. Looking up, I saw that I was still stuck in the middle of a dense forest, surrounded by trees.

    Where do I go now?

    I sighed and I tried to calm myself down and consider my options. One thing was sure. Moving from here was much better than sticking around. I had no idea how fast Asakura was, but if she was determined enough, she would follow the winding river to track me down.

    And I didn''t want to be found by her. At least not now. Even if I wasn''t weakened or hurt, as I was right now, I couldn''t beat her.

    It was frustrating, but it was the truth.

    Let''s start moving.

    I began bashing through the forest, wincing as thorns scraped against my skin and tore flesh, drawing blood. Unlike the boss, I didn''t carry a machete and my staff was too unwieldy and blunt to smash my way through.

    The trees were so thick and dense that I could barely see an inch ahead of me. Even with my undead vision allowing me to see in the dark, it was still difficult to make out the trail in front of me. It wasn''t the shadows that obscured my sight, but rather the cluster of trees that clumped so closely together that I could hardly see between them.

    "¡­a light?"

    Despite the obstacles in my path, I was rewarded for my perseverance when I finally caught sight of a light at the end of the tunnel.

    Light at the end of a tunnel¡­heh.

    I don''t understand.

    Why were my former classmates so¡­irrational? It made no sense whatsoever. I didn''t understand why they were so determined to kill me. It was as if they weren''t operating out of logic. They were afraid I would take revenge on them because of Kobayashi''s attempted murder, and so they tried to kill me preemptively before I could avenge myself? What the hell, man? It just made no sense, almost like they weren''t real characters.

    It was as if they were caricatures of antagonists without any depth who existed for the sole purpose of being killed by me in the end. Their murderous actions and completely irredeemable behavior were written in such a manner that I would be justified in killing them. Or perhaps this wasn''t reality. I had really died after Kobayashi murdered me and now I was just having this eternal dream in death, some sort of delusional dream to allow me to pass on after such a death full of bitter resentment.

    Well, I can''t tell reality apart from death and delusion, so there''s no point in treating it as such. So long as I feel like I''m alive I''ll just treat it as reality. There''s really no point in assuming otherwise and wasting time worrying over it.

    Buoyed by my discovery, I hastened my pace and rapidly strode toward the light. The trees were beginning to thin out the further I went, and the light grew brighter and bigger, the rays of the sun shining down through the little holes in the canopy.

    "?"

    However, as I neared the outskirts of the forest, I suddenly felt the ground tremble beneath my feet. A huge, thunderous noise roared from outside, an unceasingly clatter of hooves beating relentlessly against the ground.

    This is¡­

    I recognized the sounds. They were those of horses¡­of cavalry. It wasn''t just one or two knights, but an entire squadron of them. I was almost on the edge of the forest, so I hastened my pace. Almost breaking into an impatient run, I finally burst out into the open, only to find myself perched on the grassy edge of a cliff.

    Below, a massive carriage rolled along the dirt track, escorted by dozens of knights. I saw now that I was mistaken ¨C those weren''t horses. The armored knights were mounted upon dragon-like ground wyverns that were as small as horses but quicker and more durable.

    My eyes wandered toward the carriage. It was enormous, almost resembling a double-decker bus that was plated in gold.

    Heh¡­so they aren''t just any ordinary knights¡­the person they''re escorting seems to be a noble of considerable social standing.

    From what little knowledge I possessed of Restia, I knew that it was rare even for nobles to possess an enormous, gold-plated carriage such as that. As high as it was, the carriage seemed armored and well-protected, an almost extravagant-looking tank with wheels. It was so huge that it couldn''t be pulled by steeds or wyverns ¨C rather, it appeared to be running on some source of mana, powered and moved by a magic engine.

    I had never seen the likes of it during my time in Restia ¨C admittedly I had spent less than a month here, so¡­

    That banner''s emblem?

    The flapping of the flags held aloft by the cavalry caught my eyes, which widened upon seeing the clan crest splashed across the velvet fabric of the banners.

    It was a crest I had seen in my library of Eden, once before, after I had defeated Asura and was scanning through the books to get a better idea of the world. There was no mistaking it ¨C it was one of the crests of the demon clans.

    The demon clans¡­!

    Well, it made sense. I was probably deep within Helsreach, especially after my flight from Asakura Akane and Sakaguchi Seiji. I was in deep demon territory. Of course they would be traveling about in huge processions like this.

    And given how the humans are trying to probe and invade Helsreach, all nobles would want such a large escort.

    That explained the huge army of armored cavalry and fierce earth wyverns. To protect their lord from being attacked from the vanguard of the human forces, demon nobles would never travel out of their domains unless under heavy guard.

    This might be a chance.

    I glanced back, almost as if I expected to see Asakura come flying after me. That girl had been ruthless and relentless, so I wouldn''t be surprised if she had caught up to me already. Furthermore, I couldn''t defeat her.

    I needed allies.

    Taking a deep breath, I jumped off the cliff, sliding down the steep slope as I struggled not to fall to my death. Flipping myself up and kicking the rock, I propelled myself to the front of the procession, waving my hands.

    "Hey!" I shouted. "Sorry, but I need some help! If you don''t mind¡­!"

    The lead knight almost blanched when he saw me, and he raised his hands as if to call his troops to a halt.

    Then he got a good look at me, and his expression turned to that of fury.

    "Filthy human!" he spat.

    "Huh?" I gaped at him. "No, wait¡­!"

    I wasn''t given a chance to finish my sentence. The knights didn''t stop, but they picked up speed. The commander growled as he drew his spear to thrust it at me. All around, the armored escorts were arming themselves.

    "W¡­wait! Wait! I''m not¡­!"

    "Kill him!"

    What was it with people always wanting to kill me on sight? First, it was my former classmates, and now it was a bunch of demons. That said, the latter probably had a good reason. After all, to them, I was a human ¨C an enemy.

    "F¡­!"

    I swore under my breath, but sprinted forward. The lancers appeared shocked by my seemingly suicidal charge, but at the very last moment, I hurled myself upward and jumped atop the lead spear. The knight who was wielding it stared at me, his jaw dropping open, before I bounced off his spear to kick him in the head. Balancing atop his helm, I kicked off from the top of his skull and propelled myself further into the massed formations.

    "Kill him! Protect the princess!"

    "Princess? Uh, right¡­that crest is the crest of the Serpenta Clan, isn''t it?"

    Nobody replied. My question was drowned out by the aggressive cries of soldiers as they tried to spear me.

    I jumped over the bunch of spears that lanced toward me. Had I been a second slower, I would have been impaled by no less than four spears. However, I boldly jumped toward the attack and planted my foot on the tip of one of the spears before springing myself further upward. I instinctively tossed myself right at the carriage.

    If I can just get on top of that thing, they wouldn''t dare to attack me¡­whoa!

    While I sailed across the massed ranks of escorts, a few soldiers had begun casting magic. Despite their anthropomorphic forms, from their long, sharp ears, I could tell that they weren''t humans. The mana they were accumulating was menacing, almost formidable. By now it had gathered into something that resembled a massive thundercloud.

    I so did not want to get hit by that.

    "Get him!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The demons launched the massive ball of miasma at me. Being in midair, I was unable to duck, so I was forced to conjure Dark Barrier to block the hit.

    "Gah!"

    Knocked off course, I landed heavily on the ground. My Dark Barrier held, even as several dozen spears launched from all directions to impale me. They failed to penetrate my Dark Barrier, and several of the spears actually splintered and broke from the brute force.

    "Kuh!"

    But I wasn''t left unscathed by the impact. Even when protected by the shimmering force field, I could feel the psycho-stigmatic feedback hammering into my mind. It almost felt like hammers crashing against my skull ¨C it didn''t exactly feel like pain, but it was an extremely uncomfortable feeling. Breathing heavily, I assessed my condition.

    Raising both hands, I shouted as loudly as possible to stop them.

    "Wait! I''m not here to attack!"

    Nobody listened. The spears crashed against my barrier again. I watched as the knights backed off before preparing for another charge.

    Bloody bastards just refused to listen. I would have to do this the hard way, huh?

    I can try to kill them¡­but Corrupting Darkness might not work against their armor. Furthermore, they''re demons, so they definitely have some sort of innate resistance to dark-type magic¡­my spells would be ineffective against them.

    Not only that, I would lose any chance of negotiating or appealing to them if I ended up killing them. My objective was to hitch a ride from them. I doubted they would be willing to give someone a ride after he killed a bunch of soldiers.

    And I wasn''t delusional enough to think that I would somehow be able to defeat an entire army of demonic escorts all on my own.

    Can''t stay on the defensive forever¡­

    My mind churned with strategic possibilities. Glancing at the carriage, I steeled my resolve. If they were escorting whatever princess who was riding inside the carriage, then jumping on top of that would stop them from attacking. After all, they couldn''t risk hurting their charge trying to kill me. Once they halted their assault, I could begin to reason with them.

    But to do that, I had to drop my guard.

    Taking a deep breath, I dismissed my Dark Barrier immediately after the knights backed off from a repeated charge. Scrambling toward the carriage, I hurled myself high into the air as one of the horsemen (or wyvernmen) slashed at me with a sword. Ducking the slash, I spun about and kicked out just as another knight thrust a spear at me. Using my foot, I stepped onto the tip of the lance and used it as a platform to propel myself higher.

    "Get him!"

    "Fucker!"

    "Don''t let him near the princess!"

    Yeah, there was no way they would be able to risk hurting their princess if I got close enough to the carriage.

    The onslaught of spears grew more desperate as the knights tried to slaughter me before I could approach the carriage. But every time they thrust their spears at me, I used the opportunity to jump atop their weapons to bounce from one spot to the other. Eventually, several of them got wise enough and tried to wait for me to land on the ground before surrounding me in a pincer attack, but I used my Sword Saint ability to maximize my reflexes, throwing myself atop their helms and using their heads as stepping stones to travel inward.

    "This brat¡­!"

    "Fucking human!"

    "Why can''t we hit him?!"

    Even as their frustration grew, their attacks remained composed, coordinated and disciplined. Truly elite knights worthy to be included in a royal guard, indeed.

    Fortunately, it was never my intention to face them in direct combat.

    I managed to clear the last line of soldiers, who finally broke and attacked me prematurely. Using the web of crossed spears as a platform, I tossed myself up and over the soldiers, who were trying to bombard me with spells.

    At the current rate, they ended up injuring each other with friendly fire instead of hitting me, but at the corner of my eye I could see how their armor resisted the most vicious of spells. Unfortunately, I wasn''t in any position to worry about my opponents. Bouncing up and away from the last line, I hurled myself straight at the carriage.

    "NO!"

    "Fucking human!"

    "Stop him! Somebody, stop him!"

    The panicked cries of soldiers rang through the battlefield, but they weren''t able to stop me in time. Several of them raised their glowing hands to launch devastating spells at me, but their commander barked.

    "Don''t, you idiots! What if you hit the princess!?"

    "Ah¡­!"

    The soldiers faltered, realizing how close they were to damaging the pristine carriage with their own hands.

    "Phew¡­"

    I sighed a breath of relief, knowing that my gamble had paid off. I sailed toward the top of the carriage, flipping over and almost landing on my feet.

    However, the room-shaped compartment situated atop the armored carriage trembled as I approached it. I blinked in surprise, but it was too late to stop. My momentum was mercilessly throwing me forward.

    Uh oh. This doesn''t look good.

    Before I reached the top of the carriage, that compartment blew up into pieces as someone from within slashed it apart, reducing it to shrapnel of metal and debris of fine, expensive wood. Dust billowed from the destruction of the carriage, obscuring my sight. I couldn''t change the trajectory of my landing position, even as I saw something sparkled from within the cloud of dust.

    "Oh boy¡­!"

    I was right.

    A sharp blade lashed forward, almost stabbing me in the eye before I landed. I managed to dodge at the very last second, sliding my head to the side while deflecting the blade with my left arm. The girl who wielded the blade didn''t hesitate, stepping forward to assault me with precise, well-aimed strokes of her sword.

    "Ugh!"

    I jumped back across the top of the carriage, both surprised by the elegant attacks and mesmerized by the girl''s beauty. Long, dark hair fell stylishly over her shoulders, and she was dressed in an oriental, silk dress with pretty embroideries and flowery patterns. She glared at me with determined, jade-colored eyes, her expression set in grim resolve.

    The princess?!

    That extravagant, elegant appearance and regal bearing¡­there was no mistaking it. This girl was the princess the knights were talking about.

    The sword cut through my arm deeply, drawing blood and biting into bone. With a hiss of pain, I staggered back, but was relieved to see that the blade didn''t cleave through my hand and sever it. Adaptive Mutation must be working. After the wounds I sustained from Asakura, my body must have transformed physically and strengthened itself to keep up with the onslaught of violence that I had been persistently subjected to.

    "Insolent, aren''t you?" the princess snapped, her voice ringing as clearly as a bell. "Even though you know this procession belongs to me, the Serpenta Clan''s Dragon Princess Yuan, you still have the impertinence to attack?"

    She increased the pressure of her sword, forcing me to deflect it. I stepped back and dodged as the princess slashed at me several times, working hard to avoid getting eviscerated by those sharp, precise movements.

    "Dragon Princess Yuan?" I mumbled.

    "Against the betrothed of the crown prince of the Gremory clan, who dares raise his hand against them?!"

    I widened my eyes at the news. The Gremory clan was the current leading family of the demons, having tried to pull the disparate families and forces of the demons together after the fall of the previous Demon Lord.

    Yeah, well¡­not that these marriage politics are any of my business¡­

    Yuan didn''t seem like she cared either. She was mercilessly striding forward with her sword, eager to end my life. I could see emerald mana swirling around her blade ¨C evidently she realized that I was not a simple foe.

    I relaxed and dropped my guard with a smirk.

    "!"

    The princess fell for it. Her sword passed through my body cleanly, the blade exiting from my back in a spray of blood. Yet I didn''t move or resist, standing still as I allowed her to impale me with her powerful weapon.

    Why?

    I didn''t have to read Yuan''s mind to know what she was thinking. Her confusion was written all over her pretty face, perspiration dripping down her elegant brow as she stared at me in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

    Why did he not evade?

    "Because I don''t need to."

    I grinned as black mana whirled around me, particularly around Yuan''s sword. She tried to pull her weapon free, only to realize that it was stuck.

    "!"

    However, I wasn''t going to let her go like this. Before she could let go of her sword and retreat ¨C having realized that something was terribly amiss- I quickly grabbed her arm. My fingers clamping firmly over her slender limb, I stopped her from backing away.

    In one swift motion, I twisted Yuan''s arm, causing her to cry out and sink to her knees, her face flushed in pain and shock.

    "Ah!"

    "Sorry for the rough treatment, your highness."

    I let her go. Yuan stumbled forward before she twisted around to stare at me in shock. I shrugged and pulled the sword out of my gut.

    "My princess!"

    "You¡­you bastard!"

    The knights below were in an uproar, surrounding the carriage with their weapons raised and their hands glowing with spells. However, Yuan lifted a hand and gestured for all of them to back down with a shake of her head.

    "Huh¡­your highness?"

    "This human¡­he has no intention of fighting." Yuan''s eyes narrowed as she watched my wound repair itself. "No¡­you''re not human, are you?"

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    "¡­not exactly," I confirmed reluctantly. I had no idea what I was now. My status showed that I was an undead, a Gravekeeper with the rank of Lich Lord. Whatever that meant. I could use that to my advantage. "I''m sorry for causing such a commotion, but really, I mean no harm." I raised both my hands to show my complete lack of hostility.

    "Then what do you want?!" the knight commander yelled from below, still brandishing his spear. I turned to him for a second before returning to the princess and lowering my head.

    "Please, your highness. All I want is a ride."

 38 Chapter 38: The Gremory Clan

    After much consternation, the armed escorts finally allowed me to follow them. Especially after she heard how the knight commander just charged at me instead of listening when I tried to flag them down, Princess Yuan reprimanded her guards and told them to apologize.

    I didn''t need the apology. I waved it away and requested that they allowed me to tag along. After all, I had nowhere else to go, and I felt a lot safer following an army of demonic knights than running around without a clue on my own.

    Especially when I was being hunted by Asakura Akane and Sakaguchi Seiji.

    "But your highness¡­" the commander protested.

    "What''s the problem? He''s not human, is he?"

    "No, but we can''t let a commoner ride alongside your highness. That''s¡­"

    "Wait, sir¡­"

    One of the demonic knights had ridden forward to converse with him.

    "Doesn''t this young man have the signature of a Lich Lord?"

    I frowned. How did he know? Even I didn''t know unless I consulted my status screen. Yet this guy was¡­

    "Ah¡­you''re right!"

    Instead of being skeptical, the commander''s face turned pale as if he realized that the guy was right. He lowered his head hastily.

    "Forgive my impertinence and rudeness!"

    "Uh, no, don''t worry about it." I glanced at the guy who raised the topic. "How did you know?"

    The knight tilted his head. "Well, my special ability allows me to recognize the individual mana signatures of demonic nobles. That''s why they brought me along. I should have stepped forward earlier, but it was hard to confirm your identity during the heat of battle."

    "Wait¡­" it was Princess Yuan this time. "If you''re a Lich Lord, then where are your forces? Why are you traveling alone?"

    That was a good question. If you were looking at this from Princess Yuan''s point of view, of course. Why would a demon noble not have his own entourage and army? The problem was that I had obtained my title in a rather¡­unorthodox way.

    I still remembered Sergeant Gio Vanni''s words, when he informed his superior, Lieutenant Elia Kratz, of my unusual circumstances. I had become a Lich Lord surpassing a noble like Elia Kratz in rank all because I killed a hero. That was how I became a lord or demon noble ¨C but I didn''t earn any property, domain or men.

    I doubted Princess Yuan and her forces would believe me, though. That said, there was no point lying about it.

    "No, I don''t possess any lands or forces. I recently attained this title due to uh¡­some weird achievement, so I haven''t been assigned any domain or territory."

    "What sort of achievement?" Princess Yuan asked curiously. I gulped, knowing it wouldn''t be wise to tell the truth now.

    "Uh¡­well, killing something. Something very powerful."

    Or so it seemed.

    "We''re heading toward the domain of the Gremory Clan, if that''s all right with you," Princess Yuan told me. I nodded profusely.

    "Yeah. That''s the best option for me! I need to speak to Lord Gremory and see what I can do with this uh¡­title. I mean, I don''t need it, and I have no idea how to get rid of it¡­"

    "Well, given how you achieved it through feat of strength, I''m afraid you won''t be able to dispossess yourself of the rank," the knight commander told me. His respectful tone was in stark contrast to his earlier hostility. What a complete change in attitude.

    "Ugh¡­oh well. Then I need some way to put this rank to good use and help in the war against the heroes."

    At the mention of heroes, everyone''s faces fell and the atmosphere turned gloomy. I frantically glanced around and shook my hands apologetically.

    "Uh, sorry. Uh¡­"

    "No, it''s nothing."

    Princess Yuan forced a smile and shook her head. As disciplined as they were, the knights also quickly recovered and stood back up straight.

    I see. So the demons were demoralized by the death of the previous Demon Lord and the success of the heroes. With almost nothing to answer the unstoppable charge of the heroes, it seemed that the demons were doomed to extermination. The only thing stopping the genocide right now was the heroes'' sudden break.

    I was glad that my former classmates were still treating this like a game. After that final boss battle, they decided to take a vacation without caring for the momentum of the war or the morale of the human armies. After working so hard for a period of time, the heroes had abruptly demanded for a holiday because they were sick of fighting. Much like how gamers wanted an extended break after defeating a boss before getting back to the game after relaxing for a bit.

    Thanks to their complete lack of urgency or knowledge of how war worked, the momentum of the human armies had slowed to a crawl, and they were making very little headway in invading Helsreach. The demonic forces might be in disarray after that recent major defeat, but they proved to be formidable, especially against human soldiers who had no support from the heroes.

    Some heroes they are¡­well, since it''s to our advantage, I can''t complain.

    Whatever the case, it appeared that I had to be careful when speaking to the demons. I didn''t want to hit a sore point and lose my potential allies.

    "Well, we should hurry," I spoke up. "We don''t want to be around when the human armies finally arrive."

    "Agreed."

    "Repair the sedan!" one of the knights shouted. "And are there any spare ground wyverns?"

    "Oh, if it''s transport, don''t worry about me." I raised a hand and summoned Matsukaze in a flash. "I have my own steed."

    "¡­eh?"

    Everyone stared at me.

    "I thought you need a ride," Princess Yuan muttered.

    "Sort of¡­the problem is that I''m completely lost and have no idea where to go. I guess I meant I need a guide?"

    The knight commander chuckled and shook his head. "I get what you mean. Don''t worry, sir. We''ll get you to Gremory territory safely."

    "Thank you."

    Sighing a breath of relief, I patiently waited for the knights to get back in order and repair the sedan. It didn''t take long before I mounted up with the rest of them and began the long ride toward the Gremory Clan''s domain.

    *

    "HALT!"

    The guards at the city-fortress of Helsfort stopped us before we could reach the gate. I pulled Matsukaze to a stop as I glanced up at the heavily guarded ramparts and armored walls of the fortress that stretched for miles.

    Helsfort¡­the domain of the revered Gremory Clan, and the capital of the northern demonic lands of Morten. The largest concentration of demonic forces I had seen were gathered in one place, marshalling within the fortified city as they prepared for war.

    Apparently, despite the defeat at Helsreach, the demons were planning to recover, regroup and strike back at the humans.

    "The Serpenta Clan?"

    The lead sentry stepped forward as he studied the banners and flags warily, and then spoke to the knight commander. After they exchanged a few words, he stepped back and nodded. The massive metal gates behind him began to groan as they creaked open, hauled by unseen machinery and gigantic gears.

    The princess sat inside her sedan nervously, fidgeting as the carriage pulled into the city. I glanced up, wondering why she was nervous.

    Actually, why am I even able to sense her anxiety?

    I had no idea. I shouldn''t be able to see Princess Yuan from down below, especially with her figure blocked off from view by the exquisite walls of the sedan, yet I could somehow picture her flushed, embarrassed face as she tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

    The procession continued into the streets of Helsfort. As we traveled across the road, citizens emerged from their homes to eagerly watch the huge army of armed soldiers and the glittering golden carriage.

    "Oh, it''s the procession for the Dragon Princess Yuan!"

    "Oh, Yuan-sama!"

    An elderly demon was smiling brightly as we trampled past her.

    "Finally, the marriage with the Prince of the Gremory Clan will begin!"

    Further down, we came across rows of civilians prostrating themselves at the side of the road, which took me by surprise.

    "Yuan-sama!"

    "Oh, your highness¡­"

    I gulped as I glanced at them, but one of the demonic knights pulled up alongside me and whispered.

    "Keep your eyes forward. Don''t face them. Acknowledge their presence if you have to, but keep your head high."

    I nodded imperceptibly and followed the knight''s instructions, keeping my eyes to the front. I felt uncomfortable with the reverence the commoners were showing, but this wasn''t my world. I had to get used to the local culture and traditions here.

    The sight of the commoners bowing down at the mere sight of a noble aristocrat wasn''t something I was used to. At least they were prostrating themselves not to me but the princess of the Serpenta Clan.

    Admittedly, given how beautiful the Dragon Princess of the Serpenta Clan was, I could slightly understand why they were unabashedly bowing to her. Even I couldn''t help but feel charmed by her appearance and regal aura.

    Those endlessly deep jade-green eyes and ruby-red lips¡­that smooth skin that surpassed any fine silk, and despite her childish looks, her chest had matured profoundly. Furthermore, those gorgeous curves that were outlined by her elegant dress¡­

    Yeah, she was a goddess that most men couldn''t help but worship. No wonder she was slated to be the Gremory prince''s fianc¨¦e.

    I wasn''t surprised that the knights all devoted themselves so fiercely to her protection. She was certainly a beauty worth dying for.

    The procession continued forward until we reached a huge castle in the middle of the city, where the concentration of demonic soldiers were the densest.

    "Oh, Princess Yuan?"

    A young man in his late twenties or early thirties stepped forward, a headband tied around his dark hair. Even though he had an insolent and condescending smile and was dressed casually in warrior clothes and a cape, from that intimidating, regal aura of his I could instinctively tell that he was a high-ranking demon noble.

    "Your majesty!"

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    "My king!"

    Immediately, the knights who were escorting Princess Yuan bowed their heads. I also felt that compulsion to lower my head, and upon seeing my fellow travelers do so, I followed suit. There was no point sticking out like a sore thumb.

    Besides, if they were right, then this man was the king of the Gremory Clan and the next, succeeding Demon Lord, Regis Gremory. If I wanted his help, I couldn''t afford to offend him. And I didn''t have that much pride anyway. Getting help, gathering allies and seeking shelter was more important. To that end, I didn''t care if I had to lower my head.

    Seemed like a small price to pay.

    "I see that my son''s bride has arrived."

    Regis Gremory regarded the procession and then stared up at the sedan. Swallowing nervously Princess Yuan stepped out to reverently bow her head.

    "My king."

    "Don''t be so formal. After all, from today onward, you''re my daughter-in-law."

    Princess Yuan hesitated for a second ¨C just a millisecond ¨C and then she steeled her resolve before she climbed down the carriage to approach Regis Gremory, who waited patiently at the bottom of her carriage.

    "You can relax. I have no intention of eating you."

    Chuckling, Regis Gremory smoothly extended a hand to Princess Yuan and helped her down like the gentleman he was. Her face flushed crimson at the physical contact, but Yuan merely nodded in acknowledgement and stepped daintily onto the floor.

    "Now, then. Let''s proceed in. my son is waiting for you."

    The knights who escorted Yuan this far stepped back and dismounted. Evidently our job here was done and we allowed ourselves to be guided toward the barracks. I had no idea what to do so I followed the knights and dismissed Matsukaze.

    However¡­

    "That kid over there."

    Regis Gremory''s deep voice floated across the courtyard. I instinctively turned and immediately felt incredible pressure when I felt the king''s eyes on me.

    "Why are you following the knights?"

    "Uh¡­well¡­I mean, I don''t know where else to go¡­"

    "You''re a lord, aren''t you? You''ve an obligation to attend my son''s wedding."

    I glanced at the knight commander, who nodded subtly. Even though I didn''t want to partake in such a long, boring ceremony, it didn''t seem like I had a choice. Especially since I had come all this way to seek his help¡­yeah, it wouldn''t be wise to offend the king. Furthermore, he was right. It would be strange for a noble to follow the knights and seemingly boycott the grand marriage of the current Demon Lord''s son.

    "Sorry, your majesty."

    Gulping, I made to follow him and his entourage, who were staring strangely at me. It was clear that a large group of them were demon nobles. The royal guard, on the other hand, didn''t even spare me a second glance.

    They were more invested in protecting the king.

    "Ah, I see. You didn''t inherit your rank."

    Regis Gremory suddenly turned to me, causing Princess Yuan to let go of his arm. I almost crumbled under those piercing blue eyes of his, which seemed like he saw through everything. Did he also have a special ability similar to Absolute Appraisal?

    "You received it by killing a hero."

    Regis Gremory made the remark in a highly amused tone, but his words caused a furor among the demon nobles. Even Princess Yuan almost toppled over from the revelation, her eyes going wide as she stared at me.

    "Killed a hero¡­?"

    "Yes. This young Lich Lord here has slain not one but three heroes. Impressive."

    How the heck did he know that? Did he have something like Absolute Appraisal after all? I couldn''t help but activate my own Absolute Appraisal, and watched with bated breath as Regis Gremory''s information flooded the lenses of my glasses.

    Name: Regis Gremory

    Species: Grim

    Job/Rank: Daemon Knight/Demon Lord

    Titles: King of the Gremory Clan, Current Demon Lord

    Special Abilities: ERROR

    I blinked. What the hell? His special abilities were clouded by a single word ¨C ERROR? What was that supposed to mean?

    "I am the current Demon Lord, young man. Do you think it would be so easy to read my abilities?"

    Regis Gremory chuckled with a smile. He turned away and offered a stunned Princess Yuan his arm, and she took it without thinking.

    "Come in. we''ll discuss this further. Now wonder you don''t seem familiar with our customs and decorum¡­don''t worry, I''ll arrange for you to be educated on that."

    "No¡­uh¡­well¡­"

    I stammered, but seeing that Regis Gremory was no longer paying any attention to me, I hurried after him and his entourage. I couldn''t help but feel chills down my spine as they stared at me. While some of them seemed truly impressed, and others held some measure of disbelief, there were more than a few who were outright hostile.

    Probably because they were wary of me snatching away their ranks or territory, no doubt. Idiots. I had no desire to take away anybody''s territory. I didn''t even want this stupid lord title. All I wanted was allies to fight against the heroes.

    Revenge, not ambition, was my overall objective. I couldn''t care less about wealth, status or power unless it allowed me to kill those fucking former classmates of mine. Even though my injuries had healed, I still felt phantom pain from the wounds Asakura and Sakaguchi dealt me. Closing my eyes, I clamped down on my rage.

    Focus for now.

    The palace doors swung open magically to allow the king access to his own castle. If I thought there was quite the group of nobles outside, I was surprised to see the volume of people inside the castle. Rows and rows of extravagantly dressed nobles stood by the sides, mingling among themselves and chattering idly while helping themselves to wine and other expensive-looking beverages and food. At Regis Gremory''s entrance, they all stopped and bowed respectfully.

    "My king, you''ve returned."

    A beautiful woman with long, curly blond hair stood at the front, her head bowed slightly as she got off her throne. Regis Gremory merely smiled at her.

    "It''s been a while, Diana. I''ve missed you."

    "So have I, my love."

    "We''ve a lot to catch up on. For now¡­"

    Regis Gremory suddenly turned toward a young man, who had knelt by the side, his blond head bowed in supplication.

    "Richard. Up, on your feet. I''ve brought you your wife."

    "Yes, Father."

    The handsome young man rose to his feet. I could see several similarities ¨C like his father, Richard Gremory was good looking. But unlike the king, the crown prince seemed a bit frail, his limbs slender instead of muscular, and there was a trace of delicate gentleness to his expression that was missing from his father''s hardened, stoic face.

    Their personalities seemed almost the opposite of each other.

    "Greetings, Princess Yuan. I am Richard Gremory¡­"

    "Prince Richard. It''s an honor."

    The two youngsters exchanged greetings. Smiling at them, Regis Gremory left them as they were and proceeded toward the throne to reunite with his wife and daughter. The young girl by Diana''s side was barely twelve, and unlike the rigid, formal nobles, she was at ease, laughing and playing at her mother''s leg.

    "How was Helsreach?"

    "Better than I hoped. For some reason, the human offensive has stalled¡­I don''t know what possessed Evelyn''s Chosen to pull out of the assault, but thanks to that we were able to repel the human forces."

    "That''s good. I''ve been talking to the Kirin Clan, and I have convinced them to join our cause. I will be approaching the Nocturne Clan soon, but there''s no guarantee that they will listen."

    "The Nocturne Clan has always been a stubborn bunch. I have no idea how the previous Demon Lord managed to bring them to our fold."

    "It''s not just them. Ever since the previous Demon Lord succumbed in battle, the Phenex Clan, the Labolas Clan and the Rowan House have pulled away. Without their armies, we have lost a significant portion of our military forces¡­"

    "Mama¡­Mama¡­Papa! What are you talking about?!"

    While her parents discussed politics, their daughter tugged on their hands, seemingly unable to comprehend their conversation. She pouted, her cute face puffing up and causing her father to laugh and carry her.

    "You''re right, Denise. We shouldn''t be discussing such grim matters. Today''s a special day, after all. A happy occasion."

    Ugh, I didn''t feel like I belonged here. I so wanted to get out of this stuffy castle and joined the knights in their barracks. I preferred to be fighting than politicking. All this scheming and whatnot didn''t sit well with me.

    Perhaps that was why I ended up being so easily bullied, and why my entire class turned on me. I just refused to play along with their political or social games.

    "What are you doing here?"

    I glanced up as a huge, almost obese demon noble approached me. His ears were sharp and pointed, his skin an unnatural gray, and his mustache had been trimmed into whiskers. For some reason he was wearing sunglasses indoors. Don''t ask me why. Perhaps he wanted to adopt that clich¨¦d villainous look?

    "Apparently he''s a lord like us. Killed a hero or two."

    "You''re kidding?!"

    A tall, thin noble in a tuxedo had whispered into his ear, and the fat guy almost jumped out of that flaky skin of his.

    "How are we supposed to verify this? How do we know you aren''t a fraud? Do you have anyone to vouch for your achievement?"

    The fat noble spluttered, unable to believe it.

    "Well¡­" I scratched my head. "I supposed Lieutenant Elia Kratz and her platoon witnessed me when I helped them out?"

    "Kratz?" the fat noble frowned. "The daughter of Marquis Kratz?"

    "Yes? Did anyone call?"

    A tall, middle-aged demon walked forward, his dark skin and sharp ears reminiscent of a dark elf. The fat noble paled and shook his head.

    "No. I mean¡­well, this young man claimed to know your daughter, Marquis."

    "Indeed." Marquis Kratz turned to scrutinize me. "So you say that you''ve met my daughter in the battlefield?"

    "I''m the one who let him in."

    Everyone went silent when Regis Gremory spoke up. He raised his eyebrow and he scanned the people who had assembled in the room.

    "I can vouch for his identity. If you have a problem, take it up with me."

    Nobody dared to.

    "Ahem."

    After a few seconds of silence, Diana Gremory cleared her throat and forced a smile to break the awkward atmosphere.

    "Let''s not stand on ceremony, everyone. Today, we''re all here to celebrate the marriage of our son, Prince Richard Gremory, and the daughter of the Serpenta Clan, Dragon Princess Yuan. Let''s offer a toast¡­"

    She wasn''t able to raise her wine glass high enough when Regis suddenly tackled her and sent her sprawling to the ground. As the wine glass fell and shattered against the floor, something invisible struck and hit the throne chair behind the royal couple.

    "¡­!"

    "What¡­?!"

    Outraged cries rang through the throne room before Marquis Kratz suddenly drew his sword and hollered.

    "Assassin!"

    "Where!?"

    The throne room was in a sudden uproar as demon nobles either panicked or readied for battle, mana crackling in their hands. The fat noble turned his furious eyes on me, jabbing his stubby fingers at me.

    "I knew it, you are¡­!"

    "Don''t be an idiot! The attack didn''t come from him!"

    Kratz snorted and shook his head, even as he kept his eyes peeled for the assassin.

    "Are you blind? Now do something useful for once, Boare, and look for the real assassin!"

    "But where is he?!"

    While the demon nobles milled about, trying to locate the assassin, Regis alone remained calm. Standing up, he made sure that his wife was all right.

    "Are you all right, Diana?"

    "¡­yes. I''m sorry."

    "No, don''t apologize." He pushed her behind him while grabbing his daughter and shoving her into his wife''s hands. "Take Denise and get to safety."

    "It''s safest to remain behind you, dear."

    Regis smiled at that. "True enough," he admitted.

    Meanwhile, Prince Richard was escorting Princess Yuan out of the throne room, taking care to shield her with his own body. A bunch of bodyguards had gathered, putting themselves around the royal family.

    "Out of the way!" Regis ordered, but they didn''t listen. Even as he drew his sword, one of them was hit by another invisible attack and dropped, blood gushing profusely from his neck.

    "Fuck! Where is the assassin?!"

    "I don''t see him!"

    While the bodyguards were cursing, I recognized the move order of the assassin. This reminded me eerily of Asakura Akane when she hunted me in the forest with her Invincible Invisibility. Damn it, did she really follow me all the way here?

    What was even more terrifying was that none of us were able to even detect her presence. In other words, she tracked me all the way here without anyone even noticing her, creeping past the heavily guarded entrance and breaking into the royal palace.

    Then she must have seen the current Demon Lord and thought that he and his wife were even more valuable targets than me.

    Damn it! How are we supposed to fight someone we can''t detect or see!?

    Just when I thought that, Regis lunged forward and slashed the air with his sword.

    "Kyaaah!"

    Everyone''s jaws dropped open when they heard that girly scream. Stumbling from the air, with blood spurting out of her, Asakura Akane fell to the ground while clutching at her wound. Standing over her, Regis swung his sword down, forcing her to dodge.

    "I see." Despite having an assassin sneak into his royal palace, Regis was actually grinning. "So one of the esteemed Evelyn''s Chosen has finally deigned to make an attempt on my life. And here I was, thinking that you weren''t going to take me as seriously as you did for the previous Demon Lord."

 39 Chapter 39: Hero Slayer

    "H¡­how!?" Asakura Akane spluttered as she stared up at Regis Gremory, stunned. Crawling away, she clutched her wounds and winced. "There''s no way¡­!"

    Regis didn''t bother to listen. His sword, still dripping with his victim''s blood, was raised and poised to deliver the killing blow.

    "Tch!"

    Asakura clicked her tongue and activated her skill, fading away as she turned invisible. Regis merely snorted and closed his eyes.

    Whoosh!

    A gust of powerful air blasted at him, but Regis merely cut the wind blade into two with his sword. He twisted around and slashed in the direction of the spell. Blood spurted onto the floor and I almost saw a shimmer as Asakura dodged and recast her ability to cloak her presence. It was just a graze, but Regis had succeeded in dealing a blow to her nonetheless despite her invisibility.

    A few more wind blades came spiraling from multiple directions. Asakura had gotten wise and was launching her spells from different places at timed intervals to ensure that her position wouldn''t be sounded out so easily.

    Asakura clearly isn''t an idiot.

    I had to hand it to her grudgingly. Despite my simmering resentment, I was impressed by the way she fought. There was no way I could fight against someone of her caliber. I lacked the battle sense or keen intuition that Regis Gremory possessed, and my reflexes weren''t fast enough to evade or defend myself from her spells.

    I still had a long way to go.

    Yet, Regis Gremory was easily countering all the wind blades that Asakura was sending at him. With his eyes closed, he expertly slashed and sliced the offensive spells while stepping forward and advancing inch by inch. At times, he would lash out and send sprays of blood spilling across the ground. Asakura was quick to react, often repairing her invisibility ability and fading away despite these brief, forced revelations.

    "Shit¡­!

    Asakura swore under her breath before disappearing somewhere again. Regis readied himself for another barrage, but this time Asakura''s wind blades sailed toward the vulnerable queen and daughter. Diana and Denise glanced up in dismay as the spells lanced toward them mercilessly.

    That bitch!

    I couldn''t believe Asakura would stoop so low¡­then again, like Sakaguchi and all the other bullies who tried to murder me after ganging up and bullying me, I guess I shouldn''t be surprised. Gritting my teeth, I threw myself forward.

    I was too slow.

    Regis had already reached his wife and daughter ahead of me. Without missing a beat, he slashed the first couple of wind blades and then threw up a hand to parry the last one. It bit into his flesh deeply, drawing several drops of blood, but he didn''t even wince.

    His wife and daughter were safe.

    "Tsk!"

    Then suddenly he lunged forward, somewhere toward his right, and slashed. Another scream rang through the air, along with a huge splatter of blood. Staggering from the grievous wound, Asakura''s spell wore off and she sprawled onto the ground, bleeding profusely.

    "Impossible!"

    "Hmph."

    Regis merely smirked as he held his sword up, Asakura''s blood dripping off the huge blade. He shook his head, almost disappointed.

    "Once you figure out the trick, it becomes really easy to find you."

    "Kuh!"

    Asakura knew she was cornered, and she quickly retreated, disappearing once again.

    Amazing.

    I looked at Regis in awe. I had no idea how he did it, but he pinpointed Asakura''s exact location despite her near-perfect concealment.

    Regis Gremory himself merely maintained his steely expression as he held his sword in both hands, waiting for the next attack.

    It never came.

    "Fu¡­"

    The king of the Gremory clan suddenly relaxed and lowered his sword with a shake of his head. Glancing around, he snorted.

    "She¡­escaped, huh?"

    "Eh?"

    The demonic nobles ¨C most of whom were seeking shelter and taking cover in whatever furniture there was in the throne room ¨C slowly raised their heads and surveyed the surroundings. There were quite a few who had jumped into action, readying their spells and weapons to deal with the hero, but were unable to act because they couldn''t locate her the way Regis did, which meant there was still hope for the demon race after all.

    "What an annoying ability," Regis remarked as he sheathed his sword. Bending down to check on his wife and daughter, he asked, "Are you both all right?"

    "Yes." Diana nodded as she slowly rose to her feet. She carried Denise, who had fallen silent from shock and fear from the commotion, but otherwise seemed unhurt. After confirming Denise''s condition, Diana turned toward her son. "Richard, Yuan! Are you all right?"

    "Yes, Mother."

    Richard nodded, having been one of the many demons who had drawn their weapons to confront the invisible hero. Or assassin. Even though he had pushed Yuan behind him to guard her, the Dragon Princess had also drawn her sword.

    "What are you waiting for?" Marquis Kratz shouted at the royal guard, who were still milling about in the confusion. "Go chase the Evelyn''s Chosen down! We can''t just let her leave like this, not after such a heavy humiliation!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The royal guard immediately began to set out, only for one of the soldiers to ask what seemed like a simple but significant question.

    "How do we track the Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "By whatever means necessary!"

    The commander''s answer didn''t solve anything and the soldiers merely stared at him. He coughed and just stomped out of the throne room, gesturing for his troops to follow him, and they obeyed without any further questions.

    His point was clear. Even if they didn''t have any way of tracking Asakura Akane, there was little point in staying in the throne room. Blindly charging out and securing the castle would be preferable to standing around like incompetent fools.

    "Wait."

    However, Regis Gremory wasn''t done. He raised a hand to stop the royal guard from leaving. The soldiers turned to him, surprised. The lord of the Gremory Clan merely smiled and pointed in one direction.

    "The girl seems to have exited that way. And I wounded her pretty badly, so she can''t have gotten far."

    "Yes, sir!"

    As the soldiers filed out of the room in haste, I trailed after them.

    "Where do you think you''re going?"

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    It was the fat demon noble with gray skin and sharp ears. He was glaring at me suspiciously.

    "You don''t think I''ll believe it''s a coincidence that one of Evelyn''s Chosen attacked our Lord right after you showed up? You brought her here, didn''t you?"

    "If I did, then all the more it is my responsibility to hunt that hero down."

    "What nonsense!" Fat Man roared. "You don''t seriously think you can brush a crime of such magnitude off like this? You brought danger to the royal family! You committed treason and consorted with humans!"

    "That''s enough, Count Raum."

    Regis''s voice was enough to silence the raging noble. The fat demon named Raum immediately went quiet, his already ghastly complexion turning more grotesque.

    "Forgive me, your majesty! I only¡­!"

    "I do not question your loyalty, Count Raum. Think nothing of it. However¡­" Regis turned to me with an ominous smile. "I would like to see for myself how the rumored Hero Slayer earned his title. So show me, young man¡­how you hunt heroes."

    With a challenge issued in such a manner, there was no way I could refuse. Smiling, I nodded and turned to chase after the royal guard.

    *

    Regis Gremory was right.

    The courtyard that we stumbled across when following his directions was stained with blood. Apparently, in her flight, Asakura had left a trail of blood as she bled out. Before, in the throne room, she had somehow managed to stem her bleeding to ensure that she didn''t leave any clues behind, but the more she moved, the more her wounds opened up and by now she was unable to stem the bleeding. Blood must have leaked through her fingers or whatever makeshift bandages she used to wrap around her injuries, leaving red drops on the ground.

    "The trail ends here! She must be here somewhere!"

    The guard commander was shouting and ordering his troops around to track her whereabouts. They spread out over the courtyard, vaulting over walls and checking for areas where Asakura could be while covering each other''s backs.

    I followed them, especially keeping my eyes on the trail of blood that had stopped right in the middle of the courtyard. Despite leaving such visible signs behind, Asakura was nowhere to be seen. I was sure she would have realized that it was pointless to continue casting her invisible spell when she was leaving such a clear trail behind.

    However, the soldiers had already thought about that ahead of me. A couple of them had poked the space around and on the end of the trail of blood, only to find nothing. I swallowed as I studied their efforts, and then glanced around the courtyard.

    Absolute Appraisal.

    Nope¡­despite its absoluteness, Absolute Appraisal couldn''t detect invisible beings. I sighed and shook my head in disappointment.

    How am I going to find Asakura when she''s invisible? How did Regis Gremory do it? Even if he''s a Demon Lord¡­

    Speaking of which, either my Absolute Appraisal still wasn''t at a high enough level or the absolute in its name was a lie. How the heck did I get an error when trying to find out about his special abilities? Regis Gremory was a true mystery.

    Whoosh.

    Even though I couldn''t see anything, the moment I heard the slight sound I was already instinctively moving. Something invisible sliced through the place where I had been standing on, and would have taken off my head if I hadn''t dove. Around me, a couple of soldiers who were trying to sniff out Asakura''s location fell, blood spurting from their wounds.

    "Enemy!"

    "She''s here! Evelyn''s Chosen is here!"

    "Damn it! I can''t see her! Where is she!?"

    "Gaaaah!"

    The courtyard was slowly turning into a bloodbath as the royal guard fell, taken out by Asakura one by one. I would have joined the dead if my instincts hadn''t helped me evade the next few wind spells that sliced sharply through the air.

    "Hah. Tanaka. So you did come after me, after all. I''m so glad I didn''t run away completely. I knew you would try to chase after me."

    Asakura''s gleeful voice rang across the courtyard. I gritted my teeth and held up my staff, only to get knocked over by a powerful wind blade. All around me, gusts of winds combined to turn into a huge hurricane that lifted the royal guards high into the air.

    "Aaaah!"

    "Help!"

    "T¡­this is the power of one of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­!"

    Despair and fear drenched the entire place as the demonic warriors were helplessly thrown about and held aloft by the terrifying gale. Asakura''s laughter echoed as she cast a second set of spells that sliced them into pieces.

    A rain of blood descended down upon me. Unlike the others, I had somehow managed to bury part of my staff into the ground and prevent myself from being lifted into the air like the others. Unfortunately, that meant I ended up getting drenched by the rain of blood that splattered onto the ground.

    It wasn''t just the blood. The falling body parts slammed heavily onto the ground, and I was forced to conjure a Dark Barrier to prevent myself from getting crushed to death by a heavy, falling object, piece of sharp armor or broken weapon.

    This is the power of a hero, huh? She really is a one-man army¡­

    There was little point in reanimating the undead as zombies or summoning the undead. Whatever familiar I conjured would be instantly sliced to death by Asakura. Not unless I could create a powerful, armored monster with enough protection¡­

    "Gah?!"

    A powerful wind blade sliced through my Dark Barrier and slammed into me. Blood spurted from my arms as I tried to defend myself, but I fell over as my staff ¨C which was dislodged by the immense impact ¨C crashed against me.

    "Finally¡­I can finally kill you and rid the world and our class of your foul presence!"

    "Just what sort of grudge do you have against me?!" I yelled angrily. This made no sense. Why were they so intent on killing me?

    "You''re weak," Asakura sneered. The same reply as Minamoto Kureha, Tsukishima Tomoyo and Kijima Takeshi. The same, stupid, unreasonable logic that made no sense whatsoever. "Even though you''re just a weak, filthy, creepy loser, you refuse to acknowledge your place and standing and try to elevate yourself. Trash will always remain trash. They should just let themselves get stamped over and accept the reality instead of always challenging us and upsetting the status quo!"

    "What kind of fucking bullshit logic is that?!"

    "Oh, shut up!"

    Unable to counter my retort, Asakura resorted to bombarding me with a barrage of wind blades that carved huge gouges in the ground around me. I managed to conjure another Dark Barrier, but it cracked under the relentless onslaught.

    "¡­! There!"

    While my defenses crumbled under the weight of Asakura''s attack, I was beginning to see a pattern. Taking a deep breath, I waited for my Dark Barrier to completely break before I launched a Doombolt in the area where I anticipated Asakura would be.

    I was right on the money.

    "Aaaaah!"

    Asakura fell back, her invisibility shimmering to nothingness in an instant as my spell struck her. She rolled on the ground as the dark energy crackled around her, trying to devour her despite her innate magical resistance.

    I did it!

    I didn''t know if this was how Regis Gremory managed to sound out Asakura''s location ¨C by predicting her location after deciphering the pattern of her attacks or relying solely on battle instinct ¨C but if it worked for me¡­

    "??"

    While I seized the opportunity to charge forward to land another attack, I saw that Asakura wasn''t as injured as I thought she was. Especially after being slashed by Regis Gremory earlier and forced to retreat, plus the sheer amount of blood she left while escaping, I thought she would be more hurt than that.

    But other than the decaying damage that my Doombolt dealt to her, Asakura looked virtually unscathed.

    How¡­?

    Even as the thought ran through my mind, I didn''t hesitate and swung my staff down to clobber her. Asakura threw her hand up and countered with a gust of wind that buffeted me and threw me off my feet. I managed to flip in the air and land on my feet, but she had disappeared again.

    As if I''ll let you¡­!

    I spun around when I felt the attack come and I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang that arced across the courtyard and slammed into Asakura. At the same time, her wind blades slammed into me, cutting me in various places and causing me to stagger.

    "Kuh!"

    I dropped to my knees, but managed to withstand the pain somehow. My wounds slowly regenerated due to my ability and I sighed a breath of relief as the pain lessened somewhat. Gingerly climbing back to my feet, I observed the fallen Asakura.

    This was why I didn''t mind trading blows with her. Even if I got hit by her attacks, my Regeneration would heal my wounds near instantly. With her Invincible Invisibility in effect, I doubted she could cast a defensive barrier.

    I was right. Asakura isn''t as durable as Sakaguchi. She doesn''t possess the same armor or protection!

    Of course. There was no need for armor or Divine Defense if she was invisible and couldn''t be hit in the first place. In fact, the heavy armor and powerful defense would only render her cumbersome and hinder her movements when she attempted to move while invisible. It was much better to stay lightweight and agile.

    "You¡­what are you?!"

    Asakura spat as I approached. Her whole body was charred and battered from my strike, but other than that, I didn''t see any sword wounds that Regis Gremory should have dealt to her. No matter. If she had healing spells, then I just had to kill her before she casted them¡­

    "How the hell are you able to heal yourself just like that?"

    I snorted. "What are you talking about? Same as you, right? You healed the injuries you received from the new Demon Lord with healing spells, right?"

    "Healing spells?" Asakura stared at me blankly, and then laughed. "What are you talking about?"

    Perhaps I was mistaken, but I didn''t care. My priority was to finish her off before she could fight back. I raised my staff to launch a second Shadow Lunar Fang, but at the same time she raised her hands and blasted me with a fireball.

    "¡­!"

    I managed to raise my staff in time to block the massive fiery projectile, which exploded in a flash of orange and black as my Shadow Lunar Fang detonated from the impact. Buffeted from the shockwaves, I was thrown off my feet and sent slamming into the sea of blood and body parts. My injuries slowly healed, but the scorch marks were taking more time to heal than usual.

    "¡­!"

    Oh no¡­I haven''t fully healed or replenished my mana yet!

    That was right. I had been beaten pretty badly by Sakaguchi Seiji earlier. Despite eating a single fish to recover a bit of my strength, that had been way too small for me to fully recover. Between then and now, I hadn''t eaten anything else, so I had continued to run low on mana and energy. Furthermore, while in such a weakened state, I had used quite a bit of mana to heal the wound I sustained when fighting Dragon Princess Yuan. Thanks to that, I was running out of fuel to supply my Regeneration.

    Once again, I regretted handing my Redwood Robe over to Hughes. That treasure-grade equipment would have helped a lot in protecting me if I was wearing it, but I had to counter this crisis with the cards I currently had in hand, which looked pretty bleak.

    This was bad.

    "Heh!"

    Asakura had dragged herself to her feet, fireballs floating above her. Before I could conjure my Dark Barrier, the projectiles blazed forward at incredible speeds and slammed into me, incinerating parts of my body into ash.

    "Gaaah!"

    F¡­fuck! That hurt! That hurt a lot!

    Groaning and trying to roll around, I tried to stand up, only to realize that my limbs had been burned off. My left arm and both legs, to be precise. Somehow my right hand had remained intact, but it had been blackened and fused to my staff.

    Fortunately, as slow as it was, my Regeneration was kicking in. my limbs were slowly growing back and I managed to gradually get back to my feet. Asakura, after expending so much mana on such a massive spell, was temporarily winded. A fortunate thing, for she wasn''t able to finish me off.

    However, that didn''t mean she wasn''t done yet.

    "Heh¡­still alive, aren''t you?"

    Wiping the blood from her mouth and gingerly rubbing her injuries, Asakura glared down at me as she slowly closed the distance.

    "Not as alive as you." I grinned as I tried to sit up while my legs were still growing back. "But you don''t seem to be in perfect condition yourself."

    Asakura''s face darkened when she saw my limbs regenerating like a starfish''s.

    "You¡­monster. What the hell are you? I''ve never heard of such a powerful healing spell before. You really are a disgusting cockroach, aren''t you?"

    I was far more dangerous than any cockroach, but I wasn''t able to tell her that. I wanted her to continue lowering her guard, after all.

    "You don''t seem very far away from being a squashed bug yourself."

    Huh, that insult didn''t come out right. Then again, I wasn''t used to bantering with my former classmates, having been on the receiving end more often than the giving side. I was too nice of a person to call people names.

    Unlike my former classmates.

    "Hmph."

    Asakura dusted herself off and then produced a vial from her pockets. Golden liquid sloshed slowly inside it, gleaming in the soft sunlight. Uncapping it, she downed the entire contents in one gulp before dropping the empty vial and letting it shatter on the floor.

    Right before my astonished eyes, Asakura''s injuries healed. The burns¡­the corruption, the black scars¡­everything vanished. In just a few seconds, Asakura was back to full health, having healed completely.

    "What the¡­?"

    "Why are you so surprised? I bet you''re using the same thing to heal yourself. I don''t know which Elixir you''re using, but if it can even restore lost limbs, then it has to be more powerful than the Elixir I''m using."

    Ah. So that was a healing potion, after all. But not just any healing potion ¨C an actual Elixir. In gaming terms, it was the strongest healing potion that could revive any near-dead person back up to full health.

    However, it was supposed to be so rare and valuable that no one could afford it. not only that, given how Asakura no longer bore the fatal wounds she sustained when fighting Regis Gremory, she must have used another vial earlier. No wonder the trail of blood had stopped. Upon noticing that she was leaving clues to her whereabouts, Asakura must have stopped to heal herself with that legendary item, and thus stop the bleeding completely. The real question was how she was able to so casually use two vials of such rarity¡­

    That was right. Of course a hero like Asakura would possess such a rare item. Either they had stored up a decent supply of Elixirs during the heroes'' quest to vanquish the demons, much like a typical role-playing game, or the human kingdoms they were fighting for spared no expense in equipping their precious heroes with the very best items and equipment.

    "Kuh¡­!"

    And right now I was back to square zero, my mana more severely depleted than before while Asakura Akane was back to full health. There was no way I could defeat her.

    "I doubt you have more than one Elixir, though. It was such a pain for me to procure only two bottles. Ah¡­I can''t believe you and that new Demon Lord forced me to use both in the same day! Ugh! How dare you waste so much of my gold!"

    Asakura was complaining, almost as if she was stomping her foot as she threw a tantrum, cursing both me and Regis Gremory. But then she calmed down and shook her head.

    "I''m so glad I bought them, though. If I didn''t, I would be dead. That attack from that new Demon Lord earlier almost caused me to bleed to death. And if I didn''t use this, I might actually lose to you. I can''t believe how a weakling loser like you has gotten to such a level where you can actually scratch a hero like myself!"

    "Why do you think I''m an anti-hero?" I retorted. "My role is to kill heroes such as you."

    Asakura''s face darkened and she raised her hand. Fireballs materialized again and she sent them at me. I tried to roll away, but the explosions sent me flying, my body immolated as I crashed, screaming and thrashing about in the pool of blood.

    "Shut up. I never liked you, Tanaka. Nobody likes you. You''re just a pitiful loser who deserves to be hated by anyone. You should never have existed. You should never be born! I feel sorry for your mother, who was forced to give birth to you. Just die already. Everyone will be much happier that way."

    "I hate to say this, but my mother is actually proud of me. As is my father."

    I chuckled. Unlike my insane, psychotic former classmates, my family was actually normal. Hell, it wasn''t just my family¡­most normal people didn''t possess such an unreasonable, illogical hatred for me. It was just my former classmates alone.

    I had no idea what their deal was. I never did anything to them. And their reasoning about my very existence, or me being a weakling loser who didn''t know his place made no sense to me whatsoever. It was almost like they weren''t real people. Just caricatures who existed for the sole purpose of being specific antagonists to make my life miserable.

    I just didn''t understand.

    "Just fucking die already!"

    With a screech, Asakura disappeared, turning invisible once again. However, with her disappearance, a storm of wind blades came crashing down on me from all directions, slicing my limbs off and cutting my body into pieces. I crashed onto the ground, blood gushing out from my neck, my head nearly severed from my body.

    Was this how I died?

    No¡­I can''t die like this. Not until I take my revenge. I can''t¡­I will never forgive these bastards. Never!

    Yet my vision was already fading away. My mind, subsumed by a red haze of pain, was slowly being overwhelmed by eternal darkness. It was a small mercy that Asakura''s wind blades had cut my spinal cord, for I felt nothing below my neck. Just a phantom agony of a body that should be there, and still was partly there, but¡­

    Am I really going to die like this?

    As I fell into the sea of blood and body parts, my consciousness slowly fading away, a small blue window flickered to life at the corner of my glasses. Despite the cracked lenses distorting the words and box, I could still make them out.

    Adaptive Mutation¡­now in effect.

 40 Chapter 40: Adaptive Mutation

    Even as I lay helplessly in the sea of blood and body parts, I could feel the biological transformations that rippled ruthlessly through my body.

    No¡­what remained of my body.

    All the while, I could see the blue screen at the corner of my cracked lenses changing and updating itself, the words disappearing and being replaced by new text.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Vampire

    I was no longer a lich lord. I was now a vampire, apparently. I had no idea how that mutation was supposed to help me in this situation, but that was the hand I had been dealt with. I closed my eyes and endured the changes, wondering what would follow next. What advantages would a vampire have over a lich lord this close to death?

    All that happened was that I turned into a bloody bloodsucker, right?

    Bloodsucker¡­wait¡­

    I blinked, trying to clear my head of the enfolding darkness. I was a vampire. I lived off sucking blood from others. And right now I was drowning in a sea of blood that had rained down after Asakura Akane had sliced the poor royal guard into pieces.

    I opened my mouth and licked the blood, trying desperately to drink it. I didn''t care how pathetic I looked, or how unsightly I was. All that remained in my head was the single-minded determination to live, to survive despite the odds.

    "What are you doing?"

    Asakura sounded disgusted when she caught sight of me lapping up the blood desperately. She snorted and shook her head, then raised her hand to conjure a new batch of wind blades. Sneering in revulsion, she prepared to finish me off.

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    "Even to the very end, you remain a creepy, hopeless, pathetic loser who can''t be saved. Die."

    She swung her hand down and launched the wind blades.

    At that moment, the sea of blood rose and formed a wall. The wind blades sent the rippling pool of blood churning, but they diffused before they could ever reach me. At the same time, the blood was all flowing toward me, either into my mouth or through my stumps. My limbs were rapidly reforming, first becoming red, almost fluid stumps that grew and took vague shapes of arms and legs. My body too looked like some grotesque, red-filled puppet.

    "You¡­what the hell are you?!"

    Stunned, Asakura backed away, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her eyes wide with fear, she prepared a new spell, but this time she chose to burn and evaporate the blood with fire. Dozens of fireballs floated overhead, getting ready to launch themselves at me. I watched them even as the last vestiges of my wounds disappeared, my body reforming and reconstituting itself as it adapted to the new mutations.

    Fire. One of the weaknesses of vampires, huh?

    "DIE!"

    Asakura screamed as she launched the flaming projectiles at me. Brimming with mana, after sucking so much blood from so many slain soldiers, I raised a hand and conjured a solid Dark Barrier, which dissipated each and every attack.

    "?!"

    Asakura reeled back when she saw that her ferocious bombardment failed to penetrate my sturdy defense, which was so easily broken by her wind blades earlier. Gritting her teeth, she switched to wind blades this time, but they harmlessly broke against my shimmering Dark Barrier. No matter how many times she conjured them, the result was the same.

    "W¡­what the hell are you?!"

    "Hmm?" I stared at her before dismissing the Dark Barrier and taking a step forward. She flinched. "I thought you were the one calling me pathetic weakling loser."

    "You are a pathetic loser who''s weak!" she shouted before she disappeared into invisibility. A few wind blades sliced at me from nowhere, but I knocked them away with my staff almost casually. Even before glancing in the direction where the wind blades came from, I already knew she was no longer there.

    This¡­

    My senses were sharper. I felt stronger¡­faster¡­more robust. It wasn''t just because I was brimming with the mana I had drank from all the blood that flowed into me. I felt incredible power churning through me.

    Vampire, huh¡­

    So this was the result of Adaptive Mutation. It felt too much of a deus ex machina or plot armor for me, you know, the constant bullshit power-up just before my death, but I didn''t care. If it helped me take revenge on my murderous former classmates, then I would accept whatever unholy deus ex machina or bullshit plot armor the gods threw at me.

    Raising my staff, I easily knocked away another barrage of wind blades, my reflexes and speed heightened to a terrifying degree after my transformation. Having reverted to her old tactic of hiding behind her invisibility and striking from afar, unseen, Asakura was no longer using flashy, bright attacks such as her fire spells.

    It was useless.

    I could "see" her. Not with actual light or sight, but more akin to sniffing her out. My vampire senses were tingling as I smelled her blood in the air. I could almost taste her blood, my jaw salivating at the mere thought. The perspiration layering her skin¡­the adrenaline rushing through her system from fear and anger¡­and the overpowering flow of blood surging through her veins¡­I could sense every drop of it.

    Kicking off the ground, I lunged forward and grabbed hold of her.

    "!?"

    Held firmly in my grasp, Asakura kicked and struggled, only to find out that she was unable to escape. Her invisibility cloak shattered, leaving her visible once more, and she shrieked, tears running down her face.

    "You¡­you¡­!"

    She choked, almost unable to spit her curses. Balling her fists, she bathed me in flames, but I quickly let her go and kicked her before she could unleash her spell. The flames surged forward and incinerated the air in front of her, but completely missed me as she fell back, her fingers flailing frantically. I ducked under the thunderous cloud of fire and then launched a Doombolt at her, which she repelled with a hastily conjured wind barrier.

    "Fuck!"

    Asakura crashed onto the ground, sprawling over the dirt. Cursing and swearing, she rose to her feet and railed at me.

    "How did you see me!? HOW?!"

    I didn''t reply. There was no need to, and I wasn''t going to give her any advantage. Knowledge was power, and I wasn''t going to carelessly hand over such power to my opponent just for the stupid satisfaction of gloating.

    Instead, I jumped to her position and swung my staff down to pulverize her. Screaming, Asakura flung out a hand and immolated me with fire. I barely reacted in time with a hastily made Dark Barrier that stopped her flames cold.

    "Tch!"

    Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I landed on the ground a few meters short of my target. It didn''t seem that I could kill her with physical attacks or ranged magic spells. So I casted the one spell I was best at.

    Summoning.

    All around me, ghouls rose from the little remnants of blood, forcibly given life by my unholy magic. Formed out of blood, their red exteriors hardened and solidified into vaguely human shapes, and they lurched toward Asakura.

    "¡­!"

    With very little time to react, Asakura defended herself with the much faster but less powerful wind blades. Despite not possessing as much firepower as her fire spells, Asakura''s wind blades were still devastating, able to slice up an entire army of flesh-and-blood soldiers within seconds.

    However, her wind blades had no effect on the red, ghoulish warriors who were lunging at her in massive numbers.

    Clang!

    "!!!"

    Asakura''s jaw dropped as she watched her wind blades bounced off their red exterior with little effect. At most, they chipped off several rust-colored crystals, but other than that, her wind spells hardly put a dent.

    "No way¡­how?!"

    Was she expecting me to explain to her how the surface of my blood ghouls had hardened to adopt the texture of iron? Blood ¨C or hemoglobin, in particular, was constituted out of iron. All I needed to do was bring out that element and use it as armor for my blood thralls, making them no less durable than the most heavily armored knights.

    "No! No! Get away!"

    Asakura screamed as she was mobbed by the red ghouls, who tore at her with their iron-tipped claws. Blood spurted into the air as Asakura thrashed about, but she finally managed to conjure a massive fire spell after enduring the excruciating agony of being slowly ripped apart. An enormous conflagration blossomed to life, washing over the horde of red ghouls and incinerating them. The rest instinctively fell back.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    Bleeding, Asakura stepped back and then faded away into invisibility. At the same time, the blood she spilled reared up from the ground to form new hordes of ghouls, brought to life by my necromancy. Fortunately, Asakura was wise enough to avoid engaging them in combat.

    "Monster," she snarled as she tried to slip away. But once again, I could pinpoint her location by sensing the sweet warmth of her blood. And linked to me telepathically, my blood ghouls followed my mental instructions and went after her.

    "Gr¡­!"

    "!"

    Asakura tried to burn away another horde of blood ghouls, but they managed to scatter and avoid the devastating blast. While she was forced to pause and take a breather before launching another powerful attack, my blood ghouls seized the opportunity to pounce on her again. She screamed as she was knocked over, her invisibility spell breaking.

    "No! This isn''t possible! It isn''t!"

    Screaming, Asakura tried to blast them away with a wind spell, but her wind blades proved ineffective against their iron hides. She tried to incinerate them with fire spells next, but for every ghoul she burned, three more red ones took its place. She kicked and screamed, but they were all over her, incapacitating her.

    "No way! I can''t lose! There''s no way I can lose! Not to a pathetic loser weakling like Tanaka! You must have cheated somehow! You cheater! How dare you cheat! There''s no way you can win against me! There''s no way you can win against anyone!"

    I ignored her as I stepped up to her position. Asakura was shrieking now, having gone delirious from the pain as the blood ghouls bit her and tore huge chunks of flesh from her limbs and body. She tried to cast magic spells, but they disrupted her by pinning down her mutilated hands and mercilessly ripping into her body.

    She glared up at me defiantly, but her rage was mixed with fear and despair. As pain overwhelmed her, she began imploring me.

    "Please¡­I''m sorry! I''ll do anything! Please let me go!"

    "You seem to enjoy cutting off my arms and legs earlier," I remarked as I stared down at her. "Perhaps I should disarm you as well."

    Her eyes widened. "No, wait¡­wait!"

    I didn''t wait. At my mental command, my blood ghouls tore her arms and legs off, throwing up four gigantic fountains of blood. Asakura screamed, almost blacking out, but somehow she managed to retain her consciousness.

    As expected of a hero¡­or Evelyn''s Chosen. She was really tenacious.

    "You guys can feed on those," I told my blood ghouls, who happily separated before me to snack on the limbs they had just torn off Asakura. I then knelt beside Asakura, who was now going into shock and staring up into the sky with glassy eyes.

    "¡­"

    "I always wondered how the blood of a hero would taste."

    In the past, I had been occupied with eating the flesh of my enemies that I didn''t really savor their blood. I didn''t even think about enjoying their blood alongside their meat. It just never occurred to me even when I was indulging in cannibalistic practices.

    Well, I had the chance to do so now.

    "What¡­are¡­you¡­planning¡­to¡­do¡­?"

    Her eyes rolling in their sockets, Asakura glanced up at me and stammered. I replied with a smile, and then forcibly lifted her head up while brushing her longish hair away to reveal her neck. Then I bit down and sucked her blood.

    It didn''t take a minute before I drained her veins of every drop of her blood.

    *

    "Impressive!"

    I blinked and glanced up, only to catch sight of Regis Gremory strolling into the courtyard alongside a bunch of nobles and even more demonic soldiers, who were armed to the teeth and more heavily armored than the previous batch who were slaughtered by Asakura.

    "As expected of the one who earned the title Hero Slayer!"

    Regis was clapping his hands. At his example, many of the other nobles followed his lead and began applauding as well.

    I rose to my feet, dropping Asakura''s lifeless body onto the ground. Without giving her one last glance, I destroyed her corpse with a Corrupting Darkness spell.

    Regis Gremory looked at her disintegrating body in dismay before glaring at me. "Why did you do that? You didn''t have to destroy her body."

    "She''s a hero," I replied bluntly as I stomped my foot on Asakura''s remains, which scattered into the winds as ashes. "I''m not going to take risks with her. For all we know, one of Evelyn''s Chosen might have the ability to resurrect a corpse and bring her back from the dead. I''m going to make sure that such resurrections are impossible by destroying every trace of their bodies."

    Regis Gremory laughed at that. "Ah¡­taking every precaution, huh? I like that. Yes, I definitely see the wisdom in that. You amaze me, Hero Slayer. I am ashamed to admit that I had never considered such a possibility."

    "¡­"

    I watched him as I pushed my glasses up my nose. The lenses were still cracked, but I should be able to get them fixed later. For now, I would put up with it. Instead, I checked on my status to see if I had devoured any new abilities.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Vampire Lord

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint, Adaptive Mutation, Blood Thralls, Blood Magic, Enhanced Attributes, Nightmarish Hypnosis

    "!"

    Even though I was promoted from mere Vampire to Vampire Lord, I had lost my Devour ability. Perhaps I had reached the limits of plundering my victims'' special abilities ¨C it would be too overpowered if I continued to accumulate an endless number of special abilities, after all. Still, the loss stung a bit. I would like to have kept it for a bit further.

    I didn''t even gain Invincible Invisibility. That would have been a great addition to my abilities, but it seemed that I wasn''t meant to have it. Well, no matter. I would deal with the hand I was dealt with. Plus it seemed I had gained a bunch of new abilities in return.

    Blood Thralls ¨C that must be what allowed me to summon the blood ghouls. With the battle done, they had all reverted back to pools of blood and flowed back to me to boost my power. The Enhanced Attributes must be my increased strength, speed and sharpened senses.

    I need to find out what Blood magic or Nightmarish Hypnosis can do.

    I couldn''t wait to find that out. Not only had I mutated into a vampire, it seemed I had retained my necromancy abilities such as summoning zombies and Thousand Astral Graves. Even though my blood ghouls were already powerful, I wondered what sort of monstrosities they would transform into when boosted by my Thousand Astral Graves.

    Oh, this was going to be so fun¡­

    Before that, however¡­

    I glared at Regis Gremory.

    "I noticed that you were watching the battle the whole time, holding your troops back even when I was being cut apart by that bitch."

    Regis Gremory smiled in a placating manner. "Come on, Tanaka-dono. I had every faith in your ability to defeat the Evelyn''s Chosen. Even when you seemed to be down, I suspected that it was part of your grand plan to have your opponent lower her guard so that you can close in and finish the battle in one blow. And I was right!"

    "¡­"

    I stared at him, but I didn''t argue. If Regis Gremory thought I couldn''t kill Asakura and wrote me off, he would have ordered his troops to attack her while she was busily cutting me into pieces. At that time, Asakura was so focused on tearing me apart that her guard was totally down. Having witnessed Regis''s abilities, I had no doubt he could have seized that chance to launch an attack and deal a fatal blow to her at that time.

    Yet, he didn''t. So either he was telling the truth about having faith in me, or he possessed some sinister agenda that I couldn''t quite put my finger on.

    "Well, let''s not stand on ceremony, everyone." Regis Gremory raised his hands and gestured for everyone to follow him back to the throne room. "Today is a great day! A day to celebrate! Not only is it my son''s wedding, we have all been able to witness the demise of one of those hateful Evelyn''s Chosen! Each of these events on their own is enough cause for celebration and a toast! And to have them occur on the same day¡­my friends, please!"

    "¡­"

    I still couldn''t trust Regis Gremory, but I knew that I needed allies. Even after defeating Asakura, there was still Sakaguchi Seiji and his Paladin abilities to worry about, and then Kobayashi Kenji and the rest of the class. Even I couldn''t stand up against such numbers. There were still 24 former classmates left on my revenge list.

    And I had to kill every single one of them¡­or at least the ones who still possessed the intention to murder me, anyway.

 41 Chapter 41: Game of Gods

    "I don''t believe this!"

    "This is impossible!"

    "He must have cheated!"

    The three crones hovered near the edge of the clouds as they peered downward at the human realm. Shrieking, they raved and ranted to each other about the sheer impossibility of what had just transpired, their wizened and wrinkled fingers curved into claw-like grips as they flailed about in rage and frustration.

    "We were so close! So close to killing him!"

    "What bullshit plot armor is that!? Isn''t that deus ex machina? That''s against the rules! Gods are not allowed to intervene in the worldly affairs of the living!"

    "That''s right! We should file a complaint! Isn''t that fucking loser the chosen of Lyia? She cheated somehow! She must have intervened to save her chosen!"

    "That''s an interesting accusation."

    Lyia, the goddess of knowledge stepped onto the cloud as she glared at the three crones, folding her arms.

    "I wonder¡­do you really want to file a complaint, the three Crones of Fate?"

    "W¡­what are you talking about?" the first hag spluttered.

    "Don''t pretend you don''t know what I''m talking about, you old hypocritical hag. How insolent you have to be to accuse others of intervening when you have been doing that from the very beginning. Stacking the deck and resorting to all sort of cheats to build up the odds against my chosen. What do you have against him?"

    "How dare you accuse us!" the second hag snarled. "What proof do you have?"

    Lyia smiled. "Are you sure you want to know?"

    The three Crones shrank back at her confidence, anxiously exchanging glances with each other. The third one spat.

    "¡­you lie!"

    "Oh? We can find out at the trial. Speaking of which, do you three crones have any evidence that I cheated or intervene?"

    "¡­"

    None of the trio could muster a reply. Lyia merely shook her head and sighed, as if she was disappointed.

    "Do you think nobody would notice? You have been pulling strings from the very start. The unnatural behavior of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­even Evelyn herself has voiced her concerns to me about the irrational way her chosen heroes are behaving. Having them commit murder right off the bat? Don''t you think that''s too obvious?"

    "¡­you have no idea what you''re saying," the first hag snapped frostily. Lyia merely raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

    "What evidence do you have that we did that?" the second hag demanded furiously, but like her sisters, her eyes were darting away anxiously, unable to meet Lyia''s. The goddess of knowledge merely raised her hands.

    "Are you sure you want to know?"

    "You''re playing with fire," the third hag warned, her tone dropping to a dangerous level. "Do you not realize the boy you have chosen will tip the balance of this world? We Sisters of Fate have seen the future. We have unraveled the threads of fate and seen what lies ahead¡­if he lives, the world will be swallowed by destruction and chaos. If he lives, only death and doom awaits the world of mortals! He must die! Why can''t you see that?"

    "The future is not set in stone," Lyia countered. "And if you weren''t so blinded by your predictions, you''ll see that it is your actions that are driving him toward that path."

    "Is it worth risking the balance of a whole world just for the life of one little boy who should never deserve to exist in the first place?!"

    "And who are you to make that judgement?" Lyia thundered, bearing down on the first hag, who shrank back. "Is it not the duty of you three to merely weave the threads of time? Who gave you the right to interfere with mortals? You know it is against the ironclad rules for gods to involve themselves in mortal affairs! The moment you took action, you broke the equilibrium and sent the mortal world on the path of chaos!"

    "We have no choice!"

    "We have seen the future!"

    "So blinded by you by the future that you refuse to see the present," Lyia said frostily, silencing the other two crones. "You still do not realize that the very future you fear is caused by your actions in the present!"

    The three hags fell silent for some time, looking at each other uneasily, and then the first sister finally spoke up.

    "Be that as it may, the only solution now is to kill that boy."

    "You still don''t understand, do you?" Lyia shook her head in disgust. "Your interference will only disrupt the equilibrium further. You may succeed in killing the boy, but that will not restore balance. No, if he dies, you will unleash a much greater destructive power ¨C a newer, more uncontrollable agent of chaos who will take his place and deteriorate the already precarious balance of the world. That is why I stepped in to save his life. By consulting my knowledge and calculating, I have seen that your present actions will bring a greater doom upon the world."

    "Who is this more uncontrollable agent of chaos?" the second hag sneered. "A character you conjured during one of your fantasies?"

    "If you do not believe me, weave a thread of the future where my chosen dies. See what happens then."

    The three sisters exchanged anxious glances, but none of them made the move to weave a new thread of the speculative future.

    "You lie," the third hag accused. "You create all these baseless myths and fantasies while justifying your hindrance of our attempts to save the mortal world!"

    "Save the mortal world?" Lyia burst out laughing. "Why do you still not understand? Your actions are destroying the mortal world instead! By influencing Evelyn''s Chosen and planting the notion of murder into their heads, you have turned them from heroes into villains. The very balance that you so espoused about is breaking because of your ruthless and shortsighted interventions. As if it wasn''t enough to plant the idea of murder into their heads, you somehow influenced my poor boy to return to the capital of Legnica, Havia City even though he would be safer in Millennial Town, right into the jaws of the so-called murderous heroes. There, you robbed him of his greatest protection, a gift that my other Chosen had bestowed upon him the Redwood Robe, by confiscating it away from him before his confrontation with Evelyn''s Chosen. And you even led two of them after him despite his precautions and diligent attempt to shake them off. You even had one of the heroes possess the direct counter to my chosen''s special abilities. Did you not think we didn''t notice? That one of those heroes suddenly gained a special ability that would directly counter his magic right after the death of the previous Demon Lord? It was too obvious!"

    It was then the trio realized that they had left an undeniable trail of evidence. No matter how one looked at it, for Sakaguchi Seiji to suddenly possess Holy Blessings after the Demon Lord was slain was just too suspicious. This, timed with what seemed like the fortuitous confiscation of the boy''s Redwood Robe, seemed to be too far planned out to be coincidental. However, the three crones remained defiant.

    "Is that why you interfered? To save him?" the first hag growled. "You should just let him die! I don''t care if he''s your chosen, but the fate of the mortal world is at stake here! How dare you interfere and save him!? We had him! We were so close to killing him and restoring the balance to the mortal world! But you just had to¡­!"

    Lyia sighed. "Are you listening? I told you, your attempts to kill my chosen will destroy that balance even more than he ever will. The moment you succeed in killing him, you will unleash something far more evil, more chaotic¡­something far beyond the power of the gods. When that happens, never mind the mortal world¡­even our heavenly realms will no longer be safe. In fact, thanks to your thoughtless actions, you may have already caused a break in the equilibrium and drawn their attention toward our dimension."

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    "LIES! Why do you insist on fabricating such lies?!" the second hag shrieked. From her gray robes she drew a dagger. "We will kill you, knowledge bitch. I never liked you, always acting high and mighty with your so-called superior intelligence. If you''re dead, you''ll never be able to interfere again. We''ll be able to save the mortal realm and kill that accursed existence that you''ve been so trying desperately to protect!"

    "I hate to break it to you, but you do realize that I have never once interfered in his affairs? I made him my chosen, blessed him with my powers, but other than that I had not meddled in the mortal affairs. I followed the same rules Evelyn did." Lyia smiled. "As unbelievable as it sounds, and even I''m surprised, he has survived this far on his own without any help from me."

    "You lie!" the third hag snapped. "That Adaptive Mutation ability¡­his sudden transformation into a vampire! That''s too much of a coincidence! You somehow guided him onto that path to devour that ability because you expected this confrontation!"

    Lyia snorted. "Are you joking? I''m not part of the Fates like you. As knowledgeable as I am, I cannot see the future like you. I never anticipated that you would go that far and interfere to such an extent¡­I only found out after the fact."

    "Don''t listen to her, Sisters! Kill her!" the first hag screeched. "Even if she knows of our intervention, she will not be able to report her suspicions to the Celestial Council if she is dead!"

    The trio lunged at Lyia. The goddess of knowledge narrowed her eyes, but she calmly raised a hand to conjure a barrier.

    "It''s pointless! This god-slaying dagger will slice through whatever defenses you have!" the second hag shouted. Lyia gritted her teeth, knowing that to be the truth, but she didn''t possess the combat abilities of the god of war, Alain, or the speed of the god of communication, Het. She wouldn''t be able to win in a melee, especially against three opponents¡­

    They never reached her.

    "¡­!"

    A powerful blast slammed into the trio and sent them sprawling on the ground. As the third hag tried to scrabble for the dropped dagger, a foot landed on it, pinning it on the ground. Looking up, the three crones of Fate scrambled back in shock when they saw the newcomer. The third hag, in particular, cried out in disbelief.

    "C¡­Chronos!"

    Lyia blinked as she stared at the handsome, dark-haired man who stood in front of her. The heavily muscled titan glared down at the three crones, his bearded face twisted into an expression of rage.

    "Husband?!"

    "What do you think you''re doing to my wife?"

    "Delivering justice for obstructing our efforts to save the mortal world!" the first hag hissed. "You are the god of time, Chronos. Can you not see the dreadful future that awaits if we do not kill that boy? We must kill him! For the sake of the mortal realm!"

    "You idiots!" Chronos thundered, causing the trio to shrink back in fear. "I can see the future as well as you, and my wife is right! You''re destroying the fabric of reality with your reckless, shortsighted actions! I have seen the future ¨C if you kill the boy, something worse will emerge out of that crack in that balance you so proudly claim to be protecting! Why don''t you do something for a change and weave the thread that tells of the future after you kill our boy?"

    "N¡­no¡­!"

    "Impossible!"

    "You lie! You are taking the side of your wife! You refuse to admit¡­"

    "You''re the one who refuse to accept reality," Chronos cut in crudely. "Blinded by the future, you refuse to acknowledge the present and are too arrogant to consider the possibility that it is you who is making a terrible mistake!"

    "That''s not¡­!"

    "How can this be?"

    "We can''t be wrong¡­we can''t¡­!"

    Chronos stared at them in disgust before turning to his wife. As he did so, a bunch of winged warriors in holy, pristine armor descended to take the trio into custody. The three crones of Fate shrank back, terrified, when they saw the god-slaying spears pointing at them, and anxiously clutched each other''s arms.

    Both Chronos and Lyia watched the shamed trio escorted away by the celestial guards, their heads lowered in fury and humiliation. Wrapping his arm around Lyia''s shoulders, Chronos sighed and shook his head.

    "You shouldn''t have confronted those three hags alone."

    "What else was I supposed to do? I chose that boy. It is my responsibility to protect him from other gods."

    Lyia''s shoulders slumped as she glared in the direction where the celestial guards and the three Crones of Fate were being led away to.

    "He''s not just your chosen now. Any chosen of my wife is also my chosen."

    Smiling, Chronos pulled Lyia closer for an embrace and allowed her to bury her head in his chest. But at his words, Lyia frowned and looked up.

    "Husband¡­you mean¡­?"

    "Ah¡­whoops." Chronos chuckled. Lyia''s jaw dropped when she put the pieces together.

    "The Adaptive Mutation¡­was that you?"

    "Well¡­the three Sisters of Fate were trying to do something funny, and whatever we did wouldn''t have made it in time. So I pulled some strings. As you know, I can peer into the future as well, so I sort of tweaked our child''s path slightly so as to give him a special ability that would save him in such dire circumstances."

    "But that''s against the rules¡­"

    "Indeed it is. But our opponents weren''t playing by the rules either¡­and I foresaw a future that would have been worse if I hadn''t stepped in." Chronos turned grim. "You were right, Wife. If our chosen died, that¡­thing beyond the fabric of reality would seize the break in equilibrium to invade our dimension. And when that happens¡­not just the mortal realm, but even the celestial realms and underworld¡­every realm in this dimension will be in terrible danger."

 42 Chapter 42: Walpurgis Nigh

    "Welcome."

    Regis Gremory sat at the head of the massive table as he greeted the hundreds of demon nobles in what looked like the building of congress. It was a massive room where the nobles took their places in an individual seat. I saw that many of them were empty, their occupants absent.

    "There are many who have chosen to withdraw from the Demon Collective and rule their own kingdoms independently¡­thus they no longer believe there is a need for them to attend these meetings. However, there are more who are absent because they are dead," Marquis Kratz explained when he caught me staring at the empty seats. "So many of us perished in the war¡­and yet the war has yet to end. In the year to come, I expect more of us will die¡­unless we find some way to deal with Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "That''s why I invite our young hero to join us." Regis Gremory''s voice boomed, and immediately the attention of everyone in the massive room was turned to me. I squirmed uncomfortably under their gaze, wishing I was somewhere else. It felt as if I was placed under a microscope. "He is the key to our future¡­the salvation of our species."

    "He really doesn''t hesitate in dropping a ton of pressure on me, eh?" I remarked wearily. Kratz chuckled.

    "A lot of hope is resting on your young shoulders, boy." He thumped me in the back. "I hope you don''t let us down."

    I chewed my lip but said nothing. Even with Gremory and Kratz''s positive attitude toward me, a lot of the demon nobles were sending hostile gazes in my direction. It was only natural ¨C I was a mysterious Lich Lord (now Vampire Lord) who came out of nowhere. They had no knowledge of my background, my origins or my character. How did they know they could trust me?

    "You''ll take the place of the recently Nosferatu Clan." Kratz pointed me toward the seat and I scrambled toward it, seeking shelter under the ledge and hiding away from the glares of many of the demon nobles.

    It wasn''t just hostility and mistrust in those gazes. There were stares of curiosity, of demon nobles impressed and amazed by my achievements. There was hope, hope that the demons could finally turn the tables on the humans and repel them from our borders for good. And then there were those opportunistic expressions of cunning demons scheming to make use of me for their own ends and to further their own agendas and positions.

    And of course, there were gazes that mixed two of these. Hope and ambition. Curiosity and hope. Curiosity and ambition.

    Regis Gremory waited for the still significant number of demon nobles to take their seats before he finally began the meeting.

    "And so we shall officially proclaim the opening of Walpurgis Night!"

    "Uoooh!"

    "First, I would like to thank you all for coming all this way to witness the wedding between my son and daughter-in-law."

    "Long live the crown prince!"

    "Long live the crown prince and his wife!"

    Regis Gremory held up his hand to forestall the congratulations and glanced at his son, who was seated in the Gremory Clan''s seat. His new wife was seated in the cubicle meant for the Serpenta Clan ¨C apparently she was representing her family.

    "I know there are some concerns among many of you about my son succeeding the title of Demon Lord by blood. You question his qualifications¡­his pedigree, and wish for him to prove himself in a manner that I¡­did not."

    There was a ripple of laughter from the gathered demon nobles, but none of them raised any objection. Regis smiled and continued.

    "To assure you that I am not raising a spoiled and pampered child and sheltering him inside my castle, I will be assigning him to an important task. Richard."

    "Yes, Father!"

    Richard stood up straight and saluted. Regis nodded.

    "Then, my son, Richard Gremory, will be tasked with approaching the Scarlet, Nocturne and Rowan Clans and negotiating an alliance with them¡­to bring their forces back under our fold. He will depart tomorrow."

    "Yes, Father! I understand!"

    Richard accepted the task without hesitation. Regis Gremory nodded in satisfaction before he turned toward Princess Yuan, who quietly stood up to acknowledge him.

    "I am sorry to ask this of you, Princess Yuan, especially when you''ve only just arrived in Helsfort. But will you support my son?"

    "Yes, Father-in-law. I will surely support Richard with all my strength."

    "Good. I''ll be counting on you. Please take care of Richard."

    "Yes, Father-in-law!"

    With that done, Regis Gremory turned to the rest of the demon nobles and solemnly continued.

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    "Then¡­"

    The rest of the meeting just flew by me. I wasn''t that interested in politics and whatnot, but it appeared that Regis Gremory was negotiating a military alliance to push the human armies back from the borders of Helsreach.

    "I need to borrow troops from all of you. Even as we speak, the human armies are amassing on Helsreach on a large scale never seen before. Evelyn''s Chosen, inactive for over a week, have begun to move again. As you witnessed yesterday, one of her has penetrated so far and deep into our territory that she was able to launch an assassination attempt on the royal family. That she actually threatened the safety of my wife and daughter¡­"

    "Kill the humans!"

    "Curse Evelyn''s Chosen!"

    The council erupted into rage as the demon nobles hurled abuse and insult at Asakura Akane. A pity she was dead, so she couldn''t suffer any of the verbal punishment meted out on her. Regis Gremory impatiently banged his table to call the meeting to order.

    "As such, we need a united front. We need to meet this human army with a force of our own. One strong enough to repel them. All the demon nobles should gather together¡­with our united strength, even Evelyn''s Chosen wouldn''t be able to fight us. The previous Demon Lord, Hedas bless his soul, made the mistake of challenging all twenty-nine Evelyn''s Chosen alone. I will not repeat that same mistake. Strength in unity¡­united we stand, divided we fall. That is why¡­"

    He glanced at his son and daughter-in-law, and exchanged nods with them.

    "¡­these negotiations with the outlying demon clans are so important. We must stand together or the demon race will perish."

    "That''s all and good, but¡­"

    Everyone turned as the fat figure of Count Raum rose to his feet. His pudgy face was set into a scowl and he swept a condescending look around the council before he finally settled his scornful eyes on Regis.

    "¡­let us not forget the fact that these clans are traitors. They left the alliance when we needed them the most and cowardly fled the war for their own safety. Now you want to welcome them back? There must be sanctions¡­punishments! If need be, we should send our armies to crush them and bring their territories and resources back to our fold before we confront the humans. I volunteer to invade the Scarlet Clan''s domain of Haemorage."

    "Rejected," Regis Gremory replied coolly. "What we need now is a united alliance, not a civil war. If we were to fight amongst each other right now, the humans will surely take advantage of our civil strife and seize more of our territories. We cannot afford to be fighting amongst ourselves now, not when the real enemy is on our doorstep."

    "So you''ll bend backward and over for these traitors? How is this fair to all those of us who are loyal to the demon race?" Raum snarled. "Why is it that these bastards get to leave and join the alliance any time they want, welcomed by your majesty with open arms, while we suffer the brunt of the human attacks?"

    "The Scarlet clan and the others left the alliance because the previous Demon Lord failed to keep his promise and protect their domains. He left them to fend for themselves against overwhelming human enemies that left their lands devastated. It is natural that they would want to leave an alliance that serves only to drain their resources while offering no benefits to them in return."

    "Is it not the duty of all demon nobles to sacrifice for the greater good?" Raum roared.

    "Count Raum, please consider. Lady Scarlet, Marquis Rowan, Count Nocturne, the Earl of Labolas and Marquis Phenex all have their own people to consider." Marquis Kratz spoke up patiently. "Even if you say it''s for the good of the demon race, they cannot so easily sacrifice the lives of the people they are governing."

    "Bah! They can''t now, can they? We sacrificed so much with our loyalty to the royal family and this is the thanks we get? While his majesty goes and begs them to join us, lowering his head and appeasing them, what do we get in return for our loyalty? Are we being taken for granted? Did we stand by you for so long just so you can take advantage of our loyalty like this?"

    Regis Gremory looked at Raum expressionlessly. "Even if you say you''ve been loyal for so long, I''ve only just ascended to the throne after the death of the previous Demon Lord. Please bear with my inexperience and relative youth. All I ask is for your patience and understanding."

    "And what about you understanding how we feel!"

    It wasn''t just Raum. A good number of demon nobles had stood up, sharing the same views as Raum.

    "No clan, no domain is more important than the demon race as a whole! If they step out, then we shall crush them and bring them back by force!"

    "They no longer deserve to be demon nobles!"

    "Their territory should be spread out and shared among the true loyal nobles!"

    Regis Gremory cleared his throat, and the chatter fell silent. Looking at all of them, Regis Gremory bowed his head.

    "I understand your dissatisfaction, but please understand. The title of a demon noble is not something that can be taken away like that. Even the Demon Lord doesn''t have the power to strip a noble of his or her rank. Ever since the ancient times, demon nobles are allowed a vast field of autonomy within which they can operate in. They are allowed to break off from the alliance at their own discretion if they decide that it no longer is beneficial for their clan."

    "Then I no longer see this alliance as beneficial for my clan or deserving for my loyalty." Raum folded his arms and stared haughtily at Regis Gremory. "What will you do if I¡­no, if we leave?"

    "Yeah, we''ll form our own alliance!"

    "You''re free to do that, of course." Regis Gremory was not moved. "But you know as well as I do how shortsighted that would be. The more we divide ourselves, the more vulnerable we open ourselves to the humans."

    "There is no need to fear," Raum replied frostily even as several nobles stood up to support him. "We will form an alliance of our own. And we will do what you have always feared to attempt¡­we''ll unite the entire demon race in Morten by force, and then crush the humans."

    "You can try," Regis Gremory responded wearily. "But I assure, you will not be able to succeed in time before the humans exterminate all of us."

    "We''ll see about that."

    With a swish of his cloak, the obese, gray-skinned demon spun around and stomped out of the assembly hall, his allies following him.

    "What do we do about them, your majesty?"

    Despite the commotion, I noticed that the majority of the demon nobles did not budge from their spot. They were surveying the rebellion with interest, but none of them appeared enthusiastic about taking Raum''s side. However, a good number of them didn''t seem that loyal to Regis either. They seemed more amused and interested in how he would deal with them.

    "Let them go for now." Regis sighed as he shut his eyes. "We''ll attempt to negotiate with them in future, to convince them to change their minds, but I doubt we can persuade them today. Allow them to cool off."

    "It''s a good thing it''s just Raum and his rabble," a massive, muscular demon towering over three meters muttered as he shook his head in disapproval. His shaggy hair fell over his broad shoulders as he spoke. "They act so big and all, but they don''t even possess a sizable amount of military forces. They will come back begging us to let them rejoin the alliance soon enough."

    "Even then," Regis Gremory said tiredly. "We need every demon noble and their soldiers that we can get. Even the lowest-ranked noble will make a difference in this fight against Evelyn''s Chosen and the human armies. We cannot afford to be picky."

    "Tell that to Raum and the others," an old, wizened demon with long white hair and a beard muttered as he tapped his oak staff against the floor of his cubicle. "Idiots."

    "On the bright side, we have a person who might just change the tide of the war for us."

    Regis Gremory turned to me, and once again I felt the stares. Bloody hell, did the current Demon Lord enjoy putting me on the spot or something? I hated the mounting pressure that he thoughtlessly heaped upon me without a second thought.

    "Uh, well¡­"

    I forced a smile, causing Regis Gremory to chuckle.

    "I suppose you''ll need a domain and a territory of your own¡­hmm, the domain of Nosferatu, Umbra, will be under your governance, but after an incursion from the Britainnica army led by several of Evelyn''s Chosen, it''s now a desolate wasteland, devoid of demon life. I will scrounge around to see if I can find people and soldiers willing to immigrate to your domain¡­"

    "Thank you, your majesty, but there is no need for that."

    The demon nobles spun around to stare at me in surprise. I had stood up and kept my head bowed respectfully, but my tone was firm.

    "I would like to remain an independent agent. My only goal is to eliminate the heroes¡­I mean Evelyn''s Chosen. For that end, I do not wish to be bound to a domain, and I wish to maintain a freedom of movement. Where armies cannot prevail, I will strike surgically at the heart of the enemies and assassinate the Chosen one by one."

    A sinister smile spread across my face.

    "Just like what they did to your majesty today¡­I will return it to them several fold in future. I will beat them at their own game."

    I couldn''t wait to see the expressions on Kobayashi Kenji''s face and all the others when I came for them.

    "But in exchange, I have a request¡­"

    *

    The next day I was about to set out from Helsfort when I received a ping from the blue holographic window system. Apparently my inventory had updated itself when someone sent something over to me.

    "What''s this?"

    I blinked as I stared at the blue window that floated across the lenses of my glasses.

    Item received

    "Item? What item?"

    Scratching my head, I clicked on the tab, and to my surprise my Redwood jacket materialized in front of me.

    Mobile Storage Space activated.

    "Mobile Storage Space?" I repeated incredulously. What the hell was that? Some kind of magical storage system that allowed me to place my items inside and transfer them from place to place?

    That''s right. I gave my Redwood jacket to Hughes so that he can appraise it and register it under my name. That was in Havia City. Yet he somehow managed to send my Redwood jacket over such a vast distance?

    As I slipped my Redwood jacket on and sighed in relief at the regenerative protection it afforded me, I suddenly realized that I had also received an email. Tapping the letter icon that flashed persistently in the corner of the screen, I opened it and read the contents.

    It was from Hughes.

    Hey, Tanaka!

    Hughes here. Sorry for taking your Redwood Robe. I''ve registered it under your name now, so nobody will ever be able to take it away from you. If the nobles or even the royal family demand for you to turn it over to them, tell them to fuck off and take it up with the guild.

    Oh, and I have no idea why but the heroes seem intent on searching for you. I''ve told them you went off on a journey somewhere and have no idea where you are, but our system registered your participation in a huge party that was volunteering as scouts in the frontlines. We lost all contact with them a couple of days ago, and the system registers them as dead, but even your vital signs turned dangerous for a few hours. Thankfully, your signs seem to have stabilized and register you as still alive, but I always knew you wouldn''t die that easily.

    Anyway, here''s your Redwood Robe¡­and a promotion. You''re now Copper rank, which means you get to access the Mobile Storage Space that high-rank mercenaries are entitled to! With this, you can complete quests on the field and send the evidence straight to the office without delay. Pretty convenient, huh?

    Good luck, and you may now use the online system to register for quests if you will.

    P.S. the heroes are still searching for you, and apparently two of them have gone to the frontlines to track you down. I don''t know what they''re up to, but they seem agitated. Wouldn''t tell us mercenaries anything, though. Be careful.

    Yours, Hughes.

    "Phew¡­"

    I sighed and shook my head before uttering a silent thanks to Hughes. Closing the email, I then scanned through the mobile storage space. There were options to send my belongings to the guild, options to store my stuff, and options to purchase stuff from the online store. It was all super-convenient and I wondered why they didn''t provide such an indispensable service to all mercenaries in the guild. That would make our lives easier.

    Then again, it was obvious that such a magical system would be taxing on so many resources. As I explored the network, it dawned on me that it had to be incredibly taxing to maintain the servers and preserve the tremendous amounts of mana flow to transport items over vast distances. That was why the guild couldn''t afford to give access to just anybody.

    "Hmm¡­"

    Adjusting my repaired glasses, I dismissed the blue holographic screen and got ready to set off. Even though I didn''t have an army at my back, I had gained allies. When I proposed the Independent Operative scheme, I had attached a condition. Like an Inquisitor in the 41st Millennium, I had unparalleled authority second only to the Demon Lord himself. It allowed me to requisition any military force or resources for my own use while allowing me to be flexible enough because I wasn''t bounded to any territory or physical space.

    The demon nobles wouldn''t see me as a threat because I would never have a permanent army or territory, but I had a pseudo-army because of the authority that Regis Gremory granted me, one that I could easily swap whenever I needed to.

    I''ll need a real army eventually, but not yet. Not until I know who are my real enemies.

    For now, I would just placate the demon nobles by appearing to be a non-threat, to allay their fears. Then slowly build up their trust¡­

    ¡­and the best way to do that was to go hero hunting. Kill my former classmates and get my revenge. Two birds with one stone.

    Just the way I liked it.

    Before I could proceed to the gateway, however, a bunch of soldiers rushed through the palace gates on their wyverns, battered and bloodied.

    "Emergency!"

    The lead knight was shouting as he rode through the gates, almost falling from his horse. Behind him, Prince Richard clung to his horse, looking ragged and deathly pale.

    There was no sign of Princess Yuan.

    "Richard? What happened?"

    Having heard the commotion, Regis dropped whatever he had been doing to emerge into the open, greeting his son worriedly.

    "Yuan¡­she¡­"

    Richard almost fell off his horse. His father helped him down but he almost collapsed, only for Regis to catch him.

    "Doctors!" Regis shouted. "Help my son! Heal him!"

    "Father."

    Richard grabbed his father''s arm, leaving smears of blood on his silky sleeve. Desperately hauling himself up, he pleaded.

    "Please save Yuan."

    "Yes, I understand. Hang in there! Doctors!"

    "Allow me."

    I stepped forward and casted Regeneration. Immediately, the color returned to Richard''s face and he slowly recovered as his wounds closed up and knitted together. Blinking in surprise, he glanced up at his father, and then at me.

    "¡­how?"

    "Healing spell," I replied dismissively. "More importantly, your highness¡­what were you saying about Dragon Princess Yuan?"

    "Ah¡­"

    Richard''s shoulders slumped and he cast a gaze down shamefully on the floor.

    "¡­he has her."

    "Who has her?" Regis Gremory demanded as he gripped Richard''s shoulders tightly. Richard hesitated slightly, and then finally spoke a single name as he met his father''s gaze.

    "¡­Count Raum."

 43 Chapter 43: Hostage

    "Your majesty!"

    A messenger rushed into the throne room and dropped to his knees, lowering his head. Raising a scroll with both hands, he presented it to Regis Gremory, who was in the midst of discussing with his military commanders on how to deal with the current crisis.

    "What is it?" Regis asked, breaking away from an intense debate to stare at the messenger. At a gesture, the messenger thumbed something in the scroll and a holographic image of Count Raum in all of his grand obesity materialized above, a gigantic, almost humorous caricature much larger than the real thing that further exaggerated his uh¡­excessive flab.

    "Your majesty."

    The words dripped with sarcasm at Count Raum''s hologram glared at Regis Gremory, who met his gaze evenly.

    "As you probably know by now, I have your daughter-in-law. If you do not want any harm to befall her, you are to accede to my demands." His greasy, chubby face twisted into a grotesque smile. "You are to hand me the title of Demon Lord and put all nobles and armies in the alliance under my command. Do not worry¡­I have no intention of killing the Gremory Clan. I recognize your loyalty, after all. I am a generous man ¨C you will get to keep your domain, but obviously you''ll swear fealty and pledge your armies to me."

    "This is his plan to unite the whole of Morten under one rule?" Regis Gremory glanced at the rest of the commanders who were present. "To ransom me for the title of Demon Lord? By holding my daughter-in-law hostage?"

    "¡­"

    None of the commanders responded, probably too taken aback by Raum''s sheer stupidity and audacity.

    "Even if I wanted to, I can''t hand over the title of the Demon Lord. You know it doesn''t work that way." Regis Gremory scowled as he turned back to confront Count Raum''s gray visage. "I don''t even want to be the Demon Lord¡­it was thrust upon me the moment the previous Demon Lord fell before appointing an heir. And you know how it is hereditary. The system won''t allow me to change the successor from my son to you, or allow me to step down. It will hold me to this position until my death."

    "Then all I have to do is kill you," Raum replied simply. "In exchange for your daughter-in-law''s life, I''ll accept both yours and your son''s."

    "How dare you!"

    "Insolent bastard!"

    "We''ll kill you!"

    The military commanders in the room erupted into a furious furor, yelling at Raum''s arrogant impudence. However, Raum suddenly dragged someone from off-screen. Dragon Princess Yuan struggled as he gripped on a metallic collar around her delicate neck and pulled her up front, as if to show her off.

    "If you don''t want harm to befall the crown princess, then I suggest you step down immediately."

    "Yuan!" Richard cried, but Regis gestured for him to stand back. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Raum coldly.

    "You know that''s something I can''t accede to. Even if you kill Yuan, I will not and cannot budge from my position. I bear the fate of the demon race on my shoulders ¨C a burden you will never be able to endure. If I have to sacrifice her, I will. And I promise you this¡­I will make an example of you when all this is over."

    "Big words," Raum scoffed, but he didn''t look so sure anymore. Regaining his composure, he put on a bold front. "I''ll be magnanimous and give you some time to think about it. When you change your mind, contact me¡­and I''ll witness the ceremony of your seppuku."

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    The commanders bristled at his arrogance, but a glance from Regis Gremory stayed them. Instead, the current Demon Lord merely smiled frostily.

    "Oh, we''ll definitely be seeing each other soon, Count Raum. Very soon."

    A chill ran down Raum''s spine and he growled. "D¡­don''t you dare try anything funny! The life of your daughter-in-law is in my hands! If you so much as send an army toward my domain, I''ll kill her!"

    "Fool. If you see an army in your domain, they will probably be the humans. When that time comes, no alliance will be on hand to save you¡­I hope the nobles you drew into this reckless endeavor of yours will help you, but¡­quite frankly, I''m not sure if even your combined forces will be able to hold them off."

    "Are you threatening me?" Raum made as if to haul Yuan back toward the screen. Regis merely chuckled.

    "No, I''m only warning you. Even if I don''t lift a hand to help¡­your demise will be inevitable."

    With a snap of his fingers, Regis ordered the scroll shut down. The messenger switched it off and then hastily retreated. Turning toward his commanders, Regis Gremory put on a grim and contemplative expression.

    "What do you propose we do?"

    "We send an army over to Raum''s domain and crush him. Make an example out of him. Hedas willing, we will be able to bring all those nobles who sided with him back to our fold."

    "I am indeed tempted to do that¡­if the human armies aren''t already knocking on our doorstep." Regis Gremory stroked his chin. "Our lines are stretched thin as they are. We cannot afford to pull a brigade away to put down a petty rebellion. Besides, as I said yesterday, the true enemy is the humans. We cannot afford to have infighting among ourselves. After all my calls for unity and peaceful negotiations with breakaway clans yesterday, I will be making a fool out of myself if I go back on my word and start a civil war out of my own accord."

    "¡­"

    The military commanders fell silent, knowing that Regis Gremory was right. Not only would it be a hypocritical act, if Regis Gremory chose to solve this by force, he would lose the trust of the majority of the loyalist nobles and damage any chances he had of negotiating an alliance with those clans that had already broken away.

    "Do we leave Princess Yuan to her fate, then?"

    "N¡­no way!"

    Richard Gremory jolted upright at the suggestion and glared at the commander who voiced it. He turned pleadingly to his father.

    "Father, we can''t just let Yuan die!"

    "No," Regis Gremory agreed. "We will do our best to save Dragon Princess Yuan. However, you must understand¡­we cannot risk the whole of Morten just for her alone. We will not give in to Raum''s demands just to save her life."

    "I¡­understand."

    "Well," Marquis Kratz spoke up. "If we can''t subdue Raum by military force, then how do we save her?"

    "We can send a small, specialized team to infiltrate Raum''s castle, and then rescue her. Go in, extract the hostage, go out, and escape safely while avoiding any battle."

    It was the Earl of Grim who proposed that. The commanders nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging that it was the most practical course of action.

    "That will be difficult." It was Baron Dressia. "Raum''s castle is heavily fortified. Even a siege will last for months¡­will a strike team be able to breach and infiltrate such formidable defenses? Even if they do, there is an entire garrison of guardsmen station within its thick walls."

    "Well, if they''re not sieging, I don''t see why not¡­"

    "Problem is how they''re going to escape with the princess while evading an entire garrison of warriors on alert¡­"

    "That''s for the team to strategize, isn''t it? Grim pointed out. "We can discuss this all day and get nowhere, or we can assign the task to the team most appropriate for the job. The question now is who is the most suitable team¡­? Any recommendations?"

    The commanders fell silent, and then Kratz voiced out.

    "Colonel Karim¡­his Shadow Wolf Corps is one of the best there is. If there''s anyone who can accomplish the mission, it''s him."

    "Isn''t Colonel Karim currently engaged in a furious battle with the Havian army on Helsreach? It will be difficult to pull his forces out."

    "And we can''t afford to distract him," Regis Gremory agreed. "If we pull out our most competent commander in that area, the humans will seize advantage of the sudden gap in our defenses and break through."

    "Then¡­Major Drake?"

    "Scouting deep inside enemy lines. Do you have any way of contacting him?"

    "¡­no. and even if I did, there''s no way he''ll make it back here in time¡­"

    "About that¡­"

    Everyone turned to stare at me. Judging from their surprise, it seemed that no one had noticed that I had been present in the meeting all along. I had kept quiet the entire time, listening without saying a single word, so when I spoke up, they jumped as if a ghost had just shown up in their midst.

    "Sir Tanaka." Regis Gremory smiled indulgently. Even though he had been impressed by my feat of defeating Asakura, it was clear that he didn''t trust me completely. At the very least, he still regarded me as an amateur brat.

    But fortunately he wasn''t dismissive enough to ignore me.

    "Do you have some sort of idea?"

    "Yes. I would like to volunteer for this rescue mission."

    "Oh¡­!"

    The demon commanders chattered amongst themselves. Some looked intrigued, several looked skeptical, and others harbored suspicion. But none of them could dismiss me outright because I had slain one of Evelyn''s Chosen right in front of their eyes just a couple of days ago.

    "Hmm¡­you think you can save Dragon Princess Yuan?"

    Stroking his chin thoughtfully, Regis Gremory asked me. I shrugged.

    "I hope I can. I offer no guarantees, but I will definitely make the effort and do my best to save her. Of course¡­" I narrowed my eyes. "I trust you will have no complaints if I am forced to fight back and decimate Count Raum''s forces¡­and quite possibly be forced to kill him in an attempt to escape."

    "¡­"

    The commanders exchanged uneasy glances but none of them voiced any objections. They understood the nature of war. Things happened and people died in these sort of things. It was only natural.

    "I understand. If Count Raum dies as a result of the rescue mission, you will not be held responsible. It is just an inevitable consequence of self-defense against a traitor who was insolent enough to take the crown princess hostage."

    "Thank you."

    "Do you intend to just waltz into Raum''s castle alone and save Dragon Princess Yuan by yourself?" Baron Dressia demanded.

    "If I have to."

    "How many men do you need?" Marquis Kratz asked, deep in thought. "We might not be able to bring in the best soldiers, but we can still assemble a team for you, to help you out. Even if you''re the Hero Slayer, it''ll be difficult for you to fight an entire garrison of soldiers by yourself."

    "True enough." I paused and thought for a bit. "A company of soldiers is enough. Or a platoon if you can''t afford to spare more."

    "Ha ha ha, a company it is." Regis Gremory leaned forward with a smile. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

    "Uh¡­well, I don''t know anyone from the military so¡­I guess¡­Lieutenant Kratz''s company?"

    Stunned silence filled the air. There was an almost imperceptible twitch in Kratz''s temple, but he said nothing.

    "I see. Well, you''ve only just arrived a couple of days ago." Regis Gremory studied me for a moment before glancing at Kratz, who had managed to compose himself. "Hmm¡­speaking of which, I remembered a report that your daughter submitted a couple of weeks ago, Marquis Kratz. She reported having worked with Sir Tanaka. And Sir Tanaka, you mentioned two days ago that she can vouch for your identity."

    Kratz blinked, but otherwise revealed no other emotion.

    "Your majesty, you don''t mean¡­"

    "I''m thinking of assigning Lieutenant Elia Kratz''s company to Sir Tanaka''s command. Unless you think¡­?"

    "No objections, your majesty." Kratz lowered his head emotionlessly. "I''m sure my daughter will be honored."

    I sighed in relief. I had encountered Elia Kratz and her company of soldiers before, when fighting against Tsukishima Tomoyo and Kijima Takeshi, and they were the only ones I knew.

    Therefore they were the only ones I could probably trust. It was funny ¨C when I helped them that one time, I didn''t actually expect to see them again like this.

    "Is that really all you need, Sir Tanaka? If you need more manpower¡­"

    "N¡­no, I don''t believe so, your majesty. I will be pleased to work with Lieutenant Kratz again. Thank you very much."

    Bowing my head respectfully, I expressed my gratitude.

    *

    "They''re still cautious."

    Lowering her binoculars, Lieutenant Elia Kratz grumbled after seeing the sentries patrolling the walls of Raum''s castle.

    "You sure about this, boss?"

    Leaning back against the rocky ledge that his commanding officer was sitting on, with his hands knitted behind his head, Sergeant Gio Vanni sighed.

    "I mean, sending even more of us over won''t change anything¡­"

    "¡­other than making us just as dead as the ones that went before."

    Putting her binoculars back, Elia stood up firmly.

    "Nonetheless, we''ll do as we''re commanded."

    "Yeah, yeah¡­even though it''s impossible."

    "Nothing''s impossible," Elia snapped at Gio''s defeatist attitude. But before he could come up with a snarky retort, I stepped in.

    "Uh, wait? Who died? We haven''t sent anyone over yet, have we?"

    "Oh, Sir Tanaka." Elia snapped a salute when she caught sight of me. "No, not us¡­the remnants of the royal guard who were accompanying Prince Richard. Apparently a contingent of them stayed behind and attempted to siege the castle in an attempt to rescue Dragon Princess Yuan."

    "And as you can see, they paid for it dearly with their lives."

    Gio waved his hand dismissively at the good number of corpses scattered in the clearing between our position and the castle. Even though it had only been one day since the kidnapping, the sheer carnage and number of dead were staggering.

    "Sergeant Vanni!" Elia reprimanded sharply. "You should be showing more respect to our commanding officer¡­"

    "That''s okay, I''m just a kid with nominal command. I don''t even have much experience, so you''re actually the one in command here." I raised a hand to forestall her. Elia looked dismayed, and I quickly apologized. "Sorry. I mean¡­"

    "Why are you apologizing?" Elia demanded and caught herself, then quickly bowed her head. "Sorry, sir. I''ll go check on the troops."

    "Uh, no. it''s my fault."

    I watched as Elia headed down the ledge and back toward the foot of the mountain where the rest of the company had taken up position in.

    "Let''s go back, I guess?" I muttered as I turned to Gio, who sighed again.

    "Look, if you two keep apologizing to each other, it will never end. Just deal with it, kid¡­uh, sir. Both Lieutenant Kratz and you are nobles. Even though you''ve just gotten the position a week or two ago, you should start getting used to it."

    I smirked. "You don''t seem to treat me as a noble, though."

    "Sorry about that, sir."

    "Nah, forget it. I hate being treated like one. I never wanted to be one¡­"

    "Oh, I hear you. I still can''t believe you killed two of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­no, was it three now? I would never have believed it if I hadn''t seen it for myself."

    Actually, my kill tally had increased to four, but I had no intention of bragging.

    "Still, it''s kind of funny you picked us for this mission. I mean, I don''t mean to talk down about ourselves, but there''s like so many more esteemed and reputable companies with more experience and skills than we do¡­in fact, most of our soldiers are still rookies, fresh from boot camp, especially after the beating we took during that last major battle¡­"

    "Yeah, well¡­you guys are the only people I actually know and trust. Besides, Lieutenant Kratz is a pretty capable commander."

    "Yeah, about that¡­she''s the daughter of that terrifying Marquis. Of course she would inherit some of his talents." Gio frowned as he hopped to his feet. "That''s the funny part, though. Why did someone as competent as her end up in the bushes with us lowly commoners? Especially considering her pedigree and bloodline, she could have gotten a far cushier job in Command. Yet somehow she''s crawling in the dirt with the rest of us commoners. Wait¡­I could say the same thing for you, but at least you started out as one of us."

    I scratched my head as I headed back to the company''s tents.

    "Well, it could be possible that Lieutenant Kratz wanted to prove her own ability. That she''s capable of leading without needing to ride on her father''s coattails. A pride thing. She wants to prove to everyone that Elia Kratz is a respectable and competent commander in her own right, and not be seen merely as Marquis Kratz''s daughter."

    Gio stopped momentarily to stare at me, impressed.

    "Wow, Major. You understand our boss far more than I did, even though I''ve spent a couple of years working under her!"

    "¡­"

    The guy was obviously teasing me, so I ignored Gio and went after Kratz. She had already reached our encampment where the young soldiers were all nervously fidgeting and waiting. They were pale, frightened and clutching their weapons restlessly.

    I noticed they were holding not swords or spears but¡­guns. Rifles. Muskets, from the look of it, complete with bayonets attached to the barrels.

    Closing my eyes, I remembered the conversation I had with Elia Kratz when I first met with their company before moving out of Helsfort and traveling toward Raum''s domain. I had paused, surprised, when I saw her soldiers loading the muskets into the carriages.

    "Those weapons¡­"

    "Ah, they are the new rifles invented by the dwarves of Moria," Kratz had explained. "When King Regis took over as the new Demon Lord, he renewed ties with the dwarf domain of Moria and resumed trade. In exchange for protection from the human invasion, they supplied us with new, technological weapons that can take out enemy soldiers from range."

    "Heh¡­"

    I didn''t believe this. Restia was moving from medieval fantasy to a more technologically advanced period, just before the industrial revolution. Right, didn''t Oda Nobunaga and many Daimyos begin to use muskets and ballistic projectile weapons during the Sengoku period? It completely changed the way warfare was waged and tipped the balance in the favor of those with technology.

    People couldn''t be swinging swords, firing arrows and thrusting spears forever. Civilization had to progress. The whole thousands of years of static technological advancement was a myth. Even now, I was witnessing the precursor of what would surely be a global revolution in Restia.

    If these muskets and rifles were mass produced¡­

    "Well, most brigades still don''t have access to them, especially since they''ve to be retrained to use them. Fortunately, we just got a bunch of fresh meat from boot camp who were trained to use these new rifles."

    Gio had explained that to me before we left when I wondered out loud why the demonic armies don''t just use these new weapons. It would have provided them a tremendous advantage against the human armies. Furthermore, as I later learned, we have very limited supplies of these rifles because the Morian dwarves had yet to produce enough to equip the whole demonic army.

    Soon they would build vast factories to assemble countless rifles, but Regis Gremory didn''t have the time or resources to direct into building weapons just yet, not when his attention was ensnared by the massing human forces in Helsreach.

    "Ugh¡­"

    "Hedas wept, just look at these younglings. They''re all about to piss their pants."

    Gio rubbed his chin as he swept his grizzled gaze over the frightened rookies. I actually felt sorry for them. They looked so young, barely a year or two older than I was. I could smell the fear, sense their accelerated pulse, the rushing flow of blood in their veins, the spike in adrenaline¡­

    Ugh, the whole vampire thing was annoying.

    "They aren''t ready for this," Gio grumbled as he threw his hands up in the air. Fortunately, he made sure not to do that in front of the troops or he would have demoralized them further. Not that it would have made much of a difference.

    This was their first, virgin battle. I realized I had made a terrible mistake. I didn''t realize how fresh, how young and how inexperienced this company was, made out of boys on the verge of adulthood. None of them had shot an enemy before.

    And right now they were here, tasked with shooting their brethren. There was every chance they would freeze up in the critical moment, too scared to pull the trigger.

    Kratz chewed her lip, trying to think of ideas to lift her men''s spirits, to boost their morale and persuade them to fight for the greater good of the demonic alliance. But she couldn''t think of anything. Just as she finally opened her mouth, however, laughter cut in from the back of the camp.

    "You¡­!"

    Elia strode over angrily, glaring at the bunch of grizzled veterans who were playing cards at the back of the camp on upturned crates.

    "What do you think you''re doing?! I thought I told you to prepare for tomorrow''s engagement!"

    "Yeah, we are, boss!" one of the grizzled veterans, an orc-ish humanoid raised his cards and chuckled. "One final gamble before we gamble our lives on this crazy venture of yours!"

    "You¡­!"

    "It''s pointless, boss," Gio told her as he stepped in. "Leave them be. It''s their own way of dealing with war. They know that tomorrow they''ll be lying alongside the dead who have tried to siege Raum''s castle."

    Elia gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "If they weren''t such elite snipers, I wouldn''t have brought them along¡­!"

    That caught my attention. "Wait, they''re snipers?"

    "Yeah." Gio turned to me, taken aback by my sudden outburst. "Best scores in the range and highest kill tally with archery. Also the men who have adapted the best to the new rifles. They can hit a bird two kilometers away."

    "Oh¡­" I grinned as an idea slowly drifted in my mind. This might just work. Clapping my hands, I strode over to the veterans and kicked their crates over. "All right, enough playing around. All of you, gather!"

    The veterans glared at me, but a glance from Kratz (and a glower from Gio) was enough to put them in line. The rookies on the other hand anxiously formed a circle around me as I got them to assemble before me.

    "Listen up." I had a sinister smile as I rested my eyes on the veterans, who shivered uncontrollably. "Tomorrow we will fight. And if you do as I say, we will win. I won''t pretend that there won''t be any casualties, but we can minimize them. In fact, if we''re really lucky, we can pull this off without losing even a single man."

    "Huh?"

    "Are you serious?"

    While the rookies remained silent from their nerves, the veterans murmured in disbelief. I nodded and looked at them challengingly.

    "Of course I am. However¡­whether you survive or not, is entirely up to you." Snapping my fingers, I pointed at the veterans to emphasize my point. "I want to see if you so-called elite snipers are really up to the task."

 44 Chapter 44: Sieging a Fortress

    I glanced up at the sky as dawn approached, noting the orange lights that were slowly creeping out from beneath the horizon. The designated time for the attack was drawing close and I couldn''t help but feel nervous.

    However, even as the military preparations were done, there was one last thing I had to do before we launched our attack.

    I quickly conjured up my blue holographic screen and accessed the guild network. As Hughes said, there were tons of requests pinned electronically on the holographic bulletin board. I scanned through them, using my fingers to sweep away irrelevant ones until I finally found one that was closest to what I was looking for.

    That one!

    I tapped it with my finger and expanded it. After reading through the request, fine print and all, I scrolled to the bottom and hit the Accept tab.

    The request vanished and a confirmation email popped up as evidence of me accepting the request. Smiling, I dismissed the blue holographic screen and took a deep breath.

    "Major Tanaka."

    As if on cue, Lieutenant Kratz walked into my tent before saluting stiffly. I stood up and nodded at her. She maintained her neutral expression, but obediently continued.

    "We are about to commence the attack as scheduled."

    "Thanks. Let''s do this."

    "¡­yes." Elia hesitated for a moment before she finally mustered up the resolve to speak her mind. "Is this really necessary?"

    "In order for your men to live?" I met her gaze evenly. "Tell me honestly, Lieutenant. Who''s more important, the living or the dead?"

    "¡­the living."

    Elia looked uncomfortable, but someone as sharp as her understood that we had to be practical about this. The living had to be prioritized over the dead. That was an insurmountable fact.

    However, it didn''t mean she had to like it.

    Gritting her teeth, Elia saluted before turning away sharply. Before she could step out of the tent, I called out to her.

    "Lieutenant Kratz."

    "Yes, sir?" She stopped without looking at me. I glanced at her back profile and sighed.

    "I''m very sorry. Believe me, I wouldn''t do this if I had a better option¡­but I weighed the odds and possibilities, and this move has the best chance by far¡­to keep everyone alive."

    "I understand, sir," Elia replied stiffly, her back turned to me. "If that''s all, then I will go ahead and check on the men."

    With that, she stepped out of the tent.

    *

    I stepped toward the castle. Obviously I was still a kilometer or so away, with the large, open clearing in front of me littered with the dead bodies of the royal guardsmen who had attempted to save Dragon Princess Yuan a few days ago.

    I wasn''t suicidal, but I had a plan in mind. The killing field was full of resources ¨C the dead was a resource that only a necromancer, such as myself, could use. Gathering mana into my hands, I stealthily stepped toward the clearing and cast my Reanimation spell.

    The dead rose again. Standing jerkily, almost like puppets whose lifeless joints were forcibly pulled by cruel wires, the slaughtered royal guardsmen slouched and shambled forward, groaning. Their eyes almost seemed to glow in the slowly brightening dawn, filled with unholy magic.

    "¡­"

    Elia turned away, unable to look. Gio''s mouth was set in a grim line, but he understood the necessity of this ritual. The rookies ¨C the majority of the company, who was still fresh from boot camp ¨C were terrified by the zombies, while the veterans merely looked on disinterestedly.

    Unlike Elia, they possessed no sentimental attachment to their fellow demons. They didn''t like what I was doing but they didn''t disapprove of it either, at least not as strongly as the noble and uptight Elia Kratz.

    Despite their moans, the zombies moved so quietly and slowly that they didn''t even draw the attention of the sentries until they got close enough. The soldier who was looking over the edge blinked his eyes, initially not believing what he was seeing.

    And then the first horde of zombies reached a few dozen meters away from the gates.

    "Uh¡­enemy attack?" he stammered.

    The sentries rushed to the front, and the garrison came to life as the soldiers were mobilized. The ramparts was suddenly filled with movement as soldiers ran back and forth, taking aim with their rifles or bows and arrows. Some of them had procured the latest weapons from the dwarves of Moria, but a good number of them were still using antique weapons like bows and crossbows. At their superiors'' orders, the castle guards let loose a volley of arrows.

    Against a mortal, living army, that would have been a devastating barrage. However, zombies did not fear death or mortal wounds, for they were already dead.

    The first line of zombies toppled over from the impact, many of them turned into pincushions. Despite the numerous arrows sticking out of their bodies, however, the zombies merely lurched back to their feet, paying no attention to what would have been grievous wounds. It helped that they were wearing armor, which protected most of their body from crippling blows.

    The rifles did more damage, blowing off limbs or outright exploding heads. The zombies who lost their heads fell and never stood up again, permanently casted back into the abyss of death, but they were so few¡­so few among the tide of unceasing undead. Those that did lose their limbs continued plodding forward, paying no heed to losing an arm or two. Those who had their legs blown out from under them continued to crawl forward, pulling themselves inch by inch with their arms. Relentless, emotionless, merciless, the zombies continued their inexorable march.

    Unfortunately, no matter how persistent they were, the zombies weren''t able to ram down the gates. Even as the sheer weight of bodies pressed against the gate, the heavy, metallic structure refused to budge.

    "Hah!"

    The sentries, emboldened by the fact that the zombies'' attempts to penetrate the fortress were ultimately futile, grew bold and began reaching out of the ramparts to hold competitions on who could take out more zombies. Jeers, laughter and banter echoed throughout the clearing, the indistinct but unmistakable sounds reaching even to my position.

    I smiled.

    "Diversion successful," I told Elia''s company. No¡­they were my men right now. I had been given the rank of major in the demonic army for a reason. I had to take command and direct the flow of battle. Turning to my soldiers, I nodded. "Proceed to the next phase of the plan."

    My orders were spread out through magic vocalizers that served as radios. At my command, the teams already held in position opened fire.

    Platoons 1 and 2 began shooting the east side. From deep cover, the six mortar teams hidden out of sight lobbed their mortars over, the devastating projectiles whistling before they struck the side of the wall and exploded.

    "Are you sure this is working?" Elia asked, noticing the horrible accuracy of the mortars. Even though several soldiers were close enough to get struck by flying shrapnel, and even one unlucky fella was thrown off the wall by the blast, most of the shells landed way off the mark, ineffectually hitting the fortified wall. It was only natural ¨C the mortar teams were being manned by rookies. That said, Elia wasn''t pleased with the waste of ammunition. "They aren''t doing optimal damage to the enemy."

    "That''s fine," I replied. "They don''t need to deal damage to the enemy¡­just distract them."

    "To the east! They''re shelling us from the east side! Take them out!"

    The bulk of the soldiers were moving to the east and began firing at platoons 1 and 2. The rookies dove down into cover, even as several of them answered back. They didn''t bother choosing targets or taking aim ¨C they were just firing wildly and making as much noise as possible. When the enemy fired on their position, they dug deeply into cover and waited it out. When the enemy fire died down, they poked their rifles out and squeezed off a few shots, only to rouse the enemies into another ferocious fusillade of fire.

    "All right. They took the bait. Over to you, Sniper Team 1."

    "Gee, you''re a hard driver, eh, boss?"

    I noticed that they were referring to me with the title they normally reserved for Elia, but didn''t comment. Instead, I smirked.

    "Show me your skills, ''Elite Snipers.''"

    "Hah! I''ll show you."

    "Don''t think you can get away, acting all cocky!"

    From yet another position in the east, the six snipers fired as one. Six enemy soldiers went down, dead before they knew what hit them. In the confusion, under the constant mortar shelling and sporadic fire from the rookies, the enemy guards didn''t realize that they were being sniped. Another six were taken out in the next few seconds. And then another six. By the time the snipers'' tally reached the dozens, the survivors realized something was amiss.

    "That way!"

    An experienced soldier suddenly realized the angle in which the bodies were falling were odd. They were falling back after being hit by the shots fired from the direction of the rookies, but from somewhere else. Raising his voice furiously, he took charge and redirected the aim of the remaining guards. A furious barrage erupted and pelted the snipers'' position.

    "Whoa!"

    "Oh boy, they know we''re here!"

    "It''s fine. Stay down and move from your position. Take up the next spot. Your job here is done for now¡­and I''ve to admit, you guys really are elite snipers. Well done."

    The snipers didn''t even waste a single shot. I was impressed how they didn''t miss at all. They weren''t just randomly targeting soldiers either ¨C one of the first shots had taken out the commander overseeing the defense of the eastern wall.

    "Platoons 3 and 4, it''s your turn."

    The skeleton crew of sentries posted on the western wall, presumably because the main strength of the garrison had raced to defend the eastern wall and the main gate where the zombies were clamoring for entrance, were taken out by a lucky series of explosions from the next squad of mortars. The lucky few survivors staggered, reeled from the blast, only to be peppered by rifle fire from the rookies. Even though they lacked the accuracy of the veterans, they were heartened and encouraged by the success of the first two platoons. With their morale lifted, the rookies bravely unleashed a withering storm of bullets.

    "Enemies! Enemies from the west!"

    The few survivors were shouting. As if to emphasize their point, the two platoons stood up and seemed to charge.

    Elia and Gio exchanged worried glances, but said nothing. I had allayed their fears when discussing strategy with them last night.

    "Are you sure about this?" Gio had asked, glancing at the two young platoons had thrown away their cover and were charging boldly at the wall. "Major, that area is pretty sparse and doesn''t have a lot of cover. The men will have to charge over flat terrain. It''ll be suicide! And even if they could reach the wall, there''s no way for them to breach it¡­"

    "Platoons 3 and 4 will not be really charging. I only want them to show themselves so that they will draw the enemy''s attention to themselves. If Count Raum sees the charge, he''ll think the mortar teams and platoons 1 and 2 are just a decoy. How do you think he will react?"

    That was the reasoning I had given, anyway.

    "My lord!"

    Inside the castle, one of the surviving military commanders was hastily approaching Count Raum, who was reeling from the sudden assault.

    "The enemy is attacking from the west! T¡­there''s a significant number of infantry!"

    "Oh?" the fat demon noble sneered and then roared out in laughter. "Oh, I see! Now I can read you."

    The attack on the east wall is a decoy! It''s drawing the bulk of our forces to the east side¡­while the enemy tries to breach the walls to the west! But it won''t work!

    The full strength of the garrison marched toward the west, but at my signal, the rookies suddenly fell back and melted back into cover. Taunting and jeering, the enemy soldiers bombarded the retreating lines with arrows and a few rifle shots, but the rookies were well disciplined and hunkered down in safety without losing a single man.

    Nestled back in the forest, they began firing randomly to distract the enemy, even as the mortar shells continued to besiege the beleaguered wall. Unfortunately, I couldn''t count on the mortars to demolish those heavily armored walls. They were too well built for that.

    "Second sniper team¡­show me that you''re just as good as the first."

    "Roger that, boss!"

    In the melee, the second team of snipers took out key figures such as commanders and sergeants, or the riflemen, who were the most threatening warriors of the lot. While they kept the bulk of the forces occupied, I turned to the remaining men.

    "You ready for this?"

    "Not really¡­but we don''t have a choice, do we?"

    Elia sounded bitter. I just shrugged, and then ran forward.

    "Hey, Major! Wait!"

    Gio was shouting, and then he sighed and shook his head.

    "Forward, for the Emperor!"

    "For the Emperor!"

    "Oi!" I snapped. "Stick to the plan and don''t make too much noise!"

    The next phase of the plan, with HQ platoon under me, was supposed to move stealthily toward the main entrance by blending in with the zombies. I slowed to a walk and gently blended in with the zombies, using them as cover to camouflage my movements. Following my example, Elia, Gio and HQ platoon moved with the zombies, smoothly weaving through the horde of undead bodies and closing in the distance toward the castle.

    As long as we didn''t open fire or make too much noise, the enemy wouldn''t spot us. The bulk of their forces were too busily amassing on the western front and shooting at ghosts while getting sniped to oblivion. As with the eastern front, the enemies would eventually become aware of the snipers, but until then I was going to take advantage of the lull in security from the main gate. The few sentries posted there continue to take potshots at the swarm of zombies hammering on the front gate. They didn''t notice that something was amiss, that the living had now mixed in with the dead.

    Several arrows actually struck me, but I was wearing my Redwood jacket, which protected me from the projectiles. The archers, probably because of the milling, shambling undead around me, mistook it as my undead tenacity shrugging off what would normally be fatal shots for a mortal. I was relieved, though. As long as I took the brunt of the shots, it meant the shots were being directed away from my men.

    Reaching the gate, I raised my hands slightly and casted a second Reanimation spell.

    The dead within the castle rose. Having been sniped and taken out by the two teams of snipers, the slain staggered to their feet. Their comrades, too occupied with trying to take out the four platoons and hunt down the snipers, didn''t realize the danger until it was too late.

    "Eh¡­ah? AAAAH!"

    Screams rang through the air as soldiers were grabbed from behind and hauled down, their necks torn out by teeth. The interior of the castle erupted into chaos as the guards suddenly found themselves confronting a new, deadly enemy within their supposedly secure walls ¨C enemies that wore the grotesque, distorted visages of their former comrades.

    Worse, even as more soldiers died, they were turned into zombies. Before their corpses hit the floor, they were already transforming, moaning and reaching out for the few living who remained. The orderly, disciplined line of soldiers dissolved into chaos as they were forcibly dragged into hand-to-hand melee with abominations¡­a near unkillable army that swelled in numbers with each subsequent battle, new recruits added to the ranks in the form of fresh victims.

    Even though they couldn''t see what was going on inside the castle, HQ platoon could still hear the dreadful screams and cries of terrified men as the castle''s defenses collapsed. Elia and Gio glanced at each other uneasily before looking at me ¨C the former in fear and the latter in awe.

    I still remembered the discussion we had yesterday when I proposed that HQ platoon follow me right into the doorstep of the castle.

    "So we''re bluffing to the east and to the west¡­so that we can break through the front gate?" Elia had asked. I nodded, but Gio suddenly raised his hand in protest.

    "Hold on. If we use this plan, too many of our men will be devoted to occupying the enemies on the walls. Our charge through the gate will be severely thinned out, and we won''t have enough men to take the castle!"

    "Oh, we would," I had assured him with an enigmatic smile. "If everything goes according to plan, we''ll have an army fighting the enemies for us."

    "¡­what? How?"

    Elia had pursed her lips. Having shown her disapproval to the plan right from the beginning, she had caught on to my idea.

    "The major is a necromancer. How else do you think he will raise an army for us?"

    I knew it. Elia Kratz, despite her youth and noble arrogance, was pretty sharp and astute. I didn''t make a mistake in selecting her company for this. However, her noble pride and honor had somewhat blinded her to the necessities of the situation.

    On the other hand, Gio didn''t need that much convincing. He had beamed when he understood and slapped my back.

    "Oh, yeah¡­that''s one hell of an idea! I''m in!"

    But now the question was how to breach the gate¡­

    That was easy. I drew my staff from my inventory. Too distracted by the zombies that had taken over the castle from the inside, the sentries didn''t notice the new threat. Raising my staff, I gathered mana into it and then unleashed a single spell.

    Shadow Lunar Fang.

    The gate blew up. The metal cracked and bent inward, shrapnel and shards flying and impaling the sentries manning it. More soldiers for my army of undead. Even before they fully rose in their new un-life as zombies, I was already running in. The zombies who had once been the royal guard flooded in after me, with HQ platoon going along with the flow and taking charge and initiative in ways that only the living could.

    "Men of Magna Seventh!" Gio hollered, rousing the rookies into a fevered charge. "Do you want to live forever?!"

    "Oooh!"

    "Straight silver! Fix bayonets!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Following Gio''s lead, the rookies of HQ platoon clashed with the few remaining soldiers, who were being too overwhelmed by the unceasing tide of undead to fight back. Standing at the front, I struck the few sentries still futilely resisting and proceeded straight toward the main house of the castle.

    "Breach!"

    "Invaders! The enemy has invaded the castle!"

    The bulk of the forces garrisoned at the western wall wheeled around to confront this new threat. Even with the losses they encountered at the hands of the elite snipers and the zombies that miraculously rose from the dead, they posed a formidable force.

    ¡­against a mortal army, at least.

    "What the¡­?!"

    "Retreat! Retreat!"

    "Fall back!"

    "To where!?"

    "Gaaah!"

    The mass of royal guard zombies, still somehow clinging to a vestige of vengeance for suffering death at the hands of these soldiers, lunged at the guards mercilessly. Mobbed by the sudden current of undead, more soldiers fell, only to be added to the ranks of zombies.

    "Major!"

    Elia was shouting as she fought her way toward me, her sword scything down the remnant of the garrison forces.

    "The princess should be located in the main building! Get to the basement¡­I believe Count Raum is holding her prisoner in the dungeon! You remember the schematics, right?"

    "Right!"

    Before the mission, we had been issued the schematics of Raum''s castle. To prepare for the rescue, we tried to memorize the layout of the castle as best as we could. Intelligence pinpointed Yuan''s location to most likely be in the dungeon.

    Barreling past a couple of frightened soldiers who were quaking before the onslaught of the undead, I smashed through the front door of the main building. Behind me, the HQ platoon were taking custody of whatever enemy soldiers willing to surrender.

    I didn''t blame them. If I was faced with the threat of an endless wave of zombies trying to eat me and turn me into one of them, I would probably surrender too.

    "Go, Major! Get Dragon Princess Yuan and save her!"

    "I will, Lieutenant. I will be back." Turning to HQ platoon, I gestured for two of the rookies to follow me. Magg and Twezent, if I remembered their names. "You two, with me! We''re going to grab the princess out of this Lyia forsaken place!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The two rookies obeyed and followed me. Bounding across the hall, I turned down a corridor that I recalled led to the stairs below. Or so I hoped, because my memory wasn''t the most reliable. Thankfully, Magg seemed to know his way around.

    "This way, sir!"

    "Great!"

    We practically flew down the stairs, only for a bunch of sentries to come running toward us. I sprang forward and yanked Magg back before he could get impaled by a spear.

    Or spears.

    At least seven spears struck me, but they failed to penetrate the regenerative defense of my Redwood jacket. My assailants stared at me in shock, and I smiled at them.

    "Who are you¡­?"

    "Major Tomoyuki Tanaka," I replied before blasting them apart with a single Shadow Lunar Fang. Before their shredded bodies hit the floor, I was already striding toward the dungeon. Magg and Twezent stared at each other, then hastily followed me.

    "¡­?!"

    Dragon Princess Yuan was hung up in the dungeon, shackled to the walls. Her once pristine robes had been torn and tattered, probably by Raum or whoever tried to humiliate her through interrogation. I couldn''t imagine what she had been through the past few days, and didn''t want to imagine.

    On the other hand, she didn''t look that hurt. She looked up at me, alert and sharp, showing no sign of psychological damage. If anything, there was a fierce defiance that continued to burn in her eyes, the same defiance I saw when I first met her and she attacked me.

    Yeah, Dragon Princess Yuan was a strong girl indeed. It also helped that Raum didn''t resort to **** or physical torture¡­even he knew the consequences of hurting Yuan before receiving the ransom. He would have closed off any paths of negotiation and brought total war upon him and his alliance if he did that.

    Hell, even the nobles he had roped into his alliance might abandon him if he committed an atrocity like that to a princess of one of the major noble clans.

    "You¡­you are?!"

    "We meet again."

    Even though Yuan recognized me, it took her some time before she could put a name to my face. Her lips moved soundlessly before she finally remembered.

    "Sir Tanaka!"

    "The very same. I''m here on behalf of your husband, his highness Prince Richard, to rescue you. In fact, he and his father have specifically ordered me to escort you safely out of here and back to Helsfort."

    "¡­Richard!"

    Her husband''s name caught her attention and she stared at me keenly, her eyes dark and fierce. But they were also filled with worry. I recalled the moment when I saw Prince Richard stumble back through the castle of Helsfort, terribly wounded, and understood her concern. However, Yuan did not share my knowledge.

    Straining against her restraints, she stared at me urgently.

    "Is Richard¡­is his highness all right?"

    "His highness Prince Richard is safe," I assured her as I tried to search the remains of the wardens for the keys to her cell, but there was no luck. "He was healed as soon as he was brought back. He wished to be brought along on this mission, but his majesty King Regis Gremory overruled him. That''s why I am here, in his place."

    "Ah¡­"

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    Yuan sighed in relief and relaxed.

    "But we''re not out of the woods yet. Now it''s your turn to return home to safety."

    "Sir¡­we don''t have the keys," Magg grumbled. I shrugged.

    "Then we do this the old-fashioned way."

    "Old-fashioned way¡­?" Twezent asked. I replied with a nod and raised my staff. Black mana swirled around its tip before lancing out and obliterating the prison bars between us and Dragon Princess Yuan.

    "Whoa!"

    "Amazing¡­"

    "You''re demons. You''ll learn these spells soon enough." I wondered why there was no magic corps. It was funny seeing demihumans and demons relying on technology such as rifles, mortars and cannons instead of spells and curses, but now wasn''t the time to wonder about that. For now I focused on my mission.

    "!"

    Yuan sucked in a breath in surprise as I swung my mana-coated staff, severing the shackles that held her. The chains fell away, clinking heavily. Lowering my staff, I turned toward the stairs, where my two subordinates kept watch with their rifles.

    "Still clear. Looks like the Lieutenant and the rest are giving them a fierce fight!"

    "There shouldn''t be many soldiers left¡­most of them were turned into zombies."

    "¡­zombies?"

    Yuan stared at us, not comprehending. I waved her question away.

    "Don''t mind the small details. More importantly, Lieutenant Kratz and the rest are waiting for us. Let''s go."

    At my command, the four of us sprinted up the stairs.

 45 Chapter 45: Golem

    "HAAAA!"

    Panting, Lieutenant Elia Kratz slashed a soldier who refused to surrender, sending a spray of blood spurting out. Swinging her sword, she spun around and stabbed a second soldier who was attempting to sneak up behind her.

    Protecting her flanks, Gio and the rookies took aim with their rifles and fired into the mass of soldiers pouring from the west gate and the garrison. The zombies lurched and pulled down the enemies, causing them to scream and shout.

    "Back! Fall back!"

    One of the enemies shouted, and suddenly a gout of promethium surged and immolated the zombies, turning them into ash.

    "Flamer!" Gio shouted. "Take cover!"

    The living ducked behind a thick wall while the undead shambled forward, heedless and fearless of an eternal sleep. Rather, they blissfully lumbered toward their demise, allowing the tsunamis of blazing promethium to destroy them.

    "Flamer unit! Wipe out the zombies! Riflemen and archers! Follow me! There''s only one unit of living soldiers in the castle! Flank them and crush them!"

    "Ross! Ammo count!" Gio shouted to a corporal, who did a quick count.

    "About ten per man, Sergeant!"

    Gio gritted his teeth at the reply, and then glanced at Elia, who was still ferociously wielding her sword.

    "Boss! We''re running low!"

    "I know!"

    "And the zombies are getting annihilated!"

    "I can see that."

    Even as Elia replied stiffly, doubt began to surface in her mind. She had trusted me to keep her men alive, especially after I made that grand declaration of ensuring not even one of us died, but things had swung in the enemies'' favor now. Especially with the arrival of the short-range but devastating flamers, the enemies had incinerated any numerical advantage we might have.

    Was I deceived again?

    Gritting her teeth as perspiration ran down her pretty face, Elia despaired as her resolve wavered for just a second.

    Just a second.

    No!

    With a burst of strength, Elia determinedly sliced two approaching soldiers, felling them. Breathing heavily, she gritted her teeth and forced those thoughts of despair from her mind.

    No, he has no reason to lie¡­and right now he''s in the dungeon by himself, risking his own life to save Dragon Princess Yuan!

    The shots came in fierce and thick, but suddenly the zombies stopped lurching forward and formed a meat shield in front of the living demonic soldiers.

    "?!"

    "Sarge, what the¡­?"

    "I don''t know, Ross¡­the zombies¡­they are¡­protecting us?"

    "!!"

    Elia''s eyes widened when she studied the incredible sight. And even as the soldiers tried to mount a charge, a sudden black wave of dark energy swept across the place, knocking them off their feet.

    "What?!"

    "AAAAH!"

    A shriek sounded from the back before it was gruesomely cut short. Turning around, the soldiers found themselves beset by zombies from behind.

    At the same time, the zombies that were forming a wall of flesh and blood in front of the living charged forward, howling and bellowing in guttural tones.

    "Pincer attack!"

    "It''s a trap!"

    "Where did these zombies come from!?"

    "Stand firm!"

    The sole commander shouted and swung his sword down, cutting down a horde of zombies in a single strike. Glaring at the flamer teams, he barked out an order.

    "Incinerate the whole lot of them!"

    The roaring fires washed over the horde of zombies both in front and behind. Many of the soldiers were caught in the literal friendly fire, incinerated by their own comrades along with the enemies trying to turn them.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    The mustached commander panted and then smiled in relief when he saw that the flamers had decimated most of my zombies.

    "Heh. See? Those undead aren''t immortal. They die like mortal men."

    "Of course. As do you."

    Striding forward, I tapped my staff against the ground. The blood around me rose and turned into spears before impaling the remnants of the company who were trying to assault Elia''s position.

    "?!"

    The commander gurgled bloodily, the red fluids seeping out of his mouth and wounds, as he stared at me in disbelief. I stared at him disinterestedly for a second before taking his head off with a blood axe that sprang from the ground.

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    "M¡­Major?!"

    "Thanks for keeping them occupied." I wanted to say something more encouraging and motivating, but I was interrupted by a roar as a second company ran down the stairs. Arrows and bullets pelted me, but none of them penetrated the arcane defenses of my Redwood jacket. With a sigh, I turned to face them.

    All around me, the blood churned and bubbled before they took shapes. Blood ghouls moved fluidly, their bodies yet to solidify, and lunged at the newcomers. Arrows and bullets mowed down the blood ghouls mercilessly, but they merely broke apart before reforming their semi-liquid but vaguely humanoid shape.

    "Hiiii!"

    "No!"

    The soldiers backed away, utterly taken aback by this new threat. I stepped forward to finish them off.

    "Lieutenant Kratz!"

    Magg and Twezent ran forward, escorting Dragon Princess Yuan. Striding forward, Yuan stood before HQ platoon in a dignified manner, brushing her long, dark hair with a hand and studying them with her emerald eyes.

    "Lieutenant Kratz. I am Yuan Serpenta, the heiress to the Serpenta Clan and wife of the crown prince, Richard Gremory. I have been told that you have endeavored diligently and risked much to rescue me. You have my gratitude."

    Taking the hems of her ruined skirt, Yuan did a formal curtsey to express her thanks. Elia merely stared at her in wonder, having met the crown princess for the first time. She fought to think of something to say, but could only mutter a single word from the shock.

    "O¡­okay."

    Elia was still staring at Yuan in shock, even as the dragon princess surveyed the devastation before her eyes.

    "Hmm¡­I heard that he had recently been elevated to a Vampire Lord shortly after he defeated that girl who was one of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­but I never imagined that his power would be enhanced to such levels¡­"

    "Eh? Vampire Lord?"

    Elia was blinking in confusion. She glanced at Gio, who shook his head and shrugged. She then turned back to Yuan, stammering.

    "B¡­but isn''t Major Tanaka a Lich Lord? I mean¡­the last time he beat two of Evelyn''s Chosen, we saw him ascend to the rank of a Lich Lord¡­"

    "Indeed¡­he was a Lich Lord when we first met¡­but many things happened." Yuan frowned. "Were you not informed of the news? Of the assassination attempt at Helsfort Castle?"

    "O¡­of course we were! I just¡­didn''t think he would change from a lich to a vampire. Wait, is that even possible? Aren''t a lich and a vampire two different species?"

    "Indeed. Which is what makes this young man''s identity all the more mysterious. However¡­" Yuan turned to Elia with a mischievous smile. "Do you think now is the time to be discussing Sir Tanaka''s origins? I believe you have a battle to win, do you not?"

    "Ah¡­!"

    Elia''s face flushed when she realized that Yuan had a point.

    "O¡­of course!" Turning around, she faced her men with a determined expression. "Magna 7th Company! Let''s make use of this opportunity and take the castle!"

    "Yes, ma''am!"

    "Allow me to join the battle as well."

    Dragon Princess Yuan picked up a smoldering sword that had dropped among the dead, then dusted off the ash from it. Her mana swirled around her furiously, descending upon her otherwise seemingly vulnerable body like a cloak.

    "But your highness¡­!"

    "Please indulge me. I have a score to settle with Count Raum."

    At the same time, that Count Raum himself was raging when he heard the news.

    "The Dragon Princess had been rescued!?"

    "Yes, your grace! I''ve just received the report! And furthermore¡­"

    "AAAAAAAARGH!" Raum thundered furiously, cutting off his adjutant before he could finish delivering his report. He slammed his hands against the window and glared outside to stare at my black and red figure. "The Hero Slayer?!"

    "So it seems, your grace."

    "Fuck¡­! I knew that brat seemed suspicious when he first showed up! That''s why I never liked him! He planned this, didn''t he?! He must have planned this ahead of time, and now he''s here to take my position! That scheming, conniving son of a bitch¡­!"

    "Begging your pardon, my grace, but that''s quite the leap of logic. Unless he was aware of your plans to leave the alliance and to kidnap the Dragon Princess from the very beginning¡­"

    "That''s what I''m saying, you idiot!" Raum bellowed as he slammed his fist against the window, cracking the glass. "That brat somehow found out about my plans!"

    No, I didn''t. But there was no use telling him that. Some people only believed what they wanted to believe. They would close their ears to the truth, refusing to listen to reason or logic. Clearly Raum was one of those deluded idiots.

    But he was an idiot with a lot of firepower.

    Boom! Boom!

    The cannons from the castle wall erupted in fury, firing ballistic projectiles at me. I turned around and raised my hand, stopping the first cannonball with my palm. Thanks to the regenerative defensive layers that my Redwood jacket afforded me, I remained unscathed despite the tremendous impact. Before the cannonball could detonate, I reared my arm back and hurled it as violent as I could. The first cannon exploded when it was struck by its own discharge.

    The second cannonball arced way off from my intended target and smashed into the window where Raum was standing.

    "Your grace!"

    "Whoa!"

    The fat demon noble jumped as the cannonball cannonballed through his window, shattering the glass, and smashed through his room before exploding into bright plumes of flame. Spluttering and coughing, Raum tried to rise his feet.

    "Crom!" he shouted. "Help me!"

    When there was no answer, he looked around, only to find the corpse of his adjutant, charred by the flames.

    "F¡­fuck! Fuck!" Raum howled. "Bastard¡­Hero Slayer or whatever, I don''t care who you are! Nobody gets in the way of my ambition! You''re much too dangerous¡­too dangerous to my plans to unite all of the demon race! My men¡­my home¡­my dreams¡­I''ll kill you for murdering and destroying all of them!"

    Crawling to his feet, he casted a single spell to dispel the flames and then began staggering through the scorched corridor.

    "F¡­fuck!"

    "What the hell are these things?!"

    "We can''t kill them! We can''t!"

    Down in the courtyard, the last remnants of Raum''s army were hollering as they desperately fired their rifles or arrows at the blood ghouls. The projectiles harmlessly passed through the crimson specters, the fluid holes closing up almost immediately after the bullets or arrows exited their semi-liquid bodies.

    With a roar, the blood ghouls sliced through the withering resistance, their claws hardening into iron blades the shape of swords, axes or scythes as they indulged in the carnage.

    I followed my army, and the living followed me.

    "Keep following the major!" Kratz ordered as she led her Magna company in pursuit. However, a loud crash stopped us in our tracks.

    My blood ghouls went still. Even I halted and turned to see the massive doors of what looked like a side shed or a gigantic garage slowly dent and cave outward.

    It was as if some colossal creature was ramming the doors from the inside in a furious attempt to free itself.

    With one final ram, whatever was inside the garage battered the gates open and finally emerged outside. A colossal humanoid machine that looked almost as if it was made out of rock shook off the debris and stomped into the courtyard, its servos screaming and engine whirring. Towering over us at twelve meters in height, a single obese figure peered down at us scornfully from the cockpit in the gigantic machine''s head.

    Huge arms, each the size of pillars, and hands the size of a small car swung on either side of the broad, sturdy mechanical frame, supported by titanic legs that left craters in the ground with each step. Judging from the depth of the prints, that thing must weigh at least five tons.

    I glanced up at Raum''s leering visage and sighed. The guy obviously thought he had won after revealing his trump card.

    So did my men, it seemed.

    "Wha¡­what the fuck!?" Gio shouted behind me, while Elia went speechless from fear and shock. The men turned pale and trembled before the mighty colossus before them.

    Only Yuan remained calm. Folding her arms, she glared at the mechanical titan and studied it calmly.

    "A golem."

    "A¡­what?"

    "A truly ancient weapon from the age of gods," Yuan explained to Elia. "One of the very few that still remain."

    "How are we supposed to fight something like that?!" Gio hollered.

    "By hitting it until it goes down," I replied before directing all my blood ghouls at the golem. However, as much as they hacked and sliced at him, their iron-hard blades failed to leave even a scratch on the adamantine armor.

    Within the cockpit, Raum sneered.

    "Don''t even joke about that, brat. I don''t care if you''re the Hero Slayer or whatever slayer¡­even you have no chance against a weapon from the age of gods. I''ll give you a chance now¡­surrender and I might consider granting you a swift and merciful death."

    "And you''re going to kill us either way, then what makes you think we''ll surrender?" I retorted with a roll of my eyes. "Idiot."

    Raum grinned, his expression sending chills down my spine. "I was hoping you would say that. Then I can take pleasure in crushing you."

    "Not if I crush you first."

    I narrowed my eyes. Following my will, my blood ghouls all launched themselves at the golem one more time, but they failed to pierce its mighty armor. Cackling within his cockpit, Raum crushed and obliterated the blood ghouls with raw force, pulverizing the blood creatures under those colossal arms and legs. Swinging his mechanical hand around, which transformed into a cannon, he blasted the blood ghouls apart, disintegrating them with a thermal beam.

    "Holy¡­!"

    "Those blood creatures were all destroyed in an instant!"

    Ignoring Elia and the rest, I directed my efforts in piercing the golem''s armor. Blood lances surged from the ground and struck the golem, but even their sharp points bounced off ineffectually off its armor.

    "Tch!"

    Clicking my tongue, I changed my stratagem and transformed the spears into axes and hammers, attempting to bludgeon the golem. But even the iron-hard weapons failed to leave a single dent. Raum chortled and smashed the blood weapons apart before he aimed his massive hand cannon at me.

    "Take cover!"

    Elia shouted, and her HQ platoon scattered. But even I knew they wouldn''t be able to dodge the destructive blow in time.

    That was fine.

    Stepping forward, I raised a hand and caught the blow. The countless layers of protective wards on my Redwood jacket burned off, obliterated in an instant by the sheer firepower and extreme heat. My feet dug into the crumbling concrete as I was driven back, but I grunted and held my ground firmly despite leaving twin trails of tunnels in the courtyard.

    Despite their best attempts to regenerate, seven defensive layers were smashed through before my Redwood jacket stopped the beam in its tracks. Red-hot agony lanced through my hand, almost causing me to blank out, but I gritted my teeth and held on. Biting my lip so hard that blood leaked out, I somehow managed to retain my consciousness.

    "You¡­how?!"

    Even as the beam dissipated, Count Raum could clearly see that I was alive. My wounded arm, scorched by the superheated blast, was beginning to regenerate, as were the defensive layers on my Redwood jacket.

    "We''re¡­still alive?"

    "We didn''t die!"

    "The major¡­he stopped that blast!"

    "What the hell is he?!"

    Behind me, my men watched my figure in awe, even as fumes billowed from my smoldering arm. Even Yuan was taken aback by my spectacular display.

    "Amazing¡­" she whispered.

    "That cannon should possess the fury of the sun itself! How the fuck did you endure such power?!"

    "I''m not obligated to tell you." Instead, I glanced at Elia. "Lieutenant Kratz, escort Dragon Princess Yuan to safety. Take the men and get out of here. Full retreat. That''s an order."

    "Eh? But what about you, Major?"

    "Someone has to hold that guy back. Wouldn''t you say I''m the only one capable of doing that right now?"

    "No!" Elia shouted. "I can''t just let you fight that monster on your own! Please, Major! Allow us to fight by your side!"

    I sighed and shook my head before I tempered my voice and asked her a question in a cool, level tone.

    "Lieutenant Kratz, what is the primary objective of our mission?"

    "Eh?"

    "Tell me, what is the primary objective of our mission?" I repeated. Elia swallowed, and then nodded.

    "To rescue the princess, sir."

    "Yeah. The rescue of the princess. All other objectives, such as defeating Count Raum and taking the castle is secondary. Do you understand? Her highness''s safety is paramount. I repeat, escort her highness to safety at all costs. Bring her and Magna 7th Company back to Helsfort alive and safely, at all costs. That''s an order."

    "¡­"

    Elia opened her mouth, almost as if she was going to argue, but Gio grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. Biting her lip bitterly, Elia hung her head, unable to meet anyone''s gaze.

    "Do you understand me, Lieutenant?"

    "Crystal clear, sir." She turned around. "You heard him, everyone. Protective ring around the princess. Move, move, move! On the double!"

    HQ platoon began scrambling on Elia''s command, pushing Princess Yuan along with them. They turned and ran toward the exit.

    "Do you think I''ll let you?!"

    Having smashed through the blood ghouls that had reared up to distract him while I was giving out orders, Raum advanced toward the fleeing soldiers. Holding my staff up I swung it and unleashed a colossal Shadow Lunar Fang that sent the titanic machine staggering.

    "It''s useless!" Raum growled even as he fought to right his machine. "None of your attacks can hurt me! None of your familiars can scratch me! I''ll obliterate all of them!"

    I assessed the situation calmly. My blood ghouls had been severely diminished by another blast of thermal beam from the golem''s hand cannon, but if I mustered all the blood that had been spilled in the castle, I could summon more of them.

    But it was pointless. They couldn''t scratch the golem''s armor. And I would eventually run out of blood long before I could bore a hole through that ancient machine.

    What if I enhance my blood ghouls using Thousand Astral Graves?

    No. The courtyard was too small. Furthermore, the golem''s firepower was too destructive. He would level a sizable amount of my tombstones in just one shot, severely depleting the already limited number of gravestones I could summon in such a confined space.

    Fortunately, they weren''t the only thing I could summon.

    "Ha ha ha! Give up! There''s nothing you can do hurt me!"

    Advancing forward with his golem, Raum tried to pulverize me. I sprang forward and jumped atop his colossal arm, balancing myself precariously for a few seconds before he tried to swat me away with his other arm.

    Jumping away, I landed on the ground, skidding across the courtyard before coming to a halt. As Raum lumbered toward me again, a small holographic window at the corner of the lenses of my glasses popped up to notify me that my summoning spell was finally complete.

    I smiled and acknowledged the notification with a single phrase.

    "Standby for Titanfall."

 46 Chapter 46: Titan Fall

    Something exploded high in the heavens before it came barreling down and crashing onto the earth. Landing in a crouching manner, a mecha awaited in a blue, shimmering shield-dome. Unlike the massive golem, this new titan was much leaner, more mechanical and sleeker. Armed with a broadsword and a triple-barreled shotgun, the smaller titan seemed more lightweight.

    "¡­!"

    Raum realized the danger and twisted his golem around to confront the new threat. The hand cannon erupted in volcanic fury, the thermal beam converging upon the dormant titan. However, the thermal beam dissipated harmlessly against the glowing blue dome, fading away into red mist as it expended itself against the barrier.

    "!"

    Raum swore under his breath when he saw how ineffective his attack was against the dome. Meanwhile I sprinted toward the titan and then slid the last few meters. The dome-shield still shimmering brightly, the titan remained within its protection as it suddenly stood up and grabbed me before gently putting me inside its cockpit.

    The hatch closed and the darkness all around me blinked into light as visual displays came to life. I reached for the controls and began sliding gears back while a deep, male voice resounded all around me.

    "Welcome, pilot. The sword is yours."

    "Thank you, Matsukaze."

    The Katana-class Titan straightened fully as his in-built AI ¨C which I had nicknamed Matsukaze MKII ¨C followed my commands, and grabbed his triple-barrel shotgun. I swung around just as the dome-shield flickered out completely and fired a blast. Three gigantic shells surged out from the triple barrels before detonating prematurely into thousands of buckshot. The tinier pellets rained against the golem and exploded with devastating force, causing it to stagger back.

    "Hah!" Raum sneered even as he struggled to right his golem back. "Your puny attacks won''t hurt the armor on this golem!"

    I replied with a second shot that knocked the golem back again, and then strafed around him. Stepping on the accelerator, I boosted the titan''s speed and the thrusters at the back flared to life, vomiting plasma bursts to propel us forward. The thermal blast that Raum fired in retaliation completely missed and took out a huge chunk of his own castle''s wall instead.

    "Ugh! Stop firing at me!"

    Raum seemed more annoyed than panicked at the insignificant damage being meted out to his golem. There were a few signs of wear and tear, the powerful weapon leaving scorch marks, dents and cracks on the crumbling surface, but they were enough to bring the golem down. Just superficial damage that didn''t reach the core systems.

    The shotgun clicked empty and Matsukaze automatically reloaded it. I considered my options and decided to holster the shotgun before drawing the curved broadsword from his back. Blue, electromagnetic light gleamed and ran along the blade and I swung it, unleashing an arc wave that slammed into the golem.

    "What the¡­?"

    Even though there didn''t seem to be much damage, Raum had trouble righting his golem after that. The electromagnetic pulse from the arc wave attack had temporarily fried his systems, distorting his visual display and inhibiting the currents that flowed from the cockpit to the rest of the mechanical body. Stumbling around, half-blinded, the golem flailed desperately.

    As it did so, I came from the side and slashed with my broadsword. The melee weapon dealt a lot more damage than the shotgun, actually biting deep into the golem''s armor and gouging out a huge chunk of armor.

    "Gah! No way!"

    Raum must have been alerted to the critical damage by the emergency red lights and AI''s maddeningly soothing voice, for he was cursing and swearing unceasingly while whipping his golem around to face me.

    But I was already gone, slipping to the side and slashing from the left flank. Sparks flew as I nearly severed the golem''s left arm from its shoulder, leaving the mechanical limb hanging uselessly as a misshapen mess where sparks continued to fly dangerously out of it.

    "Just what the hell are you?!" Raum hollered. "Why do you have a golem of your own!?"

    I summoned it. That was how¡­not that I was obligated to tell Raum about that. I just focused on chipping away at his health.

    Dodging under the massive fist of the golem, I carved a huge scar across its once pristine chest, causing it to stumble. Raum allowed his golem to move back a step, and then transformed his remaining arm into the thermal cannon and fired at close range.

    "!"

    I held up the sword for a sword block, catching the thermal beam squarely on the blade. However, the sword wasn''t as defensive as the dome-shield that protected Matsukaze when he dropped in, and at least 50% of the beam got through, searing the lightweight alloys on my tian and causing smoke and sparks to billow from it.

    "Warning. Critical damage. Advise evasion."

    "I can''t evade, damn it!" I yelled, even though I knew Matsukaze was merely throwing out a pre-programmed response. That was the problem with summoning stuff ¨C I couldn''t customize or program the AI myself. Then again, I had no computer programming background or knowledge whatsoever so it wouldn''t make any difference anyhow.

    Actually, I was glad that the summoning took care of all those AI programming and mechanical design, because I was a total newbie at such things.

    My brother would be a better person to ask regarding mechanical engineering¡­

    Well, it didn''t matter. I didn''t need to worry about the engineering or programming aspects. I only needed to concentrate on the total destruction of my enemy.

    "Hah!"

    Laughing, Raum seized the advantage to kick my titan. Gritting my teeth, I thumbed a button in my gearstick while flooring the accelerator.

    Matsukaze literally disappeared, leaving a shimmering mirage.

    "Huh?! What the hell?!"

    I had activated my phase dash, disappearing into what seemed like an alternate, almost quantum dimension. Boosting through Raum''s golem as my Titan transitioned into a ghostly, grey-tinged world of faded colors and reality, I dashed to the position behind him before returning to reality. Spinning around, I slashed the back of the golem, almost bringing it to its knees.

    "What the hell?!"

    Raum roared in frustration and twisted around, but I was already moving. Ducking under his swinging arm, I thrust my broadsword from under his guard and rammed it into his chest. Sparks flew from the gigantic tear I had just left in its chest and I unleashed a second arc wave, which had finished recharging, to stun the golem.

    "Aaaah!"

    Raum cried out and tried to fire another pointblank thermal beam at me, but I sliced off the cannon at its wrist.

    "!"

    Without hesitating, I brought my sword down and carved another tear deep into the golem''s armored chassis, sending it staggering. By the kami, the damned thing could really withstand a lot of punishment. Having absorbed so much shotgun shots and slashes from my broadsword, it was still standing.

    Fortunately, its thick armor and extreme durability had rendered it slow and clumsy. I closed in, ready to finish it off, but¡­

    "As if I''ll let you!"

    With a roar, Raum sent his golem surging forward, kicking me in the midriff. Metal caved in as the lightweight chassis was unable to endure the powerful blow from the heavier titan. The golem leaned in and headbutted my Matsukaze, causing the visual displays in the cockpit to crack. I grunted as red emergency lights flooded the cockpit.

    "Warning, warning¡­critical damage. Eject, eject, eject¡­"

    "Overrule that!" I shouted and forcibly twisted the controls in my grip. Reversing the broadsword, I rammed it into the tear, plunging the blade so deeply inside the golem that the sharp end emerged from its back.

    "Aaaah!"

    I must have hit something critical, for sparks and electricity were dancing around the golem, which was hanging limply on my sword. Its movements had slowed, and Raum kicked me desperately. Normally I would have evaded that devastating blow, but my sword was embedded deeply inside the golem, stuck and refusing to be yanked free, and so my reaction was delayed. The powerful kick managed to send both me and the sword tumbling backward, ripping out a bunch of torn wires and detached cables.

    "Kuh!"

    Raum tried to stomp toward me to finish me off, but I was faster. Slamming on the accelerator, I dashed toward him and swung my sword.

    Raum couldn''t counter that.

    With my first slash, I sent the golem reeling backward, and then I hacked off its legs, causing the huge colossus to topple over. While it lay helplessly on the ground, I raised my sword and plunged it into the crack cockpit.

    "Gaaah! No¡­! Impossible¡­impossible!"

    Raum screamed before his voice was cut off in a bloody gurgle when his body was pulverized into a bloody pulp by the sword.

    Panting, I pulled my sword up and away and backed off from the remains of the golem. The warning lights were still flashing, and the red bar that indicated the health of the Katana-class Titan. It was clearly critical.

    I was in a doomed state. One more hit and I would be the one who had died. Unlike Raum''s golem, I had traded durability for speed and agility, and thus Matsukaze couldn''t take a lot of punishment. He was on his last legs.

    Well, the good thing about summons was that I didn''t have to worry about repair and maintenance. I just had to cast the spell again with a summoning ritual and a "new" Matsukaze will drop in, back at full health.

    Summoning mechanics were so overpowered.

    "Cough¡­cough¡­"

    I dropped out of Matsukaze, who promptly exploded. Staggering, I glanced around at the devastated place. There wasn''t much resistance left, and the remaining soldiers under Raum''s command were at a loss, now that their commander had fallen.

    However, one of them pointed his rifle at me. The rest followed suit, aiming whatever arrows or other weapons. Their intention was clear. They were going to avenge their master.

    "Hmph¡­"

    I raised my staff, but felt totally drained. The summoning of my Titan had caused me to expend a lot of mana, and now I no longer had the energy to fight back. Drained and exhausted, I could only face the gathering soldiers.

    "Charge!"

    I blinked when I heard the familiar voice. Turning around, I caught sight of Lieutenant Kratz and her company charging through the holes in the walls and firing on the stunned soldiers. They weren''t even able to shoot back. Upon coming under heavy fire, the majority of them dropped their weapons and surrendered.

    "Boss!" Gio shouted after Magna 7th surrounded the castle guards, who had clearly given up on resisting. "Their commander is dead! The enemy has surrendered!"

    "Ah?!"

    Elia blinked and nodded, and then firmly issued a command.

    "Men! Round up what remains of the enemy!"

    "Yes, ma''am!"

    I gaped at Elia, who strode up to me.

    "Major! Are you all right?"

    "You¡­" I shook my head, unable to speak for a few seconds. "I thought I told you to escort Dragon Princess Yuan to safety?!"

    "That order has been carried out, sir. Corporal Ross and HQ platoon is escorting her back to Helsfort right now. After ordering them to retreat, I rounded up Platoons 1, 2, 3 and 4 and had them converge on your position for one final attack." Elia scowled with a determined expression. "We''re not leaving anyone behind, sir. Not even you."

    "Well, thanks."

    "But you were incredible!" Elia was staring at the demolished golem and the bloody remains of Count Raum. "How did you defeat such a powerful golem? We saw you summon a golem of your own. How did you do that? Just what are you¡­?"

    I was a person from another world, and incidentally a big fan of a FPS mecha that included Titans falling out of the sky and amazing pilots who controlled those badass Titans. That was what gave me the idea to create the summoning spell in the first place. It took a lot of hard work, but it was well and thoroughly worth it.

    Not that Elia would understand a single word I was saying. Instead, I closed my eyes and shook my head.

    "I''m¡­the Hero Slayer."

    Elia chuckled at that. "After all the things I''ve seen you do, sir, you really are one."

    "Well, good job, Lieutenant." I nodded. "Round up the enemy soldiers who surrender, and contact Command. They''ll take care of things from there."

    "Already done that. A relief force has been dispatched to take over. They''ll be here in a few hours."

    "Great. Put them in the dungeon in the basement. Post a couple of sentries, in one-hour shifts. Then let the rest of the men rest. They''ve earned it." I smiled at Elia, feeling like a commander for the first time. "Well done, Lieutenant. It was an honor fighting alongside you."

    "It''s an honor fighting alongside you as well, Major!" Elia saluted and cheered. "We did it! I didn''t think we''ll pull it off, but we actually did it!"

    "That''s right, boss!" Gio placed a hand on her shoulder after having supervised the rounding up of the surviving enemies. "We did it!"

    "We fucking won!"

    The men were all yelling and whooping raucously, exchanging high fives and practically jumping for joy. I noticed it was the rookies in particular. The veterans, grizzled and experienced as they were, merely stood to the side. But even they were unable to contain their joy, wide smiles spreading across their battle-weary faces.

    I wanted to join in the cheering, but I was swaying dangerously on my feet right now. Gritting my teeth, I managed to maintain the smile and bring my hand sharply to my temple.

    And then I collapsed.

    *

    The next thing I knew, I awoke in a soft bed.

    "Uh¡­"

    I blinked and looked around, but saw that I wasn''t in the barracks. Instead, a massive window with velvet curtains greeted me, looking like some experience interior design of a noble''s house. The room itself was massive, probably the size of a small apartment.

    "Where¡­where is this?"

    The last thing I remembered, I had collapsed in Raum''s castle after expending all of my mana with that risky summon. I guessed that was a small price to pay for bringing hi-tech mecha titans to a fantasy world.

    "We''re back in Helsfort."

    "What?!"

    I sat up straight and spun around, catching sight of a beautiful, brown-haired woman standing beside me.

    Diana Gremory, the wife of the current Demon Lord, Regis Gremory. She smiled brightly and nodded.

    "We''re in one of the Magna Brigade''s military offices."

    "!!"

    I stared at her in disbelief, my mind still unable to comprehend what had just transpired.

    "After you captured Count Raum''s castle in his former domain, Rigal, you were brought here," Diana explained gently.

    "Is Dragon Princess Yuan all right?" I asked. "And what about the rest of the unit? Magna 7th? Are Lieutenant Kratz and the men all right?"

    "Relax," Diana assured me. "They''re all well, and are resting at the moment."

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    I breathed a sigh of relief. Diana''s smile widened and she proceeded to the door.

    "And now that you''re awake, there''s someone who wants to talk to you." Diana stopped at the door and bowed slightly. "Please wait here, Sir Tanaka."

    I got out of bed and stared out of the windows. It seemed that I was indeed back in Helsfort, with its peaceful gardens and expensive-looking mansions. Further across the mansions were huge, black walls. The walls of a fortress ¨C the fortress-city of Helsfort that I had visited when following Dragon Princess Yuan and her escorts during her wedding.

    "We made it."

    I could hardly believe it, but was pleased at the result. No man was lost, from what I recalled. Not only did I succeed in my first command, I did so without losing a single soldier.

    That felt¡­good.

    "Ah, Sir Tanaka. You''re up already?"

    I spun around when I heard Regis Gremory''s familiar voice. The Demon Lord himself was sliding through the doors, a grin on his face.

    "I must admit, you''ve surpassed my expectations. Not only did you rescue my daughter-in-law, you also defeated the usurper and brought his domain back under the alliance. Now those who had sought to leave the alliance along with Count Raum the other day are now clamoring to return to the fold. Most of them, anyway."

    "My lord."

    I bowed my head in greeting, but he waved it away. Standing beside him, Diana chuckled.

    "You may dispense with formalities, Sir Tanaka."

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "Please, take a seat."

    Regis gestured for me to sit beside him at one of the huge tables placed inside the large room. I obliged, and Diana placed down a tray of tea, serving each of us cups.

    "You really made quite the name for yourself, Hero Slayer¡­or should I just call you Major Tanaka?"

    "Anything''s fine," I muttered. I wasn''t comfortable with any of the addresses.

    "Heh, well¡­that''s good. Unfortunately, you''ve also drawn quite the attention to yourself. When you took down Raum ¨C even though you had my approval and authorization ¨C there were quite a few nobles who began to worry that you might be aiming to usurp and overthrow them¡­to snatch their domains away from them."

    "That was never my intention¡­"

    "I don''t know," Regis cut me off. "I can''t read your mind. And I''ll be a fool to take your word at face value. Then again, I would be a greater fool not to recognize your value to the alliance. You''re an incredible asset, Major Tanaka¡­one that can tip the balance of the war in our favor. I''m not going to discard such an asset so easily."

    The guy was talking about me as if I was some sort of tool or weapon. I pursed my lips, but didn''t say anything.

    "But I would rather have you stay out of the limelight for a while." He thought for a while and then smiled. "I''ll be assigning Lieutenant Elia Kratz and her unit to your command¡­permanently. I''ve already talked to Marquis Kratz and he has no problems with it. No, rather¡­he seemed pretty eager and happy about the arrangement."

    I wasn''t stupid enough to miss the underlying politics behind this move. But I honestly didn''t want to get involved with political marriages and stupid romances.

    "¡­so what do you need me to do?"

    "Well¡­" Regis had a sinister smile on his face. "You''ll find out tomorrow. For now, make sure you rest up. You''ll need it."

 47 Chapter 47: Command

    "So what do you need me to do?"

    "Eager for the next mission, aren''t you? Shouldn''t you take more time to rest?"

    It was the next morning and I had gotten up early to look for Regis Gremory. As expected, the Demon Lord was in his throne room, alone with his wife. The two of them seemed to be having a quiet discussion before my intrusion.

    "I''m fine. The world isn''t going to wait for me to recover¡­and if it''s mana deficiency, then I should have recuperated over the night."

    "Yeah, your recuperative powers are amazing."

    Indeed. If I was a normal human, I wouldn''t have healed so quickly. It was thanks to my nature as an undead that I could regenerate from even the most fatal of wounds. As such, there was no point wasting time, especially when I could be spending it hunting for the so-called heroes. I had a ton of people I wanted to take revenge on.

    "Soon. If you would excuse me, I wish to speak to my wife for a moment. Come back in an hour, all right?"

    "Ah¡­sorry." I hastily bowed my head, realizing that I had been rude. It was a good thing that Regis wasn''t a tyrant, or he would have me executed for my insolence. As impatient as I was, there was still decorum and protocol to follow.

    "Don''t worry about it." Regis''s smile was a little discomforting. "I also can''t wait to send you back out to the field again¡­"

    *

    While I wandered around the palace, waiting for the hour to pass by quickly, I checked my holographic window.

    Quest fulfilled.

    I grinned. Before the assault on Raum''s castle, I had made use of the online system to register for a high-ranked quest. Apparently, someone was issuing requests for the heads of the demon nobles. And I had achieved that by killing Raum. I didn''t know how I managed to get his remains into my inventory, but apparently I achieved that somehow and the guild had accepted the evidence.

    "Holy Throne! A thousand gold?!"

    Well, I guess a demon noble was worth that much. It wasn''t everyday that a mercenary could kill a mercenary and send proof of his deed back through the online system. Man, if I returned to Legnica, I would be set for life.

    While daydreaming about retirement, I almost walked into an interesting conversation.

    "I''m glad you''re all right, Yuan."

    "You worry too much, Richard. As despicable as Count Raum was, even he wasn''t that much of an idiot to risk hurting me. He must have known the consequences¡­if he had so much as put a mark on my body, the Serpenta clan will declare war on him. And the Demonic Alliance will be forced to back them up."

    "Even then¡­I can''t believe he was bold enough to attempt something like that." Richard sighed, and then turned to Lieutenant Elia Kratz, who was somehow present as well. "You have my thanks, Lieutenant Kratz."

    "Yes, you do," Richard insisted despite the long-eared dark elf getting all flustered. "It was your company who rescued who rescued my wife."

    "Begging your pardon, your highness, but the credit should go to every soldier in my company. All my men did their part and went beyond what I asked of them."

    "Certainly." Richard nodded enthusiastically. "If you don''t mind, I would like the opportunity to thank each and every man in your company. Magna 7th, was it? I will petition father to award them, as recognition for their efforts."

    "I''m sure my men will be pleased to receive that." Elia bowed. "Thank you very much, your highness. We really aren''t deserving of such praise."

    "Oh, you are¡­every word of it," Yuan assured her. "I''ve seen all of you fight. I couldn''t believe that most of your men were fresh, inexperienced soldiers."

    "Well, it was actually Major Tanaka who motivated them." Elia looked up, her cheeks flushed from admiration. "You should have seen him! He was amazing! Such resolve¡­such knowledge, such bravery!"

    "¡­huh?"

    Yuan was staring at her blankly. Having personally encountered me before, when I tried to hitch a ride, she had quite a different impression of me. And then she suddenly remembered how I was willing to risk a fatal wound to immobilize her.

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    "Hmm¡­I guess that''s true¡­I think?"

    "It shames me to admit it¡­but I was new at my post, and I was losing command over the veterans in my company, and unable to lift the morale of my new recruits."

    For some reason, thunder roared and lightning flashed, seemingly illuminating me in some sort of weird, distorted flashback that surely didn''t reflect the truth.

    "But then¡­! The Major appeared! And in the blink of an eye, he won the undying faith from all of us!"

    "I thought the Major was the one who requested for your company to be assigned to him when he volunteered for the rescue mission," Richard muttered, confused. But Elia was on a roll and she refused to be stopped by such facts.

    "Well¡­that is true. I''ve met him before¡­me and Sergeant Vanni both, and we weren''t sure what to think of him. We did witness him slaying two of Evelyn''s Chosen before our eyes. And at first I didn''t approve of his plans¡­you know how we generally view necromancers. I was enraged by his decision to desecrate the dead and revive them as zombies."

    "That''s right, he was a Lich Lord¡­" Yuan nodded in understanding. But Elia continued excitedly as she fiddled her thumbs.

    "However, he proved me wrong! He promised us that we wouldn''t lose even a single man, and he kept that promise! By the time the mission was officially over and we were relieved, we hadn''t suffered even a single casualty!"

    Except for the poor zombies and blood ghouls that I sent to their deaths. Then again, they were already dead, so honestly it didn''t make much of a difference. I might sound callous in saying so, but the living mattered more than the dead.

    Respecting the dead and having ethical values were fine and all, but not very practical when you wanted to preserve the lives of your subordinates who were still alive. And I knew my former classmates would stop at nothing to kill me. Therefore I also had to use every trick available to me just to survive their relentless assault.

    "Speaking of Major Tanaka¡­isn''t he standing right outside the room right now?"

    Whoa!? Prince Richard could sense my presence?! I tried to get away, but the door flew open before I could take more than four steps. Richard, Yuan and Elia flooded outside to greet me. As it would seem impolite for me to run away, I decided to turn around and face them.

    "Sorry for eavesdropping."

    "No, not at all. Perfect timing¡­I wanted to talk to you."

    Richard was wearing a bright smile, filled with so much sincerity and gratitude that I almost felt blinded. The guy could pass off as a hero in a shoujo manga, or one of the capture targets in an otome game.

    "Are you all right, Major Tanaka?"

    Yuan looked more concerned about my wellbeing. Given how I collapsed yesterday, I guessed it was only natural.

    "Yeah. I''ve recovered fully."

    "I''m glad you''re well. We were worried."

    "Ah, sorry about that. I¡­overextended myself."

    "You gave us a scare, Major!" Elia added. I shrugged helplessly, and then turned to Yuan with a formal bow.

    "Dragon Princess Yuan. Thank you for your concern. I am glad that you''re safe¡­your wellbeing was of our utmost priority."

    "Honestly, I don''t think¡­well¡­I appreciate it, but¡­" Yuan looked a little guilty. "I feel bad for needing you and your men to risk their lives to rescue me. I am ashamed for allowing that scoundrel of a noble to capture me."

    "Not at all, your highness!" Elia assured her. "And we didn''t suffer a single casualty, so there wasn''t much risk!"

    You must be joking. There was plenty of risks involved. If it weren''t for my necromancy, I doubted Magna 7th would have gotten off lightly.

    "I am very grateful to the both of you¡­and all of your men! Thank you very much for saving me! Like my husband, I would love to personally thank each and every one of them."

    "They will be honored, I''m sure, your highness."

    While Elia put on a smile, I merely nodded.

    "Please. I was just doing my duty."

    "¡­?"

    I nodded at Richard, who was too polite to show that he was being left out of the conversation.

    "I made a promise to the prince¡­to rescue you at all costs. His highness was so worried about you that he wanted to come along and rescue you himself, but his majesty the king overruled him. Therefore I swore to him that I would save you in his stead."

    "Oh come on, it was nothing that dramatic," Richard cut in, looking embarrassed. "And in the end you were the one who did everything¡­I was stuck in the palace, unable to do a single thing. Yuan is my wife and yet¡­"

    "Father-in-law is right," Yuan reprimanded him sharply. "It would be disastrous to have you join in, only to get abducted alongside with me. What were you thinking, so readily throwing yourself into danger? Your men had just barely gotten you away¡­and you were hurt so badly too, trying to protect me from Raum!"

    "Even then, I failed¡­"

    "I still appreciate what you''ve done for me." Yuan reached out and squeezed Richard''s hand. The two royalty exchanged glances, and I looked away awkwardly, feeling like a fourth wheel. Fortunately, there was a third wheel alongside me.

    "Lieutenant Kratz. Have you rested yet?"

    "Of¡­of course, sir!"

    Elia stiffened when I addressed her, her face flushed and nervous. I smiled to ease the tension, or at least I hoped I managed to¡­

    "You and your unit have been permanently assigned to me. You are now under my direct command."

    "We''re honored to serve!" Elia gushed enthusiastically. Bloody hell, don''t look at me with those puppy, admiring eyes¡­you really enjoy heaping the pressure on me, don''t you? I was feeling a bit worried that I wouldn''t be able to live up to her expectations.

    "We''ll get our new marching orders in an hour, but his majesty the king has informed me that the mission will only begin tomorrow. So for today, rest up ¨C this applies to the entire company as well. Tomorrow morning, make sure everyone is ready to move out, and then report to me at sunrise. But for today, just relax."

    I paused for a moment, remembering briefly what Regis Gremory told me before I left the throne room earlier, and then widened my smile.

    "I''ll be relying heavily on you from now on¡­Captain Elia Kratz."

    Elia''s eyes widened, and then she saluted sharply.

    "I won''t fail you, sir!"

    "That''s good to hear."

    A new voice joined us. Spinning around, we caught sight of Regis Gremory and his wife strolling along the corridor.

    "Father! Mother!"

    "Father-in-law! Mother-in-law!"

    Richard and Yuan were the first to greet the royal couple, followed by me and Elia, who bowed our heads respectfully.

    "Good to see that you''re all here. Captain Kratz, gather your officers. We''ll begin the briefing of your next assignment right away."

    The next thing I knew, Elia, Gio and I were all assembled in the huge assembly table in the throne room, with Regis seated at the head. Diana, his wife, sat beside him, and opposite her was her son, Richard, and then his wife, Yuan. While Elia, Gio and I were seated in one line, there were two new male officers I didn''t recognize sitting opposite us."

    "Major Tomoyuki Tanaka," Regis Gremory began. "Your new assignment is to escort my son and daughter-in-law to the domain of Haemorage. We must secure the alliance of the Scarlet Clan, at any cost, if we are to stand a chance against the combined human armies."

    Haemorage? Scarlet Clan? Wasn''t that the domain Richard and Yuan originally intended to visit for negotiating an alliance before they were waylaid and attacked by Raum''s forces? If they were sent there again, then I guess this Scarlet Clan must be really important.

    "You know the stakes involved, Richard¡­I''ll leave the negotiation to you. You have my authority to make whatever offers, trades or concessions you deem necessary. But we must have the Scarlet Clan as allies. Is that understood?"

    "Yes, Father."

    Richard nodded.

    "The Scarlet Clan?" Gio muttered. "Why¡­?"

    "Haemorage is practically a kingdom of its own," Yuan explained, looking a little shaky at the discussion. "It''s a domain filled with shadows, vampires and undead. The Scarlet clan possesses an army that rivals the might of several human kingdoms. If we can convince them to cooperate with us, we will gain a very formidable ally. And the Vampire Queen, Lilith Scarlet, is said to have immense power and skill on par with that of Evelyn''s Chosen. If rumors are to be believed, she''s the Chosen of the God of Death himself."

    "Ah¡­thank you for the explanation, your highness," Gio muttered sheepishly.

    "That''s right." Regis nodded, and then turned to me. "To prevent mishaps from occurring like the last time, I would like to assign you, Major Tanaka, to escorting my son and daughter-in-law. I''ve been impressed by your work so far, and believe you can pull this off."

    "It''s an honor to serve, your majesty."

    Like hell it was! But that Vampire Queen sounded like quite the character. Admittedly, if we could earn her friendship and make her an ally, it would make defeating the so-called heroes a lot easier. I could use every advantage I get.

    Right now, what I needed was numbers. The battle yesterday was evidence of that. If Elia and her company hadn''t arrived to haul my ass out of trouble, I would be lying dead in the debris of Raum''s castle.

    This wasn''t a one-man show. I couldn''t possibly defeat over twenty heroes by myself. And there was still Sakaguchi Seiji and his paladin abilities to worry about¡­

    "I''m also assigning another company to your command," Regis added with a nod toward the two young officers, who saluted.

    I returned the salute instinctively. Ah, so that was why the two of them were there. Like Elia and Gio, they must be the commanders of another company.

    "This time, it''s an armored company. We''ve been receiving a few prototypes from Moria, but because of certain incidents, the implementation hasn''t been as successful as we would like."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Lieutenant Daniel Dressia here is the commander of an armored company. Something we call tanks, a revolutionary armored fighting vehicle designed and built by the dwarves just recently. We''re trying to put them into mass production, but they haven''t been very popular with many of the demon armies. As such, they''re often assigned to new, budding regiments just fresh from boot camp¡­because they''re the only ones with the proper training to handle such vehicles."

    "It''s an honor, your majesty!"

    Great. Elia version 2, but this time male and a year or two younger. Still, I couldn''t help but raise my eyebrow. Armored company? Tanks? Wait, since when were there tanks in a fantasy world? I mean, this seemed like the setting of a world in the birth throes of the industrial revolution, but even the first tanks didn''t emerge until the first third of the twentieth century?!

    Furthermore, I had another question in mind.

    "Not very popular or successful, your majesty?"

    Tanks were powerful, lumbering behemoths with armor proof against any blade, small-arms fire or weapon. They could change the tide of battle and obliterate platoons of not very well armed infantry just by themselves. For them to be unpopular and unsuccessful¡­

    "Not only are they expensive to build and assemble ¨C thus making mass production difficult ¨C they are loud and unsubtle. Furthermore, they aren''t worth their cost right now¡­we sent an armored spearhead into the frontlines a few weeks ago, only for Evelyn''s Chosen to obliterate them effortlessly. The previous Demon Lord shelved the project, and it took a lot of cajoling and threatening for me to convince the council to put it back into action."

    Ah¡­so that was why. The heroes defied common sense and logic. They could blow up tanks with sheer magic and brute force ¨C tanks that especially took a lot of resources and time to assemble. It was no wonder the demon nobles thought they weren''t worth it.

    However, I could think of great uses for the tanks. It was all about sending the right weapon against the right enemy. Of course you wouldn''t send a tank in a suicide run against infantry with anti-tank weapons.

    "I''ll be very happy to work alongside you, Lieutenant Dressia. And thank you very much, your majesty."

    "Oho¡­you don''t seem to have an objections?"

    "No, I''m actually very grateful."

    "I see." Regis nodded, and then glanced at Elia and Gio. "That''s not all. Your infantry company will be part of a new program¡­something called mechanized warfare. In addition to Lieutenant Dressia''s armor company, your infantry company will be receiving something called armored personnel carriers. Armored troop transports. They''re not as heavily armored as Lieutenant Dressia''s tanks, but they can survive quite a beating and will deliver your troops to the battlefield in unprecedented speeds and protection. You will be riding in these armored troop transports when escorting Richard and Yuan. Since Magna 7th is largely built up of trainees who have learned how to use the new weapons¡­the rifles, I trust they should have no problem adapting to this new style of warfare."

    "Yes, your majesty." It was Elia who answered this time. However, I still had a question.

    "Much as I appreciate this, your majesty, uh¡­why¡­?"

    "Oh." Regis Gremory chuckled. "I just had a feeling that you''ll know how best to make use of armored fighting vehicles. After reading the report from Captain Kratz the other day, where you piloted a golem to take down Count Raum''s golem, I had the feeling that you were familiar with mechanized warfare. Was I mistaken?"

    "Well¡­"

    "Even if you aren''t, you have shown the most affinity with mechanized warfare out of all the current crop of commanders. None of them has come close to piloting a golem. Speaking of which¡­" Regis Gremory leaned closer and lowered his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "Count Raum''s golem, which you have defeated, has been salvaged and are undergoing repairs right now. We might assign it to your battalion once we finish restoring it."

    "That''s¡­thank you very much, your majesty."

    "Think nothing of it." Regis Gremory straightened and bestowed us with a smile. "Just make sure you don''t disappoint me, Major Tanaka."

 48 Chapter 48: Armored Convoy

    The route to Haemorage was smoother than expected.

    I had anticipated ambushes along the road, particularly since the convoy was so loud and visible, but apparently the sight of armored behemoths kicking up gigantic dust storms was enough to intimidate even the most reckless of bandits and human soldiers.

    I studied the visual holographic display inside the armored personnel carrier, keeping track of our journey. Staring at the huge dust clouds and sand being blown against the armored surface of the combat vehicles, I felt relieved that we were protectively enclosed within thick hulls.

    Getting hit by all that sand and dust wouldn''t be fun at all.

    Around me, the soldiers from platoon 4 were resting against their safety harnesses. Most were asleep, their eyes closed as their bodies occasionally jerked against their seats when the APC rolled over a bump. Others were making conversation, joking lightly or talking about their hometowns, probably to ease the tension.

    Human or demon, soldiers were still soldiers. It didn''t matter what species they were, no one could ever get used to the idea of being so close to death.

    So the warriors kept the fear away by seeking out camaraderie among their comrades, distracting themselves with humor, finding common ground, or just snatching much-needed sleep. In fact, immersing oneself in dreams was the best method of taking one''s mind off the inevitability of death. Sleep, ironically, was the state that put an organism furthest from death.

    "Major? Alpha One here. The road ahead looks clear."

    "Roger that, Alpha One. Keep going. We have your back."

    I responded immediately when Captain Elia Kratz''s voice crackled over the magic receiver that served as a radio.

    Right now, Elia Kratz and HQ platoon were in the lead APC, which was following closely behind Lieutenant Daniel Dressia''s spearhead of tanks. Master Sergeant Gio Vanni was in the second APC, with platoon 1, and I was in the last APC, with platoon 4. The arrangement made sense. It would be folly to place all the officers in a single vehicle ¨C if the APC got taken out by enemy fire, then Magna 7th would have essentially lost all its commanders in one go, rendered headless and paralyzed by the lack of leadership.

    I wanted to ride in the first APC, but Elia had countermanded that. The lead vehicle, she reasoned, would be the most dangerous one. Which was fair enough, but she insisted that she bore the brunt of danger instead because I was too valuable to place at risk. I argued that nobody was expendable, not even me, but she didn''t want to take the risk.

    It might sound funny, but even in this medieval-like period, the enemy could still threaten tanks. Magic was a great equalizer for many things, especially war.

    We rode for a few hours, intermittently checking on the road ahead or each other''s status to ensure no one got lost en route to Haemorage. There were the occasional grumbles, or amusing snores from the soldiers, but nothing to take note of. However, the moment we came within the last ten miles of our journey, I could see black smoke rising from the air.

    "Sir, seems like there''s a battle going on at the border of Haemorage. A huge human army is clashing with Queen Scarlet''s forces."

    I conjured the visual display on the holographic screen in my command console. An expanded view unfolded before me, featuring a vast green field that was dotted with many black figures. Magnifying the images, I could make out the details of human soldiers clashing against what looked like vampire-type demons.

    There was a bright flash of light near the center of the battlefield. Shifting my focus, I further magnified the spot and scowled when I caught sight of a familiar figure.

    My nemesis, Sakaguchi Seiji. A paladin whose magical spells and special abilities countered my own, he was a particularly difficult foe for a necromancer like me. I wondered what he was doing all the way out here ¨C then again, he was deep within enemy territory with Asakura Akane when I embarked on my mercenary mission.

    Is Sakaguchi still looking for Asakura?

    I didn''t know. Not that it mattered ¨C right now, Sakaguchi was cleaving vampires to bits with his broadsword. A single girl with blazing red hair stepped up, wielding a spear in each hand, and blood churning around her. Dressed in a skintight, black outfit, she dashed forward, sending a row of armored human knights flying into the air with her charge, and thrust her spears at Sakaguchi. The paladin parried her spears and countered with a riposte, but she skillfully deflected it away. The two of them traded several fierce blows that sent rippling shockwaves across the space, causing soldiers on both sides to tumble over and splitting the terrain with numerous cracks.

    The Vampire Queen?

    They weren''t kidding when they said she could far on par with the human heroes. Currently she was holding her ground against Sakaguchi, the two of them locked in a bloody stalemate. Even as Sakaguchi unleashed his Holy Blessings to cover the area in a blinding, white aura, her skills remained unblunted. Countering every strike and slashed Sakaguchi threw at her, the red-haired girl retaliated with sharp, precise thrusts and stabs, her spears literally disappearing into speedy red blurs. Yet, Sakaguchi managed to match her speed somehow.

    Those that slipped through his parries failed to penetrate the shimmering Divine Defense that covered his body. The girl''s eyes narrowed, but she deftly avoided Sakaguchi''s counterattacks and jumped away to keep her distance.

    The two powerful opponents faced each other for a few moments before they charged and clashed, their collision sending shockwaves violent enough to shatter the earth.

    While it was clear that the girl could hold her own against Sakaguchi, the same could not be said for her soldiers. Her lines were collapsing, especially the vampires caught within Sakaguchi''s boundary field of Holy Blessings. They were weakening, damaged by the holy energies, and Sakaguchi''s forces capitalized on that.

    Despite their strength and ferocity, the vampires were also vastly outnumbered. There were at least ten human soldiers for every vampire present.

    "Sir, what do we do? Do we engage?"

    "From this distance? Do we have artillery for that?" I muttered.

    "Artillery?"

    Lieutenant Daniel Dressia sounded confused. Right. It seemed that the people in Restia had yet to develop artillery yet. Even then, now that I thought about it, artillery wasn''t a good choice anyway. The explosives would have inflicted friendly fire, hurting both friend alongside foe. Not exactly the best impression to leave if I was trying to persuade the queen of the Scarlet Clan to join the Demonic Alliance. Speaking of which, I consulted platoon 1, where our top soldiers resided.

    "The prince and princess are safe," Gio reported. I nodded and consulted the hologram, taking note of enemy positions and possible routes.

    "We could slam into them like a sledgehammer and obliterate their backlines," Dressia suggested from his tank. "Shove a wedge into their forces, then move in to support the Vampire Queen and back her up against that Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "No."

    I shook my head, recalling what Regis Gremory said about heroes and tanks. We couldn''t afford to lose our precious tanks to the heroes, who could easily rip a squadron apart with their bare hands. Now that I thought about it, this resembled more like a strategy game than real warfare. Having played real time strategy games and turn-based strategy games such as Starcraft 2 and Warhammer 40,000, I could begin to see a pattern.

    Rock, paper and scissors. Counters. There was no use sending my large, expensive units against a hero character that could make mincemeat out of them. Instead, it would benefit us strategically if I used my tanks to grind the fragile infantry to bits ¨C especially if the infantry didn''t possess antitank weaponry. Furthermore, I saw four positions to launch my assault. If I could hit the enemy from all sides, I would send them into disarray, catch them in a pincer attack and trap them in a killing zone. The vampires might suffer some casualties, but at least they wouldn''t be annihilated.

    Which was the fate that awaited them if we left things as they were.

    "All right¡­Lieutenant Dressia, you take your tanks and smash their backline. But do not ¨C I repeat, do not engage the Evelyn''s Chosen. That''s my job. Your job is to destroy as many infantry as possible. Focus on that. Form an armored spearhead and charge into their ranks, break their morale and mow them down. Support the vampires from Haemorage and protect them with a wall of steel."

    "Roger that, sir."

    Dressia didn''t sound pleased, but he understood the importance of his task. Like us, he was fully aware of how we were here to persuade the Scarlet Clan into an alliance with the other demons, as well as the threat the hero posed to his tanks.

    "Captain Kratz, take HQ platoon and platoon 3 and flank them from the east side. Hit them hard. Coordinate your timing of attack with Lieutenant Dressia. We''re going to try and send their forces into disarray and confusion, so let''s maximize the element of surprise."

    "Yes, Major!"

    "Master Sergeant Vanni, you have platoons 1 and 2. Flank the enemy from the west side, and while you should do your best to cut them down, do not put the crown prince and princess in danger. You should also synchronize with Lieutenant Dressia and Captain Kratz, but don''t forget your primary objective. Prince Richard and Dragon Princess Yuan must be safe, no matter the cost. If you''re forced to pull back, retreat immediately."

    "I understand, sir. Leave then to me."

    "Good. Platoon 4 and I will hit them from the north and support the Scarlet Clan. But no heroics, guys. We''re not there to kill the enemy. We''re there to help the Vampire Queen and her forces pull out and escape. So don''t go getting yourselves killed because of some glory. Our objective is to survive, not rout the enemy."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "All right. Let''s go!"

    With those orders issued, I sent the holographic routes to the tank drivers and APC drivers, and they immediately sped off. Our forces split up into four, with the majority of the armored vehicles heading toward the south. An armored spearhead of lumbering behemoths was quite the intimidating sight to behold, and I couldn''t help but marvel over the sight of the column of massed tanks.

    Regis Gremory really helped me out there. Even back on Earth, my strategy in games was to amass armored tanks and robots as opposed to infantry. People called me a tread head of sorts. I was glad I had the opportunity to live up to that name in Restia.

    As I expected, the armored spearhead of tanks smashed into the backlines of the foes, completely taking them by surprise. The plasma beams of the tanks'' turret and hull weapons incinerated scores of archers, disintegrated armored knights and vaporized charging cavalry. The humans reeled and tried to retreat, only to be cut apart by vengeful vampires that stood in the opposite direction. It didn''t matter what sort of armor they wore ¨C the humans were unable to withstand the monstrous technology of superheated blobs of energies.

    The tanks were powered by arcane energies, deriving their fuel and ammunition from mana ores. Placed into a reactor, the mana ores were constantly being recycled and replenished by drawing on reserves from the surroundings. The tanks could move indefinitely and fire from what seemed like a limitless supply of mana.

    Projected into superheated beams of plasma, the tanks provided overwhelming firepower that easily obliterated any human-worn armor. Nothing could stand up to them. Just a single company of tanks literally turned the tide of the battle in our favor. It was quickly turning the battle to a rout as human soldiers fell before their armored might.

    At the same time, Elia and the two platoons under her command hit from the east side. The APC provided fire support, the laser turrets sitting atop its hull unleashing ferocious ruby beams of destruction into the massed ranks of human soldiers. At the back, the ramp fell open and each platoon unloaded from their respective APC before using their vehicle as cover to take potshots at the enemy with their rifles. From the west. Gio''s platoons alighted and lay down a suppressive line of fire while the crown prince and his wife remained safely hidden aboard the first APC, guarded by two soldiers.

    The humans were sent milling about in confusion, fired upon from multiple directions. They had no idea which enemy to face, who to fight, or how to even fight. Nothing they had could halt the advance of the tanks. Arrows, blade, spear, sword¡­none of these could penetrate the armored hull, and whatever brave fools reckless enough to try found themselves ground bloodily under the merciless tracks of ten-ton behemoths.

    That took the pressure off the infantry, who advanced under the cover of their APCs to turn the battlefield into a carnage.

    "What?!"

    Sakaguchi snarled when he saw his army collapsing under the armored onslaught. He tried to break away from the girl and rally his remaining forces to him, but¡­

    "To me!"

    As his surviving knights struggled to pull together into a single defensive position, a whining whir erupted and multiple lasers cut them down.

    "What?!"

    Sakaguchi roared in impotent rage as his surviving forces were torn into tatters. My APC rolled up and my troops poured out of the hull, unleashing murderous hails of bullets into the knights. Even though the rifles were theoretically powered by the firer''s mana, they were not dark-type spells. As such, Sakaguchi''s Holy Blessings failed to nerf their damage or power. The knights'' armor failed to block the high-powered shots, the metal crumpling under such force.

    "You¡­!"

    Dashing through the hail of bullets and taking the girl by surprise, he headed straight for the APC while swinging his broadsword down. His Divine Defense shimmered as the majority of the bullets struck him, but they had completely no effect on him. The goddess Evelyn clearly had bestowed upon him cheat powers.

    No wonder he could destroy tanks.

    At this rate, he would cleave the APC in half and massacre my men. I couldn''t allow that to happen, so I ordered a retreat and jumped out to meet him.

    Sakaguchi''s eyes widened. "You!"

    "Hello again," I greeted him with a smile.

    With a furious roar, Sakaguchi swung his broadsword down to cleave me. Unlike the last time, I had my Redwood jacket on this time, so I caught his sword with my bare hand.

    The arcane layers of barrier that my Redwood Robe generated rippled from the force, but didn''t break. A slight crack had appeared on the topmost layer, but it regenerated almost instantly. Sakaguchi tried to increase the pressure behind his sword, but I didn''t buck. Instead, I punched him in the gut, sending him skidding backward.

    "Ow!"

    That was a terrible mistake. I shook my sore left hand, wincing. Sakaguchi''s armor, combined with his Divine Defense, had essentially transformed him into a mobile fortress. It felt as if I had cracked my hand against a steel wall and broke it.

    Fortunately, my hand healed quickly enough, the bones setting themselves and mending. Stretching it and flexing my fingers to test them, I then lowered my right hand and retrieved my staff before slamming it onto the ground.

    Black mana crackled around me, but even though its effects was drastically reduced by Sakaguchi''s Holy Blessings, it was enough to intimidate the human soldiers. Furthermore, the girl was closing in to catch Sakaguchi in a pincer attack.

    Realizing that he was cornered, Sakaguchi lowered his sword and glared at me.

    "Tanaka."

    "Yo." I raised my left hand and waved it at him. "It''s been a while, Sakaguchi."

    He glowered at me, and then glanced around, as if half-expecting something. A flicker of disappointment crossed his face, but he returned to glaring at me.

    "Where''s Akane-san?"

    "Who?"

    "You¡­!" Sakaguchi growled, and then caught himself. "Asakura Akane. Don''t play games with me. Tell me what you''ve done to her!"

    "What makes you think I''ve done anything to her?" I countered. Sakaguchi bristled.

    "Don''t lie! She was¡­she was following you!"

    "Why would Asakura follow me?"

    Sakaguchi roared and stomped on the ground, which split under his foot and sent cobwebs of cracks snaking away. His soldiers shuddered involuntarily at their master''s raw fury, but held their ground in their disciplined formations.

    "You know¡­!"

    "How would I know?" I shrugged. "Asakura is your girlfriend, not mine. She has no reason to follow me."

    "Bastard! Akane-san''s goal was to kill you! That was why she insisted on tracking and following you! But if you''re still alive¡­then she failed¡­you must have killed her!"

    "Why was she aiming to kill me?"

    I stared coldly at Sakaguchi, but he fell silent. he turned away and spat something into the ground, hissing something bitterly under his breath.

    "What was that?"

    "¡­because you''re Tanaka."

    "Huh? What bullshit is that? What''s wrong with me?"

    "Because you''re a pathetic loser who doesn''t deserve to live! You''re weak, stupid and irritating! That''s why you must die!"

    Not this nonsense again¡­

    I still didn''t understand my former classmates'' irrational hatred of me. What I did understand, though, was that they were going to kill me if I didn''t kill them first.

    So I raised my staff and pointed it at Sakaguchi, getting ready to clash with him. Having realized his predicament, Sakaguchi had gathered his forces in a single, dense cluster to break through the north point and escape.

    He knew this battle had been lost.

    "Go! Don''t turn back! We''re going to get out of here!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Now!"

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    Sakaguchi sprang forward, and a frightening number of knights followed him. Even though the human army had lost over 70% of their forces from my armored assault, the remaining 30% were charging through the north point, which was the weakest constitution of my forces. Knowing that I couldn''t hold the rushing tide back with a single platoon and APC ¨C they would be overrun in mere seconds no matter how many enemies they shot down ¨C I ordered a retreat.

    "Fall back! Let them pass! Don''t pursue!"

    "Bastard!"

    Sakaguchi hollered as he descended upon me. I parried his broadsword with my staff, even as the ground cracked and crumbled beneath my feet. Knocking him off, I attempted to engage him in battle. If Sakaguchi was willing to fight me to the death here, I was more than happy to kill him here. It would solve a lot of problems.

    However, even with my Redwood Robe to protect me, Sakaguchi proved to be a formidable opponent. I could find no openings against him, even as I exchanged multiple blows with him. I drew upon the blood of fallen soldiers to unleash a hail of blood spears against him, but unlike the time with Asakura, my spears lacked the force and power because of the Holy Blessings that remained in effect over the area.

    Those that hit failed to penetrate his Divine Defenses, and Sakaguchi swatted me away. I stumbled, but managed to regain my balance before throwing myself at him again.

    Clang!

    We traded another couple of blows before Sakaguchi knocked me back with his superior strength. He bore down on me, but I blocked his blade with my arm. The sleeve of my Redwood jacket held against the weight and sharpness of his broadsword and I retaliated with a swing of my staff, which was absorbed by his divine armor.

    "¡­!"

    Wow, we were two defensive-orientated warriors fighting against each other. We both knew that this was quite the stalemate, with neither of us able to gain the upper hand. If anything, Sakaguchi had the upper hand because he negated most of my magic, but thanks to my Redwood jacket, he also failed to deliver the decisive blow.

    "What the hell are you? No¡­it''s that jacket¡­what the hell is that jacket?!"

    "None of your business," I replied and struck him. Sakaguchi repelled my strike with his gauntlet before delivering a riposte. I twisted my staff and deflected the wicked point away from my vitals, but just barely.

    "You¡­you killed Akane-san, didn''t you?!"

    "Does it matter?"

    "I swear¡­I will get my revenge! How dare you kill Akane-san!? A pathetic, no-name, weak loser like yourself¡­know your place! You should never have tried to stand up to us! You should just recognize your place as the bottom of our class! Fuck you! Fuck you for trying to overreach! Just die already, why don''t you?!"

    "I should say the same to you and the whole class."

    "Fuck!"

    Sakaguchi hit me away, and was about to close in when he suddenly spun around to parry the two spears from the red-haired girl.

    "Have you forgotten that your opponent is me?"

    "Fuck! Just leave me for now! I''ll fight with you once I kill that bastard! I must kill that bastard! I must, I must, I must¡­!"

    "What''s wrong with him?" the girl frowned and retreated after trading a few blows with him. Sakaguchi was literally frothing at the mouth. "Are all of Evelyn''s Chosen supposed to be insane?"

    "It wouldn''t surprise me if they are," I muttered. Turning around, I blew up a bunch of human knights who were scurrying to safety.

    That woke Sakaguchi up and he knocked the girl away before pouncing on me. I batted him away on instinct, throwing him toward his men. Twisting his body in midair, he landed on his feet, but he didn''t turn back toward me.

    "?"

    I watched him, puzzled, half-expecting him to come roaring at me. But he didn''t. Instead, he gathered his men and ran.

    "Go! Get out of here!"

    "¡­eh?"

    I was stupefied by his sudden change in heart, but I didn''t question it. Having ordered my men not to pursue, I would be setting a poor example by ignoring my own command. And besides, I needed the rest.

    Exhaling a sigh of relief, I relaxed a little and watched as the human army fled the battlefield.

 49 Chapter 49: Haemorage

    "I express my deepest gratitude for your assistance."

    The vampire queen, Lilith Scarlet, bowed her head as she thanked us.

    It was shortly after the battle. After the human troops had retreated, the demonic armies had withdrawn back into the dark vampire city of Haemorage. The tanks were parked outside the castle and our soldiers given billets to rest in. The tech-priest engineers assigned to the convoy were busily ministering to the needs of the tanks, repairing them, soothing the machine-spirits with prayer and replenishing the mana ores.

    Crown Prince Richard and Dragon Princess Yuan, on the other hand, were welcomed to the throne room of Haemorage, along with the officers of Magna 7th. Captain Elia Kratz, Lieutenant Daniel Dressia and Sergeant Gio Vanni looked ill at ease as they accompanied the royal couple with an honor guard selected from HQ platoon.

    Obviously I wasn''t allowed to skip out on this, so I dragged myself to the throne room. If Elia and Daniel, who were noble-born, wasn''t used to the formal ceremonies, a commoner like me found it much worse. I wanted to find any reason to delegate this task to them and escape to the barracks along with the other soldiers, but my duties as the commanding officer of Magna 7th stipulated that I be present during what seemed to be the welcoming ceremony.

    "No¡­it''s only natural."

    "You had every reason to avoid the fight, especially after we withdrew from the demonic alliance, yet you aided us. That said¡­"

    Lilith Scarlet regarded us, her ruby eyes unreadable.

    "I am curious about how an armored convoy from Helsfort just happened to be traveling within distance of my domain."

    "Did you not receive our message ahead of time, your excellency? We''re the ambassadors from Helsfort¡­"

    "Ah¡­! To negotiate our return to the alliance¡­correct?"

    Lilith''s eyes widened momentarily and then she nodded.

    "Yes¡­after the debacle with Count Raum, my father thought it prudent to escort us with two companies of soldiers."

    "Ah¡­that idiot Raum¡­I did hear about that." Lilith chuckled. "I guess I should thank his majesty for his foresight. Our lines were going to collapse¡­if you didn''t arrive when you did, the humans would have overrun us."

    "Thank you. But the credit should go to the brave soldiers of the demonic alliance." Richard turned to us.

    "A¡­ah! Thank you, your excellency!"

    Elia blanched before snapping up a salute. Daniel also nodded and saluted.

    "It''s an honor, your excellency."

    As their superior, I felt as if I had to say something, so I also stepped up and joined the whole flattery thing.

    "Thank you for your hospitality, your excellency."

    "It''s nothing, your excellency."

    "Major Tanaka here will be the key to repelling the humans," Richard declared somewhat proudly. Dude¡­way to put pressure on me. I would very much prefer if he didn''t bring me into the conversation like this. "He is the Hero Slayer, after all¡­right in front of my father and everyone, he slew one of Evelyn''s Chosen, and apparently has killed at least two more of them."

    "That was just luck," I muttered. Dragon Princess Yuan giggled.

    "Luck doesn''t happen thrice."

    Or four times, but I didn''t want to boast about my murder of Minamoto Kureha.

    "As such, we are planning an offensive against the humans, to retake Helsreach and drive them back into their part of the continent. Evelyn''s Chosen, after lying dormant for a while, have decided to take charge of the invasion, and they''ve plunged deep into Morten territory."

    "Indeed," Lilith acknowledged somewhat bitterly. "As you saw, they have pierced all the way into my lands."

    "Yes. During this time of crisis, my father would like all demon nobles to stand and fight together. If we continue to remain divided, the united human armies will pick us off one by one and in time, annihilate us totally."

    "I can''t say I don''t see where he''s coming from¡­especially after such a shameful display." Lilith sighed as she leaned back against her throne. But her expression hardened. "That said, Haemorage might not need your assistance. I am recalling the bulk of my forces from the frontier to defend my domain, and they will be back in time tomorrow. Once I have amassed my vampire army, we will crush the humans."

    "¡­the frontier?"

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    "I sent the majority of my army up further north in search of new resources and land." Lilith''s voice was cold. "My population has been growing, after all. We need more land¡­and resources to trade for those incredible things the dwarves of Moria have been forging." She smiled icily. "Like those tanks of yours."

    Oh. Haemorage needed ore. Ore, metals and minerals for trade, or at least to learn how to reproduce the technology the dwarves of Moria innovated. At least that was the gist I was getting from Lilith''s remarks.

    "But the defense of my domain takes precedence here. As you know, Haemorage is one of the most powerful domains in Morten. My army can take on several domains on its own. What need do we have of the alliance?"

    "That''s¡­"

    "Evelyn''s Chosen."

    It was Dragon Princess Yuan who spoke up, to aid her faltering husband. Everyone turned to her, but she remained firm.

    "You''ve witnessed firsthand the power of Evelyn''s Chosen, have you not? Just one of them could deal that much damage to your army and tie you up. Imagine if there was two of them. Even if just a second Evelyn''s Chosen was present¡­your army would have been totally overwhelmed today. Those monsters defy logic."

    Hey, I was one of those monsters, you know. I bit my lip, annoyed, but I didn''t say anything. I wasn''t going to jeopardize the negotiations.

    "¡­"

    Lilith studied Yuan for a few moments, and then she sighed.

    "You''re right. But what are the chances that they would send two or more Chosen to a domain as far-flung as mine? From what I''ve heard, the human armies should be stretched tight across Morten too. Evelyn''s Chosen should be no exception. They will have to split their forces up if they want to take all of Morten."

    "Your domain and vampire armies pose a massive threat to the human kingdoms," Richard pointed out. "It is not impossible that they would consider sending a sizeable force to attempt to destroy your domain in the near future."

    "¡­that is true," Lilith admitted and she hung her head as she folded her arms. "I don''t mean to criticize your father, your highness, but¡­the last time I was in the demonic alliance, the previous Demon Lord left us to hang and dry."

    "My father promised not to do that. Our assistance in this battle should have proven that."

    "It''s just one battle," Lilith snorted. "And if I sent my army out to aid the struggle in Helsreach, what happens if a human army like the one today arrives to invade my domain? We would be caught off guard and left to fend for ourselves."

    "Well, the whole point is to drive the humans back to their territory so they wouldn''t be able to cross Helsreach and into your domain in the first place."

    "Additionally," Yuan quipped suspiciously. "If you''re really that worried about the defense of your domain, why did you send the bulk of your forces to the frontier? Shouldn''t you be holding them back to prevent invasions such as today?"

    Lilith raised both hands. "You got me there. But Dragon Princess Yuan¡­don''t forget, survival isn''t just military survival. We also need to survive both economically and technologically. If we don''t secure those resources, we will be left behind in technological advancements. Already, Helsfort, Moria and the domains are progressing far ahead of us in those aspects."

    "All the more you should seek the aid of the alliance," Richard pressed. "I will help you negotiate trade deals for technology and resources. And if all goes well and we drive the humans out of our territory, we can expand our own and share whatever new lands we find."

    Lilith chuckled. "I will hold you to that, your highness."

    "I will do my best to convince my father."

    "Don''t just do your best. The moment you step out of that, we''ll leave."

    "So you''re agreeing to rejoin the alliance?"

    "Don''t get too excited yet, your highness." Lilith raised a hand to forestall Richard''s enthusiasm and relief. "There are still other conditions to discuss."

    "That''s what we''re here for," Yuan replied. The two young women locked gazes, and then nodded in mutual respect.

    Elia, Daniel, Gio and I exchanged glances. What were we even here for? None of us wanted to stick around for hours while the royalty and nobles hammered out political details and conditions. We were better off returning to our barracks and planning for war or something. Or resting after such a major battle.

    "Your excellency!"

    One of the vampire soldiers suddenly barged into the throne room. Lilith raised an eyebrow at his intrusion, but didn''t reprimand him. From his flushed demeanor and panicked expression, it was clear he didn''t just walked into an important political meeting for fun.

    "What is it, Colonel Barthoz?"

    "Emergency report! The human armies¡­"

    Lilith immediately stood up, her fingers almost crushing the armrests of her throne. A blood red aura swirled around her, almost suffocating the whole room. Yuan swayed, only for the equally pale Richard to catch her. Beside me, the three officers trembled from the sheer force of Lilith''s mana. Even I wasn''t wholly unaffected.

    "Are they attacking again?" she asked sharply.

    "They seem to be preparing for a massed assault¡­but that''s not the emergency, your excellency. Our scouts have caught sight of human reinforcements arriving from the south. An army about two times as large as the one we fought today¡­headed by another Evelyn''s Chosen! It seems that they''re about to join up with the survivors of the army we drove off today and plan a new offensive! Intelligence estimates that they will arrive in the outreach of the Crimson Clearing by dawn tomorrow and launch an attack no later than dusk!"

    Lilith took a deep breath before she sat back down in her throne calmly. Narrowing her eyes, she glanced at Richard and especially Yuan.

    "It seems that you were right. They have sent a second Evelyn''s Chosen. I do not know if my forces will arrive in time to fight them off."

    "I don''t take pleasure in being right," Yuan replied bitterly. Lilith nodded.

    "I know you don''t. But the situation remains unchanged. It seems we will need the aid of the alliance after all." She turned to Richard, her eyes sharp and hard. "That is one of the conditions for us to rejoin the alliance. Aid my domain, Haemorage in repelling the invaders."

    "We would do that even if you weren''t part of the alliance," Richard responded boldly. "The humans are our enemies, after all. And we can''t stand by and do nothing while watching them attack our fellow demons."

    "I''m heartened to hear that. Perhaps your father will make a very different Demon Lord from the previous one, after all. In any case, it is undeniable that we need you as much as you need us. I will be relying on you."

    While Elia and Daniel looked elated at the promise of battle, Gio and I remained somewhat jaded at the prospect. Richard might be saying all that for the sake of political machinations, but it would be us soldiers running into danger and risking our lives, not the crown prince and his wife. It wasn''t that I wanted Richard to join the battle ¨C he would end up getting in the way, and politicians did have their role ¨C but I wished he would consider the welfare of us soldiers before throwing us into battle.

    "Major Tanaka."

    Richard turned to me apologetically. Ah, so he had some sense of shame, after all. Well, that was good in its own way.

    "I''m very sorry to ask this of you and your men after such an intensive battle today, but will you help Queen Lilith Scarlet defend her territory?"

    I glanced at Elia, Daniel and Gio, and all three of them nodded, including the weary sergeant. With their approval, I turned back and nodded.

    "Yeah, of course."

    Glancing around the throne room and feeling a little relieved for having an excuse to get out of this suffocating place, I contemplated for a little longer before adding.

    "If you don''t mind, my officers and I would like to begin our preparations for tomorrow''s defense right now."

    Richard glanced at Lilith, who nodded.

    "I understand. I''ll send my commanders to liaise with you."

    *

    The military room was much bigger than I thought it would be, with vast mahogany tables, gigantic noticeboards, and communication consoles scattered all over the place. Huge maps were spread across the furniture, with magnetic pins or pieces thrown haphazardly over them to mark enemy positions and friendly fortifications.

    "I actually have an idea," I was telling Elia, Daniel and Gio as we found a space and a map. The sergeants manning the platoons had also joined up with the rest of us and we were briefing them on what had happened before I moved on to my idea. "We''re going to cut off the reinforcements before they can meet up with Sakaguchi''s forces. Eliminate them, and then Haemorage''s forces can cut Sakaguchi''s army off and eliminate them."

    "Huh? Are you sure we can take out the reinforcements by ourselves?" Daniel asked skeptically. I glanced at the intelligence report that I had received from a military aide and nodded confidently with a forced smile.

    "Yeah. Remember how we destroyed them with your tanks yesterday? There''s nothing in the current human army that can come close to penetrating your tanks'' armor. If anything, you''ll be able to send them into disarray and utterly destroy their morale."

    "But how do we do that? There''s so many of them¡­plus there''s still the Evelyn''s Chosen to consider."

    Elia raised a valid point. I grinned. This was where the fun part began.

    "Here."

    Raising the map, I pointed at what looked like a mountain. Borrowing one of the consoles, I conjured up a 3D holographic display of the area. It might seemed a little hi-tech, but the thing actually operated on magic. Well, as Arthur Clarke once said, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. It seemed like the opposite here, but I could sense the mana emanations from the console as I activated it.

    "The human reinforcements have to travel through this mountain pass to link up with Sakaguchi''s forces. This is the ideal place for us to strike." Turning to Daniel, my grin widened. "Lieutenant Dressia, I want your tanks here¡­at the foot of the mountain. When the enemy arrives, pummel them with everything you''ve got. Destroy the terrain, send them falling to their deaths, obliterate them¡­whatever. They will be trapped, with nowhere else to go."

    Daniel nodded eagerly. "That sounds like a good plan, sir. They''ll surely suffer massive casualties and we''ll definitely delay the reinforcements. We''ll pursue them and wipe them out when they attempt to retreat."

    "Well, actually, it depends."

    "Eh?" Daniel blinked as he stared at me. "Begging your pardon, but why, sir?"

    "That role is for Captain Kratz and the infantry." I spun the map around. "There''s at least ten thousand soldiers in the reinforcements, and you''re not going to be able to hunt down every one of them. They''ll be spread thinly across the mountain path in a single line, so it would be difficult for you to cover such a large area. No, we''re going to make sure the entire human force commits to the mountain pass. Once they do that, you''ll pummel them and wipe out a huge chunk of them. But I estimate that at least half of them will retreat and escape. That''s where the infantry comes in."

    The officers and sergeants stared at me blankly. I tapped my finger against a single point in the mountain pass after spinning the map around.

    "Making use of the APC''s mobility, we will have the infantry unload here and take up position in the entrance of the mountain pass. When they retreat, we''ll have them lay down heavy, suppressive firepower. The enemy will not be able to retreat. Oh, and make sure to line the pass with explosives and blow it up so that they will be trapped. Then we''ll play by ear. As I said, it depends. If there''s nothing more for you to shoot at, then follow along this line and continue shooting the retreating enemy soldiers, and provide fire support to the infantry. If not, kill whatever stragglers remain."

    "They can''t retreat, and if they go forward, they''ll be blown to smithereens," Gio remarked and smiled. "I like this plan."

    "What about Evelyn''s Chosen? I mean no disrespect to Lieutenant Dressia and his armored company, but I doubt a bombardment from the tanks will be able to take her out. If anything, wouldn''t she find some way to descend and destroy the tanks?"

    "That''s my job." I patted myself in the chest. "I''ll be taking care of the Evelyn''s Chosen. For this mission, I''ll be with the tanks. You''ll have complete command over the infantry, Captain Kratz."

    "Yes, sir! I''ll do my best!" Elia saluted.

    "Though I''ll be with you guys, you''ll still retain complete command over the tank company, Lieutenant Dressia," I told him. "Select targets of opportunity if possible, but the priority is to obliterate the terrain and cut their route of advancement off. I''ll be busily defending your tanks from the Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "Shouldn''t it be the other way around, sir?" Daniel asked, confused. I shrugged.

    "If the Evelyn''s Chosen behave true to form, they''ll come after me no matter what. I want to use that to my advantage. And besides, you should know from past tank regiments how those monsters can wipe out entire armored columns by themselves."

    "That''s true¡­but will you be all right, sir?"

    "You haven''t seen the major in action!" Elia exclaimed elatedly. I wondered why she was acting so triumphantly. It wasn''t as if she was the one who fought the heroes. "He''ll do fine! None of Evelyn''s Chosen can beat him!"

    "That''s technically not true. I can''t beat Sakaguchi Seiji." I probed the position where Sakaguchi''s forces had taken up residence. "His special abilities counter mine perfectly. I''m not invincible, after all. That''s why I need your help. I''ll be counting on you."

    "Yes, sir!"

    As I watched my men approvingly, I took note of the enemies'' positions. I didn''t know who the new Evelyn''s Chosen was, but surely she wouldn''t have the same special abilities as Sakaguchi Seiji. If she did, then I would be screwed.

    However, I knew them well enough to anticipate their behavior. I still didn''t understand why my former classmates harbored such an obsessive, irrational hatred of me, but I could use that to my advantage. Whoever this hero was, she would surely drop everything and dive down the mountain just to kill me. She would abandon her men, her soldiers¡­her responsibilities just to kill me. Either because she was paranoid about me seeking revenge and felt the compulsive need to kill me before I could kill her or because I refused to acknowledge "my place", whatever that meant.

    In a way, my former classmates were correct. However, if they didn''t try to kill me, I wouldn''t bother trying to kill them. My only target of vengeance was Kobayashi Kenji and his crony, Yamada Yuji. I had already taken out Kijima Takeshi, the only other guy on my prime list of revenge targets. None of the others mattered.

    But if they tried to kill me, then I would be more than happy to kill them first. After all, I still remembered how about a third of the class cooperated with Kobayashi, Yamada and Kijima to throw me off the rainbow barrier when we were being transported to this world. Now that I thought about it, Sakaguchi, Asakura, Minamoto and Tsukishima were among those ten.

    How convenient.

    "I''ll talk to one of the Haemorage commanders and synchronize our plans. Once we''ve destroyed the reinforcements, we''ll turn back and encircle Sakaguchi''s camp." I glanced at Elia. "Get everyone back to the APCs and move to these coordinate ASAP."

    "Roger that, sir."

    "Well, I''ll go talk to them now. You guys should go brief the men. Once I get approval, we should move out immediately."

    "Please do so."

    The officer cadre of Magna 7th jumped when Lilith Scarlet appeared out of nowhere, startling us.

    "Y¡­your excellency!"

    "Pardon our rudeness!"

    "We didn''t see you¡­"

    "It''s fine. I enjoyed creeping up on you guys." Lilith turned to me with a smile. "That''s a good plan, Major. I like it. You have my approval. Move out immediately, before the enemy reinforcements reach the mountain pass."

    "Thank you, your excellency."

    I was the only one who had remained silent, not because I knew Lilith was there, but because I was too taken aback to speak. Swallowing, I saluted.

    Lilith nodded and then continued. "I''ll speak to my commanders and coordinate the attack. I can handle that Evelyn''s Chosen you call Sakaguchi."

    "Really? How?"

    I almost regretted the skepticism in my voice, but thankfully Lilith didn''t seem offended. She merely smiled enigmatically.

    "Um, Sakaguchi has a special ability called Holy Blessings that reduces the power and effectiveness of dark magic by at least 90%," I explained, but Lilith shook her head.

    "I know. I''ve fought it firsthand. It just means there''s no point using blood spells against him. However¡­"

    Her smile widened.

    "In terms of techniques, I am superior. I can best him with my spear techniques alone. As long as you keep the other Evelyn''s Chosen off my back and buy me enough time to defeat Sakaguchi, there will be no problems. While you launch your assault, we''ll simultaneously attack the enemy encampment. That way, they will not be able to send reinforcements to back up the arriving reinforcements and strike you from behind."

    To my horror, I realized that I didn''t consider that option. That was right¡­if the reinforcements were attacked, Sakaguchi wasn''t going to sit around and do nothing. He would try to assault the attackers harassing the reinforcements with his surviving forces.

    "Thank you."

    "No¡­I should be the one thanking you¡­I realize I''m asking you a great deal, but the fate of Haemorage lies upon your shoulders right now." She stepped back and bowed her head. "Hedas bless you all."

 50 Chapter 50: Spearhead assaul

    Under the cover of darkness, our tanks and mechanized infantry reached their respective positions before dawn broke. A few vampire scouts on loan from Haemorage kept us updated on the enemy''s position, and as I suspected, they were slowly trickling toward the mountain pass in a single, long line.

    I ordered Elia and Gio to keep their APCs and infantry hidden deep inside the forest, specifying that the move out only after the entire human army had embarked onto the mountain pass. And even then, I told them not to open fire unless absolutely necessary. I didn''t want to give away our hand so soon.

    We needed to lure the enemy into our trap first. That would maximize the casualties we inflicted on them.

    "Sir?"

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    I blinked when Daniel called out to me. Unlike most of the tankers, I had chosen to stand outside, in the forest. Probably as a precaution, so that I could respond immediately when the inevitable assault from the human hero descended upon us.

    "Yeah?"

    "Are you all right?"

    "Of course. Why?"

    "¡­no, nothing, sir."

    Even as Daniel dismissed his question on his own, I realized why he asked. My hands were twitching involuntarily. Even as I tried to maintain a fa?ade, I felt nervous.

    Well, it was only natural. I was about to execute an order that would kill a significant number of soldiers in a 10,000-men army. While it wasn''t the first time I had taken command over a rout ¨C in Raum''s castle, and to save Lilith''s forces from Sakaguchi''s invading army ¨C this was the first time I was actually carrying out an offensive from my own volition rather than responding to an attack that had already taken place.

    Technically, there wasn''t any difference, but my subconscious seemed to say otherwise. Pushing my glasses up, I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

    There''s no difference at all. No difference¡­

    Oh, I understood why now. Without the enemy actually in sight, the waiting was what killed me. Fretting over when they would arrive, waiting for them to show up, and getting nervous over them actually not showing up or suddenly seeing through my plan and ambushing us¡­yeah, the uncertainty of death when it hadn''t happened yet was unnerving.

    Pull yourself together. Don''t show your men any sign of weakness.

    Yeah, I was a sci-fi military fan. Sue me.

    The hours slowly crept past, and I ended up dozing off here and there. As I said, I had never received formal military training, so these operating procedures were alien to me. The scouts occasionally reported back, but it seemed the enemies'' movements were slower than anticipated.

    Yeah, they''re being led by a former high school student like me, I thought sardonically. Without any proper command school training, it was impossible for us to behave or think like proper soldiers. I wouldn''t be surprised if the hero was throwing a tantrum at the difficult journey and causing the delays on her own.

    On the other hand, Sakaguchi had his soldiers in check, and I was actually doing a fairly decent job of commanding for an ex-student who was thrown into this whole mess out of the blue, if I might say so myself.

    "Major?"

    My receiver crackled and I thumbed it.

    "Yeah?"

    "Scout 1 reporting here. The enemy has begun moving into the pass."

    "Great. Thanks. Keep an eye on their movements and let me know if there''s any changes."

    "Yes, sir."

    "All right, people." I switched the frequency so that I could talk to Elia, Gio and the commanders of the infantry company. "Look alive. Stand by. You know the drill. Once the whole group has gotten onto the mountain pass, wait until it''s clear before you guys take up your positions. As discussed, mine the path with explosives. The moment the enemy comes running back, blow them up. Is that understood?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Elia''s voice was still bright and fresh. Apparently she didn''t sleep at all. I didn''t blame her, she was the one most excited about this operation.

    "Dressia, wake your tankers. We''re on standby. The moment they show up, you know what to do. Let them have it."

    "Yes, sir."

    Daniel popped his head out of the hatch and saluted. I smiled.

    "It shouldn''t be long now. They''ll be here in two hours."

    "We''ll be ready by then," Daniel promised. I nodded.

    "I know you will. I''m counting on you."

    Turning away, I glanced up at the sky. Dawn had just broken, and the sun was peeking right over the horizon. The human army must have attempted to make use of the darkness to cover their movements, but unexpected delays had foiled that. The whole line would be clearly visible to us in broad daylight by the time they reached here.

    *

    And they were.

    I silently signaled for Daniel to hold fire, and the tanks obeyed. We waited for the line of human soldiers to trickle through the pass, and gradually more and more of them emerged from the curve, filling out the entire trail. The moment the mountain trail was teeming with life, armored soldiers, horseback cavalry and archers, I barked a sharp order.

    "Fire! Fire at will!"

    The tanks thundered, exotic beams of devastating magical energies erupting from their cannons. Bluish-white plasma slammed into the mountain pass, the superheated blobs disintegrating both men and soil and destroying the terrain under their feet. Scores of human soldiers died in the first bombardment, incinerated into ash or having chunks of their bodies vaporized. Those that survived died slowly, third degree burns scorching their flesh.

    But we weren''t satisfied.

    The tanks boomed again, an orchestra of death as superheated beams whined and blew over the stunned humans. More knights were obliterated, not knowing what hit them. The line froze, completely at a loss at this sudden assault.

    If it was a conventional attack, such as arrows from below or even hails of fireballs from enemy magicians, perhaps the human soldiers would have responded a lot better. But they had mostly never seen tanks before, had not experienced their sheer destructive power. Those who had didn''t survive to tell the tale, and the heroes usually eliminated the tanks before they could unleash the full potential of their firepower.

    After all, tanks were not subtle, stealthy things. The heroes, being from the same modern world I was from, instantly recognized the sight and sound of the armored, lumbering behemoths, and would strike them preemptively before they could ever get close to the human lines.

    However, I had used my tanks in a very different manner¡­in an ambush, rather than armored juggernauts that crushed the enemy from the front. As such, the hero accompanying the line of infantry never saw them coming, and couldn''t launch the preemptive strike to take them out before they obliterated her army.

    A third volley barked sharply again, and yet another significant portion of human forces were erased. By now, most of the men had snapped out of their stupor and were scrambling, trying to retreat. There was no cover to seek refuge under ¨C the mountain pass was completely exposed to our cannons. That was why I had selected this place to spring the ambush.

    With no cover, and with men dying right and left, the survivor tried to retreat the way they came. They couldn''t advance. Daniel''s tanks had pummeled and disintegrated the trail, turning it into molten rock or flattening it into a steep slope. Those who were still in shock, unable to move, were taken out by automatic weapons mounted atop the turrets, or hull and sponson weapons.

    Those who snapped out of their stupor were more likely to survive¡­the initial bombardment, at least. In any case, they wouldn''t die as quickly as the men who had given in to despair and fallen to their knees, unmoving from shock.

    There were a few who responded ¨C the archers took potshots into the forest, trying to aim in the direction where the plasma beams emerged. None found their targets ¨C the tanks were parked too far away from the mountain pass, out of range from the arrows. The plasma cannons and automatic rifles on the tanks had far greater range than even the most powerful bows. All the arrows fell helplessly, out of reach. The archers were rewarded with shells and plasma, the gunners responding in reflex to take out those shooting at their armored protection.

    There was only one person in that entire army that could actually stand up to a tank, and she was one of the first to recover and respond. I saw a figure jumping from the mountain and propelling herself toward our position. Placing her feet against the slope, she kicked off and launched her body toward the tanks, creating a sonic boom with her flight.

    Chewing my lip, I stepped up to meet her. No doubt this was the hero, one of my former classmates.

    "Lieutenant, you have my permission to pursue. Continue harrying them as they retreat, and provide fire support for Captain Kratz and the infantry. Kill as many as you can. I''m handing command over to you now."

    "Yes, sir!"

    Daniel barked orders to the rest of his tanks. They reversed and began moving, their turrets rotating so that the cannons continued to point toward the mountain pass while the gigantic treads rolled over the muddy terrain of the forest.

    "You¡­!"

    A yell echoed throughout the forest. As the hero launched herself toward one of the tanks, I quickly jumped in to intercept her. Swinging my staff, I batted her away.

    "!"

    As expected of the hero, her reflexes were godly. She twisted her body in midair and swung her sword forward to counter my strike. I parried her blade, and tried to twist it away, but that bought her enough time to do a cartwheel and land on both feet.

    "¡­!"

    The girl skidded backward and raised her head to glare at me. Then her jaw dropped when she recognized who I was.

    "You''re¡­that loser Tanaka!"

    "Miyazawa Miyako," I greeted her. One of the girls who hated me because¡­well, I was me. According to her, I was a creepy, ugly and pathetic stalker who should be locked up and executed. She had complained to the teachers about me stalking her, but because I didn''t, her complaints were dismissed on the grounds that there was a lack of evidence.

    I was glad the teachers weren''t biased toward me like my former classmates were. I still didn''t understand why they hated me so much.

    "How¡­how are you here? How did you survive?! You should have died! We killed you! We threw you out of the transportation space!"

    Yeah, that reminded me¡­Miyazawa was one of the girls who helped Kobayashi and friends toss me off the Bifrost-like place. What a bitch.

    However, something more important occurred to me and I frowned.

    "Huh, you didn''t get the memo?"

    So Sakaguchi and Asakura didn''t mention that I was alive to the others? I thought they would, and that the mercenary guild would have reported me as alive to the heroes. Or perhaps the heroes didn''t share information amongst themselves?

    Interesting.

    Unfortunately, I wasn''t given much time to contemplate that. Miyazawa was swinging her sword at me, forcing me to deflect it.

    "Whoa!"

    "Loser! How dare you humiliate me like this!? How dare you attack me and my army?! Who do you think you are?! You''re just a bloody, pathetic loser!"

    "¡­"

    By the same token, what right did Miyazawa have to attack the demons?

    I wanted to ask her that, but it was clear that Miyazawa was in no mood to debate. Just as I thought, she was obsessed with killing me, almost frothing at the mouth with hatred and rage. I chewed my lip as I jumped back, trying my best to outmaneuver her.

    "Do you think I''ll let you get away?"

    Miyazawa''s blade almost caught me, but my Redwood jacket protected me. I almost chortled when I saw her sword have no effect on the magical defensive layers.

    "No," I replied instead. I didn''t want to give away my trump card yet. I needed her to believe that she could scratch me, could kill me somehow. Then, with her guard down, I could finish her with one blow, as long as she didn''t possess anything as ridiculous as Sakaguchi''s Divine Defense.

    Unfortunately, Miyazawa''s swordsmanship was almost on par with Minamoto Kureha''s. Try as I might, I could barely keep her at bay, her blade coming dangerously close to piercing me. If it wasn''t for my Redwood jacket, I would have a dozen scratches by now. I wasn''t even able to deliver a counterattack or retaliate. So brutal, swift and precise were her every strikes that I could barely breathe while blocking as many as I could.

    "¡­!"

    Miyazawa had noticed that something was amiss. None of her strikes were getting past my defense even though she knew for sure she had managed to slice my skin or face. Yet I was still completely unscathed.

    "A defensive spell?" she muttered to herself. "No¡­an enchantment? Or an object? Not the weapon. Must be his equipment¡­that jacket?"

    She was sharp. I bit my lip and activated Absolute Appraisal.

    Name: Miyazawa Miyako

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Fencer/Hero

    Special Abilities: Elegant Dancer

    What the heck was Elegant Dancer supposed to be?! Well, I found out by tapping it, and apparently it said something along the lines of having deft, swift footwork, heightened evasiveness and pinpoint precision.

    No wonder her fencing was so flawless. Now that I looked closely, Miyazawa''s sword was a rapier rather than a normal sword. She continued to hop back and dance around me, avoiding my black spells while slashing with terrifying accuracy.

    I unleashed a Doombolt in her direction, but she evaded it with amazing swiftness, spinning around elegantly like a dancer.

    Come to think of it, certain forms of martial arts have their roots in dancing¡­following some sort of rhythm.

    "Just die already!"

    Before I could figure out how this new information would be useful, Miyazawa snarled fiercely and thrust her rapier forward. This time, I wasn''t able to parry it, and the point of her sword found my heart.

    Or would have, except that the tip stopped, parried by my Redwood Robe.

    "¡­!"

    Miyazawa sprang away, fleet-footed, as I tried to counter with a swing at her head. Damn, but those moves of hers were really annoying. Even if she couldn''t hurt me, I wasn''t able to hurt her at all. If I could only get a solid hit¡­!

    "It is that jacket, after all!"

    "?"

    I stared at Miyazawa as she suddenly proclaimed the source of my defensive powers, then tilted my head in confusion.

    "It took you this long to figure that out?"

    "Shut up!"

    Miyazawa bounced backward, light on her toes, and then lowered her rapier to set the thin blade parallel to the ground. Mana swirled around her violently, turning into a gigantic spiral that narrowed into a sharp point at the tip of her rapier.

    Almost like a drill.

    "Dancing Drill Strike!"

    Kicking off the ground, Miyazawa launched herself at me. I tried to block her drill with my staff, but the sheer force of her strike knocked it out of my hands and slammed into my chest.

    ¡­or would have, if I didn''t catch the rapier with both my hands.

    The whirlwind of mana nearly tore my hands apart, the spinning drill slamming into the protective layers of defensive magic that my Redwood Robe generated. The first three layers were pierced at one go, shattering under the tremendous impact. The fourth layer barely held, stopping the drilling rapier from penetrating further.

    "Ooooh!"

    With a yell, Miyazawa poured more of her magical energy into her rapier and intensified its destructive power.

    "Kuh!"

    I grunted as I felt myself pushed back. Even as I infused more mana into my Redwood Robe, the ground beneath my feet began to shatter and I skidded backward, leaving two scorched trails of dirt in my wake.

    Miyazawa drove her rapier relentlessly forward, trying to pierce through my defenses. I held firm, refusing to bow even as my 4th defensive layer was cracking under the enormous pressure. Gritting my teeth, I dug my feet in and tightened my grip on Miyazawa''s rapier. With a roar, I wrenched it away from my chest.

    "Just break away!" Miyazawa shrieked desperately.

    "No!" I hollered defiantly.

    The fourth layer began to shatter.

    "Ah!" Miyazawa howled, almost triumphantly, when she sensed that something was going to break. She poured a bit more mana into her strike, hoping to finish the battle in what she thought was the decisive strike.

    The entire place erupted into an enormous explosion. Waves of mana expanded, uprooting trees and sending their broken trunks flying. Those that remained firmly rooted in the soil swayed violently, as if being tossed about in a hurricane.

    In that instant, the forest where my armored company had camouflaged themselves in before dawn was reduced into a smoldering crater.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    Miyazawa was panting heavily from the strenuous effort, her face red and perspiring profusely. She glanced up as she sucked in a lungful of air, surveying the gigantic smoking crater with no small amount of glee.

    "I¡­I did it!" she crowed. "I killed that pathetic loser!"

    "Oh, you did now, didn''t you?" I clapped my hands sarcastically. "Congratulations! Want a round of applause for your efforts?"

    "W¡­what?!"

    Miyazawa staggered back when she spotted me, still standing in the epicenter of the fuming crater. As the smoke gently dissipated, she saw that I was completely unscathed. Her eyes widened and she stumbled backward.

    "How¡­?! Impossible! I felt something break! I definitely felt your defensive barrier break! There''s no way¡­!"

    Oh, she certainly did break through the fourth layer of my Redwood jacket. I would have to give her credit for accomplishing that much. What Miyazawa didn''t know, however, was that my Redwood Robe had twelve layers of protection. She only broke through a third of it. Even Suzuki Shirou''s God-Slaying Strike had penetrated more layers in less than a quarter of the time.

    Not only that, my Redwood jacket was currently regenerating their defensive layers. In less than thirty seconds, the four defensive layers that Miyazawa had broken through were completely restored, thus nullifying her earlier attack.

    I had no intention of telling Miyazawa that, though. The less my enemies knew about me, the better. I wasn''t some stupid protagonist or villain going around explaining my abilities, limits and weaknesses to the enemy just so that they could find a way to counter them. Gloating felt good until the opponent turned the tables on you.

    Then it felt stupid.

    "Just what the hell are you?! And how did you get such a powerful item? This is just impossible! Even though you''re just Tanaka!"

    I shrugged and took a step forward. Sensing that something had changed, Miyazawa jumped back on instinct, raising her rapier defensively.

    "Don''t come closer!"

    I stopped. Miyazawa regarded me warily, her rapier still pointed at me, but she made no move to attack.

    Just like that, we maintained our positions for a while, our gazes locked. Miyazawa studied me briefly, and then twisted her face in surprise. I didn''t have to read her mind to know what she was thinking. I had the advantage right now, especially after she spent so much mana on her last attack that failed to penetrate my defenses.

    So why was I not attacking?

    Because I didn''t need to.

    The trees rustled. The forest stirred. Slow, scraping footsteps that belonged to countless bodies drew closer.

    "Ah," I cocked my head and smiled. "They''re finally here."

    Bursting from the forest, the dead shambled toward a stunned Miyazawa. Her eyes widened when she recognized them ¨C corpses wearing the uniforms of the human armies, faces of those subordinates she had led onto the mountain pass.

    While the majority of the human soldiers had been incinerated or disintegrated by the superheated weapons of Daniel''s tank company, a large number of them remained whole, dying from burns, or merely having parts of their bodies vaporized. There were those who had tumbled to their deaths as my tanks erased the terrain, falling a great height from the now-absent mountain pass and breaking their bodies on the rocks below.

    It was these dead now who had risen up in legions, seduced by my call and bound to my will. Forcibly brought back as zombies, they now turned upon their former commander, who looked as if she had sunk to the depths of despair.

    "Now then," I smiled at Miyazawa Miyako. "Shall we dance?"

 51 Chapter 51: Dance of the Dead

    "You think these zombies can kill me?" Miyazawa Miyako sneered as she glanced around. The hordes of undead had spread out to surround her, but she showed no trace of fear. I didn''t know what the heroes went through during the past six months, but evidently it had toughened them up. That, or they still treated this whole thing as a fucking game.

    I shrugged.

    "Worth a try, I guess?"

    "Oh, just kill yourself!"

    I shook my head at Miyazawa''s curse. The zombies stirred, and then lunged at her. Miyazawa scoffed before she danced and weaved through the massed hordes, slicing and striking with her rapier. Her pinpoint accuracy allowed her to strike at their vitals, but since they were already dead, her attacks had little effect.

    "!"

    They were zombies, after all. Stabbing them in the heart or piercing their kidneys weren''t going to put them down permanently. Even if she succeeded in amputating or severing their limbs, the zombies continued to drag themselves relentlessly after her. Moaning, they grabbed or scrabbled at her dainty feet, forcing her to evade.

    "How persistent!"

    With lightning-quick strikes, she dismembered a few zombies, ensuring they wouldn''t get up ever again. Spinning around, she delivered a series of elegant strikes that kept a few more at bay while flaying others alive. Or dead.

    Her speed and agility remained undiminished. No matter how many zombies threw themselves at her, Miyazawa was able to cut them down or keep them at bay. As expected of a hero¡­her stamina seemed limitless. At this rate, I would run out of zombies before I could beat her.

    However, I had no intention of turning this into a battle of attrition. I never counted on my zombies to beat a hero in their current state.

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    The thousand and eight gravestones burst out of the ground, shielding us from the sun and casting shadows over the clearing. All around Miyazawa, the zombies crackled and transformed, growing and mutating.

    "W¡­what is this?!"

    Miyazawa''s jaw dropped as she witnessed the changes and enhancements. Several of the zombies had grown to several times their size. She glared at them and backed away, but her rapier was still raised defiantly.

    The first zombie lunged at her, followed by the rest. Miyazawa dodged them, but just barely. The enhanced zombie''s fist struck the ground, smashing a crater and sending shards of rock and earth flying into the air.

    "Guh!"

    Miyazawa shielded herself from the rubble, and then gracefully landed several meters away. Spinning around, she jumped back, staying light on her toes as a second zombie pulverized the ground where she had landed.

    "¡­strong!"

    "I don''t know what you did, but your zombies certainly are a lot stronger now. But¡­so what? All that power is useless if they can''t hit me!"

    I merely smiled back.

    "¡­!"

    Miyazawa realized that something was amiss and her eyes narrowed as she focused on me. Gritting her teeth, she charged at me, only to stop and jump back when another zombie lunged at her. She kept her distance and safely evaded them.

    But not for long.

    "Ah¡­?!"

    A zombie finally succeeded in tackling her, knocking her to the ground and pinning her.

    "N¡­no! How¡­?! This is impossible!"

    Miyazawa struggled, trying to lift her rapier up and slash the zombie, but it firmly pinned her to the ground with its superior strength. Even as she kicked and flailed, and actually managed to almost dislodge the zombie from holding her arms, more of the zombies piled on top of her, grabbing her legs, biting her shoulder and tearing chunks of flesh from her neck.

    "AAAAAAAH!"

    Miyazawa kicked and screamed, but she was ruthlessly held down and fed upon. Mana swirled around her as she attempted to cast spells to blast them off, but the sheer number of zombies throwing themselves on top of her as well as their increased magical resistance nullified most of the damage. Even if they were scratched and flayed by the wind spells or thrashing rapier, their enhanced bulk and lack of a sense of pain allowed them to relentlessly tear at her.

    "How¡­?! How?! What the hell are these¡­these monsters?!"

    I said nothing. Thousand Astral Graves didn''t just enhance the strength of my zombies, but also their speed, both movement speed and reaction speed. And their intelligence as well. As such, my zombies suddenly jumped back when a tornado of mana exploded out of Miyazawa''s body. Most of the zombies reacted fast enough and evaded the attack, but the few unfortunate to be close enough were ripped into shreds.

    "I''ll kill you!"

    Miyazawa was wailing as she clutched her wounds, blood streaming from her fingers. She glared at me and slowly lowered her rapier, the once pristine silver hilt now stained with blood. A whirlwind whipped around the thin blade, as she pointed it at me.

    However, she wasn''t given any time to fire it off. My zombies had clustered around her, pouncing and distracting her. Miyazawa gracefully jumped and dodged, spinning around and falling into her confident rhythm. Staying light on her toes, she hopped, spun, whirled and danced about, staying one step ahead of the zombies. Even as she elegantly evaded every single one of their attacks, perspiration dripped down her face.

    It wasn''t just from her wounds. The increased speed and ferocity of my zombies had made it difficult for Miyazawa to dodge easily and it was all she could do just to stay ahead of them. She knew that just one small mistake, one slight slip or misstep, would lead to her death. Gritting her teeth, she continued to dance desperately, keeping out of reach of her predatory partners, who were all scrambling after her like obsessive fans.

    "!"

    One of the zombies had enough and unleashed a freezing blast of mana. The ice rapidly spread across the ground and caught Miyazawa''s feet just as she landed. She froze ¨C not literally ¨C when she tried to move, only to find herself rooted to the ground.

    "¡­no!"

    With a cry, she tugged at her legs to break free of the ice, but that split second of inaction was more than enough. A mountain of zombies tackled her, knocking her down and breaking her feet from the tremendous impact.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    Wailing in agony and despair, Miyazawa flailed and fought desperately, but wise to her spells, my zombies disarmed her. Literally. One of them tore off Miyazawa''s sword arm and chewed on it, spitting the silver rapier out and sending it bouncing off the ground. The rest ripped into Miyazawa in a frenzy, allowing their bloodlust to consume them.

    "No! NOOOO!"

    Miyazawa attempted to cast that same hurricane spell that had tossed the zombies off her earlier, but the catastrophic injury and massive loss of blood had disrupted her focus, not to mention the excruciating pain she must be feeling right now. With so many factors disrupting her concentration, it was impossible for her to cast her spell to blow the horde of undead away. Even with the strength of a hero, she couldn''t win against the sheer number of zombies piling on top of her.

    I strode forward and picked up Miyazawa''s rapier. Raising my head, I glanced in the direction of my poor victim. Miraculously, Miyazawa was still alive despite my zombies tearing into her mercilessly. Her eyes lolled back and she stared at me pleadingly.

    I glanced away in disgust. If our positions were swapped, she wouldn''t think twice about finishing me off. I didn''t understand why my former classmates harbored such an irrational hatred against me but they were more than happy to kill me over the most ridiculous of reasons.

    There was no reason why I should show mercy to them.

    "Take her eyes," I commanded softly.

    My zombies obliged happily, yanking Miyazawa''s eyeballs brutally out of her sockets and savoring them like delicacies. Miyazawa screamed and hollered, tears gushing out of her empty sockets and mixing with blood.

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    I ignored her.

    I shut out her cries of pain, even as I did my best to push the memory of her haunting, pleading gaze out of my mind.

    *

    I caught up with Daniel''s armored company less than an hour after Miyazawa''s demise. My zombies quietly followed through the forest, having depowered and turned back to their original forms now that Thousand Astral Graves were no longer in effect.

    "Major!"

    "Hey, Daniel," I greeted him wearily, in no mood for military formality. "How''s the mission? Have we achieved our objective?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Daniel saluted and pointed toward the mountain. The Magna 108th tanks were still firing, blasting the mountain pass to smithereens. Even from this distance I could see human soldiers getting disintegrated or falling to their deaths. The armored company had really thinned them out while not receiving any casualties in return.

    It was only natural. The tanks were too far away, out of reach of any arrows or spells. Even if the humans'' arrows could reach, they wouldn''t be able to pierce the thick metallic armor of the tank. The only thing we had to worry about was magic.

    Fortunately, other than the heroes, it didn''t seem like the humans had any strong magic users. A group of spell casters had tried to launch a bunch of fireballs across the distance to destroy the tanks, but most of the fiery projectiles had fallen short, obliterating large swathes of the forest instead. The tanks had swiveled around and taken them out instantly, and by now the sporadic casting of spells had diminished greatly because the magicians realized they were making themselves out to be prime targets for retaliation.

    "They''re in full retreat."

    Even without Daniel telling me that, I could see the humans struggling to go back the way they came from. It was a one-sided slaughter. Trapped in the depths of despair, the human army had fallen into a panic and they were clashing or colliding against each other in their desperate attempts to escape the bombardment. More than a few had been sent tumbling off the mountain in this way, shoved off the narrow trail by their own comrades.

    Glancing at the trail, I saw that we were also pretty close to Elia''s position. Grabbing a magical receiver, I activated a communication spell to check on her.

    "Elia, how are things going over there?"

    "Eh? Major?"

    Elia sounded distracted, and I could hear sporadic gunfire over the magic radio. A sudden burst of automatic fire ¨C most likely from the heavy weapon teams ¨C almost sent me tumbling back from shock, the deafening sound almost rupturing my eardrums.

    "Yeah, it''s me. I''ve dealt with the Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "As expected of the Major!" Elia sounded elated at the news. "That''s great!"

    "Not really." I felt drained after the battle. Even though I had somehow defeated Miyazawa Miyako, it had been a taxing battle. Her dancing ability had made it difficult for me to defeat her directly in battle, and I resorted to throwing lots of undead bodies at her to finally wear her down. If I didn''t have the ability to summon and enhance zombies¡­

    ¡­yeah, best not to think about that.

    "Anyway, how are you doing over there?"

    "Ah¡­! That''s right! We''re holding the position. The enemy has tried to retreat toward our position, but we''ve mowed them down. They keep coming, but Lieutenant Dressia and his tanks have provided invaluable fire support."

    "You''re welcome!" Daniel shouted from atop his tank. I arched an eyebrow at him.

    "Sure, sure, thank you." Elia sounded annoyed over the receiver. I could almost imagine her sticking her tongue out on the other side.

    Evidently the infantry and armored companies had some sort of bitter rivalry between them. I wondered if it would be a good idea to egg them on. Friendly competition was fine, important even for a regiment to stop stagnating and strive for improvement, but I didn''t want it to be overly excessive to the point it affected the regimental cohesion and cooperation.

    "Ah, speaking of which¡­it looks like the enemy wishes to surrender."

    When Elia mentioned that, I glanced at the mountain pass. My glasses automatically magnified the image, allowing me to see the human soldiers in the pass in greater detail. Like Elia mentioned, the human soldiers had thrown down their weapons and raised their hands. If they had a white flag, they would probably wave it¡­except that Restia probably didn''t know the significance of the white flag because they were from a completely different culture. Hell, come to think of it, Japan probably didn''t have the white flag as surrender thing as well.

    "Hold fire," I barked. Immediately, the tanks began to cease firing. On the other side of the receiver, Elia''s infantry company stopped shooting and a strained silence filled the air. "Captain Kratz, take the humans into custody. Treat them as prisoners-of-war. You know the procedures, right? Disarm them and keep them under heavy watch. I''ll be there as soon as I can to handle the negotiations, so identify the surviving commander."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "I''m counting on you." Clicking off the receiver, I turned and gestured for Daniel to come. "Do a maintenance and personnel check, and then get ready to move out. We''ll be heading to Sakaguchi''s position in about thirty minutes, to back up Queen Scarlet and her forces. Get whatever rest you need, hydrate yourselves¡­you know the drill."

    "Yes, sir!" Daniel saluted, and then glanced at a couple of his tanks. "I''ll still post a squadron of tanks to cover the mountain pass in case this whole thing is a trick."

    "Ah, yeah. Sure, do that. I''ll be counting on you."

    How na?ve. My inexperience was showing¡­just because the enemy appeared to surrender didn''t mean they actually did. I should take into account the possibility that this was a ruse to cause us to let our guard down. That said, we had obliterated almost 70% of their forces, so the surviving humans had to be utterly demoralized and broken.

    As Daniel indirectly pointed out, however, there was no point taking those chances. I nodded at Daniel, and then dashed toward Elia''s position. Even though the infantry company wasn''t that far from the armored company''s current position, it took me about ten minutes to get there even when I summoned Matsukaze and rode on him.

    "Sir!"

    The moment the infantry company came within sight, Elia saluted. I jumped off Matsukaze and dismissed him before heading toward her. Kneeling before Elia and Gio was a single elderly man who had the rank pins of a major.

    "Major¡­?"

    "Kracauer," the human officer replied. "Major Kracauer, of the Legnica 82nd regiment."

    I nodded. "Are you currently the highest-ranked commander of your regiment?"

    "By virtue of being the highest-ranked survivor, yes." Kracauer looked at me bitterly. "You got us good. And¡­if the tanks were still firing on our position, I assume that the hero Miyazawa-sama has failed to destroy them."

    "Miyazawa Miyako is dead," I told him coldly. Kracauer didn''t look surprised, merely resigned. He clearly didn''t have any blind faith in the heroes as some sort of godlike beings that would never fail, which was probably why he was still alive.

    "We surrender," he said simply and bowed his head humbly. "I know I am in no position to make requests, but I still ask you to spare the lives of my men. Take my head if you must, but at least refrain from killing the rest of my soldiers."

    "There''s no benefit to killing you," I replied. "And I accept your surrender¡­of course, as you already know, we have to begin discussing those terms of surrender."

    Kracauer looked up, relieved. "Of course. Please name your conditions."

    "Yeah." I turned to Elia. "Captain Kratz, escort our prisoner to somewhere more comfortable so that we can better negotiate the enemy''s terms of surrender."

    "Yes, sir!"

    I watched Elia lead Kracauer away before I glanced at the surviving human soldiers, who were trickling through the mountain pass and shepherded into a kneeling cluster under the watchful eye of my soldiers.

    Reality was completely different from a game. In a strategy game ¨C especially the military science fiction real-time strategy games that I played ¨C made it seem so easy. The objective was to kill all enemies. Once every single enemy unit was dead, then the game ended and the player achieved victory. There was nothing to negotiate, no prisoners or logistics to worry about, such as concerns of how to feed an extra few thousand men or transport them, or even medical care for the wounded and dying. And there were a lot of wounded and dying.

    In reality, the battle didn''t end with a complete annihilation of the other force. It was never as simple or clear-cut as that. The moment the enemy lost too many men and found themselves unable to retreat, they would surrender. Only fanatics would fight to the last man, and not every soldier in an army was fanatical enough to die for their nation''s cause.

    Pursing my lips, I fought down my dismay. It would be much easier to kill every single enemy soldier and leave their corpses where they were. However, I was not a ruthless and coldblooded mass murderer. I was a formerly normal high school student from peaceful Japan.

    "Damn it."

    Clenching my fists, I turned and went after Elia and Kracauer. I had already formulated a plan. Send the infantry company back to Haemorage on foot, escorting the mass of prisoners. The APCs would provide fire support and discourage any of them from attempting to flee or quelling their desire to resist. Then I would rejoin Daniel''s tank company and proceed to Sakaguchi''s position to crush them once and for all.

    Yeah, let''s leave the hard part to Elia.

    Eager to delegate the logistics of moving thousands of prisoners-of-war through the longer route (now that we had destroyed the mountain pass) to Elia, I headed toward them. Gio caught my expression and groaned, the veteran sergeant already guessing my intentions.

    Well, sucks to be ranked lower than me, I guess?

 52 Chapter 52: Shooting Stars

    After dispatching Elia and the infantry to escort the prisoners-of-war back to Haemorage, I raced back to the tank company to hitch a ride toward Sakaguchi''s position. Over the communicator, I could hear sounds of war as squads repeated requested for backup or reported staggering losses. Without the bulk of her forces, Lilith was launching an attack with what little remained of her castle guard, and they seemed to be struggling.

    Then again, after intercepting the reinforcements that Miyazawa intended to bring, Sakaguchi''s surviving forces were also being whittled down. All I had to do was show up with my tanks and we would utterly crush them.

    The main factor, of course, was Sakaguchi Seiji himself. That guy could turn the tide of battle all by himself.

    Will Lilith Scarlet really be able to defeat him?

    I wasn''t leaving anything to chance. Sakaguchi and his girlfriend, Asakura Akane, had tried to kill me. That meant I was bound to exact my revenge on them both and kill them. I didn''t care how they died, only that they did.

    The tanks smashed through the forested terrain, uprooting trees and trampling roots as they relentlessly forged a path toward Sakaguchi''s camp. I silently urged the tanks to hurry even as I sat in a tank commander''s seat. I could only hope that we wouldn''t be too late. Fortunately, based on what I heard over the communicators, the vampires were still holding strong.

    "Sir!"

    The communications officer suddenly twisted toward me, his eyes wide in surprise. I glanced at him, broken out of my thoughts.

    "What is it?"

    "Reports from ahead! There''s a single person¡­an Evelyn''s Chosen standing in our path!"

    "Sakaguchi? He''s already here? Did he somehow break free of the camp to reinforce Miyazawa and her troops?"

    The communications officer, Drax, merely stared at me blankly. Unlike me or the humans, he wasn''t very familiar with the names of the heroes. The name Sakaguchi meant nothing to him. Cursing myself for forgetting that, I corrected my statement.

    "Is it the paladin we fought yesterday?"

    "Uh¡­no, sir. It''s another girl this time. With long blond hair and a petite figure. She looks like a magician type."

    "Give me a visual," I ordered as I flicked on holographic displays. I quickly scanned the pictures and saw an image of Hoshizaki Kozue standing right in the path of the lumbering tanks, completely fearless.

    "Tanaka-kun, right?"

    Even without a communicator, I could somehow hear Hoshizaki''s voice clearly. I stiffened, and then proceeded to open the hatch and rise out of the tank.

    "Hoshizaki. You''re here to reinforce Sakaguchi?"

    "Not exactly."

    "Fire!"

    However, Hoshizaki merely raised a hand.

    "No way¡­!"

    The demons gasped as a shimmering forcefield appeared over Hoshizaki, sparkling with what looked like thousands of glittering stars. The plasma beams dissipated harmlessly over the starry barrier, vanishing into nothingness.

    "Fire again!"

    Hoshizaki frowned and then flicked a single hand. A comet roared from above and slammed into the lead tank, sending it flipping over and exploding. Smoke poured out of its husk as it came to a shuddering stop against several thick trees.

    Daniel shouted something, and the armored column roared a second time.

    However, just as before, the tanks proved ineffective against Hoshizaki''s starry barrier. Another gesture of her hand and a second tank exploded, torn into smithereens as another meteor slammed into it mercilessly.

    "We can do this all day, or you can listen to what I have to say."

    Even as Hoshizaki calmly stated, a barrage of meteors materialized above her head. I gulped. If she willed it, she would reduce the entire armor column into wreckage.

    They were right.

    I had thought the rumors an exaggeration, that it would be difficult for the heroes to so easily destroy the tanks. The way Regis Gremory had explained how it was so inefficient and pointless to manufacture such expensive tanks, only for them to be so easily destroyed by a single spell from a hero, I had thought he was being overly dramatic.

    But right in front of my eyes, Hoshizaki had proven that the rumors were true. There was nothing my tanks could do against her. With a single snap of her fingers, she could annihilate the entire armored company by herself and there was nothing ¨C absolutely nothing we could do to stop her. We couldn''t even put a scratch on her.

    Heroes were on a completely different dimension from normal soldiers and weaponry.

    "Cease fire," I ordered. Daniel''s surprised voice crackled over the communicator.

    "Sir¡­? Are you sure?"

    "Sure as sure," I replied. "Pull back. Stop shooting. The Evelyn''s Chosen is correct. She can wipe us out if she chooses to. I''m the only one who stands a chance against her."

    Daniel didn''t argue against that. He and the armored company had probably witnessed firsthand how I defeated Miyazawa Miyako. They knew better than to question my abilities ¨C especially after getting two of our tanks destroyed in an instance.

    "Yes, sir. We''ll be in standby, just in case."

    "I appreciate it."

    Clambering out of the turret, I dropped to the ground and straightened myself to stare at Hoshizaki. Clutching my staff, I approached her, my eyes cold and grim.

    "So¡­you''re here to kill me as well?"

    I was sick and tired of my former classmates'' nonsense. Every single one of them was out to kill me for some stupid, contrived reason. Because they hated me. Because I went against the natural order and refused to accept being a pathetic loser who should just allow myself to get bullied. Because I was apparently weaker than them. Because I would seek revenge and kill them first if they didn''t kill me preemptively.

    Fucking bullshit.

    I had enough. If they wanted a piece of me, I was going to destroy every single person in my class.

    However, Hoshizaki''s reaction surprised me.

    "What? No! Why would I want to kill you?"

    "I don''t know." I shrugged. "You tell me."

    "I have no reason to kill you," Hoshizaki replied with a puzzled frown. "I don''t know what you''ve been doing up till now, but surely you can''t be worse than Kobayashi-kun."

    I blinked at that. Well, this was a surprise. This was the first time a former classmate of mine said that she had no intention of killing me. Having experienced so many attempts on my life over what seemed like the most ridiculous reasons, I couldn''t believe I found it absurd that there existed a single former classmate who didn''t plan on killing me.

    That didn''t mean I could trust her, though.

    "So? Why are you here then? I''m sure you can tell that I''m fighting on the side of the demons."

    "Yes." Hoshizaki nodded. "And that''s exactly why we need you."

    "''We''?" I stared at her, taken aback.

    "Yes," Hoshizaki responded curtly. "The Eight Guardians and our leader, Takeda Tetsuo-kun. We need your help in fighting Kobayashi-kun."

    "Wait, what? You guys want me to help you fight against Kobayashi?"

    What was going on? Infighting? Were the heroes turning on each other? Was there some sort of power struggle between Takeda and Kobayashi? I remembered Takeda being a strong, enigmatic figure with a huge, muscular frame. We didn''t really talk to each other much, and he never interfered whenever I was bullied, so I wasn''t familiar with him.

    And now he was sending one of his flunkies, the so-called Eight Guardians, to approach me for help? Why should I help him?

    "Kobayashi-kun has gone a bit¡­mad. Most of the class have, to be honest. They''ve gotten power hungry¡­none of them want to return to our world. They aren''t satisfied with their current statuses. Now that we''ve defeated the Demon Lord, they want more¡­they want to take over Restia and rule as its kings. Kobayashi wants to be king of Restia."

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    Typical. That sounded exactly like Kobayashi, all right. He had always been this overly ambitious and arrogant bastard who thought that the world belonged to him. Being the grandson of the chairman of the school board, he thought he was entitled to everything.

    And now he wanted to become Emperor of Restia. His greed truly knew no bounds.

    "It doesn''t just end there," Hoshizaki continued ominously. "Kobayashi wants to ascend to godhood, and he doesn''t care who he sacrifices or how many. If scouring the entire continent of life is what it takes, he would willingly indulge in countless bloodshed and murders just to ensure his ascension to godhood."

    Yeah. Definitely Kobayashi-like.

    But¡­

    "Even so, there are nine of you, right? Including Takeda, I mean. Why do you need my help? I''m just a pathetic loser, after all."

    "Tanaka-kun, you''re not a pathetic loser at all!"

    Hoshizaki''s vehemence took me by surprise.

    "Even Takeda-kun speaks highly of you. He''s impressed by the way you stand up to Kobayashi-kun and the other bullies, even when you''re alone. He¡­no, all of us regret not helping you when you were bullied, but he says his memory of you inspired him to act when Kobayashi descended into this madness. That''s why¡­he''ll appreciate it a lot if you help. You''ll be a symbol¡­a shining beacon to inspire all those who resist against Kobayashi-kun!"

    What was this flattery bullshit? Did Hoshizaki really think I would buy all this? I wasn''t that na?ve. At least I didn''t think so, but¡­

    Absolute Appraisal.

    It didn''t seem like she was lying. Hoshizaki seemed to really believe what she was saying. On the other hand, I doubted if Takeda was telling her the whole truth. But that was down to Takeda and not Hoshizaki. I wondered why Takeda sent her to meet me instead of approaching me personally. Wouldn''t it be more¡­sincere if he did that?

    "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

    "Takeda-kun is in hiding right now. Having risen up against Kobayashi-kun, he was targeted for assassination. That''s why we Eight Guardians are acting as his arms and legs right now. Kobayashi-kun and the others are hunting him down right now¡­I don''t know what happened, but Kobayashi-kun has turned extremely ruthless of late."

    "Kobayashi has always been extremely ruthless," I corrected bluntly. I still remembered the battle against the Demon Lord where the selfish fucker had sacrificed Samejima Hiroki to prevail. No one had said anything¡­did they not know?

    Or was I the only one who saw that?

    Still, it explained why Miyazawa didn''t know about me¡­why Sakaguchi and Asakura were the only ones who were bothered to hunt me down. Kobayashi and the rest of the class had their hands full searching for Takeda and his motely group of resistance.

    "Indeed." Hoshizaki glanced around and then hardened her eyes. "Takeda-kun wants to meet you in person, but he can''t leave his Iron Fortress right now. If possible, we want to bring you there. Since you have connections with the demons, you will be a key figure in our resistance against Kobayashi-kun." She nodded at the tanks. "The demons will be a powerful ally."

    "You think they''ll ally with you guys?" I scoffed, almost unable to believe their audacity and naivety. "So soon after you invaded their lands and killed the previous Demon Lord? You think they''ll just shake hands and befriend you after all that?"

    "No. That''s where you come in."

    I narrowed my eyes and pushed my glasses up. Suddenly, I had an idea of why Takeda was approaching me for help.

    It wasn''t because he was truly impressed with me standing up to Kobayashi or any sort of bullshit like that.

    No. he needed me.

    "Um¡­" Hoshizaki seemed to be faltering when she saw that I wasn''t jumping at the chance to make new friends with old acquaintances. She hardened her eyes. "And Takeda-kun also told me to tell you this. I''m not sure what he means, but he says that if you want revenge, you need us even more than we need you."

    I almost burst out laughing at that. I knew it. Takeda wasn''t offering an alliance out of altruistic or friendship motives. He needed me, and was aware that I also needed him. He also knew that my revenge was primarily targeted at Kobayashi and Yamada, my primary tormenters, and not necessarily at the rest of the class.

    Sure, they might not have helped or interfered when I was being bullied, but I didn''t blame them for that. Nobody was obligated to help me. The only person who could help me was myself. If they tried to interfere or help, they would be targeted by Kobayashi as well, who would make use of his influence to make their lives hell.

    That was why I didn''t blame anyone else for not stepping in and turning a blind eye to Kobayashi''s abuse of me. As long as Takeda, Hoshizaki or the others didn''t try to kill me like Minamoto, Tsukishima, Sakaguchi, Asakura or Miyazawa did, then I had no reason to kill them. It was just that, after so many attempts on my life by so many former classmates that I had grown jaded and half-expected the whole class to be trying to kill me by now.

    Still, I should be careful.

    I wasn''t na?ve enough to trust Takeda completely. For all I knew, he might be embroiled in the same insanity that had gripped the rest of the class and was waiting for his chance to stab me in the back and kill me, just like what Kobayashi did to Samejima. Perhaps that was his goal ¨C pitting a tiger and a dragon against each other, and once they had wounded each other, he would swoop in and finished them off to reap the rewards.

    I needed to keep an eye on Takeda too.

    "All right then. I''ll meet Takeda. But I''ve to take care of stuff right now, so maybe later. Where is this Iron Fortress?"

    "Of course, of course." Hoshizaki nodded fervently. "Please take care of whatever matters you have. When you''re done, contact me and I''ll arrange a meeting place and a time. I''ll bring you to the Iron Fortress from there."

    "¡­right."

    "Um, make sure we trade numbers."

    Hoshizaki took out her communicator, which resembled a smartphone. I raised an eyebrow at that, but stepped forward with my cheap-looking communicator. Using infrared, I recorded her contact details and number.

    "I''ll be waiting for your call then!"

    Spinning around, Hoshizaki, then took off and vanished into the air with a single, ferocious jump. My tankers all stared at her disappearing figure, which soared high into the air, their jaws dropping in awe.

    "What was that all about, sir?" Daniel asked, still unable to digest what had happened. I turned to him and smiled.

    "We might have just secured new allies that might see us turn this war around."

 53 Chapter 53: The Vampire Queen

    After Hoshizaki''s departure, I left behind a small contingent of Tech-priest Engineers to salvage and repair the burning husks of the two tanks. There was little we could do about the dead. The crews had been scorched and burned beyond recognition. Leaving the burial and repair duties to the engineers, I ordered the tank company forward.

    "Can we trust that Evelyn''s Chosen?" Daniel asked skeptically over the communication device. I pursed my lips as I thought about it.

    "Perhaps not¡­but the more important question is, how can we use them?"

    Daniel laughed at that. "Fair enough, sir. The enemy of our enemy is our friend¡­even if they happen to be our former enemy."

    "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," I added. Of course, Hoshizaki and Takeda were neither my friends nor my enemies. I was just relieved that they weren''t trying to kill me over the most absurd of reasons like the rest appeared to be doing.

    But having survived and suffered enough under the hands of Tsukishima and the others, I had to be careful not to turn my back on them. For all I knew, this could be a devious method to lure me to lowering my guard before killing me like everyone else.

    However, I couldn''t pass up the opportunity to get powerful allies to help my cause in killing Kobayashi.

    "In any case, we should focus on helping Queen Scarlet and Haemorage. The matter regarding Evelyn''s Chosen can wait."

    "Yes, sir!"

    The tanks thundered through the forest and made a beeline for the clearing where Sakaguchi had set up camp with his surviving forces. Even from a distance, I could hear the din of the fighting without having to rely on the communication devices. From my station, I could see visual images of the battlefield ahead. The vampires were evenly matched with the human army, which vastly outnumbered them despite the casualties they sustained yesterday.

    Boom!

    At the heart of the battlefield, explosions rocked the forest as massive spells clashed and detonated with earthshaking force. Humans and vampires alike were thrown into the air, helplessly hurtled across the clearing by elemental power.

    Magnifying the image, I caught sight of Sakaguchi furiously engaging Lilith in battle. The red-haired vampire queen was trading blows with the dark-haired paladin in silver armor, her twin spears crimson streaks that blurred across the air like mirages. Against such speed and power, Sakaguchi stood strong and countered with his gleaming broadsword and Divine Defenses. The spears clattered harmlessly against his blessed armor, which glowed white-hot as it repelled the deadly strikes. Sakaguchi retaliated with swings that split the earth apart, but Lilith made use of her superior speed to deftly evade what would be lethal hits.

    There was no sign of the Holy Blessings affecting her at all. Lilith was right¡­she could fight Sakaguchi with just technique alone.

    That didn''t mean she didn''t try, though. As the two sprang away after a particularly vicious clash, Sakaguchi swung his broadsword to blast her with a divine blast. Flipping her body and elegantly evading the attack, Lilith landed on her feet and spun around to launch dozens of blood spears at her foe. The crimson projectiles lanced toward Sakaguchi, but as expected, his Divine Defense held them all at bay, neutralizing whatever damage they would deal.

    Lilith gritted her teeth, a flash of frustration flickering across her pretty face.

    It wasn''t just Lilith, though. Sakaguchi was looking pretty impatient as well, even as he lowered his broadsword with a scowl. He was obviously wondering how a non-hero like Lilith could give him so much trouble.

    "We''re within range, sir!"

    I tore my eyes away from the holographic image when Daniel reported to me. Nodding, I thumbed the communication device to contact our allies and signal for them to retreat.

    Upon receiving the message, the vampires began falling back in mass, leaving the confused human soldiers behind. They tried to give chase, but the vampires'' superior speed allowed them to put a vast distance between themselves and their enemies. The only one who didn''t retreat was Lilith, who had remained behind to continue distracting Sakaguchi.

    That was fine. We had already accounted for that in the plan. As the vampires fled the battlefield, the tanks pushed forward with a roar.

    "Fire at will!" I barked.

    "Fire! Fire!"

    Daniel echoed my order, and the armored column took their shots. Superheated plasma lobbed forward from turret and sponson weapons, obliterating vast swathes of human infantry. Lasers stabbed out from the hull cannons, disintegrating horses and armored knights. Within seconds, the battle turned into a rout, with the tanks shoving their armored might into the battlefield and crushing the beleaguered humans.

    "What I cannot crush with words, I''ll crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!" I shouted. "Forward, for the Emperor!"

    "¡­"

    Drax and the driver, Draverre, both turned to stare at me with raised eyebrows. I coughed and hastily corrected myself.

    "I''m talking about Emperor Regis Gremory, of course."

    "Ah."

    None of the crew questioned me after that. We rolled across the pulverized remains of the forest, spewing plasma and lasers from multiple weapon ports. Men died, incinerated and obliterated. The survivors tried to run and escape, but they were caught out in the open with no cover. A few threw down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender, and my tanks didn''t shoot them.

    However, Sakaguchi yelled at them furiously.

    "Get up! Fight! Do something, you useless trash!"

    Nobody paid any attention to him. It was clear that Sakaguchi was not a popular commander. He seethed, and would have performed mass summary execution if he wasn''t so tied up with Lilith at the moment.

    Seeing that their surrendering comrades were spared, the rest of the human soldiers gave in as well. It was a domino effect ¨C the moment someone threw in the towel, the rest would inevitably follow. There were a few sporadic moments where human magicians attempted to launch powerful magic spells such as fireballs or lightning at my tanks, but they barely singed the thick armor. The ensuing retaliation was enough to ensure that nobody would be foolish enough to attempt casting an offensive spell at us again.

    "Useless trash!" Sakaguchi roared. "You''re fucking NPCs! Just do what I tell you to do! Is this a bug in the game or something? How can my army disobey a direct command from me!? Is this some kind of hack?!"

    The guy still thought this whole thing was a game. How much more deluded could he get? Well, never mind. I didn''t need to know.

    "I''m going to help Queen Scarlet," I informed Drax. My communication officer nodded in acknowledgement and I flung the hatch open to jump out. Vaulting out of the tank, I proceeded toward Sakaguchi and Lilith.

    "You¡­!"

    Sakaguchi roared as he glared at me. However, a thrust from Lilith''s spear caused him to duck his head backward and prevented him from launching himself straight at me. With a curse, he swung his broadsword at her, but she parried it by crossing both her spears and then responded with a riposte that bounced off his armor.

    "Your opponent is me."

    "I''ll kill you first!"

    Sakaguchi''s broadsword exploded with divine, white mana and he unleashed his Holy Judgement. It smashed through Lilith''s defenses and caught her even as she tried to escape, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying.

    "Finally! Die!"

    Sakaguchi crowed triumphantly as he descended upon her prone figure before she could get up, swinging his broadsword down to decapitate her.

    It never reached her neck.

    "You¡­!"

    I had caught Sakaguchi''s broadsword with one hand. The defensive layers of my Redwood jacket creaked but held firmly. Sakaguchi tried to exert more of his weight behind his blow, but he failed to penetrate my protection.

    "How¡­?"

    Like I was going to tell you, idiot.

    I kicked him back, but as I expected, my attack didn''t do any damage. Sakaguchi skidded backward, but he looked more surprised than hurt. He was still unable to believe that he couldn''t cut me down.

    "You¡­don''t tell me that was Unholy Defense or something similar?"

    I had no reason to tell him so I merely kept quiet and shrugged with a smile. Sakaguchi scowled when he realized that he was being mocked, and he rushed toward me, unleashing another Holy Judgement.

    Like before, I caught the blast with my hand, causing it to dissipate harmlessly over my regenerating Redwood Robe.

    "You¡­"

    Behind me, Lilith had clambered up to her feet and was watching me, impressed.

    "You said you have a way to beat him?" I asked without glancing back. I could sense her nodding behind me even without looking.

    "Yes."

    "How?" I kept my eyes on the infuriated Sakaguchi. "Do you know how to penetrate that Divine Defense of his? Do you have a technique that can break through his armor?"

    "¡­better than that."

    I smiled. "Then I''ll leave him to you."

    "Heh." Lilith chuckled. "You''re not planning on killing him yourself?"

    I shook my head. "As much as I want to, I lack the ability to do so. Unfortunately, I don''t have a technique that can destroy his Divine Defense."

    "Oh, so that''s why¡­" Lilith looked impressed. "How rare. A man who acknowledges his own limits and isn''t hesitant to lower his head and beg for help."

    I couldn''t help but snort. "I''m not exactly lowering my head and begging for help, though."

    "Close enough."

    "What the hell are you two babbling about?!" Sakaguchi roared. Dragging his feet against the soil, he swung his broadsword at me, unleashing a white wave of mana that I casually slapped away with my hand. He leered at me. "I see¡­I was planning on dealing with you later, Tanaka, but if you''re so impatient to die by my blade, then I''ll be happy to indulge you."

    "And how do you intend on killing me?" I asked flippantly. "Not to sound arrogant or anything, but none of your attacks have any effect on me so far."

    "Then I''ll keep attacking until I break through that defense of yours!"

    "Uh huh. I''m guessing that''s how to break through your Divine Defense?"

    "¡­!"

    Sakaguchi took a step back instinctively when I said that, and then scoffed.

    "Of course not!"

    Yeah, I knew it wouldn''t be that easy. Even if it was one of the ways, it would be horribly inefficient and take too much time and energy. I wasn''t exactly confident of engaging in a battle of attrition with someone as sturdy as Sakaguchi.

    I hoped Lilith''s technique worked.

    "Stand down, Tanaka-kun."

    "¡­!"

    I suddenly ducked on instinct at Lilith''s voice. Sakaguchi seized the chance to blast me backward, but this time I didn''t bother to block it. I allowed the blast to carry me backward so that I could put as much distance between myself and Sakaguchi. My Redwood Robe protected me from the destructive effects of the blast.

    And even if it did penetrate my defenses, I would just regenerate.

    "Heh!" Sakaguchi sneered. "You can''t even take a single blow from me!"

    Right. That was like the third and fourth blow, and I let you blow me away on purpose.

    I didn''t tell him that, however. And even if I did retort, Sakaguchi wouldn''t be paying any attention to me. His eyes widened as he stared at Lilith, who had dropped one of her spears and holding the other with both hands.

    "Whoa¡­"

    I couldn''t help but gasp as well. There was a tremendous amount of mana swirling into Lilith and her spear, so much so that the very air around her distorted and shimmered. Blood streamed across the battlefield and flooded toward her, giving the impression that her spear was expanding rapidly into an immense size.

    Her blood magic is on a completely different level from mine¡­

    Well, it was only natural. I had only been a vampire for a few days at most, whereas Lilith was probably a vampire for centuries.

    "W¡­what the hell is this?!" Sakaguchi demanded, turning his head from side to side to watch the blood flow around and past him to stream into Lilith''s spear. The vampire queen merely smiled sweetly and ominously.

    "!"

    Sakaguchi growled when he realized that he couldn''t allow Lilith to complete her technique. He then lunged forward to slash her, but it was too late.

    While I had been distracting Sakaguchi, Lilith had been preparing this technique the entire time. It was complete.

    Lilith''s spear glowed and suddenly flashed, turning into a crimson blur. I staggered back, caught off guard by the sheer amount of raw mana unleashed in that single moment. Even Sakaguchi, with his formidable Divine Defense, was paralyzed by the sudden surge of mana, unable to move as her spear lanced toward him in a red streak.

    "As if you''ll be able to kill me with that¡­!"

    With a roar, Sakaguchi swung his broadsword to parry the strike.

    At first sight, it seemed that he succeeded. The blade of his gigantic sword met the spear''s point, deflecting it away from his heart.

    "¡­!"

    However, the spear suddenly shifted trajectory, almost as if it was snaking underneath his blade. Like a viper, it lunged forward and sank its fangs deep into his breastplate.

    "You¡­!" Sakaguchi growled when he realized what had happened, but then he snorted. "Even if you use such petty tricks, you won''t be able to penetrate my Divine Defense!"

    "Oh, but I never planned on penetrating it."

    "¡­!"

    Sakaguchi suddenly lurched forward, dropping his broadsword and clutching his chest. With a violent roar, he vomited blood as he fell to his knees, wheezing and gasping. The spear was no longer piercing his chest, but blood was spreading and leaking from under his breastplate.

    "What¡­what did you do to me?!" he gasped, looking up in fury.

    "I didn''t attack you, but I placed a curse on you," Lilith replied as she picked up her other spear and caressed both of them. "Sure, your Divine Defense can stop and resist any physical attack or magical attack, but what about curses?"

    "Curses bypass defenses and place effects on the victim directly," I whispered, suddenly understanding what had transpired.

    "This boy here has the right idea," Lilith remarked with a chilling smile. "Additionally, my spear has the effect of reversing cause and effect. Basically, it determines the fate of the opponent¡­the heart being pierced becomes the cause of the spear being thrust."

    "Why the hell are you ripping off Fate/Stay Night?" I muttered, causing Lilith to glare at me.

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Never mind."

    "He''s right!" Sakaguchi uttered, obviously having watched the Unlimited Blade Works anime like I did. "You copied a skill from an anime!"

    Lilith winced and then sighed.

    "All right, all right. The curse works as a blood curse. I merely activated it with by selecting my target with my spear¡­it doesn''t matter if you block it or evade, the curse will still hit you regardless. Once it takes effect, the blood in your heart will crystalize and turn into spears, rupturing your aorta and vena cava and impaling your heart from the inside out. Quite frankly, I''m surprised that you''re still alive."

    "¡­guh¡­!"

    More blood leaked out from Sakaguchi''s throat as he attempted to say something. He glared at us, his eyes turning bloodshot.

    "He''s quite the tenacious one, isn''t he?" Lilith remarked. I shrugged.

    "Yeah, I guess? You want to finish him off?"

    "Is it really okay?" Lilith asked as she stared at me. "I was under the impression that you have a vendetta against him."

    "Yeah, but you''re the one who defeated him. It''s only right that you get the reward."

    "It would have been much more difficult if you didn''t help me, though."

    I pushed my glasses up my nose as I smiled.

    "Please don''t worry about that. I''ve already drank his lover''s blood. You can have this one. Think of it as a gift to prove the alliance''s sincerity."

    "Ho¡­I''ll take you up on your offer then."

    "You bastard!" Sakaguchi screamed. "So you did kill Akane-san after all! I''ll never forgive you! I''ll kill you! I''ll fucking kill you!"

    Using the last of his strength, Sakaguchi lunged at me, only for Lilith to catch him before he could even reach halfway across the clearing. With inhuman strength, she flipped Sakaguchi over and slammed him against the ground.

    "Gah!"

    Lilith bent down, while Sakaguchi was lying helplessly on his back, and bit down on his neck before sucking him dry.

    *

    With the human armies attacking Haemorage gone, our forces withdrew back to the fortified city with the human prisoners-of-war in tow.

    "What do we do with them?"

    "Leave them to Lord Regis," Lilith replied to Elia''s question. "I''m sure he has better use for them, probably to trade for freedom for our own captured soldiers, or to use them as collateral or something as part of a political deal."

    "You don''t want them?" I asked. Lilith snorted.

    "What for? Hameorage doesn''t have the resources to sustain and feed such prisoners. They''ll only be a burden. I''ll be happy to give them to Lord Regis."

    "Uh, right."

    That was our next mission then. To escort the prisoners and the royal couple safely back to Helsfort. Now that we had secured the alliance of Haemorage and Lilith Scarlet, as well as defended her territory from the invading human army, we no longer had any reason to stay.

    "I''ll contact Lord Regis for new orders¡­and to fill him in on what happened here."

    "Good. I''d also love to talk to him."

    "I''ll have my technicians set up the holographic communication device in the throne room so that we can hold a summit there."

    "Sure. We''ll be counting on you."

    With that, we went our separate ways, and I decided to check on the prisoners. They were being held in temporary pens for now, and I spotted Major Kracauer seated separately from his men. As the highest-ranking officer, he was given a cell of his own.

    "Major Kracauer," I greeted him as I went over. "How are your men and you holding up?"

    The old major looked up at me and smiled wearily.

    "Better than I expected. Thanks to you, we''re still alive¡­which is more than I expected. I''m grateful for the mercy you''ve shown us."

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    "It''s only natural. If we''re civilized, then we should act like it¡­showing mercy, treating our enemies with honor and all that."

    "¡­"

    Kracauer fell silent, which caused me to blink in trepidation.

    "What is it?"

    "No¡­you''re just very different from any of the demons I''ve met. I don''t think I''ve heard any demon commander treating their prisoners this kindly before."

    "There''s always a first time," I remarked brightly. Kracauer laughed at that.

    "True."

    Then he slumped down bitterly.

    "¡­if only I can say the same about the humans."

    "What about the humans?"

    I stared at Kracauer curiously, but he sighed and shook his head.

    "I''m ashamed to say this of my own species, but I doubt they would show their demon prisoners the same kindness and mercy you''ve shown me."

    "¡­"

    I didn''t say anything. I could imagine just what they would do.

    "They don''t take prisoners¡­we''ve been ordered to kill all demons on sight. Accept no surrender. Ensure the total annihilation of the demon race."

    "¡­I can''t say I blame them."

    "It wasn''t always like this, you know." Kracauer sighed as he leaned against the fence of his temporary cell. "Everything changed when the heroes came. Especially after Kobayashi-sama took command."

    That caught my interest.

    "Kobayashi?"

    "Yes." Kracauer nodded and stared at me seriously. "That''s when everything began to fall apart for the human nations."

 54 Chapter 54: The night before departure

    For the first time in a while, Haemorage was quiet.

    The city seemed to sleep in the darkness, which was ironic when I considered that its residents were vampires. Normally I would expect nocturnal creatures such as vampires to be active at night, but I suppose the recent skirmishes had taken a toll on the citizens. Now that we had finally driven the human army off, and the main bulk of Lilith''s forces had returned to defend the city, the residents of Haemorage could finally rest.

    I strolled back to the barracks after my conversation with Kracauer. He said that everything had fallen apart for the human nations after Kobayashi took command, and I found his statement intriguing. It seemed that not all humans worshipped the heroes as¡­well, heroes. Perhaps I could use this to my advantage somehow, but I wasn''t sure how I could go about doing so. After all, I had thrown my lot in with the demons.

    There was no way the humans would listen to some random guy fighting on the side of the demons.

    Then there was the rebellion. Hoshizaki had mentioned that her group had decided to take up arms and go against Kobayashi''s tyranny. The guy had to be pulling off all sort of dick moves if his own classmates and allies resorted to defying him.

    Defying him, huh¡­?

    I shook my head with a smile. It was almost as if I was treating him like a king already. Knowing Kobayashi, he probably thought of himself as one, that the position of ruler was rightly his. He was always the self-entitled bastard.

    I really had to find some way to take my revenge on him.

    Clang!

    As I walked, I suddenly heard a sharp, metallic sound piercing through the air. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced around. The courtyard of the main castle was empty, with most of the soldiers having returned to the barracks for a well-deserved rest. The place was deserted, almost eerily, with no sign of life or the undead.

    Yet, I could hear a series of metallic sounds as someone swung a weapon across the air and mimicked battling. Curious, I began making my way toward the source of the noises.

    "¡­!"

    I paused when I caught sight of Lilith standing alone in the middle of the marble-paved courtyard. She was spinning around, twirling her twin spears as she slashed the air and executed a series of graceful maneuvers and attacks. Occasionally, her twin spears would cross and gently slide against each other, making the metallic, clanging sounds that caught my attention earlier.

    Or I was just bullshitting because for all I knew this could just as well be a new, recently created martial art. Yeah, whatever. Give me some narrative license, would you?

    After spinning around and dancing across the length of the courtyard with a series of graceful slashes and strikes, Lilith finally came to a stop to seemingly catch her breath. Lowering her twin spears, she placed them on the ground and glanced in my direction.

    "Enjoying the show?"

    "Ah¡­no. sorry. I just didn''t want to interrupt you."

    Lilith laughed, her sweet voice ringing melodically in the air. Wiping perspiration from her brow, she shook her head.

    "Don''t worry. I''m not angry. I''m just not used to having an audience."

    I swallowed and nodded. Hesitating for a while, I finally decided to inquire before the atmosphere could get too awkward.

    "Is that¡­some sort of martial art?"

    "Hmm?" Lilith raised one of her spears and studied it before returning her gaze to me. "I guess you could say so. It was passed down the royal vampire lineage of Haemorage for generations. I have no idea how old it is."

    Knowing how old vampires could grow to, I wouldn''t be surprised if it was millennia old. Even then, it must have undergone a lot of changes throughout the centuries. Now that I thought about it, I had no idea how old this world was. From historical records preserved in the Library of Eden, I roughly knew that there were only three millennia of history, almost four.

    While I nodded, Lilith brightened.

    "Say, do you mind sparring with me a little? It gets boring practicing by myself after a while."

    "Huh? I don''t mind, but¡­" I stared at Lilith, baffled by her request. "If it does get boring, couldn''t you ask one of your soldiers or guards to spar with you?"

    Lilith smiled ruefully. "It''s not that I can''t, but¡­none of them can match my skills. After a while, none of them dared to challenge me to a duel because of how one-sided it is. Aside from when I was fighting two of Evelyn''s Chosen, I haven''t been able to go all-out in a long while."

    Ah¡­the age-old problem of finding an appropriate opponent when you were too strong, huh? It was unfortunate, but that was something I could never relate to.

    "Are you sure you''re fine with me? It''ll probably be one-sided as well. I doubt I''m any better than your soldiers."

    Lilith snorted. "Don''t be modest, you almost seem sarcastic. I''ve seen you fight against both warriors from Evelyn''s Chosen. You should be on my level or at the very least close to it. I wouldn''t be surprised if you''re actually stronger than Evelyn''s Chosen, given how you''ve clearly killed quite a few of them."

    I shrugged. "You took one of them down yourself."

    Lilith half-smiled at that. "And you slew five of them by yourself. In terms of Evelyn Chosen slaying, you have me beat."

    Sighing, I nodded and stepped forward. "If you''re fine with me, then¡­"

    "Yes, I am."

    Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and relented. The two of us stopped a short distance away from each other, and I reached for my staff, retrieving it from the mystical inventory that stored it in a separate spatial dimension.

    The moment I readied my stance, Lilith launched herself at me.

    "!"

    I barely managed to block her first thrust in time. Gritting my teeth, I dug my feet in and stood my ground, raising my staff to block Lilith''s next attack. Her second spear slashed at me from my side and I twirled my staff around to parry it. I then twisted my body to avoid a fatal stab from the first spear, before lashing out with a kick to drive her back.

    Lilith hopped back before she surged forward with another vicious thrust that would have ripped my heart out had I not deflected the barbed point of her spear. Spinning around, Lilith''s other spear came from an unexpected direction, but I bent my neck and just managed to dodge the tip of her spear, which left a thin line of blood on my cheek.

    Spinning my staff, I knocked Lilith back before jumping a few meters behind to put as much distance between us as possible. The wound on my cheek was already healing, leaving no trace of the injury.

    "You¡­really are an undead, aren''t you?"

    "Yeah, I supposed so."

    I shrugged as Lilith studied me, impressed.

    "But still¡­this isn''t what I want to see."

    "¡­!"

    I was completely taken by surprise by Lilith''s next attack, which sent me flying backward. Grunting, I tried to straighten myself, only for Lilith''s spears to lance toward my face. I managed to block them both, but the tremendous impact ripped the staff out of my hands and sent it spinning helplessly into the distance.

    "Guh¡­"

    "Not bad¡­you managed to block those attacks, but you''re now unarmed."

    Quickly withdrawing to a safe distance, I kept a wary eye on Lilith and her twirling spears. It was true that she had disarmed me and she now possessed the advantage. With a sigh, I raised both my hands to surrender, but she narrowed her eyes.

    "Don''t joke. I know you''re not done yet."

    "How do you know?"

    Lilith glared at me before pointing one of her spears at my chest. "I wasn''t challenging you to a duel of arms. I want a fight where both of us can go all out. I know your strengths lie not in your melee skills but in your summoning spells and techniques."

    "You sure you want me to use those?"

    "Of course." Lilith smiled deviously. "Otherwise you might die from an accident, you know?"

    Before I could react, she launched a series of spears at me. Dozens of blood-red spears materialized in the heavens above her and she swung her hand down, pelting me with a cruel barrage of blood lances.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Gritting my teeth, I raised my hand and caught the first spear. The rest of the blood-red spears rained down on me, but they failed to pierce the foremost protective layers of my Redwood Robe, merely leaving violent ripples across the enchanted barriers.

    "That''s impossible."

    The vampire queen was astonished by the sight of my unscathed figure by the time the rain of spears halted. I merely shrugged and tossed away the spear I had caught, then dusted off my shoulder. The barrage was certainly powerful enough to perforate even those armored tanks commanded by Daniel, but the Redwood Robe''s protection was more formidable than even a fortress''s. It would be difficult for Lilith to break through it.

    Not that I was going to tell her that.

    In any case, it seemed that Lilith had figured that out on her own.

    "I see¡­some kind of protective enchantment, huh? Is it that jacket you''re wearing? Not bad. It appears that I''ll have to break through that barrier in direct combat¡­or use curses to bypass that formidable defense of yours."

    "You''re welcome to try."

    "Are you sure about that?" Lilith smirked at my bluff. "You can''t beat me in close combat. Your only chance in victory is through your magic."

    Lilith was right. There was no way I could beat her in terms of combat techniques. She was physically stronger and faster, as well as more skilled in melee and close combat. If I were to stand a chance, I needed to start casting spells and summoning stuff.

    But what could I summon?

    "!"

    I wasn''t given any time to consider my options. Lilith was already upon me. I barely managed to summon twin swords to block her twin spears, crossing them and deflecting the deadly spearheads away from my face.

    "Doombolt!"

    I fired off a black bolt of energy at Lilith, but she slashed it with one of her spears before countering with a riposte that forced me to block with my next sword. As we locked blades, she closed in and made use of her superior strength to pressure me. At the same time, I seized the opportunity to unleash my more powerful magic.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang!"

    "!"

    Lilith tried to jump back, but she was engulfed by a black wave of magical energy. Tumbling over, she staggered to her feet, blood streaming down her face and arms. Fortunately, her vampire abilities had already kicked in, her wounds healing almost immediately.

    "Don''t forget that I''m the same as you¡­an undead."

    With a smile, Lilith lunged at me.

    "Kuh!"

    I barely managed to keep up with her next series of attacks, and she smashed the sword in my right hand. Even as I warded off her next few blows with the sword in my left hand, I summoned a new sword for defense. Just in time, too ¨C she managed to shatter the sword in my left hand. I continually summoned new weapons to block Lilith''s relentless assault, but she continued to press on. Occasionally, her blades would slip under my defenses and leave scratches on my arms, shoulders and chests, but my injuries would heal.

    Still, I knew I couldn''t last at this rate.

    Clang!

    We sprang apart in another vicious clash that sent sparks scattering over the courtyard.

    "¡­I don''t understand."

    Lilith was studying me, an intrigued expression on her face.

    "You still aren''t intending to use your summoning magic?"

    "I haven''t had the time. You''re pressuring me way too much before I can cast a proper summoning spell. And stop pretending ¨C you''re doing it on purpose, aren''t you? You''re deliberately preventing me from summoning anything."

    "Hmph¡­so you''ve seen through my actions." Lilith smirked. "Of course I''m not going to make it easy for you. The moment you summon something, the battle will swing toward your favor tremendously. And besides, if this was a real battle, do you think your opponent would sit back and allow you to amass such a ridiculous advantage? If you''re unable to activate your strongest techniques while under duress, then you''re only of that level. It doesn''t matter how powerful your magic or summons are. As long as your enemy stops you from casting your spells, you lose."

    "Why, thank you," I replied dryly. "But I was never expecting you to make it easy for me or allow me to summon my stuff."

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    Plus¡­I was bluffing. I could have summoned lots of stuff, but I didn''t because I knew none of my summons would help against an opponent of Lilith''s caliber. She would have mowed down any zombies I summoned very easily.

    No, I needed something much more durable¡­something strong enough to withstand Lilith''s attacks. I doubted boosting my summoned zombies with Thousand Astral Graves would help, not with Lilith''s anti-army Noble Phantasm¡­I mean anti-army attack where she cast down hundreds of blood-red lances over a wide area of effect.

    "Well, I''ll give you credit for lasting this long against me in close combat despite it not being your specialty. But¡­your time is up."

    Lilith retreated a step and lowered one of her spears, clutching it with both hands while dropping the other to the floor. Vast amounts of mana swirled around her before being sucked into the spear, which seemed like a vortex.

    "That''s¡­"

    I narrowed my eyes, recognizing it as the curse she casted on her spear when fighting Sakaguchi Seiji, to bypass his Divine Defense and hit his heart. Instinctively sensing the danger, I quickly retreated as far back as I could.

    "¡­you¡­!"

    Lilith dismissed the magic she casted on her spear and glared at me when she saw that I was now at a safe distance. I shrugged.

    "You recognize the nature of this curse?"

    "It certainly is a terrifying curse," I agreed warily as I raised both my summoned swords defensively. "But as long as I stay out of range, it won''t hit me. Sure hit, sure kill, isn''t it? Unavoidable and guaranteed to be fatal. However, it''s restricted to certain conditions, such as range and distance. As long as I understand what those conditions are, I can negate it before you even execute it."

    "Where did you learn that from?"

    "From an anime that''s adapted from a visual novel. And from an interview with the writer of the story for that visual novel."

    "¡­"

    Lilith looked exasperated, as if she didn''t know if she could take me seriously or not. I was actually telling the truth, but I guessed there was no point insisting on that. She wouldn''t believe me anyway, and I had more pressing matters at the moment.

    "Well, you''re right. But you know¡­spears can also be used in this way."

    "?!"

    Lilith jumped back a few steps and then dropped into a crouch. She then sprinted forward. I was about to retreat, but then I understood what she was doing. Halfway between us, Lilith skidded to a halt and jumped high into the air. Arching her back, almost like a bow, she pulled her arm back as far as possible even as tremendous amounts of mana swirled into her crimson spear. With a single, fluid motion, she hurled her spear at me.

    Yeah, the exact same thing from the visual novel I mentioned earlier. I knew that this was an anti-army technique that sought to crush its target with sheer brute force. There was no way to avoid or escape it. Blocking the spear was the only way.

    With a huge sigh, I raised my hand.

    BAM!

    The spear collided with my hand and exploded. The courtyard turned into a blinding flash of light as a conflagration mushroomed upward, almost resembling a nuke. The marble pavement disintegrated from the sheer force, leaving a huge scorched crater in the ground.

    At the epicenter of ground zero, I heaved on my knees, my right arm completely erased by the spear. In the distance, Lilith landed gracefully, her expression grim and mired in disbelief.

    "How did you¡­?"

    "How did I what?"

    "¡­survive that?"

    "You call this surviving?" I gestured at my right stump with my left hand. "You blew through all 12 barriers of my Redwood Robe and completely obliterated my right arm, which is my master hand. You''ve effectively won this match."

    "¡­it''s not over yet, is it?"

    I sighed. "You''re really a tough customer, aren''t you? Not satisfied with your victory?"

    Lilith snorted. "Do you think I''m stupid or something? I can sense what you''re trying to do. That attack didn''t kill you¡­you planned to take it from the very start. You were planning something this entire time and had me dancing in the palm of your hand."

    "Oh¡­so I was found out?"

    My lips curled into a smile as I shook my right arm, which was rapidly regenerating. In less than a minute, my right arm was completely restored as blood, tissue and muscle grew, elongated and reshaped itself. Flesh then covered the regenerating limb, and I clenched my fingers, testing my newly regrown hand.

    It was working just fine.

    Lilith studied me, but she had managed to pick up both her spears sometime during the battle and was watching me warily. That was wise of her.

    During the battle, I had lost a lot of blood, especially when I withstood her anti-army technique. When I lost my arm, I had bled a lot, my blood spraying across the crater. Right now, that blood was curdling, moving and shaping itself into a horde of blood ghouls.

    "?!"

    Detecting the irregular movements out of her corner of her eyes, Lilith spun around and saw the moaning blood ghouls rising from the pools of blood. Formless, featureless blood-red phantoms with nothing more than mouths, hands and legs, the creepy horde closed in on her.

    "Do you think this can stop me?"

    Lilith raised her hand and launched a bunch of crimson spears from the heavens. The lances streaked through the horde of blood ghouls, splattering them into puddles of blood and undoing their fluid forms.

    "Maybe."

    While Lilith was mowing down my new summons, I was still testing my arm. It wasn''t just my arm that had regenerated. My Redwood jacket, which had lost its sleeve in the earlier exchange, was now regenerating and repairing itself at a rate slightly slower than my arm. Before long my formerly bare arm was wrapped in the protective embrace of the Redwood jacket''s sleeve. With a shake of my hand, I tested it and was satisfied to see it restored to its original condition.

    Like master, like equipment, huh?

    "What¡­!?"

    Lilith sounded shocked, but it wasn''t because of my Redwood Robe''s restorative abilities. Rather, she was staring at the blood ghouls, who had reformed themselves after her huge bombardment. The closest of them lunged at her and she slashed it apart with her spears, turning it into droplets of blood. However, the blood ghoul merely regenerated and reformed itself.

    "What are these things?!"

    "Blood ghouls," I replied. "You''re a vampire, aren''t you? You should know about them. Familiars created out of blood. They might not look much, but they''re pretty much impossible to kill with physical attacks."

    "I see."

    Lilith clicked her tongue, and then she slammed the blunt end of her right spear against the ground. Blood-red spikes lanced out of the ground and through the blood ghouls, impaling them. as they hung lifelessly, she smiled.

    "So they''re vulnerable to blood magic, huh?"

    "Probably. Except that you''re forgetting one thing."

    "¡­eh?"

    The blood ghouls were melting away from the blood spears that had impaled them and were coalescing into a gigantic form. Lilith launched another series of blood spears, but the vicious attacks were mercilessly drawn into and devoured by the growing blob of blood. Even the blood spears from earlier were consumed, melting into liquid blood and flowing into the expanding sea of blood that rose over Lilith like a tidal wave.

    "You¡­!"

    Lilith growled and thrust her spear into the bloody blob, but she only managed to put a small ripple in the surface the same way a spearman would try to cut water in a lake. Ignoring her futile attacks, the bloody blob began to shape up into a colossal humanoid. A titanic blood ghoul, if you would.

    "It''s not like my Titanfall, but it should work just as well."

    The bloody fist hardened into an iron sledgehammer and slammed Lilith into the ground. Before the vampire queen could react, the titanic blood ghoul raised its hardened fist and pulverized her into the ground again.

    Despite her regenerative prowess, the blood colossus repeatedly hammered down on her, refusing to give her a break or breather to recover. Lilith cried out even as the ground beneath her body gave way and shattered, even as the bones in her body broke and struggled to mend themselves, even as pain burst through her body. Even as she blacked out, only to regain consciousness because of her vampire healing ability, the blood colossus mercilessly hammered her over and over again.

    The incredible regenerative ability of the vampire race had become more of a curse than a boon.

    "I surrender."

    Even as the titanic blood ghoul continued to smash her into the crumbling earth, Lilith''s voice rose hoarsely from the ruined courtyard. With a nod, I mentally commanded my blood colossus to cease. Crossing the courtyard, I glanced down at Lilith''s ruined body, which was slowly healing. Noting that she wasn''t regenerating as quickly as before, I suspected that she was running low on mana. Lilith must have known that too, so she had decided to surrender.

    I offered her my hand, and Lilith gripped it. Pulling her to her feet, I helped Lilith steady herself even as she tried to fully heal herself.

    "I''m amazed."

    Lilith smiled as she shook her head, impressed. She then looked at me seriously.

    "This is the first time someone has truly bested me in a duel."

    "First time? Really?"

    The vampire queen chuckled as she turned away to look at the skies.

    "I haven''t lost in a very, very long time."

    Knowing vampires, when they said a long time, they really meant a long time. Like centuries, or even a thousand years.

    As if reading my mind, Lilith glared at me and sulked.

    "I''m not that old, you know."

    "No, I don''t know." I hesitated to ask her for her age because I knew girls could get sensitive about this. But Lilith told me anyway.

    "I''m just about 50 years old. Probably several times your age, but in vampire terms, I''m not that old."

    "Only 50? Yeah¡­that''s pretty young."

    Considering that I had considered the Vampire Queen to be at least centuries old, for her to only be half a century old was a surprise. I nodded blankly.

    "I only recently achieved the throne about 4 or 5 years ago. It was held by my mother before me, and to be honest, the title is just for show. The real rulers of Haemorage are actually the vampire elders in the old capital of Haecient."

    "What are they doing there when the city is under attack?"

    "Oh, don''t misunderstand. They''re not cowards or anything. They''re just¡­not as strong as the soldiers. They''re politicians, not warriors. Which reminds me¡­"

    Lilith groaned and rubbed her forehead, as if she had recalled something incredibly unpleasant. She bit her lip.

    "I still need to address that issue of political marriages. They''ve been pressuring me for a while."

    "That''s tough."

    I sympathized with Lilith somewhat, but having been born as a commoner, I certainly couldn''t understand the angst and frustrations of the rich, the nobility and the royalty. And I didn''t want to understand them either.

    However, Lilith brightened when she turned back to me.

    "That said, I did set a condition for marriage quite a few years back¡­"

    "Oh? What was that?"

    Lilith shrugged casually. "I was young and reckless at that time¡­and probably very arrogant. Then again, as I said, I haven''t lost a duel in a very long time, so I wasn''t thinking clearly. But I said that I would only marry someone who is stronger than me¡­someone who can defeat me in a one-on-one duel. I received challenges for a few years after that¡­but after I beat up all the contenders, no one bothered to challenge me again."

    "¡­"

    Wait, didn''t that mean¡­?

    "Don''t worry about it." Lilith smiled and waved her hand to assure me. "I won''t force you into anything. I just want to make a request, though."

    I sighed, knowing what that request would be. I had read way too many light novels that there was no way I wouldn''t know where this was leading toward. Even so, I was too polite to turn her down immediately. I should at least hear her out.

    "¡­what is it?"

    "When the elders pressure me about marriage again, I would like you to at least pretend to be my fianc¨¦ or lover. There''s no need to commit to anything, but I would appreciate it if you could just pretend."

    It was clear that Lilith wasn''t intending to marry, and by using me as a shield, she could somewhat stave off the pressure from the elders regarding political marriages. Furthermore, as her accomplice, I would understand her circumstances and could help her indefinitely postpone the problem for as long as she needed.

    "Well¡­"

    "I''m sorry for making such an unreasonable request. Of course you''re free to refuse. Especially if you already have a fianc¨¦e or lover of your own¡­"

    "No, I don''t." this sounded troublesome, but I didn''t have much to lose anyway, so I decided to help her out. "I understand. I''ll help you as long as it''s within my capabilities."

    "Thank you very much. That''s more than enough for me."

    Lilith bowed gratefully, her eyes twinkling in relief and joy. She then straightened up and tilted her head a little.

    "I''ll get going then. You should too. Tomorrow will be a hectic day, I believe. We''ll be talking to Emperor Regis first thing in the morning."

    "Uh¡­yeah. I know."

    I watched Lilith return to the castle, her pace weighed down by exhaustion and battle-weariness. Despite completely healing from our duel, it was clear that the battle had taken quite a toll on her. Speaking of which, I was also feeling a bit drained from the enormous expenditure of my own mana. I needed the rest as much as Lilith needed.

    Taking a deep breath, I turned toward the barracks and headed for my room to rest for the night.

 55 Chapter 55: Witch Doctor

    "So you think that these Evelyn''s Chosen can be trusted?"

    Regis Gremory peered at me from his holographic image that was beamed across the throne room and magnified for dramatic effect, allowing him to appear larger than life. Unintimidated, I merely stared back evenly.

    "No. I don''t think they can be trusted. But they can be used."

    "Used?" Regis''s lips curled into a smile. "Interesting."

    I nodded and took a deep breath. "Therefore I propose that I meet up with them, see what they have to say."

    "Good. But I need my son and daughter-in-law back if you don''t mind¡­"

    "About that." I raised a hand. "I plan to send my regiment back ahead of me, along with the prisoners-of-war, as well as to escort Prince Richard and Dragon Princess Yuan, to Helsfort. The heroes, I mean Evelyn''s Chosen, wish to meet me alone."

    Regis frowned. "What if this is a trap?"

    I shrugged. "Then I''ll kill them."

    "Ha ha ha ha ha!" Regis burst out laughing. Around me, my officers were staring at me, impressed by my bravado. Elia had an "as expected of the Major!" expression while Daniel was smiling wryly. Leaning back in his throne, Regis''s hologram seemed to flicker for a moment as he contemplated, and then he nodded. "I''ll leave it to your discretion, Major."

    I saluted. "Thank you, your majesty."

    "Good job securing the prisoners," Regis added. "They will serve as a good bargaining chip with the Imperium of Man."

    "I certainly hope so."

    Despite Regis''s optimism, I had misgivings about that. The heroes were not known to be merciful. I wouldn''t be surprised if Kobayashi ordered the human kingdoms to abandon them to their fate and refuse to compromise. From what Major Kracauer told me, Kobayashi and the heroes didn''t seem to consider the soldiers'' lives as important at all.

    The whole NPC treatment, huh¡­no wonder Takeda Tetsuo and a bunch of classmates were beginning to rebel against Kobayashi''s tyranny. I wondered if it would be enough, though. Somehow I didn''t feel optimistic at all¡­

    "Good luck, Major. Don''t do anything reckless. We still need you."

    "If these Evelyn''s Chosen are telling the truth, we can''t afford to miss such an opportunity to drive away the humans and achieve peace."

    "Peace?" Elia echoed, confused.

    "Well¡­" Regis sighed. "I''m not sure if I should be telling you this, but I would prefer to stop the war and compromise rather than exterminate the humans. I personally have enough of bloodshed and violence. Genocide and utter annihilation of the foe is just counterproductive, wasteful and completely inefficient. I would rather invest resources in improving our economy, technology and agriculture to feed our burgeoning population."

    "We can try to emulate the humans'' policy and attempt to eradicate the human race from the continent, but I doubt we''ll succeed. We''ll only drive them into hiding and cause the resistance to grow stronger underground, making it difficult to weed them out or allow for negotiations. I think a peaceful coexistence will benefit us both."

    "I agree, your majesty."

    Regis smiled. "I''m glad you do, Major. Far too many demon nobles disagree with me. I''ve persuaded them about the expensive and exorbitant costs of pursuing a war of total annihilation, and even the most aggressive of them have come to see things my way." He then scowled. "I don''t understand the humans¡­"

    "That''s because the Evelyn''s Chosen who is tyrannically imposing his will on them has no knowledge of economy and finances, and is just delusional in his treatment of this whole thing as a game," I replied bitterly.

    "You seem to know this Evelyn''s Chosen very well," Regis remarked with a raised eyebrow. I responded with a bitter smile.

    "I was from the same world as them. They tried to kill me. That''s why I don''t trust them, but at least the people attempting to negotiate with us isn''t part of the group who tried to kill me. That said, they just stood by and watched¡­so I can''t trust them either."

    "Fair enough." Regis nodded. "I''ll be counting on you, Major Tanaka. If these nine Evelyn''s Chosen succeed in overthrowing that supposedly tyrannical group, you think they will be open to peaceful coexistence?"

    "I believe it''s worth a shot."

    "So do I," Regis agreed. "It''s decided then. I''ll be seeing you then, Major. Richard, Yuan, please return home safely."

    "Yes, Father."

    "We will, Father-in-law."

    With that, Regis winked at them before the hologram winked out. The royal couple, who had been quiet the entire time, turned to me.

    "Are you sure about this, Major?"

    "Yeah." I turned to Elia and Daniel. "I''ll be counting on you two to escort them back. Resupply, rest up, and then wait for my return. Well, I suspect his majesty will post you guys to another mission soon enough, so I''ll meet up with you guys somewhere on the battlefield."

    "You won''t be returning to Helsfort directly after meeting with that rebel group of Evelyn''s Chosen?" Elia asked, surprised.

    "I don''t know. If this turns into a trap, it might turn out to take more time than we initially anticipated. But don''t worry." I quickly raised my hands to assure the alarmed Elia and Daniel. "If I''m by myself, I''ll be escape more easily."

    "That''s true," Daniel agreed, a little appeased. Having seen me fight Miyazawa Miyako and Sakaguchi Seiji, he had a lot more confidence in my abilities. "I doubt there''s nothing in Restia that can kill the Major."

    "Oi, please don''t tempt fate."

    "Heh." Gio chuckled at our exchange. I shared a smile with the veteran and then took another deep breath.

    "All right. You guys know what to do. Make sure the royal couple get home safely. I''ll be counting on you."

    "You too, Major. Stay safe."

    "Yeah."

    "Excuse me."

    All of us jumped when Lilith suddenly spoke up. We turned to watch the Vampire Queen, who had remained so silent throughout the entire meeting that we had forgotten that she was present. She was smiling sinisterly.

    "About that, I would like to offer a gift. As thanks for saving my domain from the humans and assisting me in the fight against Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "There''s no need for that. It''s only natural that we help our allies."

    I wasn''t sure I wanted any reward or gift from Lilith. We had helped her to secure her return to the alliance, after all.

    "Yes, and you''ve taken quite some losses in the process, I heard."

    A couple of tanks and their crews, plus a few infantry when they held the ridge. Minor casualties, and the tanks were salvaged and repaired. The tech-priest engineers were confident that they could restore both tanks before the week was over.

    Not only that, we were due for several fresh reinforcements and tank crews when we returned to the capital, according to Daniel anyway.

    "Your regiment seems understrength¡­just two companies. I would like to help you bump it up to a full battalion. I just happen to have a fresh company of heavy infantry who needs experience. They''ll be returning with the bulk of my forces, and I would like to assign them to you."

    "That''s¡­"

    "We can''t¡­"

    Elia and Daniel began, but Lilith shook her head.

    "It would benefit us both. They get to learn from your Helsfort regimental doctrines and tactics, and you get to learn from theirs. In the long run, the alliance will need soldiers from different regiments and domains working together. This is a chance for that."

    Elia and Daniel exchanged glances before they turned to me. I spread my hands helplessly.

    "Why are you looking at me? I mean, I''ll be going off as an independent operative to negotiate with the breakaway Evelyn''s Chosen. The job of integrating them into our battalion will fall to you both. Can you guys do it?"

    "Yeah, I can," Daniel replied immediately. Elia bristled.

    "They''re an infantry company. That means my company will be helping them."

    "Does it matter? We''re all from the same battalion."

    "Then it''s decided." I bowed to Lilith, who was looking amused at my two senior officers'' bickering. "We''ll take you up on that offer."

    *

    I climbed up the ridge effortlessly, hauling myself up and throwing my body over the cliff. Flipping my body in midair, I landed on my feet before surveying the area.

    "This is where Hoshizaki told me to meet her, eh?"

    I raised my communication device. Now that I was here, I should send her a message and inform her. She should arrive soon to pick me up.

    I might be too early, though.

    There was no one on the cliff. That was understandable ¨C there was no reason why Hoshizaki would come early and wait for me. Besides, wasn''t it natural for guys to wait for girls? Then again, that was quite the sexist sentiment.

    "Still, best to contact her and let her know I''m here."

    I was about to pull the communication device from my mobile storage when a bloodthirsty aura suddenly sent me on alert. Twisting around, I caught sight of somebody towering above me. Dressed in a fancy blue coat and wielding dual sickles, a young man with a surgical mask and long, dark blue hair stood before me.

    Aoyama Aoi. If I recalled, he was one of the three healers in my class and part of the surviving heroes.

    "So you''re the trespasser," he hissed, his sickles glowing with mana. At his killing intent, I jumped back and drew my staff.

    He''s not here to talk to me, I realized with a scowl. Just when I thought Hoshizaki represented a chance that not all of my former classmates were murderous maniacs out to kill me for the most absurd of reasons, yet another psycho popped out with the intention of slaying me. My list of revenge targets just never ended, huh?

    However¡­

    "Trespassers?"

    What the hell was this guy talking about? Additionally, how did Aoyama know I was here? Did Hoshizaki betray me or something? Did she lure me into an ambush? As I suspected ¨C and Regis was right ¨C this was a trap!

    "Did you think you can just stray into the territory of the Iron Knights and walk away without consequences?" Aoyama growled.

    "Iron Knights?" I repeated, bewildered. "What the hell is that?"

    Well, maybe it''s his class, I thought. Speaking of which, I had the ability Absolute Appraisal, so I might as well use it. Activating it, I scanned his stats.

    Name: Aoyama Aoi

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Witch Doctor/Hero

    Special Abilities: Healing, Voodoo

    Witch Doctor? That explained why he had healing abilities. I remembered how Aoyama, along with Midorikawa Midori and Yoshida Yume, were the three healers in class, but it did make sense that they were different types of healers.

    The Voodoo ability sounded ominous. I wasn''t sure I wanted to be hit by anything that constituted that ability. It was sure to contain terrifying curses and the like.

    "I have no idea how a demon like you got here, but I''ll drive you out."

    "Actually, it was¡­"

    I wasn''t able to finish my sentence. I wanted to tell Aoyama that it was Hoshizaki Kozue who told me to meet her here. I wanted to ask him what this Iron Knights thing was all about, given how he was a Witch Doctor and not an Iron Knight. Maybe it was the group that Takeda Tetsuo headed, the one Hoshizaki was a part of. If that was the case¡­

    And there was another point. Aoyama said he would "drive me out" and not "kill me". He didn''t even seem to recognize me. Funnily enough, he seemed to have mistaken me for a demon. Then again, I was currently wearing the military uniform of the Helsfort army under my Redwood jacket, so I could see why he thought I was a demon.

    But damn it, dude! Don''t tell me you don''t remember who I am?!

    Ah, right¡­Aoyama probably doesn''t even know I exist¡­

    Before I could sigh, however, Aoyama raised both his sickles and lunged forward.

    "Whoa!"

    His speed was incredible. I couldn''t even keep up with him. Aoyama was moving so fast I couldn''t follow his movements at all ¨C his body had disappeared into a blur, his sickles flashing toward me so quickly I couldn''t fully parry them with my staff.

    "What the¡­!?"

    I winced, fully expecting his sickles to cut deeply into me. There was no way I could block his sickles with my staff at all ¨C he was too fast. Like Sakaguchi Seiji, I was too slow and cumbersome. Fortunately, my Redwood Robe protected me.

    But at this rate, he might really cut through my defensive layers¡­!

    "Doombolt!"

    I blasted the ground with a destructive spell, blowing the place up and forcing Aoyama to dodge. With such superhuman speed, it was far too easy for Aoyama to dodge. Fortunately, in the midst of the explosion, I seized the chance to jump away and put as much distance between myself and my opponent as possible.

    "Huff¡­"

    I checked my condition, especially my Redwood Robe, to make sure it was regenerating properly. Even though he had failed to penetrate my defensive layers, Aoyama had landed a lot of blows on me. I was wary of whatever curses they had, even if they didn''t damage me.

    "?!"

    I blinked, almost unable to believe what I was seeing. The Redwood Robe wasn''t regenerating at all ¨C not because of any curse, but because it didn''t need to. There was no damage, not even a scratch. I didn''t mean my Redwood Robe''s formidable defense was far too powerful for the sickles to even damage it ¨C most likely it was ¨C but even then, with that many attacks, Aoyama should have left traces or signs of attack.

    There was none of that here. In other words, the attacks from his sickles weren''t meant to deliver any physical damage at all.

    I knew it¡­a curse, then? Some Voodoo curse with adverse effects on my body?

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    Checking my status, I tried to see if Aoyama had placed some sort of afflictions on me. Internal damage, poison status, hypnosis, paralysis¡­anything.

    Nope, nothing. There was no sign of any affliction or cursed condition other than a number on my left hand.

    Wait, what?

    "32?"

    I stared at the blue digits on my left hand, which reflected 32 the same way a digital clock or cellphone would.

    "Just another hit and it''ll be over," Aoyama remarked, his green eyes crackling eerily as he waved away the smoke and advanced toward me. I gulped and backed away quickly. Don''t tell me this was some instant-kill curse?

    Another hit¡­so an effect would be placed on me when he delivered the 33rd hit? Let me guess, instant death upon the 33rd hit or something? Was this that sort of curse?

    "Damn it¡­"

    Before he could deliver the killing blow, I had to hurry up and contact Hoshizaki. Though Aoyama was attacking me, strangely enough he didn''t feel as murderous or malicious as my other classmates such as Sakaguchi, Asakura or Miyazawa.

    He wasn''t raving and shouting about how I was a pathetic loser, or how I should die or accept my standing at the bottom of the hierarchy. He was just calmly assessing my condition while remaining wary. I doubted he even remembered that I used to be part of his class.

    If I can just resolve the misunderstanding¡­

    "Get out of here already."

    "¡­eh?"

    I blinked, taken aback when Aoyama appeared right in front of me. He slashed me with his sickle and I staggered back. Yet there was no pain, nothing. Not even a ripple or scratch on the defensive layers of my Redwood Jacket.

    Uh oh.

    I waited, half-expecting to drop dead or something. I glanced at Aoyama, but he had pulled back, looking as if he had accomplished his job.

    "Wait¡­" I called out, but then I felt a lurch. Glancing downward, I saw that my body was disappearing.

    A curse¡­was it sending me straight to the underworld or something?

    "Whoa!"

    I felt vertigo as I was being dragged across time and space, and disorientated, as if I was falling through an infinite place. A second later, I almost collapsed as my feet hit something. Stumbling forward, I blinked and glanced up, peering through my glasses and half-expecting to see demons and the fiery skies of Hell.

    Nope.

    "This is¡­?!"

    It appeared that I was indeed transported elsewhere, but not to Hell. Staring at the gigantic mercenary guild sign that loomed above the huge double doors, I felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu before I realized I recognized this place.

    Somehow I had been transported back to the mercenary guild house in Havia City.

 56 Chapter 56: Return to Havia

    "How did I get here?"

    I gaped at the gigantic mercenary guild signboard that was held aloft at the front of the building, trying to absorb what had just happened.

    Ah, right. Aoyama did something¡­

    Everything became clear now. Aoyama''s curse was a transportation curse that forcibly teleported the victim to a faraway place. I didn''t know what the conditions of the curse was, or how it selected what kind of place it teleported me to, but at least he didn''t dump me into an abyss or right into the middle of an ocean. Or the heart of a volcano.

    Then again, Aoyama never meant to kill me.

    He was a healer, so fighting or killing wasn''t his forte. I sighed in relief. This was a tremendous change from the usual former classmates I had encountered, who did everything within their power to kill me.

    "Well, I probably need to contact Elia and Daniel and let them know what happened¡­"

    I was about to take out my communication device when the door to the guild house suddenly swung open. A few mercenaries stepped out, laughing. They stopped to stare at me curiously, but no more than a second, then they were out on the streets where they resumed their jovial conversation. Boisterous laughter punctuated the air behind me.

    "Ah, Tanaka!"

    A familiar voice shouted out from within the building, drawing my attention even as I glanced at the exiting mercenaries. I didn''t recognize any of them, but I did recognize the owner of this new voice that called out to me.

    Hughes waved and gestured for me to enter the guild house.

    "Oh, it''s been a while! Glad to see you make it back safely!"

    "Yeah. Thanks for the promotion, and for giving me access to the mobile storage system and everything."

    "It''s nothing." Hughes grinned as I approached the counter. Placing a glass that he was wiping into the shelf, he turned back to appraise me. "It makes sense for us to reward a member of our guild who has been exceeding expectations and performing very well."

    "I didn''t do that much, though¡­"

    Hughes laughed at that. "Still as humble as ever. Anyway, I''m glad to see you''re back safely. So what did the heroes want with you?"

    "Nothing much." I shrugged. "In the end, I didn''t see them."

    That was a lie, but there was no point telling Hughes the truth. What, there was no way I could casually tell him that I killed two of the three heroes who came after me, and helped Lilith Scarlet kill the third one.

    "Still, you''re really moving up the ranks." Hughes checked his computer-like device and conjured up a holographic screen. "We actually recorded you killing a demon noble and completing that quest you took a few days ago."

    "Uh, yeah. That quest, huh?"

    "You''re now silver-ranked!"

    "So I can call myself Goblin Slayer now. All I need is full-body armor."

    Hughes looked at me strangely. "Well, you can continue to slay goblins, but being a silver-ranked mercenary, I''m sure you have much better targets to go after. Like the demon noble you killed. Make sure you slay more of them."

    "Ha ha¡­that was a one-time thing." I laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of my head. I couldn''t possibly tell Hughes that I was allied with the demons and actually working under the current Demon Lord right now. "I would much rather not face them again."

    "I don''t blame you. Must have been quite the tough battle, huh?"

    "¡­yeah." I nodded quietly and looked away, unable to meet Hughes''s eyes. "But I think we can coexist peacefully."

    "If the heroes aren''t so adamant on exterminating the demons, I suppose we can. But their policy now is total annihilation, so it is what it is. Still, if you don''t want to look for demon nobles, I won''t force you. Speaking of which, I have an even better target for you right now¡­which is why I''ve called you in here."

    "Hmm?"

    I stared at Hughes, who had a troubled expression on his face.

    "Most of our high-ranked mercenaries are out in the frontlines, fighting the demons in Helsreach and the borders," the bald, dark-skinned guy continued wearily. "So we''re in dire need of strong mercenaries right now."

    "Whatever for?"

    Hughes regarded me seriously. "Just yesterday, a crimson dragon swooped in and attacked an armored convoy that was escorting the royal princess back to Havia. It made off with her. You know, the usual dragons abducting princesses story¡­except that the heroes are mostly on the frontlines so they won''t be able to return for a while to help out. There''s only one in the capital right now, and I doubt she''ll try to tackle the dragon alone, even if she''s a hero. That''s why we''re trying to find high-ranked, powerful mercenaries ¨C to help her form a band."

    "¡­I see."

    This wasn''t good. I didn''t want to work with a hero. Especially if she turned out to be one of my former classmates, she would just attempt to kill me like all the others. Then again, if I disguised myself, this might be the perfect opportunity to eliminate her as part of my plan for revenge. Or I could just get by without killing her.

    My real targets were Kobayashi and Yamada. Honestly, as long as the others left me alone, I would be happy leaving them alone. Most of the people who tried to throw me off the Bifrost thing had already been eliminated ¨C Tsukishima, Asakura, Samejima, Kijima, Sakaguchi, and Miyazawa. The rest were just¡­bystanders.

    I didn''t blame them for not trying to help me. There was a very real risk that the ten or so people who threw me off the transportation spell would turn their attention to whoever tried to help me and throw them off along with me. The rest had no obligation to die along with me.

    "I''ll send you the details. Go meet up with the hero and save the princess! Who knows, she might fall for you in the process¡­our very own rising star!"

    "¡­" I didn''t dignify that nonsense with a reply. Instead, I just nodded. "Yeah, I will see what I can do. I hope the dragon hasn''t killed her yet."

    "From intelligence reports, not yet. Even if ¨C worst case scenario ¨C the dragon has already killed her, then the hero will take revenge on the dragon. So don''t worry about it."

    "Understood."

    I saluted and then left the guild house. Suppressing a sigh, I headed to the Blue Moon Inn to get a room. I was going to need a private space to contact my subordinates and perhaps Regis Gremory, so that I could update them on what had happened. I didn''t know if I wanted to help out with the dragon thing.

    More importantly, I had to find a way back to Helsreach or Helsfort to meet up with my battalion. I couldn''t waste my time on mercenary activities. I needed to help my demonic allies fight off the so-called heroes, and then track down Kobayashi and Yamada.

    Then I would kill them both personally.

    However, before I could reach the inn, my communication device buzzed.

    "Whoa!"

    I fumbled with my smartphone-shaped communication device as it rang incessantly. Swiping the green button, I stepped back and watched as Hoshizaki Kozue''s apologetic face appeared on screen. Behind her was an ashamed Aoyama Aoi.

    "Tanaka-kun! Are you all right?!"

    "I''m still alive, it seems."

    "I''m so sorry!" Hoshizaki bowed, almost in panic. "Even though I told you to meet me there, at the Hanging Cliff, I wasn''t there in time to stop Aoyama-kun from attacking you!"

    "My deepest apologies." Aoyama stepped forward and bowed deeply, his body bending at a perfect right angle and his long hair falling over his face. Shame and guilt filled his voice. "I thought you were an intruder."

    "How can you not recognize Tanaka-kun!? He''s from the same class as us!"

    Hoshizaki sounded enraged as she struck Aoyama.

    "I have no excuses. Please allow me to express my deepest apologies once again. I''ll endeavor to rectify this mistake of mine."

    "No need for that¡­" I sighed and shook my head. "Question is¡­what should we do now? And is Aoyama¡­?"

    "Ah, that''s right. I should introduce you. Aoyama is one of the Eight Guardians ¨C he''s a rebel like me. You can trust him."

    "Uh, well¡­it''s a little difficult for Tanaka-kun to trust me after what I just did to him." Aoyama sounded really apologetic. He glanced at me, his eyes sincere. "Furthermore, it was very rude of me to forget who you are¡­"

    "It''s been six months, and we never talked to each other much in class anyway."

    "Even then, there''s still no excuses¡­"

    "Right," I cut him off. "But apologies and guilt aren''t going to solve anything. What should I do now? Where are you guys? Do I travel back to Haemorage or should I head to Helsreach to meet up with you guys?"

    "You''re in Havia right now, aren''t you?" Aoyama asked, studying my location with keen curiosity. "Interesting. I meant to teleport you outside of the Iron Knights'' territory, but somehow you''ve been transported all the way to the capital of Legnica."

    "What the hell? What were you thinking?!" Hoshizaki yelled. Aoyama lowered his head shamefully again.

    "I¡­don''t know. I swear, this is completely unintentional. My ability only allows for me to teleport the victim to a random location. I don''t have control over it. But even I didn''t think you would be transported so far away."

    "I guess you really wanted to distance yourself from me," I remarked. Both Hoshizaki and Aoyama stared at me, and I cleared my throat. "Anyway, just wait for me. I''ll be there soon enough. A week or two, if all goes well."

    "Havia is too far away." Hoshizaki groaned, and then she suddenly lit up. "No, wait¡­that''s right! Nanaka-chan is in Havia right now! I''ll contact her right away." She beamed excitedly. "Tanaka-kun, you should meet up with Nanaka-chan and follow her for now. She''s one of us, one of the Eight Guardians. She''ll keep you safe from the rest of the class and bring you to us eventually."

    "Nagano-san said she has some business to settle in the capital, though," Aoyama pointed out hesitantly.

    "It''s still better than having Tanaka-kun attempt to travel to our base on his own. Plus he needs the protection."

    I didn''t need anyone to protect me¡­but it was truth that it would be troublesome if Kobayashi and the rest found out I was in the capital. I still didn''t trust this whole Eight Guardians thing, but I decided to gamble on them. If it paid off, I would be able to exact my revenge on Kobayashi and Yamada as well as humiliate them.

    "All right. Where''s Nagano-san?"

    "Hmm¡­I''ll contact her. Then I''ll let you know. Don''t wander off carelessly!"

    "Yes, ma''am."

    Sighing, I switched off my communication device after Hoshizaki hung up and waited listlessly outside the inn.

    *

    "Uh, here, huh?"

    I ended up coming to the Magic Academy in Havia City. I had no idea why Nagano Nanaka was in the magic academy, but I kept my counsel to myself after Hoshizaki contacted me again to inform me where to meet her.

    Hope this isn''t a trap¡­

    Gulping, I took a step through the gates. The guards at the gates pointed their magical staffs at me, getting ready to cast spells to blow me off the ground.

    "Who goes there?"

    "¡­me."

    Stupid question. I mean, who else? You?

    The guards gritted their teeth and glared at me. The first one stepped forward in what seemed like an attempt to intimidate. I found it more amusing than scary, especially after killing a bunch of heroes and leading a regiment of demons.

    "What''s your name?"

    See? Asking the right question wasn''t difficult.

    "Tanaka." I produced my mercenary identification. "I''m here to meet someone. I believe she should have authorized it¡­"

    "He''s with me."

    I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard Nagano''s voice. She stepped out of the building, dressed in simple and feminine white robes, her long pink hair flowing to her waist, tied as twin tails. She nodded at the guards, who withdrew deferentially.

    "Hero-sama!"

    "Our deepest apologies, Nagano-sama!"

    "Argh, don''t be so dramatic." Nagano rolled her eyes before she wave toward me. "Over here, Tanaka-kun."

    "Yes, Hero-sama."

    "Don''t you start too!"

    "Sorry, ma''am."

    Nagano suppressed a sigh and whirled around as I approached her. She led me along the open corridor and into what seemed like an office. Apparently she was the equivalent of a university professor here, possessing her own office. Opening the door, she bade me to enter. I stepped into the fairly large space, taking care not to step on scattered books.

    "Make yourself comfortable."

    "I''ll try."

    Honestly, there wasn''t any space for me to sit or anything. I couldn''t find a chair. In addition to books were dozens of weapons strewn about the messy floor. Several were glowing, some were inert and others were emanating soothing auras.

    "Ah, forgive me. I didn''t have any time to tidy up my office. I spent too much time crafting and forging weapons."

    "Oh, don''t worry about it."

    I watched Nagano navigate her way around her books and scattered weapons to get behind her desk.

    Curious, I activated Absolute Appraisal to check her abilities. With this many weapons, she must be a swordsmith or something.

    Name: Nagano Nanaka

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Blacksmith/Hero

    Special Abilities: Sacred Swordsmith, Barrier

    I was right. Nagano was a swordsmith. Not only could she forge weapons, she could also erect barriers, or so it seemed.

    That''s great¡­maybe I can ask her to repair the broken sword that I took from Minamoto Kureha!

    The Sword Saint''s legendary sword remained in my inventory, broken and useless. The blacksmith in Millennial Town, Smith, told me to approach the Sacred Swordsmith to repair this sword. And right now I was standing in front of her!

    "Uh¡­Nagano-san, do you mind repairing a sword for me?"

    "¡­? Sure, but it''ll have to wait until after the mission. Repairing and forging weapons take quite some time, so I will prefer to do it back in our home base, and after we rescue the princess. I can lend you an alternative weapon in the meantime¡­"

    "Oh, no need for that." I shook my head. "I already have an alternative weapon. That''s fine. It can wait."

    "If you say so." Nagano brushed several books on forging and blacksmithing off her chair so that she could sit on it. She pointed toward another chair that had an axe lying on top of it. "You can put the weapon to one side. Sit."

    "Yes, ma''am."

    I obediently placed the axe on the floor and sat down, then waited for Nagano.

    "I don''t know if you already know this, but the capital''s been in an uproar after the royal convoy got attacked and the dragon made off with the princess. Since I''m the only hero currently in the capital, I''ve been asked to rescue her. Takeda-kun wants to meet you as quickly as possible, but he will have to wait. I can''t say no, especially after all the things the people of Legnica have done for us. In the meantime, you should¡­"

    "I can help," I piped in, taking Nagano by surprise. "I might not be a hero, but I''m still a mercenary who''s been asked to assist you in this quest. I hope I won''t get in your way, though¡­"

    "Hmm, that''s fine. Since you''re summoned from Earth too, you should theoretically be better than any of the other mercenaries or human warriors in Legnica." Nagano scratched her head. "That said, the opponent is a dragon, so it''ll be a tough battle¡­even for me. I would prefer for the other heroes to return and form a party with them, but I don''t know how long the princess can hold out for. We ideally want to move out as soon as possible."

    "So what do you plan to do?"

    "Uh, well¡­" Nagano shrugged sheepishly. "I''ve been looking for competent parties. But I don''t know anyone well enough¡­I spent too much time with the rest of the class and didn''t really acquaint myself with any of the normal people in Legnica."

    "About that¡­" I rubbed my chin as I contemplated for a moment. "I think I might be able to help you with that. I know a party that might be able to help us."

    "You do?!" Nagano sounded extremely relieved as she leaned forward, scattering the books and weapons on her desk. "Please call them! I really appreciate it! I''ll leave the recruiting of members to you. I''ll start preparing for the mission. Don''t worry about transport and logistics. I will handle all of that. Just make sure we have a party who is willing to follow us!"

    "O¡­okay."

    I was taken aback by her enthusiastic response. Evidently the heroes had neglected personal relations with the normal people of Legnica, though Nagano and the Iron Knights didn''t appear to do it to the extreme end of treating them as NPCs like Asakura and Sakaguchi did.

    We exchanged contact information, and then I stood up and left the office to begin my search as soon as possible. First, I decided to head to the guild house. I would need to ask Hughes about the Pure Guardians and hoped they were available.

    The orgy-party is the only people I can think of¡­they might be young and lusty, but we''ve worked together before and I think they can be trusted.

    Scratching my head, I crossed my fingers and prayed hard that they weren''t currently out on a mission. That would be disastrous. Telling Nagano that I could recruit a party for the quest, only to fail because of the exact same reason why we couldn''t ask the other former classmates for help.

    Speaking of which, I wasn''t sure I wanted to work with any of our former classmates, the Iron Knights being the exception of course. Hoshizaki, Aoyama and Nagano didn''t seem to bear any ill intent toward me ¨C at the very least, they were the first people from our class who didn''t try to murder me right from the onset.

    But I couldn''t say the same for the rest of the class¡­

    Please¡­Hughes, please tell me the Pure Guardians are still around¡­

    While praying desperately, a familiar figure strolled past me.

    "¡­"

    Wait, what?

    I blinked and glanced over my shoulder. That outfit, with the red and black cape, wizard uniform that sported a white blouse and black miniskirt, long, golden hair with a pretty hair ornament, and noble bearing¡­

    That was Alicia, wasn''t she?

    I scratched my head and turned away. Nah, it had to be a mistake. Why would I conveniently bump into Alciia at such an opportune timing? Furthermore, I wasn''t sure I wanted to call out to her. If it turned out to be a mistake, it would be extremely embarrassing. Already there were a bunch of female students staring at me and whispering under their breaths.

    Those hostile gazes stung me. They had already made the judgement that I was a stalker, and at any moment they were ready to run for the guards. They couldn''t make me feel any more unwelcome. It was best for me to return to the guild house as quickly as possible.

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    Right, and I also need to contact Elia and Daniel.

    Wow, why was life so complicated? Not only was I bouncing between human and demons, I also had to placate both of them. Fortunately, Regis Gremory was already aware of the Iron Knights and I had received approval to contact them for an alliance.

    At least I''ve succeeded in that¡­

    Now to cement the alliance I should help Nagano out with the dragon and the princess. The Iron Knights ¨C or Nagano at least would owe me one. It wouldn''t hurt to have one of the legendary heroes in my debt, would it?

    As I proceeded toward the gate, the girl who walked past me suddenly stopped. Turning around, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at me.

    "Hey, why are you in this school?"

    I turned around to gape at her, taken aback by her outburst. But any retort in my throat died when I confirmed that I wasn''t mistaken.

    "Huh?"

    I knew it. That student who walked past me was Alicia.

 57 Chapter 57: Academy Affair

    "Long time no see," I greeted Alicia with a wave of my hand. However, she merely glared at me coldly and folded her arms.

    "Hey, why are you here?"

    "Uh, one of the staff requested to meet me."

    "Hmph." Alicia snorted in disbelief. "Who?"

    "Nagano Sensei." Not wanting to be pressed for details, I turned the tables on her with questions of my own. "And you? Why are you here?"

    "Of course I''ll be here. I''m a student. Obviously."

    If her voice had a temperature, it would have plunged below zero by now. I didn''t rise to the bait, however.

    "I see¡­"

    "So¡­which noble family do you come from?"

    I was a vampire lord in Morten, and a major in the demon army. A demon noble, to be honest, but I doubted telling Alicia the truth would help my cause. So I mumbled something vague.

    "The Tanaka clan has just recently been established¡­elevated to the rank of nobility as recognition by his majesty for my services in the war."

    "A newly elevated noble?" Alicia sniffed in disdain. "Hmm¡­"

    I studied her even as she scrutinized me icily. If Alicia was here, then where did she find the time to go on mercenary jobs?

    "Aren''t you supposed to be a mercenary as well?"

    "I''m different from you!"

    Offended, Alicia placed both her hands on her hips and glared at me.

    "Even though I am a mercenary, I also happen to be a noble! Anyway, a lot happened and now I''m back here."

    "I see."

    That explained everything. The last time we went on a mercenary job together, she brought along a luxurious, expensive carriage. It made sense now that I knew she was a noble¡­that she was from a rich family. Normal people simply couldn''t afford traveling around in such an expensive carriage. It also explained why they were all right with allowing me to receive the full reward.

    Well, honestly this had nothing to do with me so I decided to focus on the problem at hand. This was a stroke of good luck.

    "Ah, speaking of which, there is something I need to ask you."

    "Hmmm? What is it?"

    Alicia was glaring at me suspiciously, but I refused to flinch under her hostile glare. The other students were sending us strange glances, but I ignored them.

    "You''re still a mercenary, right?"

    "Huh? Yes, but what of it?"

    "I need your help." I smiled as I pushed my glasses up my nose, my lenses sparkling. "I need assistance to slay a dragon."

    "A dragon¡­?" Alicia had lost all hostility and was looking all puzzled. "What''s that about? Ah! Don''t tell me¡­it''s a mission to save her highness from the dragon?"

    "That''s right." I nodded eagerly. "Right now, Hero-sama is trying to assemble a party, and she tasked me for recruitment. That''s why, if you and your boyfriend¡­"

    Alicia suddenly screamed, all flustered. Her cheeks turned red and she waved her hands around desperately.

    "Hmm¡­"

    Thanks to reading Tanaka the Wizard, I knew what was happening. So I mischievously repeated.

    "You and your boyfriend¡­"

    "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAWAAAAAAAAAAAHWAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    I recoiled and raised both hands in surrender, cold perspiration dripping off my face as Alicia shrieked in a deafening volume. Bloody hell, girl, were you trying to burst my eardrums or something? Even my Redwood jacket couldn''t protect me from such a vicious sonic assault!

    "Oh shut the fuck up¡­" I rolled my eyes and sighed, clutching my ears.

    Alicia was breathing heavily, her face completely flushed crimson. Not wanting to listen to another of her screeching, I pretended to resign.

    "Yeah, yeah, I get it. It''s a secret."

    Unfortunately, Alicia had kicked up such a commotion that she was drawing stares from all the other magic students.

    "Isn''t that Alicia Clarence-sama and¡­that boy, he doesn''t look like he''s from our school?"

    "He''s not wearing our uniform."

    "Oh my, is there a problem? Is that guy bothering you?"

    "She''s the one bothering me!" I yelled indignantly at the other students. Alicia gritted her teeth, suddenly realizing that she was the center of attention. Then she grabbed my hand all of a sudden and yanked with all her might.

    "Whoa!"

    I managed to dig my feet in and use my superior physical strength to prevent her from pulling me away, but she didn''t seem satisfied. Using both hands, she tightened her grip on my wrist, leaving angry red marks on my skin.

    "Hey you¡­come with me for a bit¡­"

    "I don''t wanna."

    "Don''t argue!" Alicia snapped as she dragged me away from the courtyard. This time I just went with the flow. "Just come with me!"

    The next thing I knew, I was suddenly back inside the academy, under extravagant archways and marble pillars.

    "Um¡­"

    I glanced up at the ridiculously expensive and luxurious interior of the academy, thinking about how it was such a waste of money.

    BANG!

    I wasn''t given much time to entertain such idle thoughts, for Alicia was executing a kabedon on me. Eh? Weren''t our roles reversed? Shouldn''t it be the guy banging his hand against the wall while cornering the girl?

    Not to mention Alicia was using both hands, trapping me between them and the pillar so as to prevent me from escaping.

    Na?ve. If I really wanted to escape, you wouldn''t be left unscathed. But I was aware that I couldn''t solve everything with brute force so I just played along for now.

    "Don''t mention Alan!" Alicia pleaded desperately, perspiration running down her pale face. "Especially not at school!"

    "So can I mention him somewhere else?"

    I just enjoyed seeing Alicia squirm. She glared at me, and I shook my head.

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    "Speaking of your handsome boyfriend, I have a job for him. We''re a bit shorthanded, so I want to recruit him. He''s much better to work with than you are."

    "I told you not to mention him!" Alicia shouted as she closed her arms on either side of me, almost as if she wanted to crush me.

    "Then how the hell am I supposed to recruit him?"

    "Who cares about that right now?!"

    Lowering her hands, Alicia backed away weakly, her face red and anxious. I could see that her arms were trembling.

    "If¡­if our relationship is exposed, then¡­then, Alan will¡­"

    That didn''t sound good.

    "¡­will what, exactly? I mean, I kind of get that it''s a secret affair and all¡­"

    I didn''t understand this whole noble business, social standings and statuses or hierarchies. A student from modern Japan couldn''t possibly follow some medieval or Victorian or industrial revolution era culture and social norms.

    "That''s right!" Alicia snapped, and then she timidly lowered her head. "Something wrong with that?"

    "No¡­"

    I sighed and shook my head. Honestly, who Alicia had a secret romantic affair with was absolutely none of my business.

    "More importantly¡­"

    "Keeping our affair a secret is more important!"

    Fair enough. I was doing this on purpose to tease you. Truth be told, I already suspected that the moment she started panicking and screaming about. That was why I went along with the whole kabedon and drama thing.

    It was just so fun to tease her.

    "So who is he?" I asked curiously. Alicia was a noble, and Alan looked like he was of quite high pedigree as well, so why did they have to keep their relationship a secret?

    "He''s a knight who belongs to the order of knights. He went on a mercenary mission with me."

    "I see."

    No, actually I don''t see. A knight who belongs to the order of knights? What the fuck did that mean? Tautology, much? Wouldn''t it be more useful to tell me which order he was from? Order of Knights of Blood? Order of Rose? Order of the Martyred Sisters?

    "Wait, so why do you have to keep a noble''s relationship with a knight a secret?"

    "Are you dumb? If they find out that a knight is having a secret affair with a noble, he will be kicked out of the order and stripped of his rank, title and achievements!"

    "Uh, yeah¡­I''m asking why? Isn''t a knight basically a noble?"

    "No, not necessarily! Alan is still a relatively new knight. He needs to rise higher into the ranks before my father approves of our relationship!"

    "Right." I didn''t care for all these politics but I wasn''t here to start a social revolution or whatever. Instead, I focused on the issue at hand. There was still another thing that puzzled me. "What about Mistress-san?"

    "Mistress?"

    "Erm¡­no¡­I meant Sophia or whatever she was called."

    While I frantically tried to explain, Alicia stepped back and nodded.

    "Ah, you mean Sophia. She belongs to the order of magical knights. Despite her age, she''s skilled enough to be the vice-captain of her division. Even I got saved by her a few times¡­"

    Placing her hands on her hips, Alicia spoke smugly and chuckled. I was at a loss for words. That wasn''t something you should be proud of¡­

    Whatever, this is stupid¡­

    I could roughly build a picture in my mind now and guess what was going on, especially since I had read Tanaka the Wizard.

    A noble lady and a knight. In other words, some sort of Romeo and Juliet love story about forbidden romance.

    And then there was the addition of a mistress, a second lady, to spice things up. Alan was such a stud¡­that said, I wasn''t sure what I made of this situation. On one hand, I was inevitably jealous, but on the other, I didn''t envy Alan''s position when things got pretty complicated. Handling one girl was bad enough, but two?

    Nah, not the kind of drama my heart could withstand.

    Still, I was curious about this whole situation. Was there some sort of goal behind their decision to take mercenary missions together? Or was this solely for entertaining the self-centered daughter of some nobility?

    Yeah¡­no matter how I looked at it, they made a party just to have threesomes. That was the whole reason why they banded together.

    But will a party formed for the sole purpose of sex really be useful in an actual battle? And not just any battle but a rescue mission against a powerful dragon?

    Suddenly I realized I had made a terrible mistake in approaching this orgy-party for help regarding this mission.

    "Hey!"

    I snapped out of my thoughts as Alicia''s angry voice pierced into my ears. Blinking, I jolted and stared at the glaring Alicia.

    "Hey! Are you listening?"

    "No, I wasn''t." I honestly didn''t want to listen to Alicia''s voice if I didn''t have to.

    "So what did you mean by slaying a dragon?"

    "Exactly what it means. And you already know, right? It''s to rescue the princess, of course."

    "I know that! But we just have to rescue the princess, right? Why do we need to slay the dragon? Just grab her highness and make a run for it!"

    "You make it sound so easy." I sighed and shook my head. This was why amateurs were always amateurs. "What if the dragon gives chase? You think it''s going to just let us walk in and take the princess?"

    "That¡­"

    "Do you think we can outrun a dragon? That has wings and can fly?"

    "No, I¡­"

    "Therefore the best course of action is to slay it, right? That will give us the highest chances of success in saving her highness."

    "Is¡­that so?"

    A bead of perspiration rolled down Alicia''s cheek as she stroked her chin and considered my explanation. Then she suddenly gained a bit of confidence and smugly placed her hands on her hips to boast.

    "True enough. If you''re hunting a dragon, then you''ll need at least someone of my level."

    "Indeed."

    I made sure to mask the sarcasm in my voice. True to form, Alicia didn''t possess a bullshit detector.

    "Anyway, as I said, Hero-sama will be joining us for this mission. One of the heroes, Nagano Nanaka."

    "Huh? Nagano Nanaka-sama?! She''s participating in this mission?!"

    "Yes," I confirmed. "She''s handling the preparations as we speak."

    "Hmm."

    Alicia pondered for a while, contemplating deeply.

    "A dragon¡­I see. Slaying it and rescuing her highness would be a huge achievement, right?"

    "Hmm? Well, yes."

    Honestly, I didn''t know and I didn''t care.

    "Truthfully, if it wasn''t for the case with the high orc, Father wouldn''t have ordered me to come back like this¡­"

    Alicia was sulking, but then her face turned red and she smiled slyly as she giggled sinisterly.

    "But if I were to defeat a dragon then even that hard-headed father of mine will be convinced. He he he¡­which would mean that the three of us can once again¡­"

    Engage in an orgy. I didn''t need to read her mind to tell what she was thinking.

    "The only problem is if her highness ends up falling for Alan too¡­no! I can''t let that happen! Even if it''s her highness, I won''t allow her to take Alan away from me!"

    Right. That was so going to be your priority. Groaning inwardly, I wondered if we were really going to be all right.

    "All right!"

    Standing up straight and placing a hand on her chest haughtily, Alicia beamed radiantly.

    "I will personally lend you my strength! You have no problem with that, right?"

    Honestly, I had a lot of problems with that. I felt as if I had turned into a wizard over the age of 30. Right, Tanaka the Wizard. I was behaving exactly like him right now. Whatever. Maybe I should enjoy my youth and worry about being an ossan later.

    For now, I knew it wasn''t wise to offend the person who was probably the only one in Havia willing to help me (except Nagano).

    So I bowed humbly and lied with a straight face.

    "Of course. You will certainly be a great help. I''ll be counting on you. Just make sure you get Alan-san to come along. You know, the only one who seems remotely¡­reliable."

    Straightening myself, I ran through a few things in my head. There were a few things I needed to plan and see through in advance of this mission.

    I needed to contact Daniel and Elia, inform Regis Gremory of my location and movements, and calculate the time needed to get to the Iron Knights'' fortress. From what I gathered, Nagano had stayed behind because she was under cover. None of the members in Kobayashi''s clique were aware that she was one of the Eight Guardians.

    Not yet, anyway.

    "Well then, I have to prepare as well." Turning slightly in the direction of the gates, I added. "For more details, please ask Hughes-san. I''ll let you know when Nagano-sama is done with her preparations. Get ready to move out tomorrow."

    "Sure! I''ll show you my greatness!"

    More like how pathetic you were. Not that I could voice that out, and I wasn''t Kobayashi or any of my former classmates. I shouldn''t be judging on how pathetic people were or whatever. I had been a victim of bullying.

    I wasn''t going to become a bully myself.

    Speaking of which, I had a feeling that this still wouldn''t be enough, so I reminded Alicia.

    "Again, I remind you, please contact Alan-san and get him to join us. Sophia-san and her magic might be useful as well. We need every person we can get."

    Much more useful than an incompetent fool like you, anyway¡­

    "All right!" Alicia was still behaving haughtily as she placed her hands on her hips again. "Leave it to me!"

    "Yeah, I''m counting on you." Saluting, I then took my leave and left Alicia giggling proudly to herself like an idiot in the middle of the empty corridor.

    I really hope this isn''t a huge mistake¡­

 58 Chapter 58: Airing

    After I was done with the recruitment, I headed back to the Blue Moon Inn for some privacy. Miranda greeted me politely when I showed up on her doorstep.

    "Ah¡­Tanaka-sama! Father! Tanaka-sama has returned!"

    "Oh, been a while, hasn''t it? I haven''t seen you in weeks. I assume you want to rent that same room out again? How long this time?"

    "Tonight, please. I''ll be heading on another mission tomorrow."

    Miranda''s father chuckled as he tossed up a bunch of pasta into the air, stir-frying it to a crisp. "Always the busy man, aren''t you? I heard you got promoted again¡­to silver rank this time, eh? Will you be buying a house soon?"

    "No plans to," I replied, puzzled. Miranda''s father looked a little relieved.

    "Great!" he then coughed when he realized what he had just said. "I mean, then it means you''ll continue relying on our inn for accommodation?"

    "Yeah, whenever I return here."

    I see. So that was why Miranda''s father seemed so relieved. He would continue to retain my patronage and make money off my stays here. Well, that was fine. I was happy living here and I had established quite the intimate relationship with the innkeeper and his daughter. Not in any romantic way, of course. Just business, you understand.

    "You want a steak? The usual?"

    "Yeah. Thanks. Put everything on one charge, please."

    I paid for my room and meal with my mercenary card, only to gape when I saw the amount of gold I had received. Apparently I had made more than enough for my lifetime to safely retire after killing a demon noble.

    "Here''s your steak."

    Barely after I had settled down on my table did Miranda show up with the usual steak with mango habanero sauce. I accepted it gratefully with a slight dip of my head. Miranda responded with a radiant smile and bowed before attending to other customers.

    Unlike most of the girls in my class, Miranda didn''t seem to think I was creepy and disgusting, or if she did, she didn''t openly show those emotions. Most of the reason stemmed from me being her customer and she was making money off me, so obviously it wouldn''t benefit her to be rude to me. Rather, it would be much better and more practical if we developed a professional relationship of mutual reliance.

    Come to think of it, there were quite a few girls in my class who didn''t seem to be that bothered about me being an otaku. Hoshizaki Kozue never really said a bad word about me, but as with Aoyama Aoi, I didn''t talk much to her. Nagano Nanaka was the same. We didn''t know each other enough or interact much for her to have any real impression of me, good or bad. At least neither of them were recoiling and overreacting like Tsukishima, Minamoto, Midorikawa, Yoshida or any of the other girls in our class.

    After my meal, I headed to my usual room, which seemed to have been reserved for me. The innkeeper was too nice. Then again, I remembered how he treated me prior to my promotion to the middle ranks.

    Yeah, I wasn''t na?ve enough to think people were nice for nothing. There was always a catch, wasn''t there?

    Once I made sure there were no bugs or eavesdropping spells casted in my room, or any such devices, I began to set up my stuff. As an extra precaution, I casted a silence spell to hem in any voices or sounds from within the room.

    With that done, I retrieved my communication device.

    "Captain Kratz? Lieutenant Dressia? Do you guys read me?"

    Elia and Daniel appeared as holograms, beamed from my smartphone to the opposite wall. I couldn''t believe I went to another world with my smartphone¡­except that this wasn''t a smartphone by a communication device developed and manufactured in Restia itself.

    "Major?"

    "Sir!"

    The two of them instantly saluted when they saw me. I returned their salute and then relaxed.

    "At ease. Just want to check up on you guys."

    "We''re proceeding toward Helsfort just fine, Major," Elia reported. "We''ve stopped to rest and resupply at one of the fortifications along Ragia Ravine, but we should reach the capital before dusk tomorrow."

    "That''s good. And the royal couple?"

    "Safe, sir." Daniel nodded. "We haven''t been attacked at all."

    I exhaled a sigh of relief. "That''s even better. What about the prisoners-of-war?"

    "They''re slowing our progress because we don''t have enough vehicles to transport them all, but they''re fine."

    "Make sure you feed them well and treat them¡­well, not like guests, but just don''t abuse them or ill-treat them. If any harm falls on them, whoever inflicts it will answer to me."

    "Yes, sir."

    There was no Geneva Convention or equivalent in Restia, but that didn''t mean I couldn''t impose my own set of values. I wasn''t a sadistic monster. These men, like us, laid down their lives to fight for their kingdom with honor, courage and discipline. They didn''t deserve to be abused. I didn''t care what the enemy did to their prisoners, but I wanted to hold the moral high ground above them.

    I wasn''t Kobayashi Kenji, after all.

    "What about you, Major? Have you contacted the¡­human rebels?"

    Elia clearly didn''t know what to call the heroes who had turned against Kobayashi. I guessed rebel was as good a word as any.

    "I have. There seemed to be a mishap and somehow I got transported to Havia. I''m going undercover and will try to blend in and find out more information, but I succeeded in establishing contact with the renegade Evelyn''s Chosen. We''ll spend a few days scouting Legnica and then leave to meet up with the rest of the group."

    "Havia?!"

    Both Elia and Daniel stared at me in disbelief. I shrugged.

    "Yeah, the Evelyn''s Chosen have quite the insane abilities. No wonder we''re losing the war. But don''t worry, we''ll figure something out."

    My two senior officers exchanged anxious glances, but I put on an assuring smile to lift their dwindling morale.

    "Come on, guys. Have a little faith in me. Anyway, as it stands, it might take me months to return to the regiment, so in the meantime I''ll be leaving them in your hands."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "You can count on us, sir!"

    Both Elia and Daniel saluted. I nodded.

    "Well, I''ll contact you guys again if there''s any update, but assume the worst. I hope I''ll be return before a month or so, but whatever happens will happen for a reason."

    "May Hedas watch over you, Major."

    "The Emperor protects," I agreed. "Oh, and one last thing. What do you guys know about the dragons?"

    "Dragons?"

    Elia and Daniel exchanged glances before they shook their heads.

    "Not much."

    "Are they part of the demon alliance?"

    "No. dragons have always been on their own. They''re a type of monster¡­but they''re said to be sentient, so I am not sure if we ever had any dealings with them."

    "They''re known to be arrogant and look down on all other species, whether human or demon," Daniel added after Elia''s explanation.

    "Hmm¡­I see. So if a dragon gets attacked, we won''t do anything?"

    "Most likely we won''t. We have no reason to help them. We''re not allied to them¡­at least not as far as I know of."

    I nodded at Elia''s statement. Daniel seemed to concur as well. This was good news. It meant there wouldn''t be any negative repercussions if I slew a dragon.

    "Thank you. I''ll keep that in mind in case I encounter any dragons while I''m undercover."

    "Understood, Major."

    "Be careful, sir!"

    "I will. You too. Don''t do anything reckless."

    After that, I signed off and the communication device winked off. After that, I browsed through my pitiful contact list and immediately found the person I wanted to call.

    The next person on my list was none other than his majesty himself, Demon Lord Regis Gremory.

    "Oh? This is a surprise. I didn''t expect you to call me."

    The dark-haired Demon Lord watched me from his holographic image, pleasantly surprised. I bowed politely.

    "I apologize for disturbing you at this time of the night, your majesty."

    "Not at all. What''s up?"

    Even though Elia and Daniel had assured me about the dragon, I still needed to confirm that with a higher authority. That, and I also needed to keep my boss updated on my movements and location. So I quickly summed up my ordeal.

    "I see."

    Regis rubbed his chin as he mused, nodding in curiosity.

    "So you''re in Havia right now, and you''ve decided to go under cover?"

    "That''s the gist of it, yes."

    "Interesting. That sounds like a good plan to me."

    Really? It didn''t sound like a good plan to me at all. Rather, wasn''t this just me improvising under strained circumstances?

    "You can find out about the humans'' plans, their movements, logistics, etc. Plus you''ve found one of those renegade Evelyn''s Chosen, haven''t you? By joining her in undercover, you''ll be able to build a rapport with her and her group."

    "I''ll try."

    Regis must have noticed my skepticism, for he offered an explanation. Even though I deferred to him, I refused to offer any guarantees. I didn''t know if I would be able to succeed, after all. That was why I refused to make any promises.

    "About the dragon¡­is it really all right?"

    "Yeah. No problems here. We never have any contact with the dragons, anyway. They''re a sentient, powerful species of monsters who are fiercely independent and isolated from other species and cultures."

    "So they''re not part of the demon alliance."

    "They were never part of any alliance throughout the millennia they''ve been in existence. At least none that I know of."

    Regis''s statement was reassuring. I breathed a sigh of relief and saluted.

    "Thank you, your majesty. Then I''ll play along and slay the dragon along with the Evelyn''s Chosen and human mercenaries."

    "Ah, about that¡­I''m not against it, but you had best be careful."

    Regis looked at me seriously, and I suddenly felt a jolt of unease.

    "Dragons are extremely powerful. Even though we''re not friends or enemies, it''s unwise to provoke even one of them. Each dragon possess the power to level an entire city by itself. Even Evelyn''s Chosen will have difficulty fighting one, never mind slaying it. Do not underestimate dragons, no matter what."

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    "I understand."

    Regis regarded me for a few seconds, and then nodded in satisfaction.

    "Well, I''ve faith in you, Major Tanaka. I know you won''t disappoint me. Hell, I wouldn''t be surprised if you really went and slew a dragon." He grinned. "Though it''s extremely unlikely, if the dragons find out that they''re being killed by the humans and their heroes, they might turn to the demons for help and join the alliance."

    "Really?"

    "No, not really. It''s extremely unlikely. Like I said, dragons have immense pride. They are more likely to declare war on the humans and fight them by themselves ¨C and even then they have the potential to win on their own. We''ll still benefit either way. Unfortunately, I doubt we would ever be that lucky. Most likely they''ll just ignore the killing because even among dragons themselves, they aren''t exactly close or intimate with one another."

    That sounded pretty sad and lonely.

    "I understand, your majesty."

    "Keep me updated, Major. I''m expected great things from you."

    I watched as Regis''s hologram fizzled out, replaced by the empty space of my room. Sighing, I shook my head. Please don''t expect anything from me. I wasn''t that reliable or intelligent or skilled. And I only cared about revenge, not the demon alliance.

    Well, with that matter taken care of, I had one last person to call. Swiping my holographic screen, I came to the next name on my contact list and tapped it to make a call.

    "Excuse me¡­"

    Nagano Nanaka''s visage appeared on screen, looking a little sleepy. From the looks of the hologram, it seemed that she was still in her office, tiredly leaning on her desk as she worked on a weapon or something.

    "Oh, Tanaka-kun! What''s up?"

    She must be wondering why I was calling her at this time of the night. I scratched my head sheepishly.

    "Sorry for waking you up¡­"

    "No, I wasn''t sleeping at all! I just dozed off¡­so it was a good thing you called and woke me up!"

    "Ah, I see. Well, I just wanted to notify you that I''m more or less done recruiting members for the rescue mission."

    While eating downstairs, I received a message from Alicia that she managed to contact Alan and Sophia and convince them to cooperate with us.

    Nagano smiled in relief.

    "That''s good to hear!"

    "Yeah."

    I nodded and hesitated a little.

    "Speaking of which, do you know where the dragon is?"

    "The dragon?"

    "Yeah. I''m not very familiar with the geography of Legnica, so I don''t know where the dragon flew off to. I asked Hughes, but it seems the guild isn''t very well-informed about the details either, so he asked me to contact you instead."

    "Right¡­"

    Nagano paused as she considered for a moment.

    "The nest of the dragon that abducted her highness should be in the Pendragon Mountains. I''ve received reports from royal scouts that there was where they saw the dragon descend and land. It''s quite the dangerous terrain, and is known to be the habitats of dragons for millennia."

    "Pendragon?" I asked blankly. "Where is that? Is it far from here?"

    "Mhm¡­around a day or two if we travel by air."

    "By air¡­!?" I blurted out. This was Restia, a fantasy world without planes. How the heck were we supposed to travel by air?

    Nagano giggled when she saw my expression.

    "Don''t worry," she assured me. "I''ve already taken care of it and arranged it."

    "Oh¡­" I was impressed. "As expected of Nagano-san, you''re really very reliable!"

    "Heh heh." Nagano looked pretty pleased with herself. "Don''t underestimate the resourcefulness of the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights!"

    "Yeah, you guys are awesome. Anyway, I''m sorry for disturbing you. When are we leaving? Is tomorrow too soon?"

    "Tomorrow is fine. In fact, that''s the ideal timing."

    "Good." I saluted, which amused Nagano further. "I''ll see you tomorrow then!"

    Switching off the communication device, I prepared to go to bed.

    *

    The next morning, I proceeded toward the meeting place that Nagano sent me through a text message in the communication device. Instead of meeting at the magic academy like I expected, Nagano had requested that we meet in what looked like a huge mansion in the city.

    Apparently it was her home. The heroes sure had it great, living in such luxurious places while the rest of us commoners scraped a living.

    "Nagano-san, sorry to keep you waiting."

    "Don''t worry, you''re still early. And welcome!"

    Nagano looked up brightly when I greeted her. I waved at her cheerfully, but carefully maintained my distance. Since she was a former classmate, I still couldn''t quite completely trust her.

    "So, are you ready for this dangerous mission?"

    "Yeah, I am. I even stayed up a little to read up on dragons."

    I couldn''t sleep so I ended up conjuring my Library of Eden to read and research on dragons. After Regis''s ominous warning, I had gotten a little anxious over confronting such a powerful enemy. I doubted I could get out of this unscathed if I went in half-assed. I spent a couple of hours reading up on dragons before I eventually fell asleep, and I managed to check out where the Pendragon Mountains were as well.

    Here''s a clue: they were pretty far. At least from Havia City, anyway.

    "Ah, so how are we getting to Pendragon? You said by air, right?"

    "That''s right!" Nagano folded her arms smugly and grinned. "We''re going there by airship!"

    "Huh? Airship?" I blinked in surprise. "Where''s the airship?"

    "Don''t worry. It has just arrived."

    Nagano practically pranced toward the window of her mansion and gestured outside proudly.

    "Look outside! This is a new model of airships that I personally developed!"

    We really were reaching the industrial revolution age, huh? First rifles and cannons, then tanks, and now airships?

    I stepped toward the windows and my jaw dropped when I caught sight of the gigantic airship hovering in Nagano''s courtyard.

    It literally was a ship. A ship that could magically fly in the skies. But there were differences ¨C unlike its sea-based brethren, the airship possessed turbofans on either side of its hull to suck in air and expel it downward, creating a thrust. It was a literal hovercraft that combined engineering technology with magic.

    "Get ready," Nagano ordered with a smirk. "We''ll be taking off soon."

 59 Chapter 59: Maximum Carnage

    Aboard the airship, I relaxed as our trip to pendragon went smoothly.

    "You''re telling me you actually managed to build an airship here in Restia? From scratch?"

    I was still mired in disbelief, despite hearing the details from Nagano. The builder of the airship herself was looking all smug as she placed her hands on her hips and showing off on the deck.

    "Of course. I''m the Sacred Swordsmith. I can forge anything."

    I wondered how the heck a swordsmith could forge something as different from a sword as an airship. I mean, I understood that we had some leeway with our abilities. My Summon special ability allowed me to summon weapons in addition to monsters and zombies, so there was a huge amount of flexibility and leeway granted to us in terms of what we could do with our abilities.

    But for a swordsmith to craft a bloody airship¡­that was just ridiculous.

    "I developed this airship by relying on ancient schematics and memory of how planes and airships worked in our world, then combining it with magic. So this airship runs on a fusion of helium gas in the ballons, turbofans propellors from hover seaplanes in our world and an engine that runs on mana crystals¡­"

    "Yeah, you told me all that earlier."

    "I did?" Nagano tilted her head. "Hmm. Well, let me tell you again."

    I groaned inwardly at that, not at all enthusiastic to listen to Nagano Nanaka boasting about her forging achievements for the tenth time. Or was it eleven?

    I had never pegged Nagano to be an engineering otaku who was obsessed with mechanical planes and vehicles. She was also calm and composed in class, and to see her bragging about her engineering achievements was¡­interesting, to say the least.

    But after hearing her speak about how mana crystal-powered engines worked for the tenth time, my interest had dropped to boredom. Trying to remain polite, I peered into the distance from the deck and tactfully changed the topic.

    "How far are we from our destination?"

    "Oh, don''t worry. We should only take a couple of hours at most. From the capital of Legnica, which is Havia, to Pendragon, which lies somewhere between Helsreach and Ragalon, it''ll only take two hours, give and take."

    "Flying really makes a whole lot of difference. Having an airship is really convenient."

    "UGHHHHHHHH!"

    Unfortunately, there was someone who disagreed vehemently with my remark, and expressed her protests by puking all over the deck.

    "Could you please stop puking all over my airship?"

    Despite the smile, Nagano''s eyes were so cold I could almost feel the air around us chilling over. And it wasn''t caused by the wind.

    "Why did you even bother to bring her along?" Nagano leaned over and whispered to me, exasperated. "Can she really do the job?"

    "¡­nope."

    "Huh?!"

    "She''s just an extra. I wanted her teammates."

    Nagano sighed, trying to hold in her annoyance. "Yeah, speaking of which, I thought you recruited a party. Where''s the rest of them? Why is she the only one¡­?"

    "The rest of her party is waiting in Ragalon, remember?" I reminded the impatient swordsmith. "Her boyfriend is garrisoned in Ragalon, so we''re meeting up with them there before we set off to the Pendragon Mountains."

    "Right." Nagano stared at me worriedly. "Are you really, really sure they will be of any help? This girl doesn''t look that strong."

    "She isn''t," I replied flatly. "She''s actually useless. But at least I can trust her ¨C and the rest of her party ¨C not to backstab or betray me."

    Nagano said nothing to that, having been aware of how the rest of the class abused and bullied me. Not to mention, Kobayashi''s attempt to murder me when we were first transported to Restia. She and the other Iron Knights didn''t seem aware of Tsukishima and the others'' attempts to kill me when they find out I had survived, though.

    "Don''t worry. Worst case scenario, I''ll take care of the dragon myself."

    Nagano gave me a look. "Can you really? Even we heroes have trouble fighting dragons, so what do you think you can do?"

    "My best."

    "¡­"

    Nagano turned away and shook her head.

    "I really hope you aren''t bragging because this will be a tough battle. Well, I suppose that you''re technically a hero as well¡­"

    The hero for demons, thanks to my alter ego of Major Tanaka. Nagano and the Iron Knights probably already knew about that, though.

    "Do you have medicine for her airsickness?"

    Nagano frowned. "Aoyama-kun might, but I don''t. I''m not a doctor or a healer."

    Regeneration wouldn''t work on airsickness, unfortunately, and even if it did, I had no intention of wasting my energy casting it on the useless Alicia. After bragging so much, she was putting on quite the pathetic display, especially in front of her beloved hero.

    "Well, then we''ll find some way to clean up the deck after she''s done with it."

    "That''s what the crews are for." Snapping her fingers, Nagano gestured to the air stewardess, who was on standby. Dressed in a maid uniform, she stood with impeccable discipline, waiting for Alicia to throw up while holding a mop and a pail.

    I felt sorry more for the maid than for Alicia. The poor girl was forced to clean up after the mess that other people made.

    "Don''t worry, we''re almost at Ragalon," I called out to her, but kept my distance from her and her vomit-covered self. "You''ll be able to rest there."

    "¡­and how is she going to survive the rest of the journey to Pendragon?" Nagano asked grumpily. I shrugged.

    "We''ll worry about it when we depart."

    "You''re postponing the problem!?"

    "We''re already dealing with the problem," I pointed out warily, trying not to look at Alicia and her stained surroundings.

    "My crew is! You brought her along! Take responsibility!"

    I sighed and then turned to glare at Alicia.

    "If you throw up again, we''ll kick you off the airship."

    Alicia turned green, but she didn''t throw up again for the rest of the journey. To cheer her up, I casually threw a remark at her.

    "Don''t worry. We''ll be meeting your boyfriend soon."

    "I told you not to mention him!" Alicia yelled, only to fall on fours again, her face as pale as a ghost''s.

    "We''re not in school, remember?"

    "Can you not talk about our relationship in public, please?!"

    Even if I didn''t, the public was pretty aware. Did you think the innkeepers and other guests wouldn''t notice when you had all those¡­uh¡­sessions inside the makeshift love hotels or something? Your moans were so loud you were disturbing the other guests!

    Then I realized that she really didn''t know about that. Best not to tell her, then. Or she would literally die from embarrassment. Actually, maybe that would solve a lot of problems. I would very much prefer her to die so that I could wash my hands off her.

    Still¡­

    It''s not like we''re in the academy. Nobody here cares about that.

    Nagano certainly didn''t. She shared the same values as me, coming from the same world, after all. Rather, she seemed pretty invested in Alicia''s romance in Alan. Typical of girls, always gossiping about other people''s love troubles.

    Fortunately, she was paying more attention to the fact that Alicia throwing up would dirty her precious airship than the Romeo and Juliet scenario the troubled couple were locked in at the moment. Crossing her arms, she turned away.

    I shrugged.

    "Then your party¡­"

    "Right." Alicia nodded as she checked her communication device and forced herself to her feet, still wobbling. "Alan''s regiment is working together with the magical knights to maintain security at the border. They''re gathering intelligence on the demons."

    Nagano and I exchanged glances. Alicia and the humans didn''t know that we were planning to help the demons against Kobayashi, and we planned to keep it that way. Ignorance was bliss, and knowledge was power.

    Best to deprive our potential enemies of such power.

    Then I suddenly realized what Alicia had just said, and the image of a blue-haired girl floated to the top of my mind.

    "I see. Magical knights, huh? So I''m guessing Sophia-san is there as well?"

    I nodded in relief.

    "That''s good. Her magic would be useful. I hope."

    "Of course!" Alicia proudly puffed out her ample chest. "When the three of us are together, there''s nothing that can beat is! Not even a dragon¡­"

    Bad mistake¡­

    The moment she started bragging, the nausea struck her and she collapsed, gagging. I looked at her sympathetically, but couldn''t resist a dig.

    "Yet the three of you couldn''t defeat a single high orc. I wonder, will you three really be all right against a dragon that''s several times stronger?"

    "T¡­that was¡­an accident!"

    "I''m sure it was." Turning to Nagano, I sighed. "Maybe we should lock her up in the restroom. You do have a restroom aboard the airship, right?"

    "¡­yes, I do¡­"

    Nagano gestured to the air stewardess and whispered seveal instructions. Nodding, the air stewardess disappeared. Several moments later, a few members of the air crew appeared and lifted the flailing Alicia up, ferrying her toward the nearest restroom.

    The poor girl spent the rest of the journey locked up inside the cubicle.

    About an hour and a half passed before we finally reached Ragalon City. From the deck of the airship, I could see the houses surrounding the garrison. As the shadow of the titanic airship spread and engulfed the city below in darkness, the human soldiers looked up to stare at the massive hovering craft in awe.

    "Isn''t that¡­Nagano-sama''s airship?!"

    "This is the first time I''ve seen it!"

    Excited murmurs ran through the soldiers as Nagano''s airship descended, landing right in front of the military barracks of the regiment garrisoned there.

    The soldiers then gathered around to ensure we weren''t the enemies, but the moment Nagano Nanaka popped her head out over the edge of the airship, the entire platoon of soldiers fell to their knees in deference.

    "Hero-sama!"

    "Pardon our rudeness, Hero-sama!"

    "No, no. it''s my fault for arriving unannounced. Sorry, but could you put up with our intrusion for a while? Don''t worry, we''ll be leaving immediately. We''re just here to pick up our comrades"

    "Yes, Hero-sama!"

    I watched Nagano in awe before glancing at the soldiers running off to comply with her requests. It must be great being a hero and everything.

    If Kobayashi hadn''t thrown me off the transportation spell, would I be as well-respected and well treated like the rest of the class?

    Well, whatever happened had already happened. There was no use thinking about what could have been or dwelling in the past. My only path was to continue looking forward.

    We descended into the hull of the ship, where a door magically folded out and transformed into a flight of stairs for us to descend.

    "Great!" I cheered as I bounced down the stairs. "Seems like we''ve arrived!"

    "Yes, we have," Nagano agreed calmly as she stepped off the stairs. "So where''s the rest of your party members? Can you please gather them? I''ll be waiting here in the airship, so once you''ve found them, bring them back here."

    I gave her a mock salute. "Understood, Hero-sama!"

    "Don''t you start that¡­"

    Nagano scowled. I snickered and began to approach one of the overawed soldiers, his attention still riveted on the esteemed hero.

    "W¡­wait!"

    Alicia staggered out from the top of the stairs, trying to catch up.

    "Slow down a bit! I''m not feeling well, you know?!"

    "I know, that''s why I''m going on ahead. You wait here and rest a bit until you get better."

    "N¡­no¡­ugh!"

    Alicia turned pale, but she determinedly tried to pursue me. Having enough of her nonsense and utter incompetence, I waited for her to stumble toward my position before I delivered a chop to her neck, knocking her out.

    Nagano stared at me in shock. "Was that really necessary?!"

    "Trust me, it is."

    It was a complete waste of time.

    "Kirlia-chan, could you please bring this girl back to the airship? Get a bed ready for her. She needs some rest."

    "I''ll cast a spell on her to keep her asleep for the rest of the journey so that she won''t be puking all over your airship," I offered. Nagano rolled her eyes.

    "No need for that. And since when do you know sleeping spells?"

    "The moment I became the protagonist."

    "What''s that supposed to mean!?"

    "Nothing¡­"

    "Um¡­excuse me for interrupting, Hero-sama¡­"

    A soldier had timidly approached us while we were bantering. Judging from his chevrons, I could tell that he was a sergeant, and he seemed to be in charge of the soldiers who were running around the airship.

    "¡­but could you please inform us of the purpose of your visit? For recording purposes, you understand¡­"

    "Oh, I''m so sorry!"

    "No, not at all! There is nothing for you to apologize for. I just need to record your visit in the log, that''s all. For official bookkeeping purposes¡­"

    "We''re on a mission," I explained when Nagano deferred to me. "We''re supposed to meet the rest of our group here. We''re looking for a knight named Alan-san, so if you could lead us to him, it would be much appreciated."

    "Huh?" the soldier tried to scratch his head, but he only succeeded in bumping his fingers against his helmet. "If you mean the captain, then he is currently resting in the barracks. Is it an urgent matter?"

    "Yes, it''s urgent."

    I rubbed the back of my neck, and then turned to gesture at the gigantic airship.

    "I''m under orders from the hero, Nagano-sama, to gather a fighting force to rescue her highness from the dragon."

    "I¡­I see! So this is Nagano-sama''s ship¡­and you''re going to rescue her highness¡­"

    Nodding in understanding, the sergeant straightened his back and stared at me with very serious eyes.

    "In that case, I''ll send someone to fetch the captain." Raising his voice, he yelled to one of the young spearman, a soldier who was barely out of his teens and most certainly fresh out of boot camp. "Randalman! Go inform the captain that Hero-sama wishes to see him! On the double! It''s an urgent matter!"

    "Yes, sarge!"

    The young boy snapped a salute before he scurried off.

    "Huh, you''re not going to tell us which room he is in and let us go look for him by ourselves?" I asked, confused. The sergeant frowned, perplexed.

    "Why would we do that? You''re honored guests, and outsiders are not permitted to walk around freely inside the barracks. You know, for security purposes. I hope you understand. Please wait patiently for the captain."

    It was clear to me that the author of Tanaka the Wizard had no idea how military barracks operated, so I stayed silent and nodded.

    It took a while, but Alan and Sophia eventually appeared, flustered. I could imagine what happened¡­the two of them were secretly fucking each other''s brains out when the aide knocked on the door, and was forced the ignomity of listening to their moans and groans. He couldn''t look at either of them in the faces when he led them back here.

    Furthermore, Alan and Sophia''s faces were burning pretty red. As I suspected, they were doing something scandalous in his room this whole time¡­

    At that moment¡­

    "Alan! Sophia!"

    Alicia chose that time to wake up and poked her head out of the airship, waving excitedly at the couple. Alan smiled and waved a little hesitantly, while Sophia remained as cool as ever and bowed her head slightly, her flushed face hidden beneath her hood.

    "You''re finally here! We''ve finally reunited!"

    Alicia was so happy to see them that both Alan and Sophia looked away, too guilty to face their friend. Even as the blond girl bounced toward them, the handsome knight and blue-haired mage didn''t meet her gaze.

    "Alan? Sophia? What''s wrong?"

    I contemplated telling her that her best friend and boyfriend had been fucking behind her back without including her in their promised threesome, but that would put the mission in jeopardy. I needed them sharp for the rescue mission, and I wasn''t in the mood to deal with relationship bullshit. Besides, ignorance was bliss.

    "If you want to know, read Tanaka the Wizard."

    "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean? I''ve never heard of that."

    Alicia turned to glare at me.

    "It''s a manga."

    "Only children read manga," Sophia remarked softly. I was more surprised by the fact that manga existed in this world than Sophia actually knowing what manga was.

    "That''s not true." Alan cleared his throat. "I still read manga."

    Both Alicia and Sophia stared at him.

    "What?" Alan demanded defensively. "It''s a hobby¡­it gives me something to do during my spare time, and some of the series I''ve been reading as a child still hasn''t ended yet. Like this pirate crew sailing around the world for a treasure¡­"

    "Hold it!" I shouted. "It''s bad enough that I got accused of plagiarizing Tanaka the Wizard! Let''s not drag other series into this!"

    "Wait till someone complains about you plagiarizing The Silver Gravekeeper or Yin zhi Shoumuren," Nagano replied, leaning against the railings of her airship with her arms folded in vague disapproval.

    "Can we not go down that route?"

    "Um¡­did you call us here to discuss about plagiarism and manga?" Alan asked seriously. The guy needed to lighten up, like certain readers whose fingers were always hovering over the report button. Life wasn''t always so serious.

    "No, the sole purpose of our visit was a plot device to have Alicia-san stumbled upon the two of you fucking inside Alan-san''s room, rage over how you two betrayed her for having sex behind her back and not including her in it despite promising that you wouldn''t have sex without her, and developing into some unbelievable, cheesy love triangle drama, which becomes resolved by Alan-san using his ikemen powers to seduce Alicia-san once again."

    "¡­huh?"

    Everyone stared at me.

    "Wait, what?!"

    Alicia suddenly screeched and rounded on Alan and Sophia.

    "The two of you¡­don''t tell me you¡­again¡­did it behind my back?! Is that true!? Did you two have sex again behind my back without including me?!"

    Alan averted his gaze guiltily and Sophia shot me a murderous gaze, but I didn''t flinch. Instead I raised my hand.

    "No. I was just making things up. Did you actually see it happen with your own eyes, Alicia-san? I didn''t."

    "Then why were you saying all these things?!" Alicia shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "You''re horrible!"

    "Could we please stop wasting time and focus on the discussion at hand?" Nagano asked calmly, but I could hear the patience straining in her voice. Not to mention, she was tapping her fingers and foot restlessly.

    "Yes¡­please do."

    Alan was only too happy to change the subject and shift it away from a potential landmine. He turned to me earnestly.

    "Tanaka-san, what''s going on? Why are you guys here? I mean, I got the urgent message from Alicia-san, but she didn''t provide the details except to excitedly tell us that this would be a very big mission."

    "Well, she''s not wrong."

    I rubbed the bridge of my nose before adjusting my glasses. Taking a deep breath, I executed a dramatic pause before dropping a gigantic bombshell on them.

    "We would like to ask you to come and slay a dragon with us."

    "Huh? What?"

    "Let''s not waste any more time than this." I sighed and glanced at Nagano, who read my expression and nodded to give her consent. "We''re running out of time. First, let''s board the airship. I''ll tell you along the way."

    And so, we hurried up the stairs and met in the officer''s mess aboard Nagano''s airship to discuss the rescue mission. The moment all members were accounted for, the airship took off, with Nagano giving instructions to the crew. Both Alan and I were seated opposite each other, cups of coffee steaming on the luxurious table between us.

    "We''re slaying a dragon together with Nagano-sama so that we can rescue the princess? With this small party? Are you serious?"

    Alan was staring at me incredulously, but I nodded earnestly.

    "Yeah, I am. And as you know, we''re racing against time. We need to rescue the princess before the dragon decides that he''s sick of toying with her and kills her. There isn''t much time left."

    "But¡­" Alan was still mired in disbelief. "¡­can someone of my caliber even be of any help to Nagano-sama? She''s one of the legendary heroes, you know? She''s on a completely different level from the likes of us."

    "That''s true," I admitted. "You guys won''t be of much use, to be honest. But I''m still going to bring you along anyway, just because."

    "What the heck does that mean?!"

    I then turned to glance at Alicia, who was standing angrily some distance away in the officer''s mess. It seemed that she had fully recovered from her airsickness, for she was standing rimrod straight and folding her arms furiously. Funnily enough, we were currently inside the airship, which was swaying ever so gently like last time. I had thought she would fall sick again, but it appeared that rage was really the best cure for airsickness.

    Well, I very much preferred her to be in a foul mood than spewing all over the floor and forcing the air stewardess to clean up after her.

    "It means you''re here to serve as witnesses to me pulling off epic stunts and to praise me like all side characters do in web novel stories with overpowered protagonists."

    "I don''t understand what the hell you''re talking about!"

    "There''s no need for you to understand, other than it''s the truth. The basic reason is that you guys will be necessary. Even if you just stand around getting overawed by my protagonist powers, you''re already serving an important role. Actually, to be honest, I don''t quite understand either. You should ask the writer of Tanaka the Wizard."

    "Can you stop talking about that stupid web novel?! Alicia snapped. I held my hands up in surrender.

    "Okay, okay."

    "Can we talk about this seriously?" Sophia added, a trace of annoyance layering her usually calm tone. I realized that I had pulled the Tanaka the Wizard joke far too many times that it had lost all of its humor.

    Fine then. If that was how they wanted to play it.

    "Well, you have one important role," I quickly came up with an excuse. "I''m not a god. Neither is Nagano-san. While we''re fighting the dragon, your role is to secure the princess and escape. In other words, this is not a combat mission ¨C the primary objective is to rescue the princess, not to defeat the dragon. Even if we fail to slay the dragon, as long as the princess returns safely to Havia with us, it''s our victory."

    "I see." I could see Alan''s expression hardening when he considered what I told him. Chewing his lip, he steeled his resolve and nodded. "Please take us with you then. We''ll do our best to rescue her highness."

    "Great. I appreciate it." I smiled, but continued with a slight warning. "However, it''s a dangerous task, so if you want to get off when we reach the next city, I won''t blame you."

    "I understand!" Alan was firm. "It is our duties as knights to rescue the princess, and it''s a great honor to fight alongside Hero-sama!"

    "Thanks, I appreciate it."

    I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Alan didn''t seem confident, he had a pivotal role to play. We needed him to serve as the vanguard to engage the dragon in front while Nagano and I casted magic from the back.

    Of course, that was the worst-case scenario if I was forced to rely him for combat. I doubted the trio would actually be useful if we were forced to fight the dragon, but I didn''t want to lower morale before we even started the mission.

    "Um¡­"

    Sophia spoke up uncertainly. She was dressed in that familiar magician cloak and hood that covered her head.

    "If Alan is going, then I would like to assist as well."

    "Your help will be much appreciated, everyone."

    This time, it was Nagano who spoke up. As a hero, her words were more inspiring and powerful than mine.

    "We''ll be in Pendragon within the hour. I suggest you get as much rest as you can."

    I rose from my seat, and was about to head to a more comfortable place where I could lie down and rest. In the distance, I could see Alicia approaching Alan, doubt covering her face.

    "Alan¡­about what Tanaka said, it''s not true, is it?"

    "¡­huh?"

    "About you and Sophia doing¡­it¡­behind my back."

    "Of course not!" Alan assured her. "I would never cheat on you, Alicia!"

    "¡­really?"

    "Yeah! Please believe me!" Alan knelt on one knee as he held her hand. "I''m even leaving everything behind to participate in this mission with you, Alicia!"

    What the fuck? Bullshit! You received authorization from your commander after Nagano showed up to request for your participation! You weren''t leaving anything behind! If anything, a big fat promotion was waiting for you when you return!

    "Ah¡­thank you¡­"

    Unfortunately, Alicia was buying into all this bullshit. She was so touched that tears were sprouting from her eyes. What the fuck, man. I couldn''t stand the sight of such an idiotic couple¡­

    WHAM!

    Just when I thought that, the airship shuddered when something massive and heavy slammed into it.

    "Wha! What''s going on!?"

    Everyone was thrown off their feet from the impact. As Alicia toppled over, Alan seized the chance to catch her before she hit the ground. The air stewardess clung onto a wall while Sophia stumbled over. One of the servants who served Nagano was screaming.

    "Is it an earthquake?!"

    "Are you an idiot?" I rolled my eyes as I tried to get to my feet. "We''re in the air, for Hedas''s sake. I mean for Evelyn''s sake. How can this be an earthquake?"

    "What''s happening!?"

    Just then, the door flung open and Nagano ran into the room.

    "AHHH!"

    We glanced in the direction of the scream. The air stewardess was pointing fearfully outside the window, trembling violently.

    "T¡­that is¡­"

    "Huh!?"

    At the moment, all I could see were embers and flames roiling about outside the window, scorching the air and belching smoke.

    And then a gigantic draconic head appeared right outside the window, almost as large as my entire body.

    Is that¡­possibly¡­the dragon? I raised my eyebrow as I watched the draconic creature screech and roar in the skies. Hmm¡­if it''s just one of them, then maybe Nagano and I can deal with it¡­

    "Wait, Tanaka-kun!"

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    As if sensing my intentions, Nagano stepped forward and stopped me, cold perspiration dripping down her face.

    "It''s not just that one!"

    "Huh?"

    Outside another window, a second draconic figure swooped past before it unleashed a gout of flames that set the mast alight.

    "Over there!"

    Alan had scrambled to his feet and was directing my attention to that particular window. His face was pale from fright.

    Glancing around, I saw that there weren''t just two dragons but an entire flock circling the beleaguered airship. Fireballs erupted from their jaws and pummeled the helpless magical transport, rocking it.

    "There''s so many of them!"

    Wham!

    Another tremendous impact sent us sprawling on the floor. Evidently one of the winged, draconic creatures had struck the airship with its scaly tail.

    "Th¡­this is¡­"

    As the airship struggled to limp away and place itself a distance away from its assailants, the full horror of our attackers finally came to view. It wasn''t just three or four but over a dozen of these massive, draconic creatures hovering around us.

    "A flock of flare wyverns!"

    "You''ve got to be kidding me¡­" I moaned, annoyed that I wouldn''t be able to rest at all. Bloody hell, there went my plans to catch a nap on the couch. Well, if this wasn''t the dragon we were looking for, then there was no point wasting time with them.

    I was going to massacre every single one of them, maximum carnage style.

 60 Chapter 60: Attack from the wyverns

    The flaming contrails of fireballs slammed into the airship, rocking it. For one terrifying moment, I expected the airship to come apart in a fiery explosion, its passengers spilling out and falling to their deaths below.

    "Do we have contingencies in place in case the airship goes down?" I asked Nagano nervously. "Like parachutes or lifeboats or something?"

    "AARGH!"

    Behind me, Alicia was screaming instead of helping out. Oi. You''re a warrior and a mercenary. Act like one.

    "It should be fine," Nagano assured me. "We have a wind barrier coating the ship."

    How very convenient. But at least it explained why we weren''t falling to our deaths and why the airship hadn''t been smashed into burning pieces yet.

    "However¡­"

    I groaned at that. There always had to be a catch somewhere, didn''t it?

    Outside the window, the wyverns unleashed another stream of flames. Gritting her teeth, Nagano raised her hand and conjured a barrier. The flames washed over the barrier, but packed enough force to rock the ship.

    "Oof!"

    Nagano took a deep breath as she steadied herself, her hand still raised. Perspiration dripped down her face.

    "Damn it¡­even with the wind barrier, it won''t be able to withstand a sustained assault from the wyverns for long. They''ll break through with their fireballs eventually."

    "What?!" the air stewardess cried in horror.

    "¡­"

    I assessed the situation a little before I decided to go up to the deck. Nagano followed, probably to protect her precious airship. She gritted her teeth as she glanced upward at the flock of wyverns.

    "If it''s just a few, I can take of them. But with this many¡­"

    "Don''t worry, Nagano-san. I''ll take care of the rest."

    She raised an eyebrow at my words.

    "Pretty confident, aren''t you?"

    "Not really. Do you want me to say we''re doomed instead?"

    Nagano chuckled at that, thinking that I was joking (I wasn''t). She shrugged.

    "We''re heroes, aren''t we?"

    "No, you are the hero, not me. I''m just along for the ride." I cocked my head to the side as I observed the wyverns. "But it''s reassuring to fight alongside a hero. And an honor too."

    Nagano rolled her eyes. "Don''t you start that nonsense as well. Anyway, you don''t need to worry. I''ll make sure the airship stays afloat no matter what."

    Straightening up as she strode onto the deck, she raised her head to glare at the pack of wild wyverns. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself.

    "Well then¡­"

    "Please take care of the ship''s aft," I told her. "Leave the bow to me. I''ll make the wyverns bow to me."

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    Nagano sent me a glance of disbelief. "Are you sure?"

    No, I wasn''t. Damn it! Stop asking stupid questions!

    "I''m not sure what your special abilities are, but I''ve heard that you''ve only just recently arrived in Restia a few weeks ago? I''ve been here for more than six months and have more experience. Do you really want to take on the side with more wyverns?"

    "Yes," I replied. "I know a few powerful offensive spells. I''ve been casting one since earlier, when we first encountered the wyverns. It should take effect soon."

    I glanced up, and saw that the spell was almost complete. My slaying of the wyvern from earlier had sped up the ritual.

    "Okay, then I''ll leave it to you." Nagano nodded, feeling reassured and thinking she could rely on me. "We''ll see what happens."

    "H¡­hey!"

    Alicia was rushing onboard the deck, flustered. Alan was trailing behind her, most likely to keep a watchful eye on her.

    "What should I do?!"

    However, Alicia could not be stopped. She was pleading with the both of us.

    "I also want to fight!"

    I turned to her, feeling a little exasperated. "You should just stay with Alan and¡­"

    "Back this young man up."

    Nagano interrupted me before I could finish my sentence. Gosh, the words of a hero far outweighed mine.

    "O¡­okay¡­"

    Alicia nodded meekly, probably overawed by the presence of one of the legendary heroes. I raised an eyebrow warily, but perhaps Nagano felt more reassured if I had someone watching my back or something.

    As I proceeded to the front, with Alicia trailing after me, I issued a single warning.

    "Alicia-san."

    "W¡­what?"

    "Stand back," I told her. "I don''t want you to accidentally get caught up in my spell."

    "What spell?"

    I didn''t answer. Instead, I showed her by pressing the V button.

    "Standby for Titanfall."

    Matsukaze''s familiar voice echoed in my ears and something exploded in the sky before barreling downward. It smashed into the front deck of the airship before crouching inside a shimmering blue dome of energy.

    "¡­!"

    Alicia recoiled and stepped back unconsciously, shielding her face as the soft impact billowed from Matsukaze''s landing. Unlike her, I had already anticipated his landing position and was already on the move.

    I sprinted toward Matsukaze MKII, ignoring the wyverns'' attempts to roast me with their flames. For now, the airship''s wind barrier held, but as Nagano said, it wouldn''t hold for long. Remembering that Nagano''s special abilities included Barrier, I was confident that she would be able to protect the airship from the flying monsters.

    As for me, I just needed to eliminate the monsters.

    Matsukaze immediately reared up and caught me just when I got within range, hauling me upward and placing me inside his cockpit. The systems went live and the screens brightened up into a holographic display, featuring reticules, bars, numbers and other digital information. As the blue forcefield disappeared, I drew the Predator Gatling Cannon that was mounted on his back. Knowing that this battle would be mostly held from long range, I had swapped the triple-barrel shotgun for a Predator Gatling Cannon.

    Pivoting my Titan/Golem, I twisted around and unleashed a stream of high-caliber rounds into the air. The first wyvern went down, shredded into pieces, and I shifted my aim before letting loose a second volley. A second wyvern plunged, its wings torn apart by the armor-piercing rounds, screeching before a hail of bullets cut its throat. Then a third, and a fourth.

    Realizing that they were being cut down by a hail of fire, the wyverns began changing their tactics. Even as several maneuvered and jinked desperately to evade my shots, others counterattacked with fire of their own.

    Yanking on the gearstick, I thumbed a button on it and activated my gun shield. A blue dome of energy spread out from my Predator cannon, a defensive umbrella that soaked the return fire and reducing their damage.

    "You''re fired," I told the flare wyverns before cutting down another one with a stream of shots. The wyverns scattered, panicking.

    "W¡­what?!"

    Alicia was just standing around, doing absolutely nothing. There was nothing she could do, she didn''t have the power to shoot down the wyverns.

    All she could do was watch my display of ferocity in awe. To be honest, she probably never saw a golem before, never mind one summoned from the sky. And my golem wasn''t like any golem but a hi-tech titan from the future. In other words, I was piloting a futuristic robot mecha in a fantasy world. Even though I was a necromancer/vampire (whatever).

    All hail Kijima''s Summoning special ability!

    "Smart Core online," Matsukaze informed me. Glancing at the bottom corner of my screen, I saw that the meter for his core ability had been filled up.

    "All right," I remarked and flipped a switch.

    "Smart Core activated."

    At Matsukaze''s words, my holographic display lit up. Multiple reticules appeared all over my screen, scattering around and locking onto the dispersed flock of wyverns. The moment the reticules locked onto a wyvern, they turned red. I waited for every single reticule to turn red before I squeezed the trigger.

    Matsukaze''s core ability turned his Predator Gatling Cannon into a smart weapon that fired auto-tracking rounds. As long as the reticules were locked onto my targets, the Predator Gatling Cannon would automatically aim and fire at its targets, regardless of how many there are. The rounds shifted and changed trajectory in midair, swerving and twisting to home in on their targets and perforate their bodies with high-caliber, armor-piercing rounds.

    In just ten seconds, I mowed down all the remaining wyverns. There were about seven of them still flying in front of the airship, but I had utterly annihilated the pack. At the same time, Matsukaze''s Smart Core deactivated after the time limit, and the meter returned to zero. it would slowly fill up again with time, and the rate accelerated if I attacked more enemies (as part of the spell''s conditions), but for now I could just leave it.

    Phew¡­the wyverns are weaker than I thought. I was worried that my Predator Gatling Cannon wouldn''t be enough to take them down, but it seems that advanced technology is superior to magical beasts in a fantasy world after all.

    I knew I was in a fantasy world, but I came from a fairly advanced world that had progressed far ahead in technology. Might as well make use of my sci-fi knowledge, otherwise the whole summoned from another world became just another pointless plot point.

    I scanned the skies ahead with Matsukaze''s visual sensors, but it appeared I had eliminated every single one of them. The rocking of the airship still hadn''t stopped, however, which meant that Nagano was still engaged in battle with the survivors of the wyvern swarm. I should return to the back of the airship to back her up.

    The flare wyverns might try to escape, or I might have missed one or two¡­best to post Matsukaze on guard here to take them out.

    The hatch opened and I jumped out of the cockpit while commanding the AI to switch to guard mode. At my order, Matsukaze stood up rigidly and took up a sentry position at the front of the deck, the advanced AI pointing his Predator Cannon toward the skies. Since I had mostly intended to pilot him, I didn''t equip him with the enhanced AI chip, which would improve his aim, but whatever. I preferred the turbo boost upgrade anyway. It was sad that I couldn''t engage any of the wyverns in melee, where I could introduce them to Matsukaze''s katana, but whatever.

    "A¡­amazing¡­"

    Alicia was staring at me in awe, unable to believe her eyes. I waved her admiration away and gestured for her to follow me.

    "Let''s head to the aft. Leave the bow to Matsukaze for now. I''ll have to back Nagano-san¡­I mean Hero-sama up."

    "Understood."

    Alicia didn''t argue. I was surprised, but I guessed she didn''t dare cross me after seeing what I was capable of. First, the high orc, and now the flare wyverns. I wasn''t deluded enough to think she would fall for me, and she had Alan anyway, but anyone would be impressed after witnessing the feats I had pulled off.

    Already, my mercenary online system was feeding information back to the guild about my elimination of the wyverns. Ignoring it, I jogged toward the back of the airship, getting ready to help Nagano out.

    Halfway there, I suddenly froze when I heard a sound. Alicia skidded to a stop as well, confused by my abrupt halt.

    "What happened? Why¡­?"

    Before she could finish her sentence, I was jumping in front of her to shield her with my own body. Above us, a wyvern reared up, having perched itself on the mast and out of sight of Matsukaze''s sensor array.

    How the fuck did I miss that one? There was still one more, and despite its immense size, it had crept up on me without me noticing it!

    Matsukaze lurched forward, lifting his Predator cannon, but he wouldn''t be able to hit it on time. The flare wyvern''s jaws were already open, flames flaring out of its open jaws.

    "AAAAAH!"

    Alicia was screaming behind me. Shut up, girl! You''re making me deaf!

    "Shut up!" I snapped at her, and then raised my hand just as the flare wyvern unleashed its flames. The fire bathed me, but because I was standing between the wyvern and Alicia, the flames thankfully didn''t reach her. The deck of the airship disappeared, my view obscured by a red haze of fire and smoke. Despite the protective layers of my Redwood jacket, I could feel the sheer heat scorching through the barriers.

    Fortunately, it was precisely because of my Redwood jacket that I wasn''t incinerated immediately. Thankfully, the barriers of my Redwood Robe held strong, the layers refusing to crack or burn under the relentless assault. The flare wyvern might be powerful, but it was no hero or demon. Such elementary spells wouldn''t break through my Redwood Robe''s protection.

    It seemed like an eternity, but the wyvern continued to burn. Bloody hell, how long did it take to breathe fire? That must be one extremely long breath. I exhaled and shut my eyes, waiting impatiently for it to stop. My Redwood Robe could withstand the superheated flames, but that didn''t mean this situation was comfortable. It was getting uncomfortably warm and I began perspiring.

    While I stood there, I suddenly recalled that Alicia was still behind me. I frowned and risked a glance back. It didn''t matter because the twelve defensive layers covered my whole body, so moving my face wouldn''t make much of a difference.

    As I expected, she was still there, sitting on the deck, immobilized.

    "What the fuck are you doing?!" I roared. "Get the hell out of here!"

    "I¡­I can''t!"

    Alicia was sobbing, tears leaking from her eyes. God damn it, how much more useless could she get?!

    "What do you mean you can''t?! Stand up and run! With you staying there, I can''t move out of this inferno!"

    "A¡­ah¡­I''m so sorry." She sniffled. "My legs¡­they won''t move. They''re like jelly. I can''t even stand!"

    How the hell did this bitch become a mercenary!? Freezing up in the middle of a battle¡­even though she couldn''t help me, that was fine. But right now she couldn''t even escape on her own two legs so that I could move out of the way and fight back?!

    Speaking of which, what was I waiting for? Why was I standing around just to shield the helpless Alicia like an idiot? Oh, right. It was because I was taking this whole Tanaka the Wizard thing too seriously.

    At least I didn''t have to spout cheesy lines such as "I''ll protect you." It would make me throw up.

    "Matsukaze! Guard mode! Take the wyvern out!"

    Just when I yelled the command, the flames finally stopped and the temperature got a lot cooler. I breathed a sigh of relief and glared at the flare wyvern, which was panting because it was completely out of breath.

    "Finally," I snapped. "Are you finished?"

    The flare wyvern stared at me, and I shrugged.

    "Well, I''m finished with you as well."

    At the same time, Matsukaze came barreling with his katana and cleaved the wyvern in half. He couldn''t fire his Predator cannon for fear of friendly fire ¨C both Alicia and I were too close for his comfort. My Redwood jacket could have protected me from the high-caliber rounds, but the AI''s safety imperative overrode any instructions I gave him to fire. This was why I preferred to be piloting Matsukaze on my own rather than leave everything to the rigid AI.

    "Thanks, Matsukaze." This cemented my decision to leave him here, to guard the front deck from any further surprises. More wyverns might still be lurking around. "I''ll leave this place to you."

    "Understood, pilot." Matsukaze saluted and then turned around, swapping his katana for the Predator cannon and scanning the skies again.

    "Phew¡­that was a close one. Matsukaze can take care of the rest. I''m going to check on the other side and see if they still need help."

    "Ah¡­"

    Alicia was still stunned over what had transpired. I couldn''t blame her, but I didn''t have time to wait for her to recover from the shock. She was staring at me even as I turned around and made my way to the back.

    "You''re¡­totally unhurt!"

    "What, you want me to be injured or something?"

    "That''s not what I meant!" Alicia stopped herself before she could snap. "The flare wyverns are pretty powerful¡­their breaths can incinerate an entire house! Yet you somehow emerge unscathed. And you can kill so many of them and summon a legendary golem from the heavens! Just who are you? It''s almost like you''re¡­a hero as well¡­"

    Then she started.

    "Ah, Nagano-sama did say that you''re a hero¡­"

    "She''s mistaken," I cut her off. "Let''s just say I''m a similar existence, but things happened and I couldn''t become one. I was still given some blessings though, so I have no complaints. Anyway, don''t worry about it. We have more important things to attend to right now."

    "R¡­right!"

    I ran to the aft deck, with Alicia following closely on my heels. As I neared, I caught sight of Alan stabbing a wyvern with his sword, panting heavily as he pierced its armored, scaly head and killing it in a single stroke.

    Blood was splattered all over his armor and he looked more than a little wounded. Nothing I couldn''t fix with my Regeneration spell.

    "Nagano-sama, I''m finished here," he called out to the hero, who was blasting another wyvern with a sword spell, raining down high-ranked noble phantasms¡­I mean swords on the creature and shredding it to bits.

    "I''m also done," she replied as she landed gracefully on the deck. But there was no joy in her voice at all. "But¡­this is bad¡­"

    "Nagano-san!"

    I reached the back deck just she uttered those ominous words. As she turned around, I waved at her.

    "I''ve finished taking care of the other side."

    "Oh! You''re safe!"

    Were you expecting me to be in danger or something? From small fries such as flare wyverns? Don''t even joke like that.

    And then I noticed the shoulder wound on Nagano. Her flesh had been scorched and blistered, probably a result of being hit by the wyverns'' fire.

    "Oh boy¡­you''re injured! Alan-san too! Are you guys all right?"

    "Don''t worry, this is but a scratch. It''s just a flesh wound."

    Even though he was thoroughly exhausted, Alan put up a brave smile while leaning on his sword. I could see why he was the squad captain.

    "You took care of all the wyverns in the front?" Nagano was staring at me, impressed. "You''re really something."

    "Whatever. Let me heal you guys."

    Raising my hands, I restored them both to full health.

    "Thanks, Tanaka-san!" Alan bowed gratefully after seeing his wounds disappear. He looked all over his body again, amazed at my spell. "Your healing spells are incredible, as always!"

    "Yeah, much appreciated, Tanaka-kun." Nagano nodded in agreement, but she didn''t look very pleased. Instead, she glanced at the listing airship. "However, the situation is getting worse."

    "What?"

    The air stewardess was still hiding inside the cabin inside the airship, poking her head out nervously. Sophia had remained with the crew to protect them, but she was slowly exiting the cabin to check on us.

    "A wyvern damaged one of the airship''s engines, and I can''t repair it while we''re in the air."

    I glanced at the side and saw smoke billowing from one of the gigantic turbofans that kept the airship aloft. Oh, that didn''t look good.

    "Is that true?!" the air stewardess wailed. "So that means¡­we''re going to fall and die!?"

    Don''t be so dramatic¡­

    "Of course not¡­"

    Nagano sounded just as annoyed as I felt.

    "The destination is quite near."

    She glanced over the deck and at the forest below, narrowing her eyes in determination. The Pendragon Mountains were within view, and growing exponentially larger with each passing second as the airship hurtled rapidly toward it.

    "So¡­we will go straight toward the dragon nest!"

 61 Chapter 61: Crimson Dragon

    With the airship spiraling out of control, we were forced to make an emergency landing in the red dragon''s nest.

    Or rather, Nagano was forced to make an emergency landing in the red dragon''s nest, given that she was the only one among us who could pilot the airship. Well, there was actually a couple of pilots in charge of that, but even these seasoned veterans were at a loss when it came to this unprecedented situation.

    Without panicking, Nagano took the helm and got the pilots to huddle safely with the rest of the crew.

    "We¡­we''re falling!"

    I shouted out a warning to the rest. The air stewardesses screamed and clutched each other for dear life.

    "Daddy! Mommy!"

    "No!"

    "I don''t want to die!"

    "KYAAAAAH!"

    Okay, my fault for instigating a panic. I totally regretted shouting the warning now. A mass panic was the last thing we needed at the moment. Instead, I clawed my way to the cockpit, where Nagano had taken up residence.

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    "At this rate, we''ll be doing a belly landing!" she warned. Wow, she was using modern terms in a fantasy world. Without any landing gear, we would have no choice but to land the airship on the belly, which was going to be pretty rough. "Hold on to something tightly! Otherwise you''ll get thrown off the ship!"

    "Even if we hold onto something, if we fall like this, then¡­"

    I didn''t want to think of the consequences. The airship was plummeting at a speed too fast for my comfort. If we hit the ground at this terrifying velocity, the whole thing would come apart from the impact. None of us were going to survive regardless of whether we were thrown off or not.

    However, the captain of the crew ¨C the pilot ¨C remained calm. Nodding at Nagano''s words, he gestured for everyone to stay in the cabin. We would be bruised and thrown about in the relatively safe interior of the cabin, but at least we wouldn''t be thrown off the ship and into the forest.

    Obeying the captain, Alan wrapped both Alicia and Sophia in a firm embrace.

    "Both of you! Hold on tightly!"

    What a smooth playboy¡­taking advantage of the situation to get intimate with both of his girlfriends. I wasn''t jealous, just amused.

    "Ah¡­ah¡­"

    Nagano was groaning as she fought with the controls. I noticed that she was using her special ability, Sacred Swordsmith, to forcibly wrench control of the airship and make it obey her commands. Mana crackled around her as she channeled stabilizing spells into the airship to slow its crash. I watched her from afar, even as Alan comforted a panicking Alicia and hugged her tightly. Unaware of the milling crew and passengers about her, Nagano focused entirely on stabilizing the airship.

    Incredible¡­is she using magic to forcibly control the airship in mid-fall? As expected of one of the legendary heroes¡­they''re on a totally different level.

    Despite slowing the airship''s fall, Nagano almost didn''t make it in time. The airship skimmed through the canopy of trees, rocking hard as it smashed through wood and leaves. The impact jarred the passengers onboard and shook them loose from their handholds.

    "Whoa!"

    I fell flat on my face, and tried to scramble to my feet, feeling embarrassed. Wow, that was such an uncool moment.

    "Brace for impact!"

    Fortunately, Nagano didn''t see my humiliating moment. Her attention was solely focused on controlling the airship.

    "We''re about to hit the ground!"

    "Aaah!"

    At that moment, Alicia was shaken loose from Alan''s grip as a tremendous impact rocked the uh, rocking airship, and she slid away as the entire vehicle tilted to the side.

    "Alicia!"

    Even as Alan cried out, Alicia fell away from them. Alan tried to reach out for her, but he had his other hand wrapped around Sophia and was struggling to keep the both of them safe as well. He couldn''t just let go or he would be sacrificing Sophia and himself as well.

    "Alicia!"

    His voice full of despair, Alan was about to screw it and sacrifice both himself and Sophia for his number one girlfriend, but I stopped him. He barely spared me a glance, his eyes riveted on Alicia''s falling form as she crashed right out of a window, breaking the glass and falling outside of the lurching, listing airship.

    "Don''t worry, I got her," I assured him when I realized where Alicia was falling toward. Alan glanced at me in disbelief. I understood his skepticism. This was bad. At this rate, Alicia would be blown off the airship. Even if I could heal all her wounds, it would be pointless if she died instantly. I knew that as well as Alan did.

    Even so¡­

    "Matsukaze!"

    I shouted as I allowed myself to follow after Alicia. Scrambling to my feet, I ran down the tilted cabin and hurled myself out of the window. A huge, mechanical hand was waiting for me right outside, and Matsukaze shoved me right into the cockpit. Even before I was fully seated, my hands were already reaching out for the controls and I urged Matsukaze into a jump.

    My titan had been clinging onto the cabin with a solid grip, preventing him from falling. The AI''s self-preservation had been pretty spot on. But now I was throwing all those efforts to waste by letting go of the makeshift handhold and propelling myself toward the falling Alicia.

    Inside the cockpit, Nagano was unleashing every bit of mana she had as she struggled to bring the violently shaking airship under control.

    "A¡­"

    With a yell, she released all her magic at once.

    "AAHHHHHH!"

    Mana splayed out from her body like lightning, sinking into the enormous airship and wrapping around it in eldritch tendrils. Even as veins popped in her temples and perspiration flowed down her face like rivers, Nagano refused to give up.

    With one final burst, she forcibly brought the crashing airship to a halt, juddering across the shattered canopy of the forest and finally skidding to a stop right at the base of the mountain. Miraculously, the airship remained in one piece as it smashed a crater into the earth, fumes billowing angrily from its wrecked frame.

    "Hah¡­hah¡­"

    Nagano panted. After the crash, the passengers had evacuated from the airship. The crew was tending to the damages and hastily making repairs. The airship wouldn''t be fully repaired, but with their efforts, they could render it capable of flight, at least until we reached the airbase in Ragalon City. That was enough.

    "Are you all right?"

    The hero turned to the crew and the remaining party members.

    "Yes," Alan assured her, grief overtaking his handsome face. "Although the vibrations were terrifying, there wasn''t much of an impact."

    "I thought I was going to die," the air stewardess wailed. The other air stewardesses nodded in agreement, their faces stained with tears.

    "I don''t know how we''re still alive!"

    "I''ve never experienced anything so terrifying in my life!"

    "I don''t believe this! I don''t recall ever signing up for this!"

    Nagano pointedly ignored their whining and instead raised her head.

    "Speaking of which, what happened to Richard''s daughter?"

    Evidently, Nagano was familiar with Alicia''s father, Richard Clarence. Then again, as heroes, they had rubbed shoulders with the nobility and developed close relations with them.

    "T¡­the last thing I saw was her getting thrown off the airship."

    Alan sounded like he was going to break down.

    "What?!"

    Nagano sounded dismayed by the news. If that was true, then she wouldn''t be able to explain to the noble how his daughter lost her life under her watch.

    "Did she fall out of the window?"

    Alan nodded, his shoulders slumping.

    "Don''t worry!"

    Everyone glanced up as a titan jumped off the broken deck of the ship and landed heavily on the dirt, leaving two gigantic footprints. Dangling from his mechanical hand was the stunned figure of Alicia, who looked pretty undignified.

    Well, who cares? At least she was still alive.

    "I''ve gotten her," I assured them, still inside Matsukaze''s cockpit. As if to emphasize my point, I shook the mechanical hand, causing Alicia to get sick. Ignoring her green complexion, I smiled. "It''s good to see that you''re all fine!"

    Nobody responded. They were all staring at me, their mouths wide open and their eyes as round as saucers.

    Huh? Why were they all so surprised? Was summoning a mechanical golem really that special? Well, I guess it was, but even then¡­

    My sensor arrays beeped. Even Alicia was looking past me and over Matsukaze''s shoulder. Now I noticed that everyone''s eyes weren''t on me but behind me.

    "Huh?"

    I spun my titan around and my holographic visual displays caught sight of the immense being behind us. The gargantuan form of a crimson dragon had reared up high above the forest, towering over even the tallest trees, as it searched the area for any sign of intruders. Its wings spread out, wider than even a building.

    The damned thing was as big as a small fortress.

    "Is¡­is that a crimson dragon?" I asked. "Why is it here!?"

    "We made so much noise near its nest, so it''s not strange that it would come out to check what''s going on," Nagano replied wearily.

    "I see."

    "It seems to have noticed the airship. We need to evacuate the crew members before they get attacked!"

    The crew was busily repairing the airship, but they had frozen when they saw and heard the approaching crimson dragon.

    "No need for that. I''ll ambush and kill the dragon," I replied as I placed Alicia on the ground and spun Matsukaze around to fight it. A mecha against a dragon¡­this would be one hell of a fight. I was looking forward to it. "While I''m distracting the crimson dragon, can you guys look for the princess and rescue her?"

    "We''ll try," Nagano sighed. "If only Asakura-san was here. We could use her tracking abilities and locate her highness right away."

    "Ugh¡­"

    I immediately felt awkward. I was the one who killed Asakura Akane, after all. Not that I regretted it. The bitch had tried to kill me.

    "But you''re half-right. Let''s attack the dragon. But we''ll be doing it together. We can look for her highness after we slay the crimson dragon."

    As if on cue, the crimson dragon let loose a breath of fire on the airship. Nagano sprang forward and conjured a barrier to protect the ship. A gigantic block of shimmering energy shielded the ship, protecting it from the flames.

    "That''s only a temporary measure," Nagano warned, heaving heavily. "My barrier won''t last long."

    "What should we do?" Alan asked nervously. "Retreat and get reinforcements?"

    "No, I''ll distract it while you guys attack." I was already moving Matsukaze toward the dragon, unslinging my katana. It appeared that I had lost my Predator cannon during the crash, but that was fine. "I''m pretty eye-catching, what with a gigantic mecha and all. The dragon will most likely focus everything on me."

    "¡­!"

    Nagano stared at me worriedly.

    "You¡­are you seriously planning to fight like this?"

    "What, you don''t believe that I''ll be able to fight a dragon with a mecha?"

    I laughed and pushed my glasses up my nose. Whatever, it wasn''t as if anyone could see me do that because I was inside my cockpit.

    "I don''t think we can run away anyway, so might as well defeat it. We came all the way here to rescue the princess, didn''t we?"

    "¡­"

    Nagano considered my words for a moment, and then turned to the air stewardess.

    "Air stewardess-san, do you have mana recovery potions?"

    "Y¡­yes!" the air stewardess fumbled about in her uniform. "I don''t have a huge amount of potions, but¡­"

    "As long as we have a couple of bottles, it''s fine!" Nagano assured her. "Please give me one!"

    "Yes!"

    "Will you be all right?" I asked through the speakers of my mecha. "You used a lot of mana trying to land the airship earlier."

    "Don''t worry!" Nagano wiped her mouth after she downed a small bottle of mana recovery potion. "I''m a hero, remember? This much is nothing."

    "That''s assuring." I smiled. "Thanks."

    As the crimson dragon continued to spew flames on the hapless airship, I lunged forward and slashed it with my sword. Blood spurted out as the crimson dragon staggered back, howling in pain. But I mercilessly swung my katana and scored another grievous wound without hesitation. The dragon tried to turn around, but I made use of my superior speed and agility to dance around, lashing out with swift, precise strikes.

    That was the signal for everyone to begin. Nagano raised her hands and opened her Gate of Babylon¡­I mean, summon a barrage of sacred swords.

    The crimson dragon whipped its tail out to catch me by surprise, but I brought my katana up for a sword block. There was a horrendous screech as Matsukaze''s legs skidded backward, carving two trails in the broken dirt.

    "T¡­Tanaka-kun?!"

    "Tanaka-san!"

    "I''m all right! Attack now!"

    "Ah!"

    Nagano unleashed the hail of swords on the crimson dragon, the high-ranked weapons piercing its armored scales and gouging multiple small wounds. As the dragon shrieked, I barreled into it and carved a much deeper and bigger wound with Matsukaze''s huge katana.

    "Thank Evelyn!" Alan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that my mecha was still kicking actively. "He''s all right!"

    "Jeez¡­don''t make us worry like that!"

    Alicia looked flushed, her hands clenched tightly as she watched on anxiously. Well, don''t just stand there and watch! Do something!

    As if she had read my mind, Alicia raised her hands.

    "Careful! I''ll support you!"

    "Here I got!"

    Alan brought his shield out as he prepared to defend Alicia while she was casting her spell. While she was busy with her incantation, I danced out of the dragon''s reach as it lashed out with its claws and tail at a frightening speed.

    Wow, the crimson dragon is a lot faster than I thought it would be. For a monster with such a huge body, it sure moves pretty fast¡­

    Without my Predator cannon or the triple-barreled shotgun that I had swapped out for it, I couldn''t attack the dragon from range. What a miscalculation on my part. Exhaling, I yanked on my gear stick. In response, Matsukaze swung his katana and unleashed an arc wave, a blue crackling arc of energy that slammed into the dragon and stunned it.

    Nagano seized the chance to launch another barrage of sacred swords on the stunned dragon, knocking it over. Dozens of explosions detonated across the colossal dragon as it reeled from the vicious bombardment of magical swords.

    The dragon teetered, almost toppling over, but it was far from dead.

    "Sophia, let''s go!"

    "All right!"

    The two girls, Alicia and Sophia, had finished their incantations. Behind Alan, they launched their fiery spells that shook the dragon. But unlike the hero, Nagano, their spells lacked the firepower to do anything more than annoy it.

    With a grunt, the crimson dragon turned to glare at them. Drawing a huge breath, it then unleashed a massive wave of flames on the two girls. Alicia and Sophia closed their eyes, awaiting their deaths, but it never came.

    Instead, the flames merely bounced off a giant shield.

    "Are you two all right?" Alan asked as he propped his knight shield up to protect the three of them from the intense flames of the dragon.

    "A¡­Alan¡­"

    But their failed attacks were not in vain. While the crimson dragon was distracted with trying to incinerate them, I plunged my katana deep into its spine, eliciting a screech of rage. The dragon threw me off with a flick of its tail, but Matsukaze landed deftly a safe distance away.

    "Sword Core online," the AI told me. I grinned as I flipped the switch.

    "About time!"

    "Sword Core activated."

    Azure mana crackled about Matsukaze''s frame and katana, boosting his sword attacks and abilities, increasing the damage and speed. I could turbo boost indefinitely now, dancing about the flailing dragon with increased speed and frustrating it. Swinging my katana, I unleashed two arc waves in succession, hitting the dragon and staggering it. While it was stunned, I boosted forward and slashed it, severing one of its claws.

    The pain jolted the dragon out of its shock and it bathed my mecha in flames. However, I floored the accelerator, forcing Matsukaze to hurtle forward into the blazing inferno. At the very last second, Matsukaze disappeared from reality, phase shifting into an alternate, quantum universe, and entirely removing himself out of harm''s way. As the environment around me turned gray and incoherent, I focused on phasing into the location behind the crimson dragon. Materializing back into reality, I spun around and decapitated the confused dragon from behind, the katana cleaving through its armored neck. As the dragon fell, its huge body shuddering, I kicked it onto the ground and then plunged my sword into its heart to finish it off.

    Best to ensure that it was dead, otherwise it would come back to haunt us. I wasn''t about to make the mistake that Kobayashi and the other heroes did, foolishly thinking that the demon race was finished and taking a break from the frontlines just because they killed the Demon Lord. If you wanted the job done, then make sure you did a thorough job before stopping.

    Pulling my katana out of the crimson dragon''s corpse, I then turned around to check on the others. Alicia and Sophia were still being protected by Alan, Nagano had remained at a safe distance, with another barrage of swords ready, and the crew were watching in awe from the airship, completely taken aback by what they had just seen.

    "Wow. There are people who can actually take down a crimson dragon. How interesting¡­"

    The pilot, the captain of the crew, was shaking his head. Evidently, in all his years as a veteran, he had never seen anyone kill a crimson dragon. Then again, the heroes were just recently summoned to the world and he had never seen anyone quite like them either. On the other hand, he was perplexed because the one who slew the dragon wasn''t the hero, Nagano-sama, but me. A guy in a mecha. Speaking of which, he probably had never seen a golem before either.

    "That should do it."

    I stepped on the severed crimson dragon''s head for emphasis as I proceeded toward Nagano and the rest, who were gathering in the clearing.

    "It''s time to search for the princess."

    "I can''t believe you were serious when you said you can slay the dragon."

    Nagano was shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at my mecha. She frowned as she studied it curiously.

    "And how the heck did you craft a mecha? Tell me! I want to build one as well!"

    Typical. However¡­

    "I didn''t build Matsukaze. I summoned him."

    "You¡­what?"

    Nagano was staring at me in disbelief. I shrugged, but realized that she couldn''t see me.

    "I summoned this mecha. I''m sorry, I don''t know how to build one."

    "I''m sure I''ll figure it out someday. Anyway, great job. Even heroes have trouble slaying a dragon, but you went and did it."

    "With difficulty," I added grumpily. Despite killing the Crimson Dragon, my Matsukaze had suffered considerable damage from the claws and tail that had left quite some marks on it. Electricity sparked and crackled around damaged joints and exposed wires. Matsukaze wasn''t going to last much longer at this rate.

    Fortunately, he would be fully repaired when I summoned him again. But the spell and ritual to summon him was quite considerable and time-consuming, so I decided to keep him around until we actually rescued the princess before dismissing him.

    "I''ll leave the repairs to you guys," Nagano called out to the crew, and the pilot and copilot saluted her.

    "Leave it to us, Hero-sama!"

    Nagano nodded and turned back to the rest of us. "Well then, let''s go search for her highness and get her out of this God-forsaken place."

 62 Chapter 62: Rescue mission

    "Your highness!"

    "You''re safe!"

    "We''re coming!"

    The party of mercenaries and one hero ran ahead the moment they spotted the princess. She was slumped against a rocky perch, placed deep inside the dragon''s nest. There were a bunch of eggs next to her, yet to hatch, but fortunately there was no sign of any other dragons. Meanwhile, I hung back inside Matsukaze, my katana out and ready in case we were attacked again.

    It was clear that the dragon had abducted the princess to feed its offspring. According to the books I had read in the Library of Eden, humans with the blood of royalty made for dragon delicacies. In other words, a princess would be more delicious than a regular human¡­for dragons, anyway. I didn''t know how they could tell us apart, but dragons were highly intelligent, sentient beings, so I guess they had their ways of identification.

    Not to mention, the royalty was always so eye-catching and stood out from most people with their luxurious clothing, accessories and transports. I guess you didn''t need to be a human to know that the rich-looking one was a cut above the poorer-looking ones.

    "Well, let''s head back."

    Nagano breathed a sigh of relief as we freed the princess. She was still wobbling about, so Alicia and Sophia took her arms on each side. Alan had offered to help, but Alicia was fiercely against that, obviously worried that the princess might fall for him.

    "How¡­?"

    The princess was muttering, dazed.

    "We came here by airship. It''s a little damaged now, but we''ll return to Ragalon the moment the crew complete emergency repairs. From there, we''ll stay in the city for a couple of days before returning to Havia City once the airship is fully repaired."

    "Ah¡­"

    That wasn''t what the princess was asking about, but she was too confused to pursue her original question further. She limped between Alicia and Sophia while Alan and I scouted ahead for any threats. I was still inside Matsukaze, the huge mecha towering over the humans and scanning the space ahead with his sensors.

    "Be careful¡­the dragon¡­"

    "Don''t worry, your highness," Nagano assured her. "We''ve defeated the dragon."

    "¡­which dragon?"

    The princess sounded surprised, but we were even more surprised by her question.

    "Wait, what? What do you mean which dragon?"

    "The crimson dragon? Or the larger one?"

    "...it wasn''t just the crimson dragon?"

    Alan and the others looked horrified. As for me, I noticed a colossal shadow being casted upon us, turning day temporarily into night.

    "Hmm?"

    It wasn''t just me. Nagano had noticed the sudden, ominous darkness that had befallen us, and she slowly stopped to turn around.

    A second dragon was looming over the mountain, three times bigger than the crimson dragon we had just defeated. It was almost as large as a freaking hill, several times bigger than any building in all of Restia.

    "There! The larger dragon!"

    The princess was panicking and squirming between Alicia and Sophia. Silly girl¡­stop struggling. Even if you ran away, where could you escape to? We were the only hope you had of getting out of this place alive.

    "No way!"

    "Impossible!"

    While Alicia and the others were rooted in disbelief and fear, I shook my head inside the cockpit of Matsukaze.

    "Oh¡­so there was another dragon, huh? It doesn''t seem to want to let us leave with the princess. I guess we''ve to kill this one as well."

    "You make it sound so easy," Alan muttered wryly. However, Nagano didn''t share my confidence. She had turned incredibly pale.

    "Th¡­that is?"

    "Eh?"

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    I turned my head to stare at the holographic image of Nagano in my head''s up display. What is it, girl? Stop acting so dramatic and get to the point already!

    "No¡­it can''t be!"

    Perspiration was dripping down Nagano''s face as she stared at the dragon, her complexion ashen and shaken.

    "But if something like that is here, then it all makes sense."

    "Can you stop making cryptic statements and tell us what the hell is going on?!" I snapped impatiently. That had to be a limit to being dramatic.

    Alan and the rest were too shocked to be paying any attention to our conversation. Then again, I was inside a big mecha, so I was probably safer than all the others. It also meant that the bulk of the battle would fall to me, so I readied my katana.

    "The wyverns we encounted on the way here, plus the crimson dragon¡­it''s all connected¡­"

    "Nagano-san? Hello? Can you start explaining already?! I don''t see any connection!?"

    "What''s wrong, puny humans?"

    The dragon boomed.

    "It¡­it spoke!?"

    Alan and the others were taken aback by the sudden outburst. I rolled my eyes, now remembering what I had read in the preparation for this mission. If I wasn''t mistaken¡­

    "That''s an ancient dragon," I explained to Alan and friends. "Ancient dragons are known to be intelligent enough to speak human languages. I don''t remember reading any connection to wyverns or crimson dragons, though¡­but ancient dragons are far more intelligent than those two species. And far more powerful too."

    "Eh?! Then what do we do?!"

    "We either negotiate or we fight."

    I pivoted my mecha so that I would be facing the ancient dragon directly, and then bent Matsukaze''s legs a little to imitate a deferential posture.

    "Excuse me, oh Ancient Dragon-sama¡­"

    Before I could finished my respectful greeting, the ancient dragon rudely interrupted me with a tremendous roar that sent sonic booms across the valley, scattering rocks and blowing the puny humans off their feet. Even Nagano was forced to shield herself with her hands, and Alan slammed his shield down to protect himself and the three girls behind him.

    "AHHH?!"

    "Ugh!"

    "Ah!"

    After the rude roar, the ancient dragon glared at us, but I met its gaze levelly from inside Matsukaze, who hadn''t budged a millimeter despite the ferocious sonic attack. Rising to my feet, I slammed my katana against the ground in an aggressive display.

    "Guess you''re just a huge lizard in the end," I sneered. "Rudely interrupting people when they''re talking. How uncivilized."

    The dragon snapped at me, its massive jaws trying to close around my mecha, but I managed to stop them from closing around me with a sword block. However, the gigantic fangs dug in deeply, causing sparks to fly and denting the metal dangerously.

    "Warning." Matsukaze''s voice was maddeningly calm despite the flashing red lights in my cockpit. "Critical damage. Advise: eject."

    "Hell, no!" I glanced at the health meter, which was still blue. It didn''t seem like Matsukaze had entered a doomed state yet. My cockpit shuddered violently as the dragon struck my mecha and knocked it over. The damned thing was bigger than my titan, its head almost as big as Matsukaze''s frame. As such, just a single swipe from its tail sent Matsukaze skidding backward despite another sword block. I was forced to phase dash before it could rend my mecha apart with its claws.

    "That was close!"

    Matsukaze materialized back in reality, a seemingly safe distance from the ancient dragon. It was such a close shave, and Matsukaze had suffered critical damage from both attacks. Apparently the ancient dragon was very offended by my remarks.

    Hey, but it was its fault for provoking me first ¨C being incredibly rude and arrogant, and assault us with a sonic attack.

    Trying to bite me right away? But Matsukaze and I won''t die right away.

    The ancient dragon tried to bite me again, forcing me to turbo boost away. The back thrusters lit up and Matsukaze sped forward, barely avoiding getting chomped upon by the larger dragon. As I accelerated forward, I spun around and swung my katana, unleashing an azure arc wave that struck my assailant squarely in the face.

    "Gaaaah!"

    The dragon roared as it reeled back, stunned. Emboldened by my success, I unleashed a second arc wave to keep it off its feet before boosting forward to slash the stunned ancient dragon with my katana. Blood spurted across the ground in a volcanic spray and azure mana exploded, sending shockwaves rippling across the valley.

    "Whoa!?"

    Nagano and the rest were buffeted by the shockwaves, but I couldn''t afford to care about them. I had to focus on defeating the formidable enemy right in front of me.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me¡­"

    I zoomed in on the bleeding wound, dismayed by what I saw. Despite the long line of blood, the armored scales had stopped my katana from penetrating deeper. I had only managed to deal a superficial wound.

    "Even after that frontal attack, it only took a little scratch?!"

    "What?!"

    On the other hand, the ancient dragon was shocked, but for completely different reasons.

    "You actually managed to put a scratch on me?"

    I didn''t reply. Instead, I boosted forward and slashed it again, my katana carving another series of wounds. The dragon swiped at me with its claws, but I floored the accelerator and escaped into the quantum dimension for a few seconds before materializing in reality. Spinning around, I slashed its hind leg, drawing more blood, but was forced to dodge its tail.

    Stumbling backward, I unleashed another two arc waves, forcing the ancient dragon back as electromagnetic energy crackled around it.

    "Indeed, you''re quite something for a human."

    The dragon glared at me, fuming in both literal and figurative ways. Perspiration dripped down its scorched face as it struggled to digest what was going on. I merely smiled inside my cockpit.

    "Thank you for the compliment."

    "Tanaka-kun¡­"

    A familiar voice caught my attention. Nagano was waving at me from outside my mecha. I glanced at the holographic display and noted that the rest of the group had the princess.

    Good. That was why I brought them along in the first place.

    "Nagano-san, can you and the others escort the princess to safety? Bring her back to the airship and get out of here."

    "But¡­" Alicia protested. I glared at her even though she couldn''t possibly see my glowering expression from outside my cockpit.

    "What is our primary objective?"

    "¡­to rescue the princess."

    "Then what are you dawdling about for!? Rescue the princess, for God''s sake!"

    "Tanaka-san is right," Alan spoke up as he gently nudged Alicia forward while supporting the princess, who was between him and Sophia. "We''ll only get in the way if we stay here. We have to go."

    "But¡­"

    "Alan is correct," Sophia said softly. "There''s nothing we can do to help."

    I kept one eye on the ancient dragon while making sure my party members were escorting the princess to safety. Before she left, however, Nagano turned to me.

    "What about you, Tanaka-kun? What are you doing?"

    "My best," I replied shortly before unleashing an arc wave at the approaching ancient dragon to discourage it from closing the distance.

    "Bastard!"

    The ancient dragon roared in fury. Despite the temporary stun, it was still as lively and aggressive as ever.

    Gritting my teeth, I dashed forward and slashed it again. My meter was slowly building up and I could activate my Sword Core soon. When I did that, it would be checkmate.

    The ancient dragon seemed to sense my thoughts, for it chuckled.

    "You seem to be waiting for your trump card or something similar," the ancient dragon scoffed. "Ha ha¡­but save it. You''ll never be able to defeat me."

    "We''ll see about that!"

    We continued to engage in a furious melee, where I continually used my superior speed and agility to outmaneuver the ancient dragon while slowly chipping away at its health. The ancient dragon was powerful, but its attacks were useless if they didn''t hit me.

    Unfortunately, I was getting tired and I wasn''t a genius pilot who could avoid all attacks. I took a couple more hits that shaved off huge blue bars from Matsukaze''s health meter. It seemed that he only had one-tenth of his health left.

    This didn''t look good¡­

    "Sword Core online."

    "DO IT!"

    I yelled and flipped the switch. Immediately, Matsukaze''s sword and melee attacks were enhanced exponentially. I dashed forward at a much faster speed, slashing and drawing more splashes of blood. The ancient dragon roared and thrashed about, trying to keep me at bay not just with powerful melee attacks but also flames. My sword block now reduced 75% of the full damage instead of merely 50%, but it was more than enough to take off the last blue bar of the health meter.

    "Critical damage. Advise: eject."

    "Oh, shut it!"

    Even as I snapped at the AI, I could see the health bar descend into doomed state, were it became a yellow bar with black stripes. At this rate, my titan would be terminated. However, I was dealing more damage to the dragon than I had been earlier, my katana gouging huge chunks of flesh and much deeper injuries.

    "You¡­!"

    The ancient dragon howled and lashed out with its tail. Unable to evade, I blocked it with my sword and the yellow and black bar suddenly shortened drastically. Desperate, I fired off a couple of arc waves in succession, keeping it at bay. Roaring, the ancient dragon lunged forward to execute my titan, right at the same moment the meter for my Sword Core expired.

    "Sword Core offline."

    "Oh, shit¡­!"

    I had no choice. I reached for the hatch under my seat and yanked it. Immediately, I was ejected out of my cockpit, soaring high up into the air before my titan automatically self-destructed. The small explosion knocked over the approaching ancient dragon, engulfing it in flames. A parachute billowed out from my chair as I slowly descended back toward the earth.

    *

    Far away, Nagano and the band of mercenaries watched the ferocious fight. While I was distracting the ancient dragon, Nagano and the others had made their escape. That was exactly what I wanted, especially since they had the damned princess with them. Our primary objective was to rescue the princess, not to slay the dragon.

    "Are we far enough from them?" Alan asked anxiously. Nagano nodded.

    "Yes. Now Tanaka-kun should be able to fight with full strength without having to worry about getting us caught up in his attacks."

    "Y¡­yes¡­"

    The princess still looked dazed from the current circumstances, but she nodded in agreement. Anyone who could fight on par with an ancient dragon was reliable enough for her. Nagano shook her head, amazed, and stared into the distance.

    "I knew Tanaka-kun received the same blessings and powers as we heroes did. No wonder Kobayashi-kun and the others fear him so much."

    That last sentence was whispered under her breath, and went unheard by the rest of the party and the princess.

    "So what should we do now?" Alicia demanded worriedly as she glanced at the legendary hero. "He''s fighting all alone!"

    "Don''t be ridiculous!" Nagano snapped, but it wasn''t because she didn''t want to help me or try to get me killed. She was still perspiring after the battle with the crimson dragon and the encounter with the ancient dragon. "Even if we get closer, the only thing we can do is drag him down. The best thing we can do right now is to watch his fight from here. Don''t worry, I believe in Tanaka-kun. He will definitely win. He''s a hero like us, after all."

    So that''s why Takeda-kun wants him as an ally. He certainly is powerful¡­he can help us turn the tables against Kobayashi-kun!

    However, Alicia remained unconvinced.

    "B¡­but to simply watch is¡­!"

    "Alicia¡­" Alan spoke up, looking at the duel bitterly. "It''s not like I want to leave Tanaka-san to his death either. But with our strength, we can''t even provide support for him."

    "I¡­I know that, but still¡­" Alicia stubbornly insisted. "He can die from this!"

    Oh, I''m so grateful for your complete lack of faith and confidence in my abilities. Why don''t you start preparing your speech for my funeral then?

    "Heh."

    Unlike Alicia, Nagano was laughing under her breath.

    "Tanaka-kun won''t die here. He''s not so weak a man to get killed by something like an ancient dragon. Like I said, I believe in him."

    "Something like an ancient dragon, now¡­"

    Alan stared at Nagano, flabbergasted by her complete lack of concern, or her total confidence in me. Now that was encouraging.

    I had to meet Nagano''s expectations at least.

    "Tanaka¡­"

    Alicia fidgeted nervously. She and Nagano watched from the distance, but as the battle dragged on, Nagano left to take a little break, leaving Alicia to sit by herself on the cliff the little group had taken shelter on.

    To be honest¡­I didn''t give a flying fuck about her and her useless concerns. I was beginning to even wonder why I brought them along. The so-called party was completely useless. Quite frankly, I could probably solo this mission on my own. The only person who was even remotely useful was Nagano, but everyone was just dead weight.

    Why were they brought along? Yeah, well¡­that was probably a question best reserved for the author of the original Tanaka the Wizard. Maybe he intended them to be red herrings or the "obligatory" adventurer party, but decided to make his protagonist so overpowered that he actually didn''t need any allies. So what was the point of giving him allies?

    Best not to think too much about this stupidity¡­

    *

    After the ejection, I landed, only to see the ancient dragon emerge from the explosion alive.

    "You''re one resilient dragon," I remarked, panting as I shrugged off my parachute and retrieved my staff. It would take me too long to summon another titan.

    "Silence! You puny human!"

    The ancient dragon was breathing just as heavily as I was, battered and hurt. And it wasn''t just physically hurt. I bet its pride and ego were dealt a mortal blow too.

    "I can''t believe I still haven''t squashed you yet!"

    "Better get used to believing," I replied dryly. Pushing up my glasses, I unleashed a Doombolt, but it merely smacked off its armored scales.

    "Hah! What is that? You''re trying to give me an itch or something?"

    With a roar, the ancient dragon lunged at me. Cursing, I pulled my staff back before swinging it, firing off a massive Shadow Lunar Fang. The black crescent-shaped arc of mana slammed into the ancient dragon and sent it toppling over, nicking its throat.

    "!?"

    Rolling back onto its feet, the ancient dragon sent me a murderous glare.

    "You bastard¡­"

    "We can still call a truce now and stop this meaningless fight," I declared. "I''m getting tired and I''m sure you are too."

    "!"

    The ancient dragon gritted its teeth furiously, almost as if I had just insulted its pride. With a bellow, it sent sonic waves hurtling throughout the valley.

    "ARGGGGGGHHHH! Don''t screw with me!"

    Slamming one foot on the ground, it took off at such high speeds I couldn''t follow its movements. Buffeted by the sonic boom, I stumbled around for a moment before I righted myself. For a single, hopeful moment, I dared to believe that I had just forced the ancient dragon to retreat.

    "Phew¡­"

    I was about to exhale in relief when I was suddenly cut off by a scream.

    "AHHHHH!"

    Turning around, I could only groan in dismay as the ancient dragon swooped down from the heavens. Clutched in its grip was a struggling Alicia, who was slowly being crushed to oblivion by the cackling ancient dragon.

 63 Chapter 63: Dawn of Dragons

    I gaped at Alicia''s struggling figure, and it took me a few moments to absorb what had just happened.

    The ancient dragon glared at me, squeezing its claws around Alicia, who was going limp from the sheer force of its grip.

    "W¡­what the hell?!" I murmured, still unable to wrap my head around what had just transpired.

    "If you don''t want this girl crushed, you better not move from that spot."

    The ancient dragon raised a pale, trembling Alicia for emphasis as it threatened me desperately. So it had descended to this level, huh?

    "¡­"

    But that wasn''t what surprised me. No¡­it wasn''t indeed. It was the fact that Alicia was the one who got taken as a hostage.

    What the fuck.

    What the flying fuck!?

    Just how many times did that pathetic bitch need saving? This was the third time in a single day! Every single time¡­what the fuck, man!? Was she a trouble magnet or something?! Or was she just incredibly unlucky? Why was it that every time a crisis happened, she just so happened to be a victim!? First it was the wyvern breathing fire on her, and then she got thrown off the airship and needed to be saved, and now she was taken hostage by the ancient dragon?!

    Seriously!? Every single time!? Was Alicia Clarence created solely to be the damsel in distress character or something?! It was getting really, really old.

    "Goddammit, Alicia-san!" I shouted out of sheer frustration. "You had one job! One job!"

    All Alicia had to do was escort the princess to safety, and get away from the ancient dragon. Once they did that, I could look for a chance to escape on my own. But now that Alicia went and got herself caught by the ancient dragon, I had lost any chance to flee. I never thought that I could defeat the ancient dragon ¨C it was simply too powerful and durable. The best I could hope for was to run away after I ensured that the others had gotten to safety.

    But that whole plan had been ruined by a girl who needed saving for the third time in just a single day.

    "Can''t you be useful for once?! Do you expect to get saved every fucking time!?"

    "Sorry¡­" Alicia sniffed, tears pouring down her pretty face. Oh, stuff it. Don''t think that you can get away with being useless just because you''re super-pretty.

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    I didn''t care.

    Unfortunately, I couldn''t. I refused to. That was a line I refused to cross. I wasn''t a bully. The moment I pulled a callous stunt like that, I would become no different from the bloody bullies I swore revenge on. I was better than them. I could still hold the higher moral ground for now. But if I left Alicia to die, then I could no longer claim that higher moral ground.

    Damn it.

    "Shut the hell up!" the ancient dragon roared at me. I finally turned my attention to it.

    "You''re pathetic," I sneered. "An ancient dragon needing to rely on a hostage to get the advantage over a human opponent¡­I wonder how humiliating and shameful it will be for you if word gets out to the other dragons."

    "I told you to shut up!"

    The ancient dragon''s tail slammed into me, crushing me to the ground. If it wasn''t for my Redwood jacket, I would have been pulverized instantly. As it was, I managed to use sheer strength to block the attack, holding the tail above me with my hand.

    "Impossible!"

    The ancient dragon snarled and withdrew its tail, stunned. I heaved and stumbled. Even with the defensive layers, the burden placed on my body from that single attack had nearly shattered every bone. The protective screens had cracked, even as they were now regenerating, but the impact of the blow had penetrated the supposedly impenetrable defenses and sent immense tremors throughout my fragile body. Even if I possessed an invincible shell, the body inside was not as durable as the armor protecting it. My regeneration was kicking in, but I knew I wouldn''t be able to last a couple more attacks of that magnitude. If I wasn''t an undead, I might have died from internal injuries alone.

    Ancient dragons were on a completely different level.

    "Stop resisting, or this girl will be dead."

    "Well¡­"

    "Don''t say a single word," the dragon growled. I cocked my head at it, trying to put up a brave front. The dragon noted my silence and meek compliance.

    "Seems like you can''t handle the impact."

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    I breathed heavily, not rising to the bait. Dusting my Redwood jacket off, I glared at it.

    "What are you talking about? I''m¡­I''m just a normal human, you know¡­"

    "Don''t lie!" the dragon thundered, forgetting its earlier order for me to not say a word. "A mere human isn''t capable of fighting like this!"

    "Tanaka!"

    Alicia shouted, despite being unable to free herself from the ancient dragon''s crushing grasp. Clenching her fists in frustration, tears streaked down her face.

    "Don''t worry about me! J¡­j¡­just do it!"

    "Do what?"

    "Attack the ancient dragon! Kill me along with the ancient dragon if you have to! Don''t hold yourself back on my account!"

    I was very, very tempted to do that. But before I could reply affirmatively, the ancient dragon scoffed and chortled.

    "Don''t even bother to pull a bluff. I know you''re not the type of person who would sacrifice other humans for victory. You''re a hero, aren''t you? A real one, unlike those fakes claiming to protect the human kingdoms."

    "¡­"

    There was so many things wrong with that statement that I didn''t even know where to begin to correct the overgrown lizard.

    Instead, I just sighed and shook my head. If the ancient dragon thought I was a hero, I might as well play the part. Besides, it was right. I refused to be as dishonorable as the ancient dragon, or as self-serving, arrogant and selfish as Kobayashi and my other former classmates. Remembering how Kobayashi sacrificed Samejima just to achieve victory over the Demon Lord, I hardened my resolve.

    I refused to sink to Kobayashi''s level. I wasn''t Kobayashi. I was way better than he ever would be. If that made me more of a hero than him, then so be it.

    Honestly, I wasn''t interested in being a hero or whatever. I was only invested in holding the higher moral ground over Kobayashi Kenji, so as to justify my revenge. It might seem meaningless and hypocritical to other people, but quite frankly, screw other people. I had my own principles and I refused to back down no matter how hypocritical people thought I was.

    "Tanaka! Please!"

    Alicia was still pleading with me, but I shook my head and refused steadfastly.

    "No."

    "B¡­but¡­!"

    "Look, I don''t care about your nobles'' honor or valor or self-sacrifice or whatever, but I have my own principles. No matter who or what turns against you or betrays you, I will never turn my back on you. That applies to any of my comrades. As long as you don''t betray me, I will never betray you."

    "¡­"

    Alicia was weeping, at a total loss for words.

    It took every ounce of willpower that I had to stop myself from laughing. I couldn''t believe Alicia was buying my utter bullshit. Come on, even she couldn''t possibly be that na?ve and gullible, could she? Or¡­

    Never mind. I was increasingly losing my faith in her intelligence. Not that I ever thought she possessed any intelligence to begin with anyway.

    "Hmph." The ancient dragon snorted. "Brave words¡­I expected as much from you, real hero. But your courage and valor end here. I cannot allow you to live. So¡­please die."

    With a thunderous roar, the ancient dragon crushed me with its immense paw.

    "!?"

    The ancient dragon pulled its tremendous paw back when it felt that something was odd. It glanced down and saw a shimmering barrier surround me.

    "Eh?"

    The dragon was not the only one confused. Even I was startled by the sudden appearance of a barrier. This wasn''t my Dark Barrier, but a shimmering, translucent blue cuboid barrier conjured by someone else.

    And there was only one other person I knew who possessed a special ability called Barrier.

    Crack¡­

    Even as the ancient dragon lifted its tail, the cracked barrier shattered into a million pieces, unable to withstand that single blow. It wasn''t even as strong as the protective layers generated by my Redwood Robe.

    However, it had done its job.

    "What the hell is this?!" the ancient dragon roared. Alicia cried out as it tightened its grip, almost crushing her to death. Gritting my teeth, I prepared to dash forward to pry her out of the claws in one piece, but before I could even take a step forward¡­

    "!"

    WHOOSH!

    A barrage of sacred weapons slammed against the ancient dragon, raining down on its position from above. A particularly large broadsword cleaved through the armored scales in its arm, causing the dragon to howl in pain and release Alicia. While she was trying to scramble away, the dragon reached for her again, only for the same blue shimmering barrier from before to materialize around her.

    "What¡­?"

    The dragon''s claws bounced off the barrier, but it packed enough force to send both the barrier and the girl within hurtling into the ground. Alicia cried out as she vanished in an explosion of soil and dirt, which obscured her from sight.

    "Geez¡­"

    I glanced at Nagano Nanaka as she stepped beside me, shaking her head in disapproval.

    "I guess you need my help, after all."

    "Of course I do!" I retorted, annoyed. "Where were you the entire time?! Why did you leave me to fight the ancient dragon all by myself?!"

    "I was expecting you to pull a Tanaka the Wizard and kick the dragon''s ass," Nagano replied with a shrug. "I guess reality is completely different from fiction after all."

    "Obviously! I''m not some overpowered ossan who has millions of MP and can defeat an ancient dragon on my own! Speaking of which, I''m surprised you actually read Tanaka the Wizard."

    "It was a funny story, especially at first, but it does have a lot of flaws," Nagano acknowledged. "I mean, if you were that overpowered, why would you ever need a team? It would be so retarded. At best, you would only need me, everyone else is completely unnecessary. That''s just garbage writing, and it ends up becoming a situation where all the other characters are here for the sake of being here. If you can even call them characters in the first place."

    Like Alicia existing for the sole sake of being the damsel in distress, and not actually being anything more than a flat, two-dimensional character with no sense of depth whatsoever. If she turned out to be the heroine of this story, I would personally contrive all sorts of ways to eliminate her. I would shudder to think if she was one of the romantic interests.

    Furthermore, Nagano was right. I wasn''t some overpowered protagonist with god mode on. I couldn''t win against every single enemy in Restia. That was why I was searching for potential allies and making friends. This wasn''t some edge-lord power fantasy where I could curb-stomp my opponents with brute force. I needed to be clever about it, forge proper alliances to outmaneuver my enemies tactically and strategically, and not overestimate my own strength. If I slipped up and got killed, everything would be over.

    There was no second chance or reset button.

    "What the fuck are both of you rambling about now!?" the ancient dragon bellowed as it turned to face us after batting away the barrage of sacred weapons.

    "Can you win against that ancient dragon, Nagano-san?" I asked, pointedly ignoring the dishonorable, oversized lizard. She smiled.

    "Not by myself. Just¡­don''t drag me down, all right?"

    "I''ll do my best."

    "Are you going to summon that mecha of yours again?"

    "No." I shook my head. "I think I have something more¡­appropriate for this particular enemy."

    Despite herself, Nagano grinned as she sent another hail of sacred weapons downward on the ancient dragon.

    "I look forward to it. I''ll cover you while you do your thing."

    I shook my head and smiled. "It''s already done."

    "¡­huh?"

    Nagano blinked as she glanced at me, only to recoil when she saw dark shadows being cast all across the valley.

    "You¡­!"

    The ancient dragon must have realized the danger, for it immediately lashed out. Fortunately, Nagano was on hand to conjure another barrier to protect me from harm. Gritting her teeth, she raised her hand and pointed toward the air.

    "Oh no, you don''t!"

    Sacred weapons materialized above her before raining down on the ancient dragon, but they barely pierced its armored scales. They harmlessly clanged off the dragon''s protective scales and bounced uselessly on the ground before disappearing.

    "Are those really sacred weapons?" I asked Nagano. She shook her head mirthlessly.

    "Sorry¡­I''m more of a support class, and I''m not meant to fight the enemies directly on the frontline. That''s why I needed a party instead of immediately setting off to rescue the princess on my own when she was captured."

    "Support class?"

    "I forge sacred weapons¡­but these weapons are temporary projections. Obviously I can''t replicate the real thing with this projection spell. These duplicates are vastly inferior to the real things, so they don''t have a lot of power. Even if I infused them with mana to self-destruct, they still don''t do a lot of damage."

    But it was enough to distract the ancient dragon long enough for me to give those shadows life. Smiling, I threw my hands out and called forth my legions of undead.

    "What''s¡­that?"

    "Zombie wyverns," I replied as the ancient dragon stared at the heavens, its jaw dropping agape in shock. A flock of black, decaying wyverns were swooping toward the ancient dragon, their skeletal maws open to emit ghastly cries.

    And that wasn''t all.

    The corpse of the crimson dragon that my party had just slaughtered the other time was riding on the tail-end of the flock, flapping its enormous wings as it descended upon the stunned ancient dragon. Once a bright crimson, the red scales of the undead dragon had taken on a sheen of gray, making it look more like volcanic rock that the jewel of dragons.

    "You¡­you dare desecrate our proud dragon race¡­!" the ancient dragon spluttered. I stared at it coldly, still protected behind Nagano''s shimmering barrier.

    "You tried to kill us. Did you really expect us to roll over and let you stomp all over us? I thought you dragons were intelligent, but you''re clearly delusional if you expect us to willingly die just because you want us to."

    "Shut up!"

    The ancient dragon roared, but the undead wyverns unleashed a barrage of black, necromantic flames that slammed into its body, staggering it. While the ancient dragon reeled, the undead crimson dragon let loose a stream of devastating flames that bathed it.

    "AAAARGH!"

    With a roar, the ancient dragon tried to swat the flock of wyverns away. Its maw yawned and it incinerated one of the undead wyverns that failed to get away in time. The rest of the wyverns fearlessly descended upon the ancient dragon, scrabbling and slashing at it with their claws. Unlike Nagano''s ineffectual sacred weapons, the undead wyvern''s toxic claws succeeded in tearing out scales and leaving huge streams of blood flowing from the ancient dragon''s wounds.

    The icing on the cake came when the crimson dragon barreled right into the ancient dragon, its jaws clamping down on the latter''s throat. The ancient dragon thrashed about, but the flock of undead wyverns and the crimson dragon held on stubbornly, leaving grievous injuries.

    "You¡­! Don''t underestimate me!"

    The ancient dragon used brute force to yank the undead wyverns off its bleeding body and pulverized a few to the ground. With a whip of its tail, it sent the undead crimson dragon crashing against the side of a mountain. An avalanche of rocks rained down on the zombie dragon, but it stood back up as if not feeling any pain.

    "I am an ancient dragon! I''m far more powerful than any of the other dragons put together! Did you really think you can defeat me with these mockeries?"

    "No," I agreed as I watched the ancient dragon crush another wyvern with its tail while pulverizing another with its claws, ripping it into shreds. The crimson dragon lunged forward, but the ancient dragon whipped its tail out and caught it before it could reach its target, sending the smaller dragon careening into the side of another mountain. Within moments, there were only three undead wyverns left. "I never thought I could."

    "¡­!"

    The ancient dragon glared at me, refusing to believe what I had just said. Meanwhile, Nagano looked puzzled.

    "Then what are we supposed to do?"

    I shrugged. "If my zombies are currently unable to beat the ancient dragon, then we''ll just have to strengthen the zombies."

    "Huh? How?"

    I wasn''t very enthusiastic about revealing my hand in front of Nagano ¨C I still didn''t trust her or the Iron Knights fully ¨C but against an enemy as powerful as the ancient dragon, I couldn''t afford to hold back. Furthermore, Nagano had just told me what her special abilities were and showed her own hand. It wouldn''t be fair otherwise.

    Since when did I care about being fair?

    Then again, that was precisely the kind of attitude that Kobayashi would adopt. Ganging up on me with multiple classmates, bullying me through all sorts of unfair ways, using his grandfather''s name to his advantage¡­

    Yeah, I was better than Kobayashi. I wasn''t going to reduce myself to his level.

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    "!"

    "!!"

    Both the ancient dragon and Nagano sprang back as the gigantic gravestones burst out of the ground, once again casting everything in their shadows. The surviving three wyverns morphed and transformed, becoming larger. In fact, three of them merged and melded into a single three-headed dragon with a vast wingspan and tremendous claws. The trio of heads screeched before breathing devastating necromantic flames that blistered the ancient dragon''s beleaguered scales.

    "Ugh¡­!"

    But that wasn''t all. The crimson dragon had grown to the same size as the ancient dragon and was lumbering forward. Black spikes burst out of its limbs, neck, spine and tail, and its fangs enlarged. Its claws expanded, and the ground shattered under their grip. With a thunderous roar, the crimson dragon reared its head up and expelled an atomic stream of grey fire. The spines on its back, tail and neck lit up with eldritch flames before the atomic stream emerged from the enhanced crimson dragon''s jaws and nearly severed the ancient dragon into two.

    "AAAAAAH!"

    The ancient dragon clawed feebly and retaliated with a burst of crimson flames, a bright, blazing supernova that would have incinerated any crimson dragon had they been a normal crimson dragon.

    However, the enhanced crimson dragon was no longer a normal crimson dragon. Additionally, it had Nagano''s help.

    A blue barrier came to life, shimmering between the ancient dragon and the crimson dragon. The flames slammed into it, almost disintegrating it immediately. Nagano fell to her knees, but she gritted her teeth and struggled to withstand it. Eventually the ancient dragon''s flames overwhelmed her defenses and washed over the crimson dragon.

    However, Nagano''s barrier had diminished most of the ancient dragon''s firepower and the crimson dragon didn''t get more than a few blisters. Being undead, it didn''t even feel any pain snarling, it lashed out with its tail and now it was the ancient dragon''s turn to be flung against the mountain. With a grunt, the ancient dragon struggled to its feet.

    But the three-headed wyvern-dragon was now upon it, its trio of heads lashing and biting ferociously at the fatally hurt ancient dragon. Growing in defiance, the ancient dragon grabbed the necks of the wyvern-dragon and crushed them. Rearing back, it bathed the three-headed dragon in supernova flames that melted the graying scales of the zombie wyvern. Using brute force, it then ripped the two heads off the wyvern-dragon.

    The remaining head wailed, but responded with a blast of necromantic flames. The ancient dragon, true to its reputation, countered that with a beautiful jab by plunging its claw right into the wyvern''s jaw. The zombie''s eyes widened, but it was too late. The necromantic flame washed back inside its own throat and it choked, its rotting tissue further damaged by its own foul magic. With a snarl, the ancient dragon then unleashed its flames on the trapped wyvern, which exploded.

    "AAAARGH!"

    The ancient dragon fell back, its claws now missing. Blood streamed from the rotting stump, with black corruption rapidly spreading over the severed limb like gangrene. Barely conscious from the excruciating pain, the ancient dragon amputated its own stump at the shoulder, using its other claws to slash off what remained of its arm. The rotting appendage fell to the ground and burst into dust.

    "Hah¡­hah¡­"

    The ancient dragon was heaving, both in pain and exhaustion. Its once regal features were now ashen, and blood profusely poured out of its shoulder. Shambling back, it turned to glare at me¡­

    ¡­only to see the enhanced undead crimson dragon lumbering toward it. Eldritch black-blue flames crackled along the dorsal spines of the immense dragon and its maw yawned.

    "Fuck you, and fuck all of humanity," the ancient dragon spat before his head and the upper half of his body was obliterated by my undead dragon''s atomic breath.

 64 Chapter 64: The wish

    "Thanks for the hard work."

    We had somehow managed to get the airship repaired for the journey back to Ragalon, and then back to Havia City. Unlike the useless Alicia, Alan and Sophia successfully escorted the princess back to the airship and kept her safe the entire time.

    Well, there was a reason why I brought them along. Obviously I couldn''t just solo everything on my own. I wasn''t a god and I was definitely no Mary Sue.

    While Alan and friends escorted the princess off the airship and toward a contingent of waiting royal guard in the capital, Nagano Nanaka had turned to me and temporarily bade me farewell.

    "I couldn''t have done this without you, Tanaka-kun."

    "I can say the same about you."

    If Nagano hadn''t shown up and casted a barrier over me, I would have been crushed to oblivion despite my own Dark Barrier and Redwood jacket. The ancient dragon was just that powerful. Furthermore, she also helped in that last segment by protecting my undead dragon and shielding it from the worst of the ancient dragon''s attack. Without her support, the outcome of the battle might be very different.

    Nagano was right when she said that her role was more a support type than a frontline bruiser. Her defensive spells had been invaluable.

    "Thanks for the assist. You saved me and my zombie dragon."

    "Heh¡­not at all. In fact, I''m the one who should be grateful. Did you know? After defeating the ancient dragon, my special ability leveled up! My barriers now are much stronger than before! They no longer break as easily!"

    Nagano was naively telling me about her special abilities even though she really should be keeping them to herself. I forced a smile and nodded.

    "That''s great."

    "What about you, Tanaka-kun? Did any of your special abilities level up?"

    "Not really¡­though I can now summon a zombie ancient dragon."

    After all those victories and accumulated experience, it appeared that my Summoning special ability had improved tremendously. I could now summon zombies from thin air. Not just human or humanoid zombies but also wyverns and dragons. That was how I managed to summon the undead wyverns during the battle against the ancient dragon.

    And with the victory against the ancient dragon, I could now summon its corpse to do my bidding as a reward for prevailing over it. And with Thousand Astral Graves to boost its power even further¡­I wouldn''t be surprised if I could wield the equivalent of a dragon god.

    "Anyway, I''ll see you guys later."

    Feeling exhausted, I decided to leave. I had no interest in participating the formalities that would ensue when the princess was welcomed back to the castle and all that. I honestly had no intention of dealing with all that BS right now.

    "Back to the inn."

    "Oh no, you don''t. You''re coming with us." Nagano frowned. "Otherwise you won''t get your reward."

    I gulped at that. Hell no. there was no way I was going to let that happen. With the threat of my hard-earned gold being snatched away from my hands, I decided to put up with the whole thing and go along with them.

    Fortunately, the welcoming ceremony didn''t take very long. We just followed the princess and her honor guard back to the castle, where her father, the king, greeted her happily.

    "Merly!"

    "Father!"

    Princess Merly and her father embraced at the entrance of the castle. The elderly king wasn''t patient enough to wait inside the throne room for his daughter and had personally rushed to the gates to greet her.

    "I''m so glad you''re safe!"

    "Not at all. These people saved me!"

    She gestured to the party standing behind the honor guard. Alan bowed his head.

    "Your majesty."

    "Ah¡­thank you. And you, especially, Hero-sama! To personally step out and save my daughter even though you''re so busy with the war¡­I''m indebted to you¡­.the royal family is indebted to you!"

    "I didn''t do it alone," Nagano replied as she directed the king''s attention to Alan and the others. I tried to stay out of sight and keep a low profile but my former classmate was having none of it. As expected of the former class representative¡­she made sure everybody was included.

    Huh, but she couldn''t do much when I was being bullied because she was afraid of Kobayashi and was barred from helping me by Tsukishima and the other girls. Well, it wasn''t as if I held a grudge against her for that.

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    "Thank you all as well. I hear you''re from the mercenary guild? You''re all very brave, risking your lives to rescue my daughter from the dragons. I''ll personally ensure that you get your rewards. Anything. If there''s anything you want, name it."

    "No, we only did our duty, your majesty," Nagano replied.

    "It was an honor to save. We ask for nothing in return." Alan bowed. Alicia, being from a noble family, followed suit as well.

    However¡­

    "No, I insist! Well, let''s go inside first. We''ll discuss this more inside¡­it''s awkward to stand outside talking like this. Come in!"

    We followed the king and princess into the castle, the royal guard flanking us. I was so drained that I didn''t pay any attention to what was going on, and time seemed to just fly past. While hanging back, I vaguely listened to the other members in my party make their respective requests. Alan wanted a promotion and probably a noble title, Sophia wanted a new grimoire that was hard to find in Havia, Alicia wanted a rare potion (sounded suspiciously like a love potion or aphrodisiac).

    As for Nagano¡­

    "Do you mind giving me mithril ores, your majesty?"

    "Mithril?" the king''s eyes widened for a moment, but he then immediately nodded. "Of course, of course! How much do you need?"

    "Not much. Three kilograms or so."

    The king looked almost relieved. "I''ll have it prepared and sent to you right away, Nagano-sama. I assume you''ll be in the academy again?"

    "That will be best, yes. Thank you for your generosity."

    "No, thank you!"

    And at last the king came to me. He studied me, smiling.

    "And you¡­are the one who defeated both dragons?"

    "Uh, well¡­not really¡­"

    "Yes, he is," Nagano interrupted. I quickly offered an explanation.

    "I only did the finishing blows. Everyone helped me tremendously."

    "Heh, humble as well as powerful." The king studied me and then frowned. "Say, aren''t you a hero as well?"

    "It''s¡­complicated. But no, I''m not a hero."

    "Hmm¡­" the king looked unconvinced, but knew it was pointless to pursue any line of inquiry. So he just smiled and moved on. "What would you like as your reward?"

    "Just the payment will do."

    "No can do! I know! A house? Jewels? A wife?"

    "No. I don''t need any of those¡­"

    "Just accept it," Nagano hissed as she nudged me. "Make any request. Otherwise you''ll make the rest of us look bad."

    I glanced around and saw the orgy party looking a little awkward and uncomfortable. Even though I was the one who seemed to have done most of the work (killing the dragons), I was the only one refusing a reward while the rest happily asked for whatever they wanted. I was succeeding in weighing them down with guilt and shame.

    As much as I wanted to enjoy their clear discomfort and shame, I didn''t want to waste any more time lingering around the godforsaken throne room. This was far from being the Golden Throne in Holy Terra.

    "World peace."

    "Huh?"

    Everyone gaped at me. I shrugged.

    "That''s my request. World peace."

    Nagano sighed and shook her head, groaning.

    "Can''t you ask for something more realistic and practical? That''s too abstract and impossible to achieve."

    "Is it impossible to achieve?"

    This time I was addressing the king, who was looking as if he was at a loss from my ridiculous request.

    "Well¡­it is difficult, but not impossible."

    "In the first place, what do you mean by world peace?!"

    Alicia broke out. I was about to shrug, but then realized I would be making a mockery of the whole thing if I made a request for something even I myself didn''t know what it was. So I shook my head and sighed instead.

    "Exactly what it means. I want the wars to stop. I want the world to be at peace, to stop fighting and warring among each other."

    "I see. So you''re talking about the war against the demons."

    The king stroked his greying beard as he regarded me. All of a sudden he looked so very weary, as if he had aged a few years.

    "You¡­are very wise for someone your age."

    No, no, no. I was just bullshitting because I couldn''t think of any wish. That was all. Oh come on. Don''t tell me they were falling for it!

    I was beginning to despair over humanity''s lack of intelligence.

    At the same time, there was something about the king''s tone that drew my attention. I raised my head to stare at him, but he continued tiredly.

    "Legnica and the other human kingdoms have been warring against the demons for years. No, decades. We''re all so exhausted, so sick of war. To tell the truth, we thought the war would be over once we defeated the Demon Lord."

    Yeah, well¡­somehow all these isekai stories always had the same trope. The moment the heroes defeated the Demon Lord, the war would automatically and miraculously end. Humans would enter a long-lasting era of peace. As if the death of one single figure would solve everything.

    It was highly absurd, really. A bloody load of nonsense. Only in fiction would everyone live happily ever after upon such a ridiculously simple solution.

    Unfortunately, reality was extremely different from fiction. The demons didn''t automatically disappear after their Demon Lord was defeated. A new Demon Lord would succeed him ¨C just like Regis Gremory ¨C and the war would continue. This wasn''t some fantasy story where the actions of a few characters would decide the outcome by killing the central villain, and have some deus ex machina descend to conveniently delete all the enemies from the game upon a single victory. The term "final boss" so often coined for games never translated well into reality.

    After all, in the real world, there was no such thing as a "final boss".

    It made me wonder why the gods bothered with this whole hero thing in the first place. It just felt so pointless and stupid.

    "Well, you''re the ones who insisted on pursuing the war until the demon race is entirely exterminated," I pointed out. The king glanced down at his feet.

    "¡­yes, I will have to accept responsibility for that. But¡­"

    There was something about his tone that caught my attention. I gulped and studied him.

    "What is it?"

    "To be honest, the new Demon Lord sent several emissaries, requesting for peace."

    "¡­eh?"

    I didn''t hear about that. Neither did the orgy party, it seemed. Alan, Alicia and Sophia were all exchanging confused glances.

    Only Nagano stayed silent, a bitter expression crawling over her face.

    "The human kingdoms were ready to accept the surrender and peace. We were all so tired after fighting such a long war, we have sustained so many casualties and lost so very much. Now that we had finally driven the demons out of our lands and reclaimed our territories and dealt them a blow they shouldn''t be able to recover from, we were ready to accept their surrender and receive peace."

    "Then why didn''t you?"

    "Kobayashi-kun."

    It wasn''t the king who replied but Nagano. I turned to her in surprise, but she said no more than that. Glancing back at the king, I caught his nod.

    "Kobayashi-sama refused their surrender and insisted on exterminating the demons from the face of Restia. He killed the emissaries and sent their heads back to the current Demon Lord, and¡­coerced the human kingdoms to pursue the war."

    "While taking a vacation from the frontlines?"

    "¡­the heroes work in truly mysterious ways."

    I didn''t buy that bullshit. Not one bit.

    "The heroes are too powerful." The king directed a glance at Nagano, who looked away. "We couldn''t persuade them to give up the war. They''re growing increasingly powerful and influential. Kobayashi-sama and his circle, especially, have begun to call the shots politically and militarily. Nobody can resist them."

    I see. No wonder Hoshizaki and the others felt a need to form a renegade group in order to oppose Kobayashi and his clique. He was growing too big for his boots and exerting pressure on the human kingdoms.

    "Believe me¡­after that first war, we really want peace. The demons too¡­they''ve realized how costly it is to wage war against us and attempt to invade our lands. We could have reached an understanding¡­but Kobayashi-sama is confident that we can exterminate them completely."

    I snorted at that.

    "No way. That''s even more impossible than world peace."

    "Perhaps¡­even if it is possible, it''ll take us many more years before we conquer all of Morten and root every single demonic tribe out. Even then, there will be survivors who will fight against us more fiercely than ever¡­it becomes a cycle of hatred and blood that can never be quenched. The violence and bloodshed will never stop¡­"

    I almost rolled my eyes at that. Stop being so dramatic. I couldn''t believe he was spouting off those cheesy lines from some medieval fantasy story or sci-fi military story.

    "We''ll find a way to convince Kobayashi-kun," Nagano promised suddenly, drawing all attention to her. She ignored the collective gazes and instead clenched her fists tightly, her voice quivering ever so lightly. "We''ll stop him¡­by force, if necessary."

    "Not necessarily."

    The king looked at Nagano sadly.

    "I appreciate your support in this, Nagano-sama, but¡­we''re no match for him. There''s simply too many people on Kobayashi-sama''s side. Even with the nine of you¡­"

    "Nine?" Merly echoed. The king jolted up.

    "Ah, sorry. I mean eight. Even with the eight Iron Knights who have declared their withdrawal from the company of heroes and went into hiding to oppose Kobayashi-sama, his remaining forces are too strong for us to resist."

    "Even then¡­you''re the king of Legnica! There must be something you can do, your majesty¡­!"

    Nagano blinked and caught herself, shaking her head.

    "No, forgive me. I was out of line."

    "Not at all," King Leric assured her. "Every word you said is right. I understand your grievances, but¡­"

    He paused and stared above. Following his gaze, I saw that he was studying the row of portraits that hung in the great hall, all dressed extravagantly, with crowns atop their heads.

    There was no doubt that these were all former kings, ancestors of King Leric who had ruled consecutively over Legnica.

    "¡­"

    There was a long pause as King Leric kept his eyes riveted on the row of portraits, his dark pupils almost not moving.

    Then he finally spoke up.

    "No, you''re right. I''m the king of Legnica. What am I doing? Why am I allowing an outsider rule my own country?"

    "But¡­"

    Legis shook his head when Merly voiced an objection, and continued. His voice sounded a lot stronger.

    "Yes, we owe Kobayashi-sama and the other heroes a great deal. They have saved our kingdom and the human races from the onslaught of demons. They have fought for us, risked and sacrificed much, and are now part of our kingdom."

    I hated to break it to him. But Kobayashi and the others probably did all that because they treated the whole thing as a game. Otherwise they wouldn''t have bothered.

    "Nonetheless, I am the king here, and I have to make the decision for not just the heroes but the good of my own people as well. Even if we owe the heroes a debt we can never repay, we cannot allow them to take over as our new rulers and continue putting the population at risk. I need to protect my own people¡­and the soldiers of all the human kingdoms as well."

    Cool story, bro. so what are you going to do about it? Giving an impassioned speech was fine and all, but I would very much prefer action than words.

    "I''ll deliver you your world peace," King Leric said to me with a smile. "I''ll gather all the royalties of every human kingdom, and we will end this war once and for all."

 65 Chapter 65: Bitch, please

    After that grueling ceremony at the castle, the king finally let us go because he needed to get ready for the diplomatic missions and the inter-kingdom council he was calling. I hoped he stayed true to his word and achieved peace.

    To be honest, though, it didn''t matter to me either way. My motive remained unchanged. I was still going to assassinate Kobayashi Kenji and Yamada Yuji whether we were at peace or at war. The bastard wasn''t going to get away with bullying me.

    For now, however, I was too exhausted to do anything else so I returned to the inn. I was so exhausted that after paying for my room, I went straight to bed and fell asleep without changing or anything.

    The next thing I knew, it was morning and I was woken up by someone practically banging on my door.

    "What the f¡­?! Who could be disturbing me at this hour?"

    I had received the email from Hughes that the money had been deposited into my account, and honestly I was rich enough to buy a house but that was too troublesome. Perhaps Hughes had shown up to tell me to stop living in an inn.

    It was none of his business, really¡­

    Gritting my teeth, I hauled myself out of bed and dragged myself over to open the door. To my surprise, instead of Hughes, it was Alicia and Alan standing right outside. Alicia was standing boldly at the front while Alan hung back awkwardly, a bead of perspiration on his handsome face as he watched Alicia warily.

    "Oh, it''s you two," I remarked lethargically. "Is something going on?"

    "There is¡­"

    Alicia seemed a little hesitant, and she fidgeted nervously, her hands behind her back as she looked at me earnestly. What''s with that expression?

    "I have something to discuss with you, if that''s all right?"

    "No, it''s not all right," I replied and slammed the door shut in her face.

    "HEY!"

    Alicia began banging on the door, even as Alan frantically tried to stop her because she was disturbing the other guests.

    "At least listen to what I have to say!"

    "Yes, please listen to what Alicia has to say," Alan added. "I''m also asking this of you, Tanaka-san."

    "I don''t want to."

    "HEY!"

    "Please!"

    I sighed and barricaded the door, knowing that Alicia would barge her way in.

    "Alan-san, first, please answer this question. Did you just get dumped last night?"

    "¡­"

    A short period of silence followed, and then Alan finally replied in a small voice.

    "¡­yes."

    "I knew it. I know what the both of you had come here for."

    "R¡­really?"

    Alicia sounded nervous.

    "Yeah. Let me guess¡­you came to profess your love for me."

    "Eh?"

    I could almost imagine Alicia blushing furiously outside the door and Alan burying his face in his palm as he drowned in despair.

    "I¡­if you knew, then why don''t you want to talk to me?"

    "Because I don''t like you," I replied bluntly. Alicia jolted at that.

    "What?! Why?!"

    Alicia sounded as if she was stunned by my rejection. Did she really not know?

    "Look at yourself in the mirror and you''ll find out."

    "I have. All I see is myself loving you."

    I slapped my forehead so loudly that the resulting crack could be heard throughout the entire Blue Moon Inn.

    "You obviously haven''t looked hard enough. Besides, I am not obligated to return your feelings. You won''t simply go out with any random guy who confesses his love for you either, would you? Not unless he''s as handsome as Alan-san."

    "Ugh."

    Alan sounded as if he had just been hit in the gut. Sorry, bro. I didn''t mean to rub any salt in your wounds.

    "N¡­no, wait!"

    Alicia sounded flustered as she began to pound on the door. Good thing I reinforced it with magic, or she would be breaking inn property, which would trouble Miranda''s father. Actually, it would trouble me the most since I would be the one who had to pay for repairs.

    "Am I no good?! Th¡­then I''ll do anything!"

    Shrieking, Alicia began flailing about desperately and throwing a semi-tantrum. Fortunately, Alan was on hand to grab hold of her by the waist before she could kick up an uproar by banging down the door.

    "Hey! Shut it!"

    "Get out of here!"

    "You''re disturbing the peace and quiet around here!"

    While Alicia was throwing her tantrum, guests from the other rooms were emerging and yelling at her to leave.

    "I''m sorry. I''m very sorry."

    Alan apologized to them profusely, and tried to appease them, but to no avail. Even as he did so, Alicia ignored the crowd that was gathering outside and continued shouting at the top of her voice from behind the door.

    "If marriage is out of the question, then I can be your lover, concubine, or even being your slave is okay!"

    What the fuck is wrong with this bitch?

    No, it''s not okay. You''re too suspicious.

    Furthermore, if I were to be blunt and honest, I had absolutely no reason to fall for a pathetic bitch like her. The previous couple of days were a great example. She couldn''t even do that one job I brought her along for, and she needed saving three times in a single day.

    Come on, don''t use gender as an excuse. I didn''t care if she was a girl or whatever, but quite frankly, why would anyone be attracted to a damsel in distress? It was one thing to be weak ¨C and honestly, I wasn''t interested in her strength, but the fact that she just refused to learn from her mistakes and kept getting into trouble over and over again was enough to turn me off.

    Not only that, she was acting all arrogant and bragging about how she was going to show how competent she would be in the mission, only to fail big time. In other words she was all talk and no substance, and was being haughty without having any real reason to be such. To put it bluntly, her only redeeming feature was her beautiful face and figure, but even then I had seen much more attractive girls. Lilith Scarlet, for example, was a lot more mature, gorgeous and shapely than her. Taller, more curvaceous and much more competent too. Compared to Lilith, Alicia was an underdeveloped loli. And even then, beauty was only skin deep.

    It might surprise people but I didn''t really fall for girls just because of how beautiful they were. I was more of a personality person. And Alicia''s personality was rotten to the core¡­at the very least, she hadn''t displayed any personality traits that could convince me that she was worth a shot.

    The fact that she was currently disturbing the other guests and yelling about like a child after throwing a tantrum when she didn''t get her way proved that she was a self-centered brat who didn''t care about anyone but herself. It would be a nightmare to be in a relationship with such a girl. Seriously, refusing to take no for an answer and banging on my door to the extent where you were disturbing all the other guests in the inn was just¡­selfish and utterly immature. She was causing trouble to other people just because she couldn''t get her way.

    Yeah, I was being frank and blunt. Perhaps to the point where I was a douchebag. There was no way around it. The truth was still the truth, and I wasn''t going to give in just because she kicked up a fuss.

    "Look here, Alan-san is a great catch, if I may say so. It''s the height of stupidity to dump him based on a whim and jump to a new lover. He has status, good looks, a bit of wealth, and very promising prospects¡­"

    I was trying to help poor Alan, and I could sense him bowing gratefully to me even though we were separated by a door. Protagonist power really helped out here.

    However¡­

    "Who cares about Alan?!"

    Folding her arms, Alicia made that bold declaration. Behind her, something inside Alan snapped and shattered to pieces.

    Yet another reason to refuse her.

    I mean, if she didn''t even care about Alan, her ex, then why would I expect her to care about me? What if she dumped me in future for another guy? She just seemed too fickle, too callous and too bitchy for my taste.

    "You''re the one I like! I want to marry you!"

    For some reason, Alicia had resumed banging on the door, much to the ire of the other guests in the inn.

    "Oi! Stop that!"

    "I don''t care if you''re a noble, you''re going too far!"

    "Get the hell out of here!"

    Again, Alicia ignored all of them and focused on convincing me.

    "I feel bad about what I''ve done in the past, and I really regret it."

    Like hell you did, and even if you did, so what? You think that would change the way I would feel toward you?

    Taking a deep breath, I tried another strategy.

    "Sorry, but I already have someone I like¡­someone I''m engaged to."

    This should work. I hoped.

    "It doesn''t matter¡­I''m sure she''s not as beautiful as me!"

    What the fuck?!

    Okay, I was lying to get out of this predicament, but even then, Alicia''s remark was too much. If I really had a fianc¨¦e, that bloody bitch had just insulted my fianc¨¦e. I didn''t care if my fianc¨¦e was not as physically beautiful as Alicia, I didn''t care if that was the truth, but that statement was bang out of order and totally uncalled for.

    Rage filled me, but I clamped down on it. It was only possible because I was lying and didn''t really have a fianc¨¦e, but it reinforced the disgust I felt for Alicia''s arrogance, self-centeredness and narcissism.

    Honestly, I didn''t care how beautiful Alicia was. Even though Lilith wasn''t as pretty as her, and her long red hair wasn''t as silky as Alicia''s long golden hair, she had a more seductive body that was in much better shape¡­as I said, more gorgeous, curvaceous and mature. Furthermore, her personality was a lot better ¨C unlike Alicia, Lilith wasn''t arrogant at all, and she had the skills and intelligence to back up her confidence and authority.

    Hell, never mind Lilith. Even Hoshizaki Kozue and Nagano Nanaka were preferable to this bitch, even if they were my former classmates.

    "I''m sorry, but I couldn''t care if you were Miss Universe or the most beautiful girl in Restia. I have no intention of marrying you or being your lover. Can you please stop bothering me? You''re also causing trouble for the other guests in the inn."

    "NOO! I''m serious!!!"

    So was I, lady, and you''re starting to annoy me.

    "Enough¡­"

    I momentarily intimidated Alicia with a cold, icy voice worthy of a vampire lord. Alicia froze, unable to control her body from the fear. Even with the door between us, she could instinctively feel the chill from inside the room without looking at me directly.

    "If you continue making a ruckus, I will kick you out of the inn. By force if necessary. Do you understand me?"

    "¡­yes. I understand."

    It was Alan who responded. He quickly seized the shivering, frightened Alicia under her arms and dragged her aaway from my door while she still wasn''t able to respond.

    Finally¡­peace and quiet. I couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief.

    Just when I was somewhat warming up to Alicia, she went and pulled this stunt. It was still fine if she was incompetent. I was incompetent as well ¨C there were so many times I screwed up that it wasn''t funny. But she was also condescending, arrogant and self-centered.

    Poor Alan. She not only disregarded Alan''s feelings totally, but she also insulted my non-existent fianc¨¦e. Probably Alan''s situation was a result of him being used by the author as a butt of jokes, but as a fellow guy, I just didn''t find it funny. It was too cruel¡­what Alicia was doing to Alan was too cruel. It was beyond brutal.

    And she thought she could just waltz in here and persuade me to be her lover or marry her after flaunting how terribly she treated Alan?

    I guess some people were born without brains.

    It wasn''t like I hated Alicia, but I really, really wanted nothing to do with a bitch like her who so callously disregarded her ex''s feelings. Not only did she dump Alan, she dragged him along to help her confess to me. I supposed I should feel flattered, but I felt nothing but horrified at how awfully she treated poor Alan.

    Plus that arrogance¡­that insult¡­

    Whatever. I don''t have time to waste on this nonsense.

    I had an appointment, after all. Getting ready, I left the inn and proceeded toward the magic academy. Nagano had asked me to meet her to discuss our next move, especially since we needed to meet up with the rest of the Iron Knights soon.

    Unfortunately, when I reached the magical academy¡­

    "Clarence-sama!"

    "Clarence-sama!"

    The girls in school were milling about and cheering dreamily when their idol, Alicia Clarence, alighted from her carriage. I groaned.

    I had completely forgotten that she attended this same magic academy. What a bloody blunder on my part.

    "I heard rumors that you defeated a crimson dragon!"

    "I also heard that you rescued the princess!"

    The golden-haired noble daughter was surrounded by daughters of nobility, all squealing and gushing over her excitedly while the guys looked on, either charmed like Alan or envious.

    "As expected of Clarence-sama!"

    It had become quite the spectacle. But I guess it was only normal, especially since it was a noble girl who saved the royalty.

    Wait, what?

    In the first place, wasn''t I the one who slew the crimson dragon? And weren''t Alan and Sophia the ones who escorted the princess to safety while Alicia went and got herself caught by the ancient dragon?

    So why was she taking all the credit for it?

    Well whatever. Let her bask in all that glory now that she has the chance. I doubt she''ll ever get a chance like this again.

    I dismissed her actions and turned away. Still, I was a bit impressed. The fact that all those students held Alicia in such regard despite the academy being full of nobles¡­just what background did she have?

    Alicia was waving at her fans, almost sparkling. Already playing the bloody role of a school idol, huh? She made me sick¡­

    Shaking my head, I decided to make use of the commotion to slip away. As I did so, Alicia caught sight of me.

    "Ah, Tanaka! Wait up!"

    She hurried after me.

    "Eh, Clarence-sama? That guy¡­"

    "He''s my fianc¨¦, Tanaka."

    The fuck...!?

    "Huh!?"

    The girls surrounding Alicia all gasped in utter shock, unable to believe what they had just heard. I was more disgusted than shocked, especially when I heard all the responses.

    "Eh¡­?"

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    "This plain-looking, nerdy guy?"

    The students were all in uproar, especially the noble girls all watching me in disdain and disbelief. Somehow I was reminded once again of my female ex-classmates, who thought I was some disgusting insect or creepy stalker.

    Just from my face alone, they had already delivered judgement on me. And quite the condescending judgement too.

    However, the person I was angriest at wasn''t them, but the bitch who caused the entire uproar in the first place.

    "I am not your fianc¨¦!" I thundered so furiously that the entire corridor was suddenly wrapped in a terrifying chill. None of the students could move. All of them were looking at me, so terrified that they were about to wet themselves, yet they couldn''t muster the strength to flee.

    I advanced upon Alicia, who was trembling so violently that she fell onto her rump. Glaring at her with a murderous aura so thick that it saturated the atmosphere like an ocean, I spoke frostily.

    "If I catch you repeating that nonsense again, I''ll make sure you''ll regret it. Do you understand me?"

    "¡­I¡­"

    Alicia gulped, but she finally nodded.

    Turning to the rest and resting my cold gaze on them, I added, "What she said is false. I am not related to her in any way at all, and I certainly am not engaged to her."

    "¡­yes, sir."

    They instinctively felt fear, quailing under my chilling gaze. For a moment, I wondered if I might give away the fact that I was a vampire lord, but none of them seemed to notice. Shaking my head, I forcibly controlled my temper and stalked off.

    Halfway through the corridor, I heard footsteps. Someone was running after me. Without even turning around, I could tell who it was.

    "W¡­wait!"

    Alicia''s familiar voice called out to me.

    "W¡­why?! Am I not good enough for you? I''m the daughter of the Clarence family. You''ll be marrying into a noble house, you know? With all the wealth, power and influence that my family has, you''ll easily move to the top of the world!"

    "I don''t care about all that. And besides, you shouldn''t be using your family as a reason to convince people why they should like you."

    "¡­eh?"

    While Alicia looked completely confused, I suddenly understood why she didn''t expect my cold, hard reply.

    In Restia, where everything was practically ruled by tradition and ancient customs, the main reason for marriage was a way to obtain power, status or wealth. Despite romantic tales, nobles mostly never married out of love. They married as part of a political web of intrigue to increase their own family''s influence. In fact, the daughters usually never had a chance to decide who they married. The choice was often made by their parents.

    Speaking of which, I didn''t understand how Alicia could expect to waltz up to her parents and tell them who she wanted to marry. I was an unknown, someone with a mysterious background and a lot of uncertainties.

    There was no way her parents would approve of such a marriage.

    "Okay¡­but what about me? I have a lot of good points, if I may say so myself. You won''t regret it if you marry me."

    "I will. I assure you, I will. Not stop pressing the matter. You''re annoying."

    "No! I''ll keep persuading you until you accept!"

    What the fuck was wrong with this girl?! It was one thing to be stubborn and refuse to take no for an answer, but it was quite another to stalk a person like this. If this was modern Japan, I could report her for stalking ad harassment!

    "Stop it! This shouldn''t be something a lady of your status should be doing! Behave yourself! You''re the daughter of a noble household, aren''t you?!"

    "It''s fine. I don''t mind."

    Alicia smiled sweetly at me, but I only felt my stomach curdle in revulsion.

    "Well, I mind!" I snapped at Alicia. "I''m troubled by it! And you should think about your status, and your boyfriend¡­"

    The words died in my throat when I saw the hooded, masked assassin behind Alicia. With one swift stroke, he stabbed her neck with a dagger, rupturing her carotid artery. Then he slashed it open with a violent swing of his dagger, sending several tremendous sprays of blood into the air.

    My jaw dropped as I watched the whole thing, my mind numb with disbelief as I watched Alicia''s body toppled over to the floor.

    "¡­eh?"

 66 Chapter 66: The pride of House Clarence

    I watched numbly as the spray of blood spurted into the air.

    As Alicia toppled over, I stared at the hooded figure who was standing beside her, a bloody dagger in her hand.

    Yeah, despite the mask and huge hood and cloak, I could tell that the assassin was female because of the bulge of her chest. But that wasn''t the issue here. More importantly, Alicia was gurgling to her death, blood spurting out uncontrollably from her slit carotid artery and jugular vein. She was barely alive, but at this rate she would bleed to death.

    The light had already faded from her eyes and blood was pouring out of her mouth as she slumped down lifelessly. There were mere seconds before she expired fully, the lifeblood pumping out of her ruined neck at an alarming rate.

    We can''t have that, can we?

    Before I even knew what I was doing, I had used Regeneration. I didn''t even intend to do it ¨C it was completely on instinct. Well, it didn''t matter. While I found Alicia annoying, I didn''t hate her to the extent that I would let her die. Any normal guy would help a person who was in deep trouble, unless he or she was some insane edgelord who''s all emo and "gaaah, I hate the world and want everyone to be dead." To be frank, such edgy and emo protagonists were even more annoying than Alicia, who was benefiting from a bit of character development.

    In any case, with just a subconscious snap of my fingers, I had casted Regeneration and completely closed the fatal wound on Alicia''s neck.

    "H¡­huh? I¡­"

    Alicia blinked as she knelt on the ground, clutching her bloodied left arm in confusion. The blood that had stained her uniform sleeve and cloak wasn''t from an injury on her arm but rather the blood that had leaked out from her slit throat earlier. Finding herself on her knees, Alicia struggled to comprehend what had just occurred.

    "What just¡­?"

    "?!"

    Beside her, the female assassin inadvertently took a step back in surprise, her eyes bulging when she saw that her target was still very much alive and completely unscathed.

    "What just happened?! Her neck was certainly¡­"

    "Dude¡­I mean dudette, I know you''re in the cutthroat business, but can you not go around cutting throats?"

    "!"

    The assassin spun around to stare at me. I already had my right hand up and pointed at her, with black magical energy crackling around my finger in cruel delight, just waiting to be unleashed on the target before it.

    "Just a tip," I told the assassin. "If you want to make a killing, don''t go around killing people."

    With that, I unleashed the Doombolt that had gathered momentum around my finger and launched it at the stunned assassin.

    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

    Even as the black explosion left a crater and vaporized the assassin, Alicia was swaying unsteadily from the shock and tremendous loss of blood. I might have healed her injury and recovered some of her blood, but she was still in huge shock. Pale and perspiring persistently, Alicia swayed one last time before keeling over.

    Even though I had mostly saved her life, I didn''t fully heal her. I only closed the wound and prevented her from bleeding to death, but she was still pretty weak from the massive amount of blood she lost, and shock.

    I let her fall flat on her face.

    Maybe I should have let her die, I thought with a little bit of regret. It would have solved the problem. She was annoying me with that stalkerish and pushy behavior.

    It would have been so easy. Wait for her to bleed out, and then dump her body in the river. Reading the comments brought some brilliant ideas on how to get rid of her corpse without getting caught.

    Jokes aside, I wasn''t that mean. Some people might accuse me of being a douchebag, but I hadn''t resorted to murdering random people who were not on my target list. As much as I strongly disliked Alicia, I wasn''t going to let her die.

    But I wasn''t obligated to do more than saving her. I left her lying on the ground, still dazed from the encounter.

    "Alicia-sama?!"

    A maid with long, brown hair tied into an elegant bun was running along the corridor, dressed in that stereotypical black and white frilly maid uniform. She was panting heavily as she caught up to Alicia, perspiration profusely pouring down her reddened face.

    "Are you all right?! Oh Evelyn¡­that blood¡­"

    "R¡­Rebecca?"

    Alicia was still in shock, staring at the maid in wonder as she approached. Rebecca hastily checked her, and was relieved to see that she wasn''t fatally wounded. Weak, yes, a reduced pulse, yes, but in no anger of losing her life.

    "You¡­"

    Rage filled her voice as she stood up and faced me. Drawing daggers from goodness-knows-where ¨C I guess they didn''t call the stuff under her long, maid skirt drawers for nothing ¨C she reared back and hurled them at me.

    With a casual flick of my hand, I smacked the daggers out of the air and sighed.

    "You know, it''s all right to stare daggers at me, but I would appreciate it if you don''t actually throw real daggers."

    "How dare you¡­!"

    "How dare I what?" I countered. Rebecca drew more daggers and readied a combat stance, ready to slay me.

    Dream on, girl. You''re no match for me. I had bested foes several thousand times more powerful than you. With such meager daggers, she couldn''t even scratch the first layer of my Redwood jacket, never mind hurt me.

    "How dare you try to assassinate Alicia-sama!"

    "¡­how dare I what now?"

    I couldn''t help but burst out laughing at the absurdity of the accusation. Shaking my head, I suppressed a chuckle.

    "Look, lady, if I wanted Alicia-san dead, she would have been dead long ago. And I wouldn''t be standing here watching her recover."

    "W¡­wait, Rebecca."

    Alicia was clutching her neck and bloodstained collar while trying to piece together what had just happened.

    "I¡­I think Tanaka just saved my life."

    "¡­"

    I didn''t reply, but Alicia looked at me quietly.

    "Did you perhaps use your healing magic on me?"

    "No. Evelyn did."

    "¡­"

    "Fine, yeah, I did. Thank Hedas¡­I mean Evelyn that I made it in time."

    Come on, if you don''t want a stupid answer, then don''t ask stupid questions. Who else could have done it? You see anyone else around here?

    Oh¡­yeah. Rebecca was here now.

    "Actually, that maid over there was the one who healed you¡­"

    "Huh?! No, I didn''t!"

    Alicia frowned at me.

    "Don''t bother lying. Rebecca doesn''t know any healing spells."

    Damn. Busted.

    "Alicia-sama¡­are you all right?"

    "Yeah. Don''t worry, I''m fine."

    No, no, no. you certainly have a lot to worry about. By the way, I was half amazed to see a real maid in Restia. I didn''t think they would exist here, but I guess they did.

    "Then¡­"

    While Rebecca fussed over Alicia, the latter turned to the charred remains of the disintegrated assassin.

    "Tanaka," she called out to me, her voice authoritative and firm, unlike the playful, flirtatious tone from before. "Correct me if I''m mistaken, but was that¡­quite possibly the assassin who attacked me? And you killed him after healing me? My memories are fuzzy, but I do vaguely remember you fighting the assassin."

    "It was her, actually," I corrected. "The assassin is a female¡­or was, anyway."

    "!"

    Rebecca stared at the fuming corpse, which no longer resembled a human. Perhaps I had gone overboard with my Doombolt. Hey, at least it wasn''t a Bolt of Change ¨C that would have transformed the assassin into a chaos spawn¡­I mean that which should not be named.

    The maid studied the corpse for another few seconds, and then turned to stare at me, flustered and disbelieving.

    "So, was he the one who saved you?"

    "No, I just happened to be passing by¡­"

    "Yes, Tanaka was the one who saved me, as well as killed the assassin."

    "!"

    Rebecca''s scrutiny intensified after Alicia''s revelation. A bead of perspiration rolled down her cheek when she suddenly recognized me.

    "You are¡­the one who defeated the dragon¡­!"

    "No, I didn''t do much¡­"

    I sighed and shook my head wearily. People were giving me far too much credit. Certainly I was the one who defeated the ancient dragon and crimson dragon, but that was no big deal.

    "Forgive my rudeness! I''m so very sorry!"

    Rebecca immediately prostrated herself before me.

    "Even though you saved Alicia-sama''s life and eliminated her would-be assassin, I was impudent and insolent enough to attack you before confirming the truth! I''m very sorry! I do not know how I can atone for my mistake, but I will pay for it with my life if necessary¡­"

    "You think your life is sufficient to pay for attacking me?" I sneered. The maid looked up wearily, but she had resolved herself for death.

    "I know it isn''t, but if you have to, please mete out your rage on me and me alone. I will be held responsible for my own actions. As long as you do not blame the Clarence house and visit your anger upon them, offering up my life as penitence is worth it¡­"

    "If you''re truly sorry, then just shut the fuck up," I replied, crossed. "I''m sick of listening to your prattling."

    "Ah¡­I''m very sorry!"

    What did I just say?

    Fortunately, Rebecca said nothing after that. It was Alicia who spoke up, kneeling before Rebecca.

    "Please, Tanaka. Spare Rebecca''s life. She was only trying to protect me."

    "Why are you assuming that I plan to take her life? Do I look like some sort of murderer to you? If she wants to pay for her sins, then she''s not allowed to run away by giving up her life. She has to work to pay it off."

    The two girls looked immensely relieved at my comments. Drawing a deep breath, Rebecca faced me.

    "So how do I atone for my sins?"

    "For starters, keep your mistress under control." I jabbed a finger at the stunned Alicia. "She''s annoying me. As a noble from the Clarence household, she should learn to stop harassing or stalking people and accept no as an answer."

    "I admit that is a failing of mine since I am responsible for her education."

    ¡­wait, what?

    I couldn''t help but frown. So Rebecca was responsible for raising and educating Alicia? Not the parents themselves? They left everything to the servants?

    Remember, this is a completely different world from Earth, or Japan. Their traditions, customs and cultures are totally different.

    Reminding myself that I was in Restia, I nodded.

    "Then repent for your mistake by correcting that failing. Don''t run away by taking your own life. Take responsibility for your mistakes and correct them. Begging for death is just a cowardly way of running a way without confronting your own sins and actually taking responsibility for them. The only way to take responsibility is to rectify your mistakes."

    "Noted." Rebecca hesitated and studied me. "For someone so young, you seem so wise."

    "No, I''m just ripping off quotes and life lessons from manga and light novels."

    "..."

    The two girls exchanged glances.

    "See? I really want to marry him."

    "I would approve of your marriage and strongly recommend you to your father¡­"

    "STOP!" I yelled. "Quit that! I have no intention of marrying Alicia-san! I don''t like her at all! Can you stop this nonsense already, or I''ll really, really snap and do something that will cause you two to live in fear for the rest of your lives!"

    "¡­sorry."

    I sighed and shook my head. Glancing at the charred pile, I decided to change the question.

    "Why the hell are people sending assassins after you? Did you piss someone off, Alicia-san?"

    "Of couse not!" Rebecca snapped. Oh, so the maid was biased and blind to the faults of her beloved mistress.

    "The answer is simple, really."

    Alicia trailed the bloodstains on her uniform, a dark smile forming over her pretty face.

    "House Clarence already stands out as it is. And then their daughter goes out and slays a dragon to save the princess''s life."

    I was the one who slew the dragon, though. Two dragons, in fact.

    Despite bitterly thinking that, I kept my opinions to myself and allowed Alicia to continue bragging smugly.

    "It''s likely that we''ll receive more territory as a reward."

    What?! Why the hell are they the only ones to receive such rewards?! What about me?! I''m the one who did most of the work, you know!?

    "And people don''t seem to be pleased about that." Alicia shook her head as she raised her bloodied left hand in a flippant gesture. "So it wouldn''t be strange for them to send me a few assassins as a gift."

    "O¡­Ojou-sama¡­"

    Rebecca clutched her long skirt desperately, but she offered no rebuttal. As for me, I scoffed at the choice of gifts. Rather than assassins, wouldn''t an explosive letter or a bomb in a parcel disguised as a gift be a more effective way of killing her? These enemies really didn''t have any imagination. Then again, none of them probably watched television since such things didn''t exist in Restia.

    Alicia had turned away, and her voice turned cold as she determinedly raised her bloodied right hand in anger.

    "I don''t know who they are, but they will pay for ever conceiving the notion of trying to assassinate me."

    "Yes," Rebecca agreed. "I''ll inform your father right away."

    "No, Rebecca. Please don''t mention this to my father."

    "!"

    Rebecca swallowed at the order, looking unsure as she watched Alicia slowly saunter back to the academy halls.

    "Is that really fine?"

    "I''m the daughter of Clarence."

    Yeah, so what? One of these days, she was going to get herself killed with her recklessness and incompetence.

    "A problem of this scale, I can solve it by myself."

    Like hell you could. Have you forgotten who had to save your life when you got your throat cut?! If I wasn''t around, you would have died minutes ago, bleeding to death pathetically like a bitch in heat as blood gushed out of your neck¡­

    "This is a problem beyond your capabilities, Alicia-sama!" Rebecca argued. "Your very safety is at stake here! I cannot allow you to be reckless¡­"

    "You know as well as I do that they will keep sending assassins after my life," Alicia interrupted.

    "That''s exactly why¡­"

    "I know. But I plan to capture the next assassin and then interrogate him to find out the identity of the mastermind."

    And how are you supposed to do that? Firstly, I had doubts that Alicia would actually succeed in capturing an assassin alive even if she somehow miraculously survived a second assassination attempt. Secondly, even if she succeeded, how was she going to extract the information from such trained assassins? Torture?

    "I will definitely make them regret it."

    "I think you''ll be the one regretting your recklessness in the far future."

    "I agree with Tanaka-sama."

    "It''s useless, Rebecca. I have already made up my mind. How can I succeed my father as the head of House Clarence if I can''t even solve a trivial issue like this?"

    Girl, this was definitely not a trivial issue¡­

    "Alicia-sama, please reconsider. This is not something you can handle on your own. We need to alert our retinue¡­"

    "Like I said, Rebecca, I don''t want to. I will catch my assassins with my own hands."

    "And how do you plan to do that?"

    Alicia smiled. "I plan to bait them out, and then subdue them."

    "That''s too dangerous."

    "Of course. But that''s what life is about. We have to take risks or we''ll never be able to win."

    "Not this kind of risks!"

    "Ahem." I cleared my throat. "As much as I want to leave, I think the two of you should hold this discussion at home."

    "Tanaka-sama is right." Rebecca nodded reluctantly. "We should return home as soon as possible."

    "¡­yeah. I need to do some preparations at home too." Alicia had no choice but to agree too.

    I glanced at the surroundings and frowned. It might just be me being paranoid, but somehow I felt like we were being watched. By other assassins? It wouldn''t surprise me if the rival noble houses hired multiple assassins.

    Why stop at one? They knew that a single assassin might fail, after all.

    "I''ll escort you girls home for now."

    "Eh?! Thank you!"

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    Alicia was delighted. Rebecca bowed politely and gratefully.

    "I appreciate your assistance very much. Please, allow me to express my gratitude."

    "Sure! Let''s invite Tanaka to stay over for the night! Rebecca, arrange a room!"

    "No. I will not be staying over." I was firm. "I have prior appointments and things to do. After I escort you home, I will be returning to the academy to settle my personal matters."

    Damn it, I came here to see Nagano Nanaka, but now I ended up being sidetracked by this. I had no choice but to make a round trip and return to the academy after this.

    As expected, Alicia was disappointed.

    "Eh?! I don''t mind if you stay over for the night, though!"

    No, but I mind. Now quit that or I might seriously change my mind. I had much better things to do than to babysit a spoilt noble girl. I still had to meet the Iron Knights and get my revenge on Kobayashi.

    "Well, let''s go."

    I was on a schedule and I didn''t want to waste any more time, so I glanced at Rebecca and beckoned for her to lead the way.

    *

    Fortunately, the Clarence mansion wasn''t far from the academy. We managed to reach the heavily guarded gates before I knew it.

    Stopping in front of the gates, I bowed before stepping back to watch the two girls enter Clarence territory.

    "Eh¡­come on¡­just for tonight? Please! At least let me introduce you to my father!"

    "Look, I don''t know how many times I''ve to repeat myself, but I have no intention of becoming your fianc¨¦."

    "Eh!? Why not?! Am I not good enough?!"

    More like I wasn''t good enough for her. The truth was, I didn''t even like her that much. I found her pretty annoying. I might have warmed up to her slightly because she was less bitchy and condescending than before, but that didn''t mean I would suddenly develop romantic feelings for her. This wasn''t some light novel where such convenient bullshit happened.

    "At least have dinner with my family! I should at least do that much to express my thanks to you for saving my life."

    You think I didn''t see that move coming? I knew that was a trap to lure me into the confines of her mansion and foist the whole marriage thing upon me.

    "Come on¡­I really want you to be my husband."

    "I''m sorry, but that''s impossible. After all, he''s my fianc¨¦."

    All three of us jumped at the sudden voice. While Alicia and Rebecca were absolutely astonished, I frowned when I realized I recognized the familiar voice.

    "¡­Lilith-san? What are you doing here?"

    Turning around, I gaped as the gorgeous, red-haired vampire queen stepped out from the shadows, focusing her intense gaze on a trembling Alicia.

 67 Chapter 67: Waifu Wars

    At first I thought Alicia Clarence was trembling out of fear upon seeing Lilith Scarlet, but I was shocked when she brightened up and strode over excitedly.

    "I see¡­I see! So that''s why! You must be the first wife!"

    "¡­first wife¡­?"

    Even the dignified Lilith was completely taken aback by Alicia''s response. She glanced at me and I shook my head with a shrug.

    Sorry, but I had no idea what was going on either.

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    But Alicia was grasping the stunned Lilith''s hands and gushing over her, pretty happily.

    "As expected of Tanaka''s first wife¡­you''re really gorgeous and amazing! You have this noble, regal air to you¡­let me guess, you''re a Countess''s daughter? A duchess? Amazing¡­you look really mature and composed¡­"

    "Uh¡­thanks, I guess?"

    Lilith was still confused over Alicia''s attitude, but she wasn''t able to shake her off. Alicia beamed at her, her eyes shining in admiration.

    "Please! I would like to ask you for your approval! Don''t worry, I won''t take away your position as the first wife! I''ll be happy enough with just being a concubine! If you don''t want your future husband to take any concubines, that''s fine too. Please allow me to be his mistress! We''ll work hard to keep the affair a secret! All I ask is for your blessings, approval and understanding!"

    Lilith had a complicated expression on her face, but she eventually shook her head.

    "I''m sorry. That''s not up to me. I mean, I''m happy that my fianc¨¦ is being faithful and I really hope that he will stick to a monogamous relationship with me, but in the end the decision to take a concubine or whatever is entirely up to him."

    "I am an advocate of monogamy and I absolutely hate harems," I declared automatically. Lilith smiled and shrugged.

    "That''s what he says."

    "Oh¡­" Alicia looked crestfallen for a few seconds, but she then steeled herself in determination. "That''s fine. But I won''t give up! I''ll work toward changing your mind one day!"

    "Bad luck with that," I replied, causing Alicia to pout.

    "Oh, you''re such a tsundere!"

    Both Lilith and Alicia stared at me blankly, their jaws dropping as I rambled on and on. I took a deep breath and smiled apologetically.

    "Sorry. You probably have no idea what I''m talking about. Anyway, the answer is and will always be no. Harems are stupid. Being infidel and sleeping around with multiple partners is stupid. At least in my opinion, anyway. I don''t care if you want to be a harem or whatever, that''s your prerogative. But I''ll hold still to my values and be loyal to whoever I marry."

    "¡­I think we get the message."

    Lilith looked uncomfortable, probably because she knew that ours was a fake engagement, and I really didn''t have any obligation to be faithful to her. Nah, I was just using this opportunity to rant over the ridiculous comments I saw on every manga forum unfairly criticizing male protagonists for being "beta males" when they were just being realistic. Furthermore, a relationship was an important and long-term thing. Obviously guys would need some time to make their decision in who they want to spend the important years of their life with. Rushing into a decision and randomly picking whatever girl who threw herself at him would be a disaster.

    But young, inexperienced and horny manga readers just didn''t understand that.

    "Ahem¡­"

    Rebecca, who was being quiet all this while, finally cleared her throat and drew our attention to her. I suddenly realized how foolish I was to ramble about such popular culture stuff without realizing I had an audience.

    Whoops¡­I so wanted to die from embarrassment. But at least I let it all out of my chest, so I was also feeling a lot better.

    "Ojou-sama, regardless of your¡­uh, romantic situation, for tonight we should just return home. Please¡­"

    Rebecca bowed and beckoned for Alicia to enter the gates. Alicia sulked and gave me one last glance before she complied. The maid then bowed to me gratefully before she followed her mistress through the black iron gates, which shut with an ominous click.

    Wow¡­

    Even though it was invisible, I could sense the shimmering defensive wards that enchanted the gates. It would be difficult for anybody, especially the assassins, to break into the Clarence manor. There was a formidable barrier that enfolded the manor under a protective umbrella, saturating the interior with magic.

    One wrong move and¡­boom!

    "Well, I guess that''s that."

    I cocked my head to the sight and turned away from the closed gate. Glancing at Lilith, I hesitated despite the huge number of questions I had.

    Lilith seemed to have read my intentions, for she smiled and stepped to my side before we left the Clarence Manor.

    "I disguised myself as a human and traveled to Havia to look for you. I heard from Demon Lord Regis that you ended up being transported here somehow, so I decided to meet up with you here, just in case you need assistance."

    "Eh? What about Haemorage and your vampire armies?"

    "They''re fine. I left them to far more competent commanders than myself." Lilith looked a little down. "I told you before, didn''t I? I''m not cut out to be a leader, or for command. The only reason why I have this title is because I''m the strongest vampire in Hameorage. Even then, the title is just a figurehead. I''m meant to be a pawn in the elders'' game for political marriages and alliances. They were starting to pressure me, so I told them I would go off and bring my fianc¨¦ back." She grinned. "That should keep them off my back for a while."

    "Uh¡­okay."

    I wasn''t sure if that was a good idea. To have the strongest warrior in the army be away from the frontlines and idling around in enemy territory was not exactly a conducive way of conducting a war. I was surprised that the elders or Regis let Lilith do whatever she liked. Then again, it was precisely because she was the strongest demon that they probably couldn''t stop her.

    Then again, Regis was among the strongest of demons. Especially when I saw how he singlehandedly overwhelmed Asakura Akane, I knew that he was the real deal. He might be even stronger than Lilith.

    However, he was stuck in Helsfort, which was quite a distance away from Haemorage. Moreover, as the current Demon Lord, he was probably too busy to go around micromanaging his subordinates and forcing them in line.

    Seeing my dismay, Lilith quickly added.

    "Well, you''re trying to secure an alliance with a rebel group of Evelyn''s Chosen, which might swing the whole war in our favor and force the human kingdoms and the primary group of Evelyn''s Chosen to accept peace, so this mission is regarded as highly important. That''s why Emperor Regis approved of my assistance. He also considered the possibility that this might be a trap, and if so, we can slay a few Evelyn''s Chosen if they turn on us."

    "Always the pessimist, huh?"

    "More like optimist." Lilith smiled. "Emperor Regis seems to think it''s more likely that one of the other Evelyn''s Chosen might attack the rebels, and if we help them fight them off, we might be able to solidify our alliance."

    "Now that''s wishful thinking. Still, best to be prepared for all kinds of scenarios, huh?"

    I was impressed by Regis''s ability to think so far ahead. That thought hadn''t occurred to me at all. But if Regis''s reasoning was true, then Lilith was definitely the best ally to have.

    "I appreciate it."

    "Heh. Don''t worry, it''s not without conditions. Of course there''s a catch."

    Lilith wagged a finger at me. I gulped, having a bad feeling about this. That mischievous look in her eyes, particularly, didn''t seem very promising.

    "After this mission is settled, you''re to follow me back to Haemorage. I need you to act as my fianc¨¦ in front of the elders, as we promised earlier."

    Oh, that was it?

    "Sure." I couldn''t help but sigh in relief. "I guess you can count on me for that."

    "I''ll be relying on you then. Well then, so what do we do now? Have you found the rebel group of Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "Well, actually¡­I was about to go meet her now." I paused for a moment and then nodded. "Do you mind coming along?"

    "That''s what I''m here for."

    "Great." I felt heartened by Lilith''s enthusiastic but cool response. I didn''t want to pull any unwanted surprises on Nagano Nanaka when I suddenly brought Lilith along out of nowhere. "Then I''ll introduce you to her."

    With that, the both of us proceeded in the direction of the academy, with Lilith following my lead and humming happily to herself for some reason.

    *

    "¡­"

    Nagano Nanaka didn''t seem enthused when I brought a girl to her office.

    "You¡­" she began, and then shook her head. "No wonder you have absolutely no interest in a beauty like Alicia Clarence."

    "Beauty isn''t everything," I automatically replied. Nagano snorted at that.

    "Hard to take you seriously when this new girl you bring home is even more beautiful than Clarence."

    Huh, I wondered about that. For one thing, while Lilith was more gorgeous and had a sexier figure, Alicia won in terms of beauty and facial prettiness. Not that I intended to compare one against the other, but whatever.

    And what did Nagano mean by "bring home"? This sure as hell wasn''t my home.

    "Can we get to the point?"

    Lilith was folding her arms and impatiently glaring at Nagano. Nagano smiled apologetically, not at all offended. Come to think of it, she seemed to be taking the revelation that Lilith was actually a demon from Morten pretty well in stride.

    "Ah, sorry. But it''s not unusual for people from other world to get married and settle down here, you know? Some of the guys in class have already taken wives¡­from the nobility. I suspect the parents wanted relations or descendants to possess the bloodline of heroes, and arranged for those marriages. I think the girls also received proposals. Hikaru-chan is going to get married in a month."

    "¡­I see."

    I honestly wasn''t interested and my engagement with Lilith was a sham to begin with anyway, so I couldn''t care less about the others.

    "That aside, what are we going to do? We''re still supposed to meet up with Takeda and the other Iron Knights, right?"

    "Indeed. That is the plan for now."

    Nagano nodded. Lilith frowned.

    "So how do we do it? And when?"

    "We depart tomorrow." Nagano gave me a knowing grin. "My airship is repaired, and we can take it again. We''ll be meeting them in Morten, near the frontlines. The same place where Aoyama-kun accidentally teleported you away from."

    "I hope you''ve already informed him that I''m not an intruder¡­" I muttered under my breath, recalling his weird magic. That guy could easily bypass my defenses and wreak all sorts of havoc. Witch Doctors were terrifying.

    "Of course, of course. He''s very sorry for what he did. Didn''t he apologize to you the other day?"

    "Yeah. He and Hoshizaki contacted me to apologize."

    In a way, Nagano was correct. I didn''t have anything to worry about, especially since Aoyama had already personally apologized to me and acknowledged his mistake. He wouldn''t repeat the same error again.

    At least I hope he wouldn''t¡­

    "By airship, huh?"

    Lilith was musing to herself, intrigued. Having overheard her, Nagano turned toward the redhead with a brilliant smile.

    "Yeah! I was the one who designed the airship! Pretty cool, right? And if we travel by air, we only need a day or two to reach our destination."

    Lilith looked a little astonished.

    "One or two days? I had to spend almost a week getting here by carriage."

    "I know, right? My airships are going to revolutionize the way the people of Restia travel! Speaking of which, we should make deals. I''m thinking of mass-producing them and selling the schematics and blueprints to Morten too."

    "Heh¡­" Lilith smiled at that. "When the time comes, Haemorage will certainly buy one of your schematics. I look forward to it."

    "We need to achieve peace for that to happen," I reminded them. Nagano nodded solemnly in agreement.

    "And to do that, we have to first defeat Kobayashi-kun. That''s why¡­we need your help, Tanaka-kun. You and the demons."

    Lilith raised an eyebrow at that. "You sure you can trust us? Forgive me if I sound rude, but it sounds like you''re betraying the humans and the other Evelyn''s Chosen by conspiring with us. It''s almost like you''re committing a coup d''¨¦tat."

    "We are¡­sort of."

    Nagano smiled ruefully, and then glanced out of her office window.

    "I won''t try to hide it or sweeten it, but we don''t have a choice. At the rate Kobayashi-kun is going, we''ll end up in a quagmire of war that will drag on for decades as each side tries to exterminate the other. There will be countless deaths and needless bloodshed¡­all for what? All because the so-called heroes think this is a game and want an ego boost by getting achievements?"

    "They think this is a game?" Lilith gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "While we''re fighting for survival, they''re attacking us because they think this whole thing is a game?"

    For my part, I was relieved that there were at least a few people in my class who were sensible enough to differentiate reality from games, and were actually defying Kobayashi. I wondered why they never helped me before. Probably because their newfound heroic powers and special abilities gave them confidence that they could resist Kobayashi, and he no longer had his grandfather or family to back him. Come to think of it, in this world, everyone was of the same hierarchy, regardless of our status back on Earth.

    That made it all the more mystifying that people such as Yamada and Kijima still blindly followed and obeyed Kobayashi, and Tsukishima and the others tried to kill me for no reason other than they were afraid of me taking revenge on them. Well, there was no point trying to understand them. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense.

    "Anyway, get some rest. Especially you, Scarlet-san." Nagano nodded toward Lilith. "After traveling such a long way, I''m sure you must be exhausted. We''ll be traveling again tomorrow, so make sure you''re fresh!"

    "Understood."

    I was about to excuse us when Nagano''s communication device rang. She frowned and answered it.

    "Hello? Nanaka here." she paused and listened for a moment, and then turned pale. "What? Okay, I understand. I''ll be there."

    She hung up and then turned to us, her complexion looking ashen.

    "Kobayashi-kun and the others have returned."

    "¡­what?"

    "Yeah. I''m going to meet them for now." She rose from her seat. The three of us left the office, Lilith and I waiting as she locked her door. As we proceeded down the corridor, Nagano continued to brief us. "The plan remains unchanged. Meet me in the port tomorrow morning, at 10am."

    "Okay."

    At the gate, we went our separate ways, with Nagano heading toward the imperial palace and Lilith and I returning to the Blue Moon Inn. As we made our way back, I caught sight of a huge parade in the distance.

    "That''s¡­"

    I magnified the view in my glasses and focused on the parade. As I suspected, it was a military parade, with a huge line of cavalry and knights on horseback marching through the streets of Havia. A great deal of fanfare and color billowed about them, with a myriad of flags, banners and heraldry flapping in the air. Trumpets blared as a military band enthusiastically welcomed the army back with loud, uplifting music.

    I focused my view on the knight in front. It was none other than Kobayashi Kenji, flanked by Yamada Yuji and Kishimoto Hikaru. The number of heroes had diminished slightly, what with a significant number of them falling in battle and almost one-third of the class defecting. But the remaining heroes were still as resplendent as ever, dressed in full splendor and color.

    I turned away, switching off the magnification and speaking to Lilith.

    "Let''s go before they see us."

    Lilith nodded and the two of us headed back to the inn.

    *

    The next day, I was awoken abruptly by a banging on the door.

    "Tanaka-kun! Tanaka-kun! Wake up!"

    "Yeah, yeah¡­I''m awake, I''m awake."

    I slowly sat up, rubbing my bleary eyes and still dazed from sleep. The light outside was still somewhat dim, and I frowned. Reaching for my smartphone, I saw that it was only 6am in the morning.

    "What the fuck?! It''s only 6am?!"

    "Tanaka-kun! Are you in there?!"

    Nagano''s voice was insistent as she banged on the door. I groggily got to my feet and put on my glasses before staggering to the door.

    "What''s up? Why are you making such a ruckus so early in the morning?"

    Opening the door, I glared at her, only to be taken aback by how flushed, panicked and flustered she was.

    "Nagano-san? What''s wrong?"

    "We have to leave¡­now!"

    "Eh? But it''s only 6am. I thought you said we should leave around 10am?"

    "Change of plans," Nagano replied urgently. "There has been a coup d''¨¦tat."

    "Huh?" that brought me to full wakefulness. "What do you mean?"

    Before I could reply, Lilith emerged from the room next door, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. She frowned when she caught sight of Nagano.

    "You''re here really early. And what''s this about the coup d''¨¦tat? Have you guys already made your move?"

    "No." Nagano shook her head vehemently. "It''s not us!"

    "Huh? Then who¡­?"

    As Lilith asked her question, a horrific understanding dawned on me.

    "Don''t tell me¡­" I whispered.

    "Don''t tell you what?" Lilith asked, puzzled, and then she blinked. It seemed that she had suddenly come to the same realization. "Oh."

    "Yeah¡­" Nagano nodded sadly. "Yesterday, Kobayashi-kun and the returning heroes pulled off a coup d''¨¦tat."

    "Huh? Why?"

    Nagano looked at me, her eyes bitter with resentment.

    "This was always their plan from their start."

    "I mean why now? Why now of all moments?"

    "That''s¡­"

    Nagano swallowed and then slowly considered.

    "They returned to Havia originally because Princess Merly was kidnapped by the dragon. They originally intended to save her. But we already did that, if you remember."

    "Yeah."

    "And then we were invited to the palace. Remember your discussion with King Leric?"

    "Yeah, I remember." How could I forget? That was quite the tense and embarrassing event. I had never felt more embarrassed.

    "You asked for world peace and succeeded in convincing King Leric to take the peaceful route and negotiate a truce with the demonic domains of Morten."

    "You did that?" Lilith asked, amazed. I shrugged.

    "Well¡­I tried."

    "That''s the thing." Nagano looked horrified. "When King Leric informed Kobayashi-kun of his intentions to gather the human kingdoms together to negotiate a peace settlement with the demons¡­"

    "¡­"

    "Kobayashi-kun killed him. He then usurped the royal family and named himself the new ruler of Legnica, imprisoning the royal family for treason and forcibly taking Princess Merly as his wife. I heard all his plans. He was bragging to the rest of the class, telling us how he intended to kill all the other human kings and become the sole ruler of the continent. And he''ll make the rest of the class nobles with power second only to him."

    "What the fuck?!"

    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing. Trying to wrap my head over what I had just heard, I uttered a single question.

    "Has Kobayashi gone insane or something?"

    "He''s gone mad with power¡­his ambition has gotten out of control. I was the only one who protested, but¡­Kobayashi-kun¡­he¡­he gave me this look. And then, in the middle of the night, I was attacked. He...he suspects that I have links to Takeda-kun. There will be more assassins sent after me, and if they fail, I know Kobayashi-kun will take matters into his own hands and kill me himself."

    "He certainly has no qualms using us and then killing us," I muttered, remembering how he tried to murder me and then sacrificing Samejima so that he could steal the glory of defeating the Demon Lord. He was a bastard through and through.

    "That''s why we have to leave immediately. Havia is no longer safe."

    "You got that right. Let me pack up and get changed, and we''ll leave immediately."

    "Me too."

    Lilith and I disappeared into our respective rooms and then rushed out after getting dressed and packing up everything.

    Before the sun could fully rise, the three of us had used the cover of darkness to make our way to the port and escape Havia before Kobayashi even knew what was happening.

 68 Chapter 68: Meeting the Iron Knights

    "You two drop off here first."

    "What?!"

    I gaped at Nagano Nanaka as she steered the airship. She had quite the unpleasant expression on her face as she stared downward.

    "I screwed up. I completely forgot that there''s no place to park my airship down here in this gorge. I need to find an alternative place."

    "Can''t you just dock the airship at your base?" Lilith asked, blinking against the golden rays of the rising sun. It was great that we managed to reach the place just before dawn, but the sun was getting on both Lilith and my nerves.

    "I originally planned for that," Nagano agreed sourly. "But then I realized that it would give away our location."

    "What, do you think they will see the airship or something?" Lilith scoffed. "Chances are, if they see your base, with or without the airship, they''ll still go and investigate it."

    "That''s not what I''m worried about," Nagano replied with a sigh. She fumbled around the cockpit and then produced a panel with glowing dials and buttons. "All airships have tracking devices on them. If I fly straight to our base, Kobayashi-kun and the others will be able to track us all the way there. No, I need to mislead our pursuers and trick them into a different location. I''ll have to use the airship as a decoy."

    "What a waste," I muttered. Nagano shrugged.

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    "No worries. I can just build a new airship at the Iron Knights'' base."

    What the fuck?! She sounded as if it was so easy to build an airship from scratch. Just what the hell was she?

    Oh, right. She was a hero. One of Evelyn''s Chosen. It was only natural that she would defy common sense.

    "This would buy us a lot more time. I''m sure Kobayashi-kun will be sending pursuers after me right now when he learns that I''ve run away. He knows about the tracking device, so he''ll be making full use of it."

    "Why the heck did you even build a tracking device in your airships?!" I demanded. Nagano glared at me.

    "Obviously I wasn''t the one who installed them in my airships! Kobayashi-kun was paranoid about the kingdom''s airships getting stolen, so he requested Yamada-kun to build them into my airships! The king agreed with him because it sounded sensible, but¡­"

    But did Kobayashi actually guess that something like this would happen?! How?! That was extremely unlikely? Or perhaps Nagano was right about him being paranoid. Or maybe he was being the typical tyrannical dictator that he was, and this was the beginnings of him implementing a surveillance state or something.

    Wow, that was scary.

    "Anyway, Aoyama-kun and Kozue-chan are waiting down there for us. Please greet them and tell them to go on ahead. I''ll catch up and meet you guys back in the base." Nagano grinned as she patted her chest when she caught my concerned expression. "Don''t worry. I''m one of the Eight Guardians. I know the way to our base."

    Unfortunately, neither Lilith nor I knew how to get to the Iron Knights'' base, so we didn''t have a choice but to rely on a guide. As Nagano swooped down, getting the airship as low to the plains as possible, the two of us jumped off the deck and landed in front of the waiting Aoyama Aoi and Hoshizaki Kozue.

    "So¡­are those the two?" Lilith asked me. I nodded.

    "Yup." Raising my head, I took a step forward. "Aoyama-kun, Hoshizaki-san. It''s been a while. Sorry about that."

    "No, it''s us who should apologize." Hoshizaki shook her head. Aoyama also approached me and bowed deeply.

    "My deepest apologies. I am very sorry. I didn''t realize that it was you, Tanaka-kun. I am very ashamed of my blunder and rudeness to you."

    "No, no¡­don''t worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes. Even me."

    I wasn''t petty enough to hold a grudge against Aoyama for such trivial matters. He wasn''t even one of my targets for revenge. Though he sat and did nothing when I was being bullied, he never participated in abusing me. I doubted he had ever insulted me as well ¨C to be honest, that was probably because he never talked to me in the first place. Whatever the case, I had no reason to take revenge on someone who didn''t bully me.

    "Tanaka-kun¡­um¡­who is this girl?"

    Hoshizaki was blinking as she studied Lilith Scarlet, taken aback by the gorgeous red-haired vampire''s presence. She probably wasn''t expecting another person. I realized that neither Nagano nor I had mentioned Lilith to the other Eight Guardians.

    "This is my teammate, Lilith Scarlet. She''s part of my party, I guess?"

    I wasn''t sure how else to describe Lilith, and I sure as hell wasn''t going to tell my former classmates that she was my fianc¨¦e. Perhaps partner would be a more appropriate term, but my party would eventually expand. Hell, I actually had an entire battalion under my command. Speaking of which, I hoped I could see them again.

    Well, the plan is to reunite with them after I complete this mission.

    "This is Hoshizaki Kozue and Aoyama Aoi," I introduced my former classmates to Lilith, who was patiently waiting by the side.

    "Ah, right."

    Aoyama lowered the communication device and nodded at Hoshizaki.

    "I''ve just confirmed with Nagano-san ¨C the red-haired girl is an ally. Nagano-san says she can be trusted."

    "Understood." Hoshizaki nodded and then bowed apologetically to Lilith. "Sorry, security measures. We can''t just bring any random person inside our base, after all."

    "I understand." Lilith was smiling politely. "I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. Rather, I''m more relieved because of your caution."

    "Thank you for the compliment. Well then, let''s go."

    We followed Hoshizaki and Aoyama through the forest, only for us to step through what seemed like a mirage.

    "Eh¡­?"

    "Keep close. If you don''t, you''ll end up getting lost in the illusion labyrinth."

    Hoshizaki warned us after Lilith blinked upon stepping through the shimmering surface. The two of us exchanged glances and hurried after the two Guardians.

    The plains had transformed into a mountain, which was a lot barer and devoid of plant life and trees. We found ourselves standing atop a winding path around a huge mountain. Everywhere, stony mountains towered, casting the place in an eerie shadow. The forest was gone, replaced by solid, hard rock and circular trails.

    "This is your headquarters?" Lilith remarked as she glanced around the change in scenery, looking impressed.

    "No. Look below."

    We followed Hoshizaki''s instructions and glanced down. Down, in the meadow or what resembled more like a ravine that curved down like an abyss at the foot of the mountains, a massive fortress stood solemnly. Its walls were cast in shadows, and a mystical fog seemed to shroud the place. Detecting mana from the mysterious mist, I bet it was some sort of defensive enchantment.

    Right, Hoshizaki said something about an illusion labyrinth earlier¡­

    Without turning back, Hoshizaki glanced down at the castle and spoke softly.

    "Welcome to the Cross Castle."

    The four of us watched the huge castle from above, momentarily mesmerized by the breathtaking view afforded to us by the mountaintop.

    Wow, these are quite the potent defensive wards.

    As I studied the place, my Absolute Appraisal raised all sorts of alarms, informing me of the nature of the mystical mists. This was not a place to tread lightly. No wonder we needed a guide. Come to think of it, it would be very difficult for Nagano to fly her airship into such a confined, well-defended place even if she didn''t have the tracking device.

    "So we follow this stone path?"

    Lilith glanced down the winding mountain trail that stretched out before us.

    "Yes, that''s right." Aoyama nodded grimly. "Be careful, though. Even though it looks like a straightforward route, if you veer off the path even slightly, you will get lost within the illusions, and wander around this place, trapped forever."

    I glanced at the Witch Doctor and smiled.

    "Speaking of which, Aoyama-kun, your ability is really amazing." Pushing my glasses up, I contemplated. "If I''m not mistaken, when we fought a few days ago, there was a number on my hand. Let me guess¡­it indicates the number of times you hit me?"

    "You''re very astute." Aoyama nodded and removed his mask, revealing his handsome face. "That is correct. My blade doesn''t do any damage, but once you''re hit 33 times, no matter who you are, you''ll be forcibly teleported to a random location."

    "Whoa¡­"

    "Isn''t that pretty strong?" Hoshizaki beamed as I attempted to whistle (but failed horribly). I tilted my head.

    "But I have a question¡­I mean, I''m pretty sure I blocked a few of your attacks with my staff¡­"

    "It''s a special characteristic of my cursed blade," Aoyama replied. "While it does no damage, as long as it hits anything that belongs to you, it counts as hitting you."

    "Right¡­no wonder the number still increased even when I used my staff to block your attacks."

    A bead of perspiration dripped down my face when I heard that. That really was an unbelievable ability that was a pain to deal with.

    "Not only that, Aoyama-kun is a healer, you know? He has healing magic!"

    "Cool."

    I didn''t want to say that I already knew that. I had seen Aoyama, Midorikawa and Yoshida serve as healers during the battle with the previous Demon Lord, but obviously I didn''t think it wise to bring up that I was there when they fought him. I also didn''t want to tell them that I knew that Aoyama was a Witch Doctor, or they would think their personal information had been doctored.

    "Aren''t you a healer as well, Tomoyuki-kun?" Lilith asked. The two former classmates swiveled to stare at her, and then gape at me.

    "Is that true!?"

    "Well¡­"

    Damn it, Lilith, there was no need to tell them about that!

    "It''s a bit different, but essentially, yes¡­I can probably cast healing magic."

    "Heh¡­that''s great!" Hoshizaki sighed. "Midori-chan and Yume-chan are both firmly on Kobayashi-kun''s side, so we lack healers. Even with Aoyama-kun around, he can''t possibly bear the burden of healing on his own!"

    "I''m sure I''ll manage fine," Aoyama replied sourly. Dude, might as well add, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

    We proceeded down the stairs, continuing to talk.

    "So you''re a support class too, Tanaka-kun?"

    "I suppose you can say that."

    "Heh¡­I look forward to working with you in future."

    "Thanks." I followed them down the stairs, frowning. "But you guys are pretty strong. You don''t really need my help, do you?"

    "That''s not true!" Hoshizaki protested. "There''s only nine of us! We''re outnumbered by Kobayashi-kun and the others!"

    I wondered about that. Now that I had killed Tsukishima, Kijima, Minamoto, Asakura, and Miyazawa, Lilith had slain Sakaguchi, and Kobayashi himself had sacrificed Samejima, that was seven former classmates dead. There should be twenty-two left¡­and with the nine Iron Knights defecting, that were only thirteen left. The Iron Knights weren''t that outnumbered.

    "Takeda-kun believes you''re vital to the rebellion," Aoyama spoke up. "You''re a liason with the demons. They trust you. Therefore you can serve as a go-between for us and the demons, an intermediary who can negotiate an alliance. Without the alliance of the demons, we will not be able to defeat Kobayashi and the others, especially when they have the military might of the human kindgoms backing them."

    "That''s right. That''s how the Iron Knights came to be formed."

    Hoshizaki stared at me seriously.

    "Huh, I wouldn''t know. I just know your leader is Takeda Tetsuo, right?"

    "That''s right." Hoshizaki nodded. "When Kobayashi-kun went kind of¡­crazy, Takeda-kun was the first one to rise up against him. They had a fight, Takeda-kun almost lost and was forced to escape. Slowly, the rest of us joined him because we became increasingly unable to agree with Kobayashi-kun''s actions."

    "He was becoming more¡­extreme."

    Aoyama lowered his head grimly, clenching his fists tightly.

    "Treating the people of this world as¡­NPCs, doing whatever he liked, forcing us to continue the war despite the demons asking for peace, calling for their total extermination. All we wanted to do was save the people of this world, you know? But Kobayashi treats this as a game, and he will stop at nothing until he achieves his so-called perfect victory."

    "Not to mention he''s been taking advantage of nobles'' daughters and the palace maids and having his way with them¡­he truly is the enemy of women."

    "Huh, I thought he had Yoshida?"

    "Apparently Yume-chan wasn''t enough¡­he wasn''t satisfied with confining himself with just one girlfriend. He wanted a harem."

    I was truly at a loss for words at how deluded Kobayashi was sounding out to be. And here I thought he couldn''t sink any lower. He really was the type who always had to have his way, and would stomp on anyone who stood against him.

    Like me and Takeda Tetsuo.

    "Takeda-kun said it before¡­he has the same goal as you, and we have a common enemy in Kobayashi-kun and his faction."

    I smirked.

    "That we do¡­that we do¡­"

    To be honest, I didn''t care about all that NPCs and world peace that Takeda and his Iron Knights were making a huge deal of. If there were people being hurt in front of me, I would definitely help them. But I wasn''t so noble or na?ve enough to think of myself as a hero. I could barely protect myself, never mind the world, or the people of Restia. As much as I would like to help the demons from being exterminated, I had never once thought of myself as their savior. I allied with them for my own selfish purposes ¨C because I needed assistance to fight against Kobayashi and his human armies. Of course I would be more than happy to help them ward off extermination, but that wasn''t my primary objective and I never thought I would be bearing such a burden on my shoulders.

    Nope, my primary objective was revenge in the end. If I could help people by the side, I would, but that didn''t mean I actively tried to save the world or be a hero or whatever.

    "So you need my help to negotiate an alliance with the demons?" I asked as I slowly treaded the winding staircase, glancing at the Cross Castle as it loomed intimidatingly over me. Smiling, I shook my head. "I''ll try my best, but I''m not a diplomat, you know? If you remember, I was always pretty aggressive, especially against Kobayashi."

    *

    At the cliff entrance of Cross Castle, lightning crackled and struck the rocky cliff. The shimmering mirage that protected the surroundings of Cross Castle in illusions rippled and began to dissipate, the mystical mists dispersing rapidly as lightning disintegrated them.

    A hole ripped open in the fabric of reality, and a trio of Evelyn''s Chosen stepped out, swaggering arrogantly as they stepped onto the cliff.

    "So unlucky¡­"

    The first one, Suzuki Shirou, grumbled angrily as he sauntered upon the cliff, his fingers tightening around the shaft of his spear in disdain.

    "Got such a boring mission first thing in the morning."

    He was flanked by two more heroes. One of them was a huge, mountain of a man, a guy named Ooyama Eiji. Ooyama was resting his thunderous hammer on his shoulder, lightning still flaring from it incessantly.

    Beside Ooyama was a thin, wiry guy with longish hair and a weird-looking dagger. Nishida Kensuke looked around warily, lacking the confidence and arrogance that his two companions possessed. Straightening up, he followed Suzuki''s gaze and stared up at the massive fortress that towered over the three of them.

    "This place should be the headquarters of the Iron Knights¡­Cross Castle."

    "I can''t believe we found this place so quickly. Kobayashi was right." Nishida shook his head. "The tracking device was a brilliant idea. Thanks to that, we were able to track down Nagano-san so easily. To think that she really was part of the Iron Knights."

    "Heh, weren''t you the one who created the tracking devices?" Suzuki mocked. "Why are you acting so surprised for, Nishida?"

    "No, I just didn''t think we would be lucky enough to find the Cross Castle so quickly¡­"

    "You should have more faith in your own inventions."

    "Hmph, Suzuki is right." Ooyama glared up at Cross Castle. "And now that we''re here, we might as well do our job. That said, the castle looks pretty formidable. How are we going to demolish it?"

    "Idiot! Of course we can''t!" Suzuki snapped, glaring at the blockhead, Ooyama.

    "Suzuki-san is right," Nishida added hastily. "Today, our mission is to offer an invitation to the Iron Knights¡­to convince them to rejoin us in our glorious extermination of the foul demon race. Now that Kobayashi has become king of all the human kingdoms¡­there really is no place for the Iron Knights to go."

    "Ah¡­but if we''re able to meet with Takeda Tetsuo, then maybe it wouldn''t be so boring."

    Suzuki suddenly perked up. Grinning, he cocked his head and glanced toward his right.

    "Am I right, the two of you from Iron Knights? Sanada Hiroyuki and Shidou Makoto?"

    The blond, tall, muscular guy and a slightly short, handsome guy with stylish brown hair and a smirk stepped out and landed gracefully in front of the trio.

    "It''s been a while," Sanada, the big blond guy greeted them. "Suzuki, Ooyama and Nishida. Are you here on behalf of Kobayashi?"

    "Hmph." Suzuki curled his lips into a snarl. "That''s right¡­but if I have my way with your leader, he won''t be ordering me around for much longer."

 69 Chapter 69: Return of the Spear Hero

    "He he he¡­"

    Ooyama Eiji took a huge bite out of his pineapple as he swaggered over to the two Guardians'' position.

    "So you guys are now part of the Iron Knights, aren''t you?"

    With a grin, he peered down on them condescendingly.

    "You seem pretty weak."

    Shidou Makoto bristled a little, but he kept his cool.

    "Get away from me. You reek of foul body odor."

    "Oh?" Suzuki Shirou smirked when he heard the retort. "Looks like the members of Iron Knights have some backbone."

    "Ah, from what I remember, aside from their boss who''s on the same level as Kobayashi and hit level 1,000," Nishida pondered. "Everyone else is pretty low level. They haven''t even reached level 100, how pathetic¡­"

    Ooyama stomped in front of the shorter Makoto, intimidating him.

    "You''re both just lowly gatekeepers!" bellowing, he glared down at the defiant Makoto, spit spilling from his mouth. "And you dare to talk to us in such a manner?!"

    Makoto''s hand moved subtly and quickly, and a knife slid out of his sleeve. Green mana flowed around him, saturating the atmosphere and increasing the tension further. Not at all intimidated, he merely glared at Ooyama.

    "You want to fight?" he sneered.

    "Fight?" Suzuki lazily rested his spear on his shoulder. "You don''t even interest me¡­"

    However, he didn''t stop Ooyama, who had crushed the pineapple in his hand into a juicy pulp, shattering it into bits. With a shrug, he cocked his head disinterestedly.

    "But if my brothers want to, I won''t restrain them."

    Ooyama glared down on Makoto and raised his hand, which was dripping with pineapple juice. With a sneer, he leered down on the smaller boy.

    "You think your little stick can hurt me?"

    "You want to try me?"

    "Peace. Please calm down, the both of you."

    Before the duo could break into a brawl, Sanada Hiroyuki stepped between the two to intervene and pacify them with a raised hand.

    Turning away, he revealed an ice bell from his coat and shook it in his left hand. A crystal-clear tink resounded across the cavern.

    "I''ll bring you all to see our leader."

    Under his direction, an ice bridge solidified in thin air, linking one crevasse to another and hanging over the abyss.

    "Oh? That''s right. Sanada is an elementalist, isn''t he?"

    Suzuki smirked when he remembered his former classmate''s special abilities. Indeed, it had been a while since he had seen them.

    "Yes. Ice element, in case you''ve forgotten."

    "No, I haven''t. As ever, you''re so cool."

    "I thought Tanaka was the one who makes those pun jokes," Nishida muttered, but fell into deathly silence when Suzuki threw a withering look in his direction.

    "Everyone."

    "This way."

    "Kekeke¡­"

    Suzuki chuckled when he saw how impressive Sanada''s ice magic was, but he remained haughty and arrogant as ever.

    "But you still haven''t earned the right to be my target."

    "Hmph." Nishida snorted. "Looks like you''re lucky. Even the six people who have broken through level 1,000 don''t dare to go up against the boss."

    "Finally made it!"

    As if on cue, Hoshizaki Kozue jumped onto the edge where one side of the ice bridge was propped up on, only for her to skid to a stop.

    "Eh?"

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    The three delinquents from Suzuki''s group and the two Guardians of the Iron Knights all turned to stare at her, bemused.

    "We managed to reach the top of the cliff," I muttered tiredly as I dragged myself to the summit, but I wasn''t surprised to see the ice bridge. Thanks to my prowess as the first-person narrator, I knew everything that had gone on.

    "That''s right!" Hoshizaki nodded. "We''ll meet Takeda-kun soon!"

    "I''m so looking forward to it."

    If she had detected any sarcasm in my voice, Hoshizaki didn''t say anything. Instead, she continued skipping forward, with Aoyama and Lilith in tow. Sighing, I followed them while blatantly ignoring the dudes who were there.

    "Shit!" Nishida hollered. "Isn''t that Tanaka?! I thought Kobayashi killed him. How is he still alive?! And why is he here?!"

    "Yo. It''s been a while." I narrowed my gaze, especially on Suzuki. The last time I met him, he had thrown his God-Slaying Spear at me when I emerged from the Temple of Lyia. While he wasn''t one of those who actively bullied me, he still did try to kill me back then. He was different from the others in that he retreated after that instead of being overly obsessed with killing me and worrying about how I would take my revenge, but if he planned to attack me right here, right now, I wouldn''t hold back and would kill him with everything I had.

    "Huh, Tanaka? Right¡­didn''t Sakaguchi and Asakura say that he''s alive? They said that they were going to hunt him down and kill him. That''s right, they said he escaped to Helsreach, which is quite near here. What a pathetic bunch of fools¡­after bragging and making such big promises, it''s clear that they had failed."

    Suzuki didn''t seem to even remember that incident. There was no look of recognition in his eyes. Come to think of it, he was from quite a long distance away. The only reason why I knew it was him was because of Absolutely Appraisal and the ability of my glasses to magnify and zoom in over long distances.

    Nishida, on the other hand, was trembling.

    This is so unlucky¡­how did we meet him here!? I''ve heard rumors after Sakaguchi, Asakura and Miyazawa''s demises when they attempted to kill him. It''s obvious that Tanaka is extremely strong. And with the boss''s personality, he''ll want to fight for sure. Then I''ll be forced to join the battle¡­

    The poor guy was perspiring profusely. But he was smiling to himself, as if he had thought of something.

    He he! Good thing I''m good at avoiding fights¡­as long as I tell him how weak he is, then the boss wouldn''t be interested at all.

    Grinning, he tilted his head toward Suzuki and jabbed his staff at me.

    "Boss, this guy¡­"

    Before he could finish his sentence, Ooyama cut in.

    "Huh? Tanaka? That black jacket and glasses¡­oi, isn''t he the guy the 5th Lancer Dragoon Company reported as stealing your glory and kill in the Temple of Lyia? The guy powerful enough to defeat a boss-level Temple Guardian on his own?"

    With a snap of his fingers, Ooyama proudly proclaimed as he jabbed at me excitedly. Nishida''s jaw dropped and he almost screamed.

    "FUCK!!"

    "Oh?"

    Ignoring Nishida, Suzuki turned to me with a bloodthirsty grin and tightened his grip on his spear.

    "He was the hero who took my kill?"

    I pushed my glasses up as I watched Suzuki warily.

    Yeah, it''s Suzuki, all right. Unmistakably the guy who threw that damned spear at me after I defeated the Blooming Buddha at the Temple of Lyia.

    "So lucky¡­"

    Suzuki crouched down for a moment, almost like a panther, and then he suddenly sprang forward at me crossing a hundred meters in a single bound.

    "I didn''t think a boring mission like this would have such a nice reward!"

    Clang!

    Before Suzuki could reach me, Aoyama had blocked his spear with his twin sickles. As he stood his ground firmly, warding Suzuki away, the latter growled intimidatingly.

    "Iron Knights, you dare get in my way?"

    His eyes glowing with bloodlust, Suzuki smirked shamelessly.

    "I only want to test out how strong Tanaka really is. I''ve been hearing quite the interesting rumors about him for a while now. Tell me, are you really the one who took out Tsukishima, Kijima, Minamoto, Asakura and Miyazawa? All by yourself?"

    I shrugged. "I wonder. That sounds too absurd to be believable."

    "Heh, humble as ever, aren''t you?! No wonder Kobayashi''s always pissed off at you."

    "Everyone, be careful!"

    This time, it was Lilith who shouted a warning, having noticed that something was amiss with Suzuki''s spear.

    "That spear in his hand is most likely an enchanted weapon¡­legendary class!"

    "Hang on a second!" Hoshizaki called out frantically. "Suzuki-kun, what are you doing?! Aren''t you supposed to be on a diplomatic mission today? Didn''t Kobayashi-kun say he sent you guys here to negotiate a truce?"

    "That''s right. I, Suzuki Shirou, will personally give the invitation to your boss¡­"

    Suzuki increased the pressure on Aoyama''s sickles, his grin widening across his face.

    "But right now, I''m going to enjoy this fight!"

    Suzuki was always one of the strongest members in class¡­even Kobayashi doesn''t dare to harass him that much. Sure, he''ll pressure Suzuki into being his subordinate, but as a delinquent, Suzuki was always a wildcard and one of the strongest¡­seems like he''s also among the strongest heroes in class.

    I frowned.

    But Hoshizaki said something about business? A negotiation for a truce? Nobody told me anything about that.

    Before I could think too much about that, Suzuki pressed down against Aoyama and glanced past the blue-haired Witch Doctor''s shoulder to leer at me.

    "At the Temple of Lyia, you were the one who stole my prey, and you withstood my attack as well¡­"

    "That was luck," I replied. Suzuki snorted before he returned to his manically grinning expression.

    "So lucky¡­I didn''t think I would run into you so soon."

    Neither did I. Hell, I would much rather I didn''t run into him at all to begin with. The guy was a pain to deal with.

    "I am very interested in what sort of abilities you used to defeat the rest of our class¡­" Suzuki continued, unable to conceal his excitement. "But that isn''t important right now¡­"

    You''re right. It''s not important at all. Can we move on from here?

    With a huge swing, Suzuki knocked Aoyama back. The blue-haired guy withdrew a few steps, staggering as he struggled to regain his balance. Suzuki shifted his excited gaze from me to focus on the opponent before him.

    "Let me take care of you first!"

    As always, Suzuki is nuts.

    I couldn''t help but sigh in exasperation. I should have known ¨C after all, back in our previous world, Suzuki was a delinquent notorious for getting into fights over every little thing. He was like a mad dog, traveling from school to school to seek out the strongest fighters and beat up entire gangs with his own.

    That said, this wasn''t a total loss.

    But this is a great opportunity to observe the abiltiies of one of the strongest heroes in our class, as preparation to fight against Kobayashi eventually.

    However, glancing at how Aoyama was lowering his dual sickles and preparing for a fight, I felt that he had it well in hand. I had experienced firsthand how strong he was, and knew he would be able to fight on par with Suzuki.

    Seems like I won''t need to make a move.

    "What should we do, Tomoyuki?"

    It was Lilith. She was holding her spear in what seemed like a loose manner, but I knew that appearance was deceptive. When the moment came, Lilith would pierce through even the hardest armor with that cursed blood spear of hers.

    "Are we going to fight?"

    Hoshizaki also stepped in.

    "Suzuki-kun is very strong. I''m sure you know that, Aoyama-kun. I suggest that we fight together and finish him off quickly¡­"

    "No need¡­"

    Aoyama cut Hoshizaki off firmly.

    "I can handle him myself."

    Sprinting forward at insane speeds, Aoyama slashed with his dual sickles in movements too fast for my eyes o follow.

    "Suzuki¡­I know you''ve always been a delinquent since back in our world, and you still think you can do whatever you want in Restia. But I won''t allow you to disturb Iron Knights'' headquarters!"

    I smiled as I watched him dash forward.

    Even if you''re among the strongest heroes in our class, you will still have a tough time against Aoyama''s ability.

    After all, it wasn''t just a physical or magical attack. It was a curse, one that was near-impossible to defend against.

    Aoyama slashed at Suzuki from an unexpected angle, swinging from below the latter''s guard in an attempt to take him by surprise.

    However, Suzuki was just as fast. Spinning around, he parried Aoyama''s sickle with the shaft of his spear, causing sparks to fly. With a smirk, he grinned at Aoyama even as their weapons locked and crackled with mana.

    "Looks like I need to warm up with you first."

    The two of them vanished into blinding streaks of light, and the harsh, metallic noises of weapon clashing against weapon filled the entire valley. Dust billowed and rocks pelted the area as the two of them struck and parried, slashed and blocked. In under a minute, the pair must have exchanged over a hundred blows in a high-speed battle.

    He''s able to keep up with me¡­

    Aoyama was both shocked and thoroughly impressed at how Suzuki was actually matching him in terms of speed, but as the battle dragged on, an edge of frustration began to creep into his movements.

    What a nuisance¡­

    He dropped onto the ground to attack from below, hoping to catch the lax Suzuki off guard.

    However, Suzuki leaped high above and spun over Aoyama''s head, gracefully avoiding the slash that would have hit his ankles.

    "Your attacks don''t do any damage¡­"

    As Suzuki slowly sailed through the air, he glanced at his right hand, where a counter had appeared.

    "But from the start, there''s a number that has been steadily increasing on my hand."

    Right now, the number was 22.

    Flipping himself upright, Suzuki drew his spear back as lightning began to catch and wreath around the blade of his long weapon.

    "Is something scary going to happen once it reaches a certain number? I suppose it will. If I remember correctly, you''re a Witch Doctor, after all. So you must be casting a curse on me. How terrifying¡­"

    Despite his words, Suzuki seemed more amused than afraid. He was actually chuckling excitedly.

    "Kekeke¡­weapon ability activate!"

    Heavenly Lightning Strike!

    Lightning crackled and bounced off his spear to fire golden lances of devastating electricity at the defending Aoyama.

    There was an explosion as Aoyama forced himself to block it, but the shockwaves sent him flying back across the canyon and toward a rocky mountain wall.

    Even as Aoyama was thrown back, the golden lightning continued to stream toward him like some sort of vengeful serpent. From within the smoke and electricity, the point of Suzuki''s spear gleamed as he hurtled forward, getting ready to thrust it at Aoyama. Even though there was still a distance between them, Suzuki wasn''t patient enough to wait for his spear to pierce Aoyama''s chest. Instead, he shoved it forward.

    "Thunder Spear!"

    With a shout, he gathered all the coalesced lightning around the tip of his spear into a single, supercharged point.

    ZING!

    A golden beam of lightning blasted off from the tip of Suzuki''s spear and lanced toward the helplessly flying Aoyama.

    Heavenly Arrow!

    "Kuh!"

    Aoyama flipped his body in midair, just barely avoiding a fatal strike from Suzuki''s attack, but the intense golden beam grazed his shoulder and nearly obliterated his arm.

    As for me, I was thoroughly impressed by what I was seeing, to the point I was staring at Suzuki in utter awe.

    He can switch between close and long-range attacks?

    "Ugh¡­"

    Aoyama grunted as he dropped onto the ground, glancing at his wound. However, even as he slowly rose to his feet, green mana was swirling around his wounded arm and restoring it to its prime condition.

    Healing magic. Right, Aoyama was a healer. Of course he could cast healing spells on himself when he was injured.

    "Really interesting¡­"

    However, Suzuki wasn''t interested in Aoyama''s healing abilities. Instead, he was staring at the number on his hand, which had rose from 22 to 23.

    "Even the bullet from my long-range attack counts¡­"

    He stared at the 2 digits of 23 on his brown glove, contemplating deeply about the implications of this attack.

    "Could it be¡­?"

    He turned to grin at Aoyama, his expression almost triumphant.

    "¡­anything that belongs to me cannot touch your blades?"

    He figured it out!

    My jaw dropped. Even I didn''t understand what Aoyama''s abilities were until I confirmed with him later. Yet Suzuki had already realized the implications halfway through the battle.

    This guy looks reckless¡­but his battle sense is incredible¡­

    "Hu¡­"

    Aoyama took a deep breath as he continued healing his destroyed arm and raised his dual sickles, which were crackling with blue mana. A bead of perspiration dripped down his face as he watched the confident Suzuki.

    "Amazing¡­you''re the first person who has seen through my ability."

    Even as he felt a cold stab of dread upon the revelation, Aoyama forced himself to remain calm.

    But it doesn''t matter. You don''t have a plan against it¡­and I just need to get 10 more hits to send you away!

    "Recovering your wounds¡­"

    Suzuki watched Aoyama straighten and prepare for the next series of exchanges, thinking deeply about his next move.

    "Not only can I not touch your heroic weapons¡­but you hold the title Witch Doctor, and can heal yourself. That''s a really annoying ability."

    He stabbed the blunt end of his spear onto the ground and grinned manically.

    "Then¡­"

    Snatching his spear, he twirled it around and thrust it forward.

    "Thunder Spear¡­Extend!"

    The golden lightning spear lanced forward, but not at Aoyama. Instead, it slammed into the rocky mountain wall opposite him, boring a huge crater into it. Rocks poured down in an avalanche as Suzuki dragged his spear across the wall, almost destroying it with his fearsome technique. The canyon groaned as it began to collapse.

    Both Lilith and I suddenly realized what he was doing, beads of perspiration flowing down our faces.

    With a single jerk of his hands, Suzukin yanked his spear across the mountain wall, obliterating it and sending an avalanche of debris raining down. Suddenly, he switched the trajectory of his spear and forcibly redirected the falling rocks toward himself.

    "!"

    Aoyama''s eyes widened when he realized Suzuki''s intentions, but he was too late.

    A massive chunk of rock slammed into him, sending him flying across the abyss. The rocky debris slammed him into the wall, sandwiching and crushing him against several tons of solid rock. If Aoyama had been a regular human, he would have been reduced to nothing more than a bloody pulp from the tremendous impact.

    "Whoa!"

    Both Lilith and I were forced to jump back as shockwaves and clouds of dust billowed against us, buffeting and knocking us backward. Coughing, I raised my head to glance at Aoyama in concern, but he had vanished beneath rubble.

    "This is fine, right?"

    Suzuki was still swinging his extended spear around and slashing through the mountains with brute strength.

    With a feral grin, he smirked.

    "This mountain doesn''t belong to me."

    Hu¡­

    As the dust dissipated and the avalanche calmed down, silence reigned over the mountain pass. Lilith, Hoshizaki and I were all watching the battle, completely taken aback by what had just happened. Nishida and Ooyama didn''t look surprised, but Makoto was trembling in fury. Only Sanada remained calm, but I noticed that his jaw had imperceptibly tightened.

    Aoyama lay at the bottom of the rubble, completely battered and semi-conscious. He was so injured and ravaged that he wasn''t able to use his healing spells on himself. Smoke drifted about his fallen body, almost shrouding him in death.

    "So¡­"

    Suzuki ignored Aoyama''s prone figure and studied the digits on his hand, which had remained at 23 even after the attack.

    "That really works."

    A distance away, Ooyama slapped Nishida on the shoulder, almost sending him tumbling forward.

    "These pieces of trash are getting in the way of the boss''s fight against Tanaka!" he bellowed as he urged Nishida forward. "Let''s go help him!"

    Before he could take a single step, however, he instinctively turned around.

    "Eh?"

    Bam!

    Sanada kicked Ooyama in the face with a leg coated in sharp icicles, knocking him back. Nishida was hurled away from the impact as the two heavyweights clashed.

    But even the massive Ooyama wasn''t able to withstand Sanad''s frost kick. With a single maneuver, Sanada sent Ooyama hurtling across the ice bridge and slamming into the wall on the opposite of the mountain, leaving a trail of frozen icicles in his wake.

    Lifting his leg up as the ice shattered around it, Sanada struck a cool pose as he glared at the trio of delinquents.

    "Since the fight has started¡­I can no longer try to be the peacekeeper."

    Fog billowed about him as he clamped down on his icy rage with cold fury. Okay, I tried to sound poetic with that, but it was obvious that I failed.

    Sipping a cup of tea, Makoto merely shook his head and snickered.

    "You just want to hit him, right?"

    At some point of time, Makoto had conjured a wooden piece of furniture that served as a couch-table hybrid. He was seated in a concave and peacefully drinking his tea as he watched the farce from a safe distance.

    Sanada didn''t even bother to glance back at him, even as the frost fell from his now free and unfrozen leg.

    "Yeah¡­but you were the one who really wanted to hit him earlier."

    Now Sanada finally turned around to glare at his smaller companion.

    "Now you''re just sipping tea in the battlefield."

    With a shake of his head, he voiced his disapproval.

    "You can''t be like this, Makoto."

    "But he is too smelly," Makoto complained as he took another sip of his tea. "It grosses me out too much. Furthermore¡­although he is disgusting, you can''t afford to underestimate him."

    Across the icy bridge, a sudden conflagration erupted on the other side of the mountain, almost like a miniature sun.

    A golden, flaming arm reached out of the smoke to grab and disintegrate the ice.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I didn''t think you would be this strong!"

    Ooyama strode out as he carried his huge hammer, which was crackling with electricity that shrouded him in a protective aura.

    "But I''ve reached level 800 and hold the title, Berserker."

    Name: Ooyama Eiji

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Berserker/Hero

    Special Abilities: Berserk Lightning, Mjolnir, God of Thunder

    I pushed my glasses up my nose as I used Absolute Appraisal to study him. Even from this distance, I could clearly see the gigantic lightning aura that cloaked him like a mecha or something. Suspened inside the enormous lightning-type mecha-like form, Ooyama advanced across the icy bridge.

    That must be his God of Thunder ability.

    Ooyama was laughing raucously as he boasted about his abilities.

    "Berserkers have the ability to increase their strength and agility 10 times! Compared to you, who have such pathetically low levels, you''re just trash! Die!"

    With a single push, Ooyama propelled himself off the mountain to lunge at both Sanada and Makoto in a single bound.

    "Who cares about levels?" Makoto rolled his eyes as he stood up from his wooden furniture and began twirling his small knife in his hand.

    "My, my¡­what a pain." Sanada sighed as he focused on the advancing enemy before them.

    "DIE!!!"

    With a roar, Ooyama descended upon them, wreathed in his God of Thunder form.

 70 Chapter 70: Iron Knights versus Raijinshuu

    "Die!! Die!!!"

    Roaring Ooyama descended upon Makoto''s position, raising his thunder hammer to obliterate the smaller guy.

    As for me, I scratched my head and wondered what it was with antagonists and their clich¨¦s of yelling at their opponents to die. Like, seriously? Couldn''t they think of a more original insult or something?

    Makoto wasn''t fazed by Ooyama''s approach. He merely tossed his knife to the ground, piercing the dirt. Reaching for his cup of tea on the wooden table he had conjured earlier, he shook his head and clicked his tongue.

    "Tsk¡­"

    With a single, fluid motion, he flung his cup of tea at his knife, which was protruding from the earth. The tea splashed against the small weapon and immediately vaporized into wisps of ethereal green mana.

    "Eh?!"

    Ooyama was stunned by the sudden surge of green mana, which solidified in front of him. A massive, solid wall of wood formed before the berserk God of Thunder, crackling with green mana, but Ooyama didn''t hesitate and smashed his thunder hammer against the wooden barrier. The massive weapon slammed into the thick wood with a thunderous roar.

    However, brute force couldn''t prevail over the supple, gigantic tree that had sprang to life. To my surprise, I saw that the gigantic tree was very similar to my Redwood Robe in that it had several layers of defensive enchantments.

    Unable to break through the thick, solid wood, Ooyama jumped back, thanks to Newton''s third law. By attempting to exert a tremendous amount of force, he ended up having an equal and opposite power reacting against him.

    Both Sanada and Makoto watched the stunned Ooyama quietly, even as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened.

    "A tree? How are you able to summon such a thing with such low levels?!"

    Sanada ignored the raving Ooyama and glanced at Makoto, amused.

    "Oh? You''re going to use that ability to end this fight?"

    "Shut up," Makoto snapped as he swung his knife toward his left. Spinning his knife in his left hand, he narrowed his eyes as green mana flowed around him. "Summon ability¡­" he mused as he brought his knife to his lips, almost as if to play it.

    He''s a summoner too? I gaped at him.

    "Divine Fire Ants."

    Ooyama jerked up at that. "Ants?!"

    As if on cue, a stream of bright red fire ants began crawling out of the woodwork¡­I mean gigantic tree. From nestled holes, gaps and crevasses, fire ants began flooding out and crawling over the withered bark like a tide of crimson fire.

    "Oh? The tree is transforming into ants?"

    Suzuki glanced at the tree, which was disappearing under the endless swarm of fire ants, intrigued. I shook my head.

    "No¡­the ants are eating that tree."

    If I didn''t magnify my glasses and zoom in, I wouldn''t be able to see the individual ants. In fact, with normal vision, all I could see was a tree being consumed by fire, the vivid colors of crimson and orange resembling that of an inferno.

    "Ugh¡­"

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    Some distance away, Nishida stirred, having been flung against a mountain rock against his will. Rubbing his head, which throbbed incessantly, Nishida groaned and sat up. Blinking, he caught sight of the swarm of fire ants and his eyes bulged from shock.

    "Shit¡­what are those?!"

    "Makoto, did you make a move as well?"

    Aoyama was staggering to his feet as he continued to heal himself with his restoration spells, soothing green mana permeating his wounded body. I nodded, staying back with both Lilith and Hoshizaki.

    "Seems like Makoto''s ants need to eat wood before they fight."

    Makoto continued to play his wooden flute, which had completely transformed from a knife and into a shifting musical instrument. Wisps of green mana flowed from his flute and drifted leisurely toward the fire ants.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    However, despite the swarm of fire ants surrounding him, Ooyama was more amused than afraid. None of the ants could penetrate the God of Thunder aura that shrouded his massive body, the powerful electricity keeping them at bay.

    "Your little ants are useless!" Ooyama sneered. Makoto merely smiled and transformed his flute back into his knife.

    "It''s time to end things."

    Then hurry up and end it instead of looking all smug and gloating! You want to give Ooyama a chance to counterattack or something?

    Makoto lifted a finger toward his lips, and whispered. I spotted a small fire ant perched on his finger, flapping its wings a little as it listened.

    Interesting¡­

    I adjusted the magnification on my glasses and zoomed in on the fire ant. To my surprise, the readings in my glasses were going off the charts. Apparently, the sensors could detect an increase in body temperature and fire mana.

    Makoto was smiling as he offered an explanation.

    "Divine Fire Ants eat wood to preserve them as fuel¡­"

    "Eh?! What''s going on?!"

    Even the slow and stupid Ooyama realized that something was amiss as the fire ants surrounded him, their mana signatures and temperature surging. Perspiration rolled off his body in streams as he glanced around, despite being protected by his God of Thunder ability.

    The fire ants ignored his surprise and continued to swarm all over him mercilessly. Batting their wings, they crawled all over his God of Thunder aura, their only increasing mana protecting them from the deadly electric field that wreathed Ooyama''s body. Within a minute, Ooyama''s God of Thunder was completely engulfed in a fiery cloak of insects.

    "The bomb is ready."

    I had no idea why Makoto was trying to act cool, but I decided against saying anything. Keeping quiet, I watched as he cocked his hand back, the knife in his hand crackling with flames. In an instant, I suddenly understood what he was trying to do.

    This can''t be good¡­

    In a swift motion, Makoto threw his knife at the massive figure of Ooyama''s God of Thunder, which was now carpeted in fire ants. His aim was true, the flaming knife striking one of the fire ants adhering to the lightning aura and breaking it apart.

    The flames ignited the wooden fuel inside the fire ant, the wooden fuel that the insect had consumed earlier.

    The fire ant exploded, setting up a chain reaction that ignited the other fire ants. The surrounding fire ants also went up in flames, which sparked even more explosions that swept across the entire sea of milling insects.

    "Shit! They''re exploding!"

    Beads of perspiration ran down Ooyama''s face when he saw the explosions battering against his God of Thunder aura. No matter how powerful his defensive God of Thunder aura was, there was no way it could withstand multiple, repeated explosions of this magnitude ¨C especially when they were all combined at the same moment.

    With a howl, Ooyama vanished in a tremendous explosion that swept across the valley.

    However¡­

    "Phew. It''s good that Ooyama didn''t die from that explosion."

    Sanada sighed in relief as snowflake-shaped mana scattered around him.

    "Tsk, it''s because you saved him."

    Makoto sounded irritated as he glared at Sanada, who was holding his bell up and casting an ice spell that poured out of it.

    The frozen body of Ooyama crashed against the ground, crumpling into an undignified and unconscious heap.

    Interesting.

    Without thinking, I used Absolute Appraisal on Sanada. I had planned to use it on Makoto, but Sanada had stepped into my view, inadvertently blocking Makoto from my ability. No matter. I would have plenty of chances later.

    Name: Sanada Hiroyuki

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Ice Lord/Hero

    Special Abilities: Frost Armor, Ice Sculpt, Absolute Zero

    Nishida''s eyes widened at the sight when he understood what had just happened.

    "Sanada casted an ice armor enchantment on Ooyama to save him from the explosion!"

    Sanada turned to Makoto and waved his overflowing bell to rebuke his smaller classmate, but he maintained his cool tone.

    "They''re here to send an invitation, so it may be better if we go easy on them."

    At his statement, the ice armor cracked and the now awake Ooyama spilled out, lightning crackling around his body. As he toppled helplessly onto the ground, Makoto approached him, his leather boots crunching against the ground.

    Before Ooyama could sit up, Makoto already had his knife at the big guy''s throat, preventing him from moving.

    "Remember, every member of Iron Knights here won''t lose a battle to even the elite members of our class. I don''t care if you''re Kobayashi''s Elite or whatever, we''re no inferior in strength to any of them."

    Nishida still couldn''t wrap his mind around what had just transpired.

    "What''s going on!? Shidou should still be quite a low level. How is his special ability so powerful?! It doesn''t make sense! It''s not normal!"

    You guys are way too reliant on this whole level thing. Strength couldn''t be quantified and measured by something as rigid and inflexible as "levels". The whole lower level couldn''t beat higher level thing made less sense to me.

    "Oh, looks like those two are elementalist-type heroes."

    Unfortunately, for them, their feats had caught Suzuki''s attention and he was looking at them with deep interest.

    Lightning crackled around him as he jumped up to confront them, exuding a terrifying aura that saturated the battlefield.

    "But don''t you''re carrying that joke a bit too far? It''s not funny, you know? To actually say that you won''t lose to the elite heroes of our class."

    It seemed that even among the heroes in my former class, there was a disparity or class difference. There were heroes who were extremely strong such as Kobayashi and Suzuki, and there were the lower-level heroes who were less renowned.

    "Even if I''m not Kobayashi, there is still too much of a difference in our strengths!"

    With a swing of his spear, Suzuki conjured up a gigantic thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning leaped out from the heavens and smashed against the face of the mountain, leaving a blackened, smoldering scar on the rock.

    "No way¡­" Aoyama murmured.

    "He can control the weather itself?!" Lilith gasped.

    "Suzuki''s abilities seem to have leveled up again," Makoto grumbled bitterly as he glared up at the churning thunderclouds.

    "Kekeke."

    Suzuki was chuckling as he watched all of our stunned reactions.

    "I, Suzuki Shirou, am at level 999. I''m the closest hero to hit the level 1,000 mark."

    Just missing one more level to hit level 1,000¡­couldn''t he do that by grinding or something? You know, defeating a random demon or whatever.

    "Come, let''s fight!"

    With a manic grin, Suzuki unleashed the full force of his heroic aura, weighing us down with tremendous pressure.

    This is¡­a strengthening technique!?

    I was forced to jump back before a lightning spear pierced the ground where I stood just a millisecond earlier. Glancing around, I saw that the others were all in the same dilemma, evading a barrage of lightning spears.

    "Whoa¡­"

    I watched Suzuki warily. Even though he physically didn''t change, I could tell that he had boosted his raw power by at least ten times. It was almost as if he was appropriating Ooyama''s Berserker technique for himself.

    "Scary¡­how scary¡­"

    "What is that?!" Aoyama murmured. Sanada and Makoto were both staring at the lightning-clad Suzuki in shock.

    Ooyama wasn''t the God of Thunder. The true God of Thunder was Suzuki Shirou himself. Gigantic bolts of lightning splayed all over his area, conjured by the enormous thunderstorm that was brewing above him.

    "Tanaka!"

    Completely oblivious to the tremendous change in weather that he had brought about, Suzuki was focusing all his attention on me. A single lightning bolt slammed into the place where I stood, arcing off his spear in an almost casual manner.

    Staggering back, I chewed on my lip as I rested my gaze upon Suzuki''s fearsome incarnation. Lightning continued to dance about him, reducing the area around him into a blackened crater. Golden electricity trickled and buzzed about his lithe, deadly form before culminating into a dragon-like shape that curled around his super-long spear.

    "Let me see your true strength."

    "This guy¡­he has the weather completely under his control," Lilith muttered as she watched Suzuki in awe. "As expected of one of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­"

    "Suzuki-kun''s¡­completely different from before," Hoshizaki remarked, turning deathly pale as she watched the immense amount of lightning that wreathed the lead delinquent''s muscular physique. Though not as large as Ooyama, Suzuki still gave off a feeling that made me instinctively fear him. He wasn''t just about raw power but raw talent and ability.

    "Kekeke."

    Suzuki raised a hand. Above, the lightning from the thunderclouds descended and dispersed into countless golden bolts, each taking the form of an electric spear. With a single motion, Suzuki spun all the lightning spears so that they were aimed straight at me.

    Lightning crackled around Suzuki''s hands and fingers as he directed his barrage of lightning speas. He smirked, pausing dramatically as if to tease us.

    "Thousand Divine Lightning Spears."

    Why the fuck are you telling us the name of your technique? I wondered, annoyed.

    The lighting spears began to glow even more fiercely at his words, and the static electricity generated grew so massive I was beginning to feel numb.

    "Every minute, a thousand lightning spears will descend upon you all."

    With a swing of his hand, Suzuki unleashed a devastating bombardment of lightning spears that sailed toward us. Countless electric projectiles rained down on the rocky terrain, leaving scorched craters and fuming holes.

    Lilith, Hoshizaki, the others and I were all forced to run for our lives as the lightning spears relentlessly bombarded us.

 71 Chapter 71: Level 1,000

    "Whoa!"

    I jumped to the side to avoid a particularly massive bombardment of lightning spears. To my side, Lilith deftly leaped overhead and flipped her body about gracefully to evade the hail of thunder. Hoshizaki managed to conjure a small shower of comets to deflect the electric projectiles that were sailing mercilessly toward her.

    "Retreat!"

    Makoto shouted as he drew five knives from his cloak. Behind him, Aoyama was relying on his superior speed to dodge the assault and obeying Makoto''s instructions. The smaller guy narrowed his eyes as he channeled mana into his knives in the midst of the attack.

    He suddenly spun around, covering Sanada, who was also doing his best to dodge the lightning spears that were striking every inch of the ground we were on. Holding his ground firmly, Sanada flung dozens of knives in the direction of the bombardment.

    The knives struck and pierced the ground, emanating a green light. Immediately, a runic circle portraying the five elements, with a yin-yang symbol at the center, materialized. Green lightning crackled and spread out from the magic circle.

    A few feet away, Makoto spread his feet wide and clasped his hands together, activating his spell with a few twists of his fingers.

    "Five Element Stratagem, 5-point Divine Tree!"

    A gigantic barrier of wood materialized in front of us, growing rapidly from the green magic circle to form a massive fortress-like wall that towered over ten meters and spread thirty meters wide, enough to shield all six of us.

    "Oh?"

    A distance away, Suzuki Shirou smirked as he continued to relentlessly bombard us with his rain of lightning spears.

    However, his efforts proved to be futile. The lightning spears slammed into the wooden barrier and dispersed harmlessly, putting just small dents on the solid wood. The tremendous impacts reverberated violently across the barrier, causing both me and Lilith to crouch down instinctively despite being well-protected.

    "The tree won''t be able to hold out for long," Aoyama warned as he backed away. He was calmly analyzing the situation and studying the buckling wood.

    "I know."

    Makoto was still standing where he was a minute ago, his hands clasped firmly as he fought to maintain the huge spell.

    "Hey! Don''t you have any plan? Tanaka!"

    I was surprised when Makoto directed the question at me. Why me, of all people? Was it because I was a Hero Slayer who killed five of my former classmates?

    "No, not really."

    I sighed and shook my head.

    "Well, this can''t be good," Lilith remarked wryly. I shrugged and smiled.

    "At least Suzuki didn''t grow gigantic and started firing a six-barreled gatling gun at us."

    Everyone stared at me.

    "This isn''t the time to be an otaku!" Makoto snapped.

    "Right, right." I sighed and shook my head. "Anyway, I have a question. Suzuki said he''s only level 999. That guy should have been able to hit level 1,000 if he continued grinding, right? Is he still in the process of leveling up?"

    "How would we know?" Makoto growled. "Why don''t you ask him?"

    "It''s true," Sanada said in a pacifying manner. "We don''t know."

    "What were you expecting?" Aoyama asked. I shrugged.

    "I don''t know. From the way you guys were talking, it''s as if being level 1,000 is a big deal or something. I mean, it sure is, but¡­"

    "Oh, there''s a huge difference in strength between level 999 and level 1,000," Sanada explained. I tilted my head at him.

    "What kind of difference? Do you gain a unique title or something?"

    "Not really." Sanada shook his head. "But you gain a lot of values in stats and become one of the Elite Chosen. Well, Suzuki-kun is kind of an elite, but he isn''t there yet. That said, level 999 is still impressive and allows him to stand out from the rest of the class."

    "Ah¡­I see."

    I nodded. Hoshizaki looked sad as she picked up on the conversation.

    "The people who have hit level 1,000 are truly on another level. That''s why Suzuki hasn''t tried to challenge Kobayashi. He needs to break the level 1,000 barrier first, but I have no idea how he''s still stuck at level 999."

    If this was Yin Zhi Shoumuren, he would need a unique title, but it wasn''t, so it had to be something else. I didn''t know what it was, and it didn''t seem that the rest knew either. Maybe Kobayashi would, but I knew he would never give away his secrets that easily.

    "Well, while you guys are chatting there, do you mind helping me come up with a strategy?"

    Makoto complained while he continued his stance. I glanced at him and suddenly remembered how impressed I was by his abilities.

    Now''s the chance to check him out.

    I activated Absolute Appraisal and took in Makoto''s stats.

    Name: Shidou Makoto

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Elementalist/Hero

    Special Abilities: Five Elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth), Enhanced Elemental

    That''s amazing.

    I couldn''t help but be awestruck by his special abilities. To possess the ability to wield and control all five elements, that was nothing short of extraordinary, even among the so-called heroes. I was glad that I had him on my side.

    Makoto, despite his elemental abilities, was slowly crumbling under Suzuki''s relentless onslaught. The Spear Hero was still unleashing a barrage of lightning spears on his buckling wooden barrier, leaving scorched earth and small wisps of electricity dancing about the burnt ground.

    Suzuki narrowed his eyes and smirked.

    "This time, I''ll finally breakthrough to level 1,000!"

    He recalled to the events that had happened a day ago.

    Kobayashi Kenji was sitting atop his throne, having usurped the Legnica King''s position and claimed the title of Emperor of himself. He was arrogantly reclining in his seized throne, haughtily watching all the people he deemed his subjects.

    Suzuki didn''t like his attitude one bit.

    Glowering defiantly at Kobayashi, he banged the blunt end of his spear against the floor.

    "The meeting is over," Yamada Yuji told him. "You still haven''t left?"

    Suzuki shifted his glare to Kobayashi''s number one henchman, but Yamada wasn''t the least intimidated.

    "Suzuki Shirou¡­are you here to ask what the boss had to do to achieve level 1,000?"

    "Ah¡­pretty much."

    There was no point hiding it. Suzuki affirmed Yamada''s suspicions. As much as he hated Yamada''s guts, he knew how strong the henchman was.

    "It''s been almost eight months¡­"

    Suzuki rubbed his head in frustration.

    "The constant failure is beginning to annoy me. But I think the boss can help me¡­"

    "Ah, who the fuck cares?!"

    Suzuki jumped up when he heard my exasperated exclamation. He frowned, and then glared at me.

    "What are you doing here?"

    "I''m the one who should be asking you that. Why the hell are you having a random flashback all of a sudden when we''re supposed to be in the middle of a battle?!"

    "¡­huh?"

    Suzuki glared at me, and then realized that I was right.

    "What are you doing in my flashback?! How did you get inside my flashback?!"

    I shrugged. "That''s the privilege of a first-person protagonist. Since I''m narrating this story from a first-person perspective, it would be strange for me to just disappear while you go on and on about your flashback."

    "¡­"

    Suzuki spluttered, but couldn''t find a counter to that. Instead, I twisted the metaphorical knife in his gut.

    "Again, let me ask you. Why the hell are you having a random flashback in the middle of a battle? You think anyone cares about your motives?"

    "Hey!" Suzuki shouted. "It''s to flesh me out as a character and give me a lot more depth!"

    I burst out laughing at that. "Don''t even joke like that. The readers don''t care about character depth in a trashy story like this. All of you are just caricatures. You''re meant to be flat and shallow cardboard characters who exist for the sole reason of being killed by me as I take my revenge on all those who bullied me, edgelord style. You don''t need any depth!"

    Suzuki''s hands trembled in rage. "Aren''t you looking down on me too much?"

    "Have you given me any reason to look up to you?" I retorted. "Mr. Delinquent? The guy who just sits around laughing with his friends and not doing anything while Kobayashi beats me up?"

    "Hey, I have no obligation to help you." Suzuki snorted. "I''m not an ally of justice or a hero. If you''re too weak to defend yourself, that''s your fault. Why are you expecting people to help you? You think you''re entitled to rescue or something?"

    "Oh, don''t get me wrong." I shook my head and waved my hands. "I don''t hold a grudge against you for that, and I certainly didn''t expect anyone to help me. But right back at you. Why do you think you''re entitled to respect? If you''ve never helped me out or anything, why are you expecting me to respect you?"

    "¡­"

    Suzuki realized that I was right. Curling his lips, he turned away, deciding not to argue with me on this matter. Instead, he resumed his flashback.

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    "Ah¡­I''ve always been looking for ways of breaking through level 999 and hitting 1,000 like you," Suzuki said to a bemused Kobayashi, who had frozen throughout our exchange. I suppressed the desire to roll my eyes.

    Like, who the fuck cares? I honestly didn''t see any value or significance to levels, and they meant absolutely nothing to me. Not only did I not have a level, I couldn''t see the levels of others. My former classmates were too obsessed with levels, probably because they were still treating this whole thing as a game, inadvertently or not.

    "Humans have a strength that cannot be measured," I muttered. "Our strength or abilities aren''t something you can just enscapulate in levels or values or numbers. We''re a lot more complex than that. Sure, you can measure the grip of our strength, the maximum weight we''re able to lift, how fast we''re able to run, etc. but that doesn''t determine the outcome of a battle. A smaller person can still beat a bigger person."

    Suzuki ignored me, totally engrossed in executing his flashback to the very end.

    "Until now, I''ve already killed over a hundred demons who are level 100 or higher."

    Huh? You could see the levels of demons? I never heard about that. And to be honest, I didn''t believe this bullshit, especially since it came into the story this late.

    "I thought doing this would allow me to reach level 1,000. But as everyone sees, it still hasn''t worked. So it''s a challenge that''s still not difficult enough."

    Why the fuck are you so obsessed with reaching level 1,000 anyway?

    "How much more difficult must I make it? I asked myself this question until it finally hit me¡­"

    "People must hit their lowest state before they finally see it," Yamada smirked. Suzuki grinned back, undaunted.

    "Yes¡­the answer is always the simplest."

    He turned toward Kobayashi, who was still reclining in his stolen throne.

    "There is a more difficult challenge right in front of me. It was always right in front of me! But I never saw it."

    Suzuki gripped his spear more tightly.

    "I need to achieve a feat of strength in order to exceed level 1,000."

    His grin spread wider over his face.

    "Since the heroes who hit level 1,000 all achieved various feats of strength¡­.then¡­"

    He raised his spear and pointed it straight at Kobayashi.

    "Kill a player who has hit level 1,000. I should be able to level up to level 1,000 then!"

    Kobayashi, who had a spear pointed at him, remained silent. It was almost as if he didn''t place Suzuki within his eyes.

    "Don''t do anything stupid."

    This time, it was another classmate, Ishida Ryuuji. Bespectacled like me, but loyal to Kobayashi, Ishida was the first to react. The reason why he didn''t actively participate in beating me up was because he thought it too undignified for an intellectual such as himself and left the abuse to the muscleheads such as Yamada and Kijima.

    Ishida had his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment. His eyes focused intensely on Suzuki, blazing fiercely behind his gleaming lenses.

    "You can''t win."

    Kobayashi continued to said nothing and merely watched the farce, amused. Yamada grinned, even more tickled by the situation. The tension in the air grew so thick that anyone could slice through it with a knife.

    "I know, I know."

    Suzuki withdrew his spear, and all that tension vanished in an instant. With an exaggerated sigh, Suzuki rested his spear atop his shoulder.

    "I don''t plan to challenge the boss."

    Kobayashi merely ignored him, bored. Suzuki shook his head.

    "Against your special abilities¡­"

    He smiled, unintimidated.

    "I won''t even have an opportunity to launch my second attack."

    "Tsk."

    Yamada clicked his tongue, disappointed.

    "And here I thought I would get to see something interesting."

    Ishida silently drew his sword, his expression unreadable behind his shiny glasses. As if to assure him, Suzuki waved his hand in a pacifying manner.

    "I''m just here to discuss something with the boss."

    Kobayashi''s eyes narrowed when he heard that.

    "If I were to have a chance to challenge a worthy opponent¡­someone else who has surpassed level 1,000¡­don''t get in my way."

    With that, the flashback ended, and Suzuki''s lightning spears continued to bombard us. I sighed when I found myself back inside the wooden barrier. Guess slipping into Suzuki''s flashback and playing mind games wouldn''t work on someone as insane as him.

    The wooden barrier was buckling under the tremendous impacts, and small barbed tips of lightning were gradually beginning to pierce through the sturdy wall of wood. Noticing that, Suzuki began to smile triumphantly.

    Kill a hero who has surpassed level 1,000, I will for sure break through level 999 and hit level 1,000! This time for sure¡­kekeke!!!

    "Um¡­" I raised my hand. "But none of us here are level 1,000, right?"

    Everyone stared at me.

    "¡­what?"

    "You didn''t know, Tanaka-kun?"

    "What are you talking about?" I asked, getting irritated. Sanada blinked and then shook his head apologetically.

    "Your stats¡­show you to be above level 1,000."

    "¡­HUH?!"

    I gaped at him, and then quickly flicked open my status window. However, all I saw was my name, my species, job, rank, title and special abilities. There was nothing that indicated my level, as if something like that even existed in the first place.

    "That can''t be right. I didn''t grind, I haven''t been in Restia for long. I''ve only been in Restia for a few weeks at most! How the heck would I be able to reach level 1,000 so quickly?!"

    "That''s¡­well, you seem to misunderstand. Level 1,000 isn''t something you achieve through grinding."

    "That''s right." Hoshizaki nodded at Sanada''s explanation. "It''s something you obtain through Feats of Strength."

    I see. Now that they mentioned it, Suzuki did mention something about Feats of Strength in his flashback.

    "Doing something like¡­saving a kingdom. Conquering a domain. Taming the most vicios monsters. Being unsurpassed in a certain ability. Only when you pull something that is worthy enough to be told in legends will you be able to achieve a Feat of Strength and perhaps earn a title."

    Ah¡­right. I had the title Hero Slayer. That could be a Feat of Strength. In other words, I had unknowingly surpassed this level 1,000 thing the moment I began taking my revenge and killing my former classmates in self-defense.

    Oh, the irony was so sweet. They had essentially gifted the title to me on their own by trying to kill me and getting themselves killed instead.

    No wonder Makoto was asking me if I had a plan. They all perceived me as being above level 1,000 or something.

    "Well¡­that''s cool." I scratched my head. "But what exactly am I supposed to do?"

 72 Chapter 72: Feat of Strength

    While Suzuki Shirou was bombarding our position, and Shidou Makoto''s wooden barrier was crumbling, a couple of people watched from afar. Positioned right behind a window in the castle, one of the girls was leaning against the ledge and spectating the battle with interest.

    "Whoa, Suzuki-kun is going all out, isn''t he?" she remarked.

    "Yes¡­quite."

    Nagano Nanaka emerged from the stairwell, shaking her head in disapproval.

    "I returned from parking my airship and I see that we''re already under attack? Damn it¡­I''m sorry. It''s all my fault that the enemy tracked down our location."

    "No, don''t worry about it, Nanaka-chan," the other girl assured her. "Kobayashi-kun and the others would have found us eventually anyway. And you know how Suzuki-kun is¡­he''s always getting into trouble. Hah¡­I can''t believe he''s making such a mess at our doorstep."

    She leaned over the window, her eyes concealed behind ruby-colored sunglasses. Her shoulder-length brown hair fluttered casually in the wind as she whistled.

    "Shouldn''t we take care of Suzuki-kun and his lackeys?"

    "Normally I would agree with you," Nagano nodded. "But a battle like this is hard to come by. Don''t you want to see how Tanaka-kun performs?"

    "Of course," the other girl agreed as she glanced back at Nagano. "I just love spectating things. But Tanaka-kun is a friend, and didn''t you already see him battle back when you were rescuing Princess Merly from the dragon?"

    "Yes, I have¡­but you''re a little mistaken about one thing."

    Nagano smiled, her expression bright but guarded.

    "Tanaka-kun is not entirely our friend. I mean, I trust him, but I think he has motivations of his own¡­agendas that do not align with ours. It remains to be seen whether we can fully bring him over to our cause."

    "Oh?"

    "Tanaka-kun probably holds a grudge against Kobayashi-kun and all those people who bullied him. And who can blame him?" Nagano shrugged. "But our leader thinks that Tanaka-kun shouldn''t give in to his petty grudges and instead think about the bigger picture. He would request that Tanaka-kun give up on revenge."

    The girl, Yonebashi Kyouko, whistled.

    "Oh¡­if I were him, I certainly wouldn''t want to give up on revenge."

    "Exactly." Nagano nodded. "But we of the Iron Knights have to think about the bigger picture, for the fate of the world is in our hands."

    "Speaking of which," Kyouko remarked as she fished out her smartphone. "Gendou Issei-kun still hasn''t come yet."

    "Huh?" Nagano looked confused. "Where did he go?"

    "He went out for reconnaissance, to check the demons'' activities. Don''t worry. I''ll get a hold of him. He won''t die that easily."

    "It got through."

    Do you really have to tell me that? Nagano thought to herself, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Ignoring her, Yonebashi spoke into the phone.

    "Hey¡­Gendou-kun? You ought to be returning sometime now."

    "Is Tanaka Tomoyuki already there?"

    The deep voice replied gruffly, as if annoyed at being interrupted.

    "Yes, but he has run into some trouble."

    At the other end of the phone, a muscular guy with a crew-cut bent his neck to loosen his stiff muscles after hiding in the foliage for so long. A distance away, a convoy of demonic soldiers marched past, escorting a tank. Gendou scowled as he fixed his eyes on the armored vehicle, realizing that this so-called fantasy world had been undergoing an industrial revolution and leaping ahead in terms of technology.

    Or at least the demons were. At this rate, the humans would fall behind and get overwhelmed by superior technology and weapons. All that stood between them and the brink of defeat were the heroes.

    "Isn''t Tanaka the one who managed to defeat Asakura, Tsukishima and Minamoto? What could give him trouble?"

    "Oh, don''t worry about that," Yonebashi assured him. "He''s coping quite well. And even if he wasn''t, you know how Tanaka holds enormous power, which makes him special, even when compared to us."

    Meanwhile, back at the wooden barrier, I was shrugging when everyone stared at me. What were they expecting? For me to be some billion player with a unique title that granted me awesome powers? They were in the wrong series, man. For one thing, that guy was silver. I was golden. That didn''t necessarily mean I was better.

    BOOM BOOM BOOM!

    While I held down their stares, the thundering blows of the spear barrage continued to rain down on Makoto''s wooden barrier.

    "How long do you plan to hide?!"

    Suzuki''s voice was filled with mocking glee as he continued to launch bombardment after bombardment. The maniac wasn''t showing any sign of stopping.

    "You are much weaker than I imagined you to be!"

    "I never asked you to imagine me to be strong!" I yelled back, irritated. "You''re the one who went and assume all that nonsense on your own! What are you guys expecting from me?! To be some sort of unique snowflake with Mary Sue powers?!"

    "¡­I''m afraid I don''t understand what you''re saying?"

    Sanada Hiroyuki was looking at me, perplexed. Hoshizaki Kozue, on the other hand, merely tilted her head.

    "Aren''t you a special snowflake? I mean, you''re the protagonist, after all."

    "I''m supposed to be a super ordinary protagonist! That''s why I got bullied!"

    "Now isn''t the time to talk about this nonsense!" Makoto snapped irritably as he continued to focus on maintaining his slowly crumbling wall of wood.

    I realized that he was right. A strange silence filled the air, and I was filled with a sense of unease until I suddenly realized why.

    "Our enemy has just stopped his attack."

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    Indeed, the silence was a deafening contrast to the thunderous din that was created by the bombardment of spears from earlier. For some reason, Suzuki was just standing still, his hands smoking but the air was now bereft of spears.

    "Who''s going to take a look at what''s happening?"

    "Is there a need to?" I shrugged at Makoto''s question. "I mean, I''ll do it, but I think that''s because Suzuki obviously doesn''t have the mana to keep up his barrage forever. He''s not a god, and a spell of that magnitude consumes a lot of energy."

    "Can you hear me, you worthless trash?!"

    As if on cue, Suzuki''s bellow cut through the wall of wood and into our ears, causing us to wince. That guy could really shout.

    "Looks like there''s no need to go scout¡­" I muttered, smiling in amusement. In contrast, Suzuki was perspiring and his eye was twitching in barely controllable rage as he sent a murderous glare at the infuriating wooden barrier before him.

    "I''ve been firing a barrage of attacks¡­and you''re still not interested in fighting me¡­Tanaka."

    "Obviously." I rolled my eyes. "What kind of idiot would just walk out of cover and let you shoot him with that many spears?"

    "Here, I''ll give you 3 minutes to get ready." Suzuki waved his hand casually. "Once 3 minutes are up¡­" he smirked. "I''ll attack you with an even stronger attack."

    While Suzuki issued his threat, Nishida Kensuke cowered behind a rock as he watched the spectacle unfold behind him.

    Thousand Divine Lightning Spears technique needs 3 minutes to recharge before he can fire off another bombardment again¡­

    Nishida swallowed.

    Then its attack strength will increase by up to five times. Boss says he''s giving time for Tanaka to get ready¡­but he''s actually buying time for himself. Nice one, boss!

    "Hey, Nishida, do you know that I can actually read your mind?"

    "Whoa!"

    Nishida jumped when I shouted at him. He turned a fearful gaze toward me, trembling behind cover.

    As expected of Tanaka¡­to go against a wild card like him who has defeated at least five other heroes, I don''t know what his chances of victory are¡­

    "I think you need to use your special abilities to finish Suzuki-kun off," Sanada told me calmly as he raised his hand politely.

    "I''m sorry, but you guys really overestimate me."

    I shook my head and relaxed my shoulders.

    "I don''t have those special abilities you seem to think I have. You''re expecting too much of me, and I think you''ll be disappointed."

    However, I turned around and walked out from behind the wooden barrier,

    "That said, I''m not going to turn down Suzuki''s invitation. I owe him a debt, after all."

    Well, don''t worry. I wasn''t going to log in and out multiple times to change the attribute of my raider tool like a certain gravekeeper. This wasn''t that kind of story, though I was cutting close to outright copying it.

    It didn''t matter. If someone complained about plagiarism, I would just add the fanfiction tag. But that was neither here nor there. Right now I had to focus on defeating Suzuki.

    "Doombolt."

    Taking my staff from my storage space, I unleashed a black stream of mana at Suzuki, but he spun his spear around and deflected it, causing the black destructive energy to dissipate harmlessly. As I expected, such tricks wouldn''t work on him, huh?

    "Finally! I''ve been waiting for you!"

    Gloating, Suzuki launched himself at me, swinging his spear down and forcing me to parry his deadly weapon with my staff.

    To be more precise, I only had two long-ranged spell. Doombolt, with was only 18"¡­wait, sorry, that was tabletop range so if I were to scale it, then maybe 20 meters? And that was only because I was blessed by Tzeentch¡­ahem, I mean Lyia. No, actually, it was a spell I devoured from the previous Demon Lord.

    The other was Shadow Lunar Fang, which had the same range as a certain orange-haired Shinigami with a huge zanpakuto that could transform into an awesome black sword when released in its final form.

    Speaking of which, just when Suzuki was pressuring me with his spear and forcing me back, I surprised him by suddenly unleashing a Shadow Lunar Fang at pointblank range.

    "Gah!"

    A black explosion enveloped the clearing, sending dust and rock flying. Suzuki stumbled back, blood trickling from his face.

    "You¡­!"

    "What?" I shrugged. "You want me to fight you, so I did. Don''t tell me you''re going to bitch and whine when I actually land a hit on you?"

    "¡­"

    Suzuki stared at me for a moment before he laughed.

    "Good¡­very good! Ha ha ha ha ha! This is more like it, Tanaka! More! Show me what you''ve got! Entertain me as much as you can!"

    I wasn''t actually intending to entertain Suzuki, but I guessed I could accompany him a little. Dropping to a defensive stance, I unleashed a second Doombolt, but Suzuki merely struck it away before he bore down on me.

    I blocked it, but just barely, and Suzuki made use of his superior strength to push me back. While I stumbled, struggling to maintain my balance, Suzuki smirked.

    "My turn."

    "?!"

    A blast of lightning descended from the sky and struck me, scorching the earth around my feet.

    "Gaaaaah!"

    I screamed as I was electrocuted, but Suzuki mercilessly struck me with his spear, driving his blade right into my chest. Fortunately, my Redwood jacket protected me from what could have been a fatal blow, the protective layers deflecting the sharp tip from my heart. It also negated the bulk of the lightning blast, allowing me to deliver a vicious counterattack.

    "Oto!"

    Suzuki jumped back as I swung at him clumsily, and then he spun around gracefully before striking the side of my head with his spear and almost knocking my glasses askew. Despite the protection my Redwood jacket granted me, the lethal blow left a small trickle of blood down my temple.

    "Hah! I''ve returned the favor!"

    Gritting my teeth, I swung my staff and hurled a Shadow Lunar Fang at him, but he merely slashed it apart with his spear, slicing the powerful attack into two. The twin pieces of the Shadow Lunar Fang hurtled past him and slammed into the mountain behind, causing a slight avalanche that forced Nishida to spring away in panic.

    "Whoa! Careful!"

    Nobody paid the poor fella any attention.

    "Damn¡­"

    I wiped the blood from my temple and adjusted my glasses. As expected, Suzuki was a tough opponent. This was not going to be an easy battle.

    "What, is that all you''ve got?"

    Suzuki sounded almost disappointed as he swung his spear at me. I parried it again, only for him to send a lightning bolt down. I countered his second lightning strike with a third Shadow Lunar Fang, and the black and golden energies collided in a devasting explosion that forcefully hurled us apart. I slammed into the rocky mountain behind me, my breath knocked out of my lungs. Suzuki, on the other hand, flipped his body up elegantly and landed on both feet.

    "How pathetic."

    He pointed his spear toward me and a golden beam of light lanced out and slammed into my chest before I could even stand up properly. I was knocked back and pinned against the mountain wall, the intense beam of energy slowly penetrating my Redwood jacket''s defenses and drilling its way toward my heart.

    I gritted my teeth and directed my staff at Suzuki, unleashing a hasty Doombolt to spoil his aim. It worked, temporarily, but Suzuki was not interested in maintaining that lance of light forever. Before I knew it, he was gone.

    "¡­eh?"

    I blinked, only to suddenly be aware that Suzuki was crouching on the mountain wall behind me. He smirked in a gloating manner.

    "Checkmate."

    A single electrifying slash almost ripped my defenses apart and cleaved me into two, and it was only thanks to my Redwood jacket that I remained in one piece. However, the impact was more than enough to send me hurtling across the clearing and slamming into the ground in an undignified manner. I groaned, blood seeping from the grievous wound Suzuki had placed on me.

    How the hell did he penetrate my Redwood jacket''s defenses?!

    Then I realized how. Suzuki was doing it through brute strength alone.

    You''ve got to be fucking kidding me. Just what the hell is he?! A fucking monster?!

    I climbed to my feet unsteadily, but Suzuki was already looking bored. With a flick of his spear, he casually sent a web of lightning that struck me and knocked me back down, incapacitating me. Or would have, if it weren''t for my regenerating Redwood jacket barriers.

    "Ah~ I expected more from you, Tanaka."

    "I did tell you not to expect anything from me, didn''t I?" I spat as I tried to sit up, my limbs still numb from the devastating electricity. Good. I wasn''t burned or elecrocuted. My Redwood jacket''s defenses were still working fine, and were rapidly regenerating even now as we spoke. But if the opponent could render my defenses useless, then what was I supposed to do?

    "?!"

    Before Suzuki could retort, he was suddenly forced to jump away as a blinding comet streaked from the heavens and slammed into the place he was standing on.

    "What the hell?!" he snapped, turning toward his new opponent.

    "Stop picking on Tanaka-kun."

    It was Hoshizaki Kozue. She had strode out of the wooden barrier and was conjuring a shower of stars. I gaped at her when I saw the vast number of brilliant stars shining overhead, sparkling and dancing at her beck and call.

    "I''m sick and tired of not being able to do anything whenever Tanaka-kun is bullied by you or Kobayashi-kun. I''m going to put a stop to this once and for all."

    Hoshizaki narrowed her eyes.

    "I''ll be your opponent, Suzuki-kun."

 73 Chapter 73: Starligh

    "Hey! Don''t do anything crazy!" Sanada shouted a warning to Hoshizaki Kozue, but she ignored him and was floating on a huge star-shaped magic flying carpet-thing.

    "Let her go," Makoto told him with a shake of his head. "You can''t stop her."

    Hoshizaki rode on her star-shaped magic flying carpet-thing and sped toward Suzuki, golden light shining around her hands as she called upon stars.

    "Oh?"

    Suzuki smirked as he watched Hoshizaki approach him.

    My plan to stall for time failed¡­well, not that I ever planned to stall for time the moment Tanaka came out to fight me, but¡­

    "But what?" I asked. Suzuki glared at me.

    "Stop reading my mind!"

    "No way. Privilege of being a first-person protagonist. I call dibs on reading your minds whenever appropriate."

    "Oh, shut up!"

    Suzuki turned away from me, annoyed, and focused his attention on the incoming Hoshizaki. As she neared, he leered mockingly.

    "What can a little girl do against me?"

    "What are you, a male chauvinist?" I yelled even as I stayed on the ground, trying to regenerate. "Who cares if Hoshizaki is a girl or not?! It doesn''t have to do with anything! Girls can still be more powerful than guys! You''ll regret underestimating her!"

    "Tanaka!" Makoto snapped at me, his eyes narrowed into a glare. "Are you fine with getting yourself beaten up into a pathetic state like that? Or else maybe Hoshizaki will defeat Suzuki in your stead!"

    "I don''t think so," Sanada said seriously. "This time, her opponent is strong. Suzuki-kun is known for his brute strength and genius battle sense."

    "Kekeke¡­I can take care of you without even moving a single step from here!"

    Suzuki was so arrogant that he didn''t deign to even move a single step from where he was standing. Instead, he generated a gigantic lightning dragon that roared and descended from the heavens, its massive jaws dwarfing the hovering Hoshizaki.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me¡­"

    My jaw dropped when I saw the awesome figure of the golden, crackling dragon that emanated such powerful electricity that I was feeling numb even from where I was half-sitting. Bloody guy, Suzuki didn''t pull out this technique at all when fighting me, and he decided to suddenly unleash this technique against poor Hoshizaki?! How was that fair?!

    It was obvious that Suzuki never took me seriously from the start.

    "Damn it¡­"

    I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists in frustration, feeling rage build up inside me. That bastard¡­I will definitely make him pay for underestimating me.

    Big words and all, but how are you going to do that? You couldn''t beat him even when he was going easy on you.

    Even if I used Thousand Astral Graves, would my enhanced zombies still be able to stand a chance against his devastating lightning? Not to mention that Thousand Divine Lightning Spears that he is charging up¡­

    I didn''t know. I guess I had no choice but to try it later¡­if Hoshizaki didn''t defeat him first. Right now she was facing down the colossal lightning dragon that Suzuki had conjured. The monster was bearing down on her, its jaws open wide.

    "Starlight Barrier."

    Raising a hand casually, Hoshizaki summoned a golden barrier of starlight that solidified in front of her. The lightning dragon smashed into the Starlight Barrier with immense force, its ephemeral form crumbling and flattening against such a stalwart shield.

    However, Hoshizaki wasn''t unaffected by the tremendous impact, which was sending violent shockwaves across her barrier. She flinched as she was buffeted by the immense impact, even as her golden barrier cracked.

    "Annoying dragon," she muttered angrily.

    "Kekeke¡­not bad."

    Suzuki was grinning when he saw that Hoshizaki had endured the devastating hit. Below, Nishida looked up in awe.

    "Hoshizaki¡­I can''t believe she dared to go up against the boss''s lightning dragon in the air. I guess she has no idea what she is up against."

    "Kozue-san is actually being beld back," Makoto remarked grimly as he watched the intense aerial battle. "Perhaps because there is no manuverability in the air?"

    "Do you need me to heal you?" Aoyama asked as he hurried over, but I shook my head and raised my hand to gesture for him to stay where he was. While Hoshizaki engaged Suzuki in combat, I made my way back behind the wall of wood and sought safety behind the elemental barrier, much to Makoto''s disgust.

    Yeah, look at me all you want. I didn''t care if Makoto thought I was a coward.

    "I''m all right."

    "Did you just cast a healing spell on yourself?" Sanada asked, amazed, when he noticed that all my injuries had disappeared. I was about to shake my head, but I thought the better of it and merely nodded. It would be troublesome to explain the truth.

    "Yeah¡­sort of."

    I stood back up and glanced at Hoshizaki.

    "While Hoshizaki-san is holding Suzuki back, I''m going to use the time to summon something." I slowly smiled when I saw the lightning dragon in the sky. "And I might just have the thing."

    "What do you have in mind?" Sanada asked. I beamed.

    "Might be faster to just show you."

    All around me, zombie wyverns and two zombie dragon ¨C one of them being an undead ancient dragon ¨C materialized, their massive wings fluttering and casting the entire valley in an ominous shadow. Raising my hand, which was swirling with terrifying black mana, I bound them to my will, my demeanor stern and determined.

    "Oh¡­a summoning ability." Sanada nodded, nonplussed.

    "I see, so that''s your special ability?" Makoto whistled, impressed.

    "Those are¡­wyverns and dragons, aren''t they?" Lilith observed, her crimson eyes narrowed as she studied their forms.

    "They are zombies," I replied with a grin. "I''m a gravekeeper, after all."

    "All that black, necromantic mana swirling around them¡­" Lilith swallowed. "Even I find such magic horrifying."

    "But if it''s this, then perhaps Tanaka-kun can defeat Suzuki-kun," Aoyama pointed out calmly. Unlike the residents of Restia, my former classmates still thought of magic and special abilities in terms of a game, and so they didn''t share the same prejudice.

    "Yeah, these are my strongest zombies."

    Black mana streamed from my hand and transformed into a dark pillar of light that pierced the heavens. I then clenched my fist and transformed the straight pillar of darkness into black chains before throwing them around the dragons ¨C especially the ancient dragon.

    The other four people in my group stared at me with bated breath, not sure what I was doing. They didn''t have to wait long.

    The ancient dragon lunged at me but I yanked my chain and brought the enormous creature to heel. With a single pull of the chains, I forced the gargantuan ancient dragon to kneel before me, its head groveling in the dirt as it glared at me.

    "You''ve lost to me," I told it. "And as the victor, I claim my right to hold possession of you. I don''t know how you''re still maintaining those draconic instincts even when you''re a zombie, but I guess I should have expected that from something as powerful as an ancient dragon."

    The ancient dragon growled nefariously, but I shut it up by yanking on the chains and transforming them into a black energy muzzle that wrapped around its jaws, clamping them shut. Stepping toward the immobilized ancient dragon zombie, I met its defiant gaze and pushed my glasses up my nose.

    "We could do it the hard way or the easy way." I smiled, almost as if I was trying to be reasonable. "I know what you want. Freedom¡­and power. I can''t grant you freedom ¨C you''re bound to my service forever. But I can grant you power. And¡­revenge."

    The ancient dragon went still at that. I reached out and stroked its jaws, a small strip of the muzzle peeling away to reveal dark scales.

    "I know who it is you hunger vengeance against. And I promise you¡­as long as you serve me faithfully, I''ll help you take revenge on your enemy."

    The dragon went still.

    "Tomoyuki-kun tamed the ancient zombie dragon?" Lilith murmured.

    I turned to her, even as I released the chains on the ancient dragon.

    "Not exactly¡­but we''ve reached an agreement for now."

    Behind me, the ancient undead dragon roared in reluctant approval.

    "Eh?"

    Meanwhile, Hoshizaki was still clashing with Suzuki. She glanced over and saw the black pillar of light surging from behind the wall of wood and piercing the heavens.

    The lightning dragon was still roaring even as it continued clashing against the Starlight Barrier. Meanwhile, a shower of comets peppered it, causing it to writhe in agony as it struggled against Hoshizaki''s arcane spells.

    Suzuki paid his poor dragon no attention, fixing his gaze in the same direction as Hoshizaki and staring at the black pillar of light.

    "Looks like Tanaka Tomoyuki is finally ready."

    "¡­"

    Hoshizaki didn''t seem to want to let me fight, for she coolly turned around and conjured a gigantic meteor that finally obliterated the struggling lightning dragon in a single hit. As the lightning dragon crumbled and disintegrated, Suzuki smiled.

    "Not bad¡­not bad at all! As expected of Stargazer, your spells are as mysterious as always."

    Hoshizaki merely glared at Suzuki in an almost expressionless manner, not responding to his compliment. Suzuki''s grin widened.

    "You killed my lightning dragon. Very powerful, Hoshizaki. You''ve truly gotten a lot stronger ever since you were summoned to this world."

    The golden sparks that were the last remains of the lightning dragon died out, and the illumination faded from Suzuki''s face, which fell back into shadow once again. Only his white teeth seemed to gleam in the dark as he smirked.

    "But too bad¡­"

    He raised his spear and pointed it toward the sky.

    "The 3 minutes are up."

    Something is off¡­no way!

    Hoshizaki''s jaw dropped when she saw the vast number of lightning spears that had arrayed themselves in the heavens.

    Suzuki grinned as he readied himself to swing down his spear and rain down the lightning projectiles that blotted out the heavens through sheer numbers alone.

    "Against the second round of attacks, you stand no chance!"

    Behind the wall of wood, I was monitoring the battle.

    "Hoshizaki-san is still battling Suzuki."

    Pushing my glasses back up my nose again (to look cool and smart more than any actual need to adjust them), I watched the battle with Absolute Appraisal.

    "This doesn''t seem good."

    Even without the information on my lenses, I could detect a sharp surge in Suzuki''s mana, and all of us could see the sheer number of lightning spears that carpeted the heavens.

    "He''s attacking again! And his next barrage of attacks has increased in power by 5 times!"

    "5 times?!" Makoto repeated incredulously. Yeah. Why would I lie?

    "This time¡­"

    Suzuki grinned in delight, triumph flooding his mind as he pointed his spear at Makoto''s sturdy wood barrier.

    "Your poor little wall of trees¡­"

    He swung his spear down.

    BOOM!

    The entire arsenal of lightning spears sped downward from the skies and rained down on us in a devastating bombardment that obliterated the wooden barrier in less than a millisecond, tearing it apart and sending splinters and shards flying in all directions. A large swathe of the wall simply disintegrated, as if it never existed to begin with.

    "¡­won''t be able to protect you!"

    Suzuki gloated as he unleashed his devastating bombardment of lightning projectiles. Before we could scatter, something came plummeting from above.

    "It''s Hoshizaki-san!" Sanada shouted in alarm. "She''s taken heavy damage!"

    "Run!"

    Even as Hoshizaki crashed back toward the earth, she was more concerned for our wellbeing than herself. Her dress had been torn and tattered in many parts, her star-shaped flying carpet-thing had shattered from the assault, and small jewel-like pieces of broken stars accompanied her fall, almost as if in slow motion.

    "Everyone, stand down," I ordered as I stepped forward, as if to catch Hoshizaki before she hit the ground. "I''ll take care of this."

    Everyone stared at me, bewildered. Makoto, Sanada, Lilith and Aoyama were all rooted in disbelief, pinned to the ground as the devastating hail of lightning spears rained down on them, but frozen by my command.

    "Don''t worry."

    I turned to give them a small smile before I took another step forward.

    "I''m just going to light the lightning."

    "Seriously!? Still making pun jokes at a time like this?!"

    "I needed to get a pun joke into the battle in time!"

    Before Makoto could retort, the whole world vanished in an enormous explosion of flame and electricity.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Suzuki roared with laughter as he unleashed the devastating bombardment of lightning spears on our position, his gaze riveted on the countless explosions that blossomed from the area of impact as projectile after projectile slammed into the ground.

    "You can''t escape this time!"

    Gloating gleefully, Suzuki felt his excitement raise along with the numerous explosions that annihilated the ground before him.

    Before long, the skies ran out of lightning spears and the explosions ceased, leaving only a fuming crater that was thick with smoke and ash, and still crackling with static electricity that caused one''s hair to stand on end.

    "Oh, that''s another round done¡­it feels amazing!"

    Suzuki pumped his fist into the air triumphantly.

    "They should have been slaughtered. I actually beat Tanaka, the so-called hero-slayer who has defeated five of us."

    He grinned cheerfully as he sought to check his status.

    "I should have broken past level 1,000 this time!"

    Nishida jumped out of his hiding place and cheered happily.

    "As expected of the boss¡­he¡­he actually won!"

    "Are you sure you''ve won?"

    From amidst the sooty, gray smoke, a single, dark shadowy figure seemed to emerge ominously, my eyes hidden behind the gleaming lenses of my glasses.

    "Eh¡­?"

    Suzuki suddenly felt a cold stab of fear.

    As the smoke and fumes dissipated, I remained half-crouched while carrying Hoshizaki''s ravaged and wounded body with both hands. She was barely conscious and in a very battered state, but she would have suffered worse injuries had I not caught her before she hit the ground. Straightening up, I grinned at the stunned Suzuki.

    "You didn''t land a hit on anyone."

    Behind me, Lilith, Makoto, Aoyama and Sanada were all unscathed, standing in the crater without even a single scratch or burn.

    "What?! So that''s why the kill confirmation message didn''t appear¡­"

    "What kill confirmation message?"

    I couldn''t believe it. Even to this present, my former clssmates were still treating this world like some sort of game. Or at least the ones who weren''t part of the Iron Knights, anyway. These guys were beyond delusional.

    "How is this possible?! That was the 2nd barrage of the boss''s Thousand Divine Lightning Spears!"

    Nishida was yelling in disbelief, unable to absorb the sight in front of him.

    "What happened just now?" Lilith asked, just as bewildered as the two foes.

    "Was that some sort of special ability?" Makoto asked skeptically as he examined himself, finding no sign of injuries.

    "How did you protect all of us?" Lilith looked at me curiously, thinking hard as she placed a finger on her chin. "How did you pull that off in the face of such a devastating barrage?"

    "¡­speaking of which, where are your zombies?" Aoyama asked, realizing something.

    "Did you use your zombies as meatshields and sacrifice them to protect us?" Lilith guessed, looking a little mollified. Hoshizaki turned to glance at her, even as I continued to carry her in my arms. She then tapped my hand.

    "No¡­" Hoshizaki mused as she gestured for me to let her down and then bowed her head gratefully. "That wasn''t a barrier or meatshield maneuver. I am sure of it."

    "Yet he managed to allow all of us to escape that barrage unscathed¡­" Sanada was glancing around, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. "This is confusing¡­"

    "It means that you used some kind of spell to conduct the electricity away." Makoto looked impressed, having revised his opinion of me entirely after I saved him and his gang.

    "I sensed it," Aoyama agreed with a nod as he approached me, presumably to heal the injured Hoshizaki.

    I shrugged as I turned to glance at him. Aoyama continued as he studied me.

    "Just now, I saw the lighting spears all get directed away from us and diverted into a single location."

    "I can sense it too¡­" Sanada nodded in agreement as he clenched his fists. "This kind of spell that can render such a devastating attack harmless is terrifying."

    "Conducted away¡­I see." Lilith pondered thoughtfully and stared at the ground. "So that''s what this is."

    "Yeah," Aoyama affirmed seriously. "If I''m not wrong, you casted a spell to create multiple lightning rods in the ground that attracted and diverted all that lightning away from us."

    "Yeah," I admitted with a smile. "I grounded the lightning¡­or to be more precise, my partner grounded the lightning."

    A colossal shadow suddenly loomed over us. The ancient undead dragon stared down silently, but at least he wasn''t as hostile as before.

    "I''ve heard that ancient dragons are capable of casting a vast range of spells," Lilith murmured thoughtfully. "But to think they actually have such a spell that is specialized in neutralizing lightning attacks¡­"

    "Yeah, ancient dragons are such awesome creatures."

    I stepped forward and patted the ancient dragon''s paw to show my gratitude. To reach an understanding with him, I had struck a partnership rather than a servant-master relationship. I wasn''t a tyrannical bastard who enjoyed enslaving others ¨C I wasn''t Kobayashi Kenji. I would much rather earn loyalty and goodwill than rule through fear.

    "Ancient dragons are highly intelligent creatures who are capable of casting the same variety of magic as humans, and on a much larger scale."

    My smile grew wider as I glanced at the absolutely stunned Suzuki and his equally shocked crony, Nishida.

    "Having an ancient dragon is basically the same as having a mage in your party, only several times more powerful and also very capable in close combat."

    Even though the ancient dragon was an extremely formidable foe that required a ton of effort to defeat, having him as one of my summoned undead made all that trouble and pain entirely worth it. Like they said, no pain, no gain.

    And I suffered excruciating agony just to defeat this guy. Like I said, completely worth it.

    "When Suzuki broke through the wall, I had Ryuu here cast his lightning rods spell and scatter them all over the area. As he did so, I managed to catch Hoshizaki-san before she got hit by the lightning, but since the lightning was all diverted away to the lightning rods, it was a matter of picking the trajectory to avoid getting between them and the lightning rods. And also¡­Aoyama-kun, you also received my message even during the midst of that thunderous din, right?"

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    Aoyama nodded.

    "I have, indeed."

    "There you go."

    I smirked as the rest of my zombie wyverns and the undead lesser dragon emerged from the mountains to tower over the dumbstruck Suzuki. But there was no need for them. The battle was already over, because¡­

    "¡­in any case, the victor has already been decided."

 74 Chapter 74: The Spear Hero

    "Oh?"

    Suzuki Shirou raised an eyebrow when he heard my proclamation, his face curling into a derisive sneer.

    "Interesting, very interesting¡­"

    He towered over the broken wall of wood, gripping his spear tightly as he struggled to rein in his anger. Glaring at me, he maintained that twisted smile on his face. I could almost see golden light of fury shine in his eyes.

    "But what do you mean the victor has already been decided?"

    I shrugged. "Exactly what I meant. If Aoyama-kun said he got my message, then he must have done what I asked him under the cover of Ryuu''s lightning rod spell."

    "Indeed," Aoyama agreed with a nod. "You seem to be gesturing toward me that the lightning spears that Suzuki launched at us were his belongings, and that they made for easy targets when diverted toward the row of lightning rods in the ground."

    "As expected of Tanaka, the person who defeated at least five other heroes." Sanada sounded impressed as he sent a glance in my direction. "Looks like victory is just moments away."

    "During your barrage, I placed at least five lightning rods in front of Aoyama-kun," I explained. "In other words, his dual blades hit your lightning spears another ten times."

    Aoyama smirked. "The number on your hand should have reached the limit to forcibly teleport you away from here."

    Suzuki glanced at the digits on his hand, which true enough, had already risen to 33.

    I took a deep breath, and the black mana around me disappeared. The zombie wyverns and the two dragons disappeared from view, allowing the sun to shine upon the valley once more. The ominous air that permeated the atmosphere vanished along with the flock of undead dragons.

    "You dispelled your summoned undead?" Lilith asked. I nodded and rubbed my left shoulder, creaking my neck.

    "Yeah¡­continuously maintaining the summons of such high-level and extremely powerful undead takes a lot of mana. He''s already lost¡­no need to continue."

    "Phew¡­so we managed to end this without killing anyone this time?" Hoshizaki sighed in relief, wiping the perspiration from her face.

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    However, instead of reacting furiously, Suzuki burst into laughter, even as golden energy crackled around his body, preparing to warp him out of the valley. He seemed more amused at his imminent defeat than frustrated.

    "I see¡­you really are strong!"

    Cackling, Suzuki''s mouth split into a wide grin as he exhorted me. What was this sudden change in attitude? Somehow he seemed really pleased at my move?

    As Suzuki laughed, I noticed a bunch of lightning drake tokens crashing onto the ground, the golden sculptures frozen in a roaring demeanor at his feet.

    "Too bad¡­but I had already taken precautions against Aoyama."

    The guy clearly was a fan of Gundam.

    "Once Thousand Divine Lightning Spears fires 1600 projectiles, the requirements for an ability will be completed."

    We watched the lightning drakes, which were remnants that split off from the lightning spears from earlier and fell to the earth when Suzuki launched them. Makoto tensed when he watched the golden drakes flare brightly before emanating lightning that all coalesced into a gigantic electric flame that suffused Suzuki''s form.

    "Those drake sculptures are some kind of enhancement."

    "This move is called Godly Physique," Suzuki declared as he allowed his body to be engulfed by the divine lightning that streamed out of his drakes. He glanced down on his hand, where the purple digits were disappearing, and smirked triumphantly. "Within 60 seconds, it frees me from all types of curses¡­"

    My eyes widened as I watched the golden lightning wrap around his body and dispelled Aoyama''s curse.

    "I have a lot more techniques that you think¡­"

    Cut to the panel where Sanada, Aoyama and I were still staring at Suzuki, completely dumbfounded. No, I swear, I''m not ripping off The Silver Gravekeeper. Okay, maybe a little. Ugh¡­fine, let''s just call this a fanfiction then¡­

    "I am the spear hero¡­and one of my special abilities, though not as powerful as Kobayashi''s, allows me to have more than the 10 ability limit. It is obtained from killing over 1,000 demons who are at least level 100."

    Huh? So there was a limit to the number of abilities I could possess, after all. Was that why I lost the Devour ability?

    "You might have heard of it before¡­the legendary ability that allows me to use 1,000 types of abilities¡­"

    Thousand Killer Asura.

    "You''re ripping even the name off the character from that Chinese webtoon?!" I shouted angrily. "Are you not concern over what happens if the copyright laws come knocking on our creator''s door?!"

    "If that happens, we can just claim fanfiction. It''s not like you''re making money off this work anyway, right?"

    I rolled my eyes but maintained a close scrutiny of Suzuki and the visage of the golden mult-armed Asura who was seated cross-legged behind him in what was supposed to be a cool image. On top of a gigantic lotus flower too, I might add. Sighing, I decided to activate Absolute Appraisal again to make sure I knew what his abilities were.

    Name: Suzuki Shirou

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Lightning Lancer/Hero

    Special Abilities: Thousand Killer Asura (tap to see the list of 1,000 abilities)

    Oh, so that was why I didn''t bother to mention that I used Absolute Appraisal on Suzuki earlier ¨C not only would it be a spoiler that would wreck this dramatic revelation of Suzuki''s special ability, there was no way in hell that I would open a list of a thousand abilities and scroll through every one of them in the middle of a battle.

    "Also¡­my Thousand Divine Lightning Spears is ready to fire for the third time."

    I gulped when I saw that he was right. All the lightning in the air was accumulating around his real physical spear, coalescing into a terrifying orb that blazed as furiously as the sun itself. Suzuki was hefting his spear up and pointing it and the expanding orb of lightning at us, gloating. I could see the triumph written all over his face.

    "It will be different from before¡­though it only has one shot..."

    The ball of light stretched, turning into a single lance-shaped projectile.

    "But its power is unstoppable!"

    "Then I just have to stop you from firing it, don''t I?"

    I swung my staff at close range, forcing Suzuki to bring his spear up to parry my strike. He leered at me as I tried to change the trajectory of his spear, and then shook his head in amusement. A blast of lightning surged from his body and pierced me in several places.

    "Look at you, Tanaka¡­trying so desperately. Are you trying to protect your friends? Really? Those guys just stood by and did nothing while you were being bullied by Kobayashi. None of them helped you when you were in trouble. Why are you trying to save them?"

    Blood dribbled from my lips as I was held suspended by the lightning spears that had penetrated my Redwood jacket. The 15-layer defenses had helped me avoid a fatal blow and being turned into a human pincushion, but enough had gotten through to hurt like hell. Gritting my teeth, I tapped my staff against the electricity and unleashed a pointblank ranged Shadow Lunar Fang to destroy the web of lightning spears, and also to blast Suzuki away.

    "Fuck!"

    Coughing, Suzuki stumbled out of the smoke, but the lightning ball continued to charge and accumulate at the tip of his spear.

    "You really are full of stupid tricks, aren''t you? Tanaka! Hah! That''s more like it. I remember how impressed I was when you always refused to give up and continue to fight against Kobayashi and his goons, despite all the odds!"

    "It would be odd not to fight with those odds."

    I was already charging at him, readying another blow. Suzuki was probably laughing at me for dismissing my undead dragons and wyverns too early before the battle was over. Normally, I would have agreed with him and raged at myself for doing such a stupid thing. I wasn''t the type to underestimate my opponents, after all.

    However, I had deliberately dismissed them, not because I actually believed that the battle was over or because they really required too much mana, but because I had just realized that there was some other technique that I wanted to try out.

    Well, as a last resort, maybe I would rely on Ryuu and the others to work for me, but right now I had another plan in mind.

    "Entertain me as much as possible, yo!"

    Suzuki was guffawing as he clashed with me, but with his spear ready to fire off that orb of light, he suddenly decided not to parry my fourth strike and instead threw out his hand. I suddenly remembered that he had a thousand abilities and quickly backpedaled.

    It was too late.

    "Lightning Barrier."

    A huge wall of golden electricity suddenly surged from the ground and electrocuted me. I fell to my knees, gritting my teeth as I relied on my Redwood jacket to deflect the worst of the blast. But there was too much electricity that it paralyzed me, stopping my movements and suspending me on the ground. I leaned on my staff, closing my eyes and enduring the electric blast.

    "I don''t understand¡­you seem like the type of character who relies on long-range magic and summoning. So why are you so insistent on engaging me in close combat? It would only be overly one-sided in my favor."

    "That''s quite the myth." I grinned, despite the amount of lethal currents flowing through me. "But I''m afraid it''s not true. I might not be as skilled as you or Minamoto in close combat, but I''m not exactly a long-range fighter either. I only have one ranged spell¡­two at the most. Thanks to my undead abilities, I realized that I''m actually quite the tank."

    "Yes, that Regeneration ability of yours is really troublesome." Suzuki stepped toward me as he noted that my wounds were healing on their own. The burns that I suffered from electrocution, the blackened and sizzling skin, were all vanishing of their own accord, as well as the regenerative barriers of my Redwood jacket. "It''ll be tough to defeat you. But even your Regeneration ability wouldn''t be able to save you from a direct hit from an attack of this magnitude, right?"

    He slowly pointed his spear at me, and I swallowed as I saw the glowing orb of lightning right in front of my face. He was right. A hit from an attack of that much power would simply obliterate me and literally erase me from existence. I wouldn''t be able to regenerate if there was nothing of me left to regenerate from.

    "Checkmate."

    Suzuki grinned. I grinned back.

    "Indeed."

    "?!"

    Suzuki suddenly jumped back, his incredible battle sense warning him of danger, but it was too late. I had him dancing in my palm the entire time.

    Blood spears blasted through the lightning barrier and pierced through Suzuki''s body. Blood spurted all over the ground and across my face, even as the flexible, fluid blood weapons hoisted the spearman high into the air.

    "Gaaaah! You¡­!"

    "Oh, your blood is pretty tasty."

    I smiled as I licked Suzuki''s blood off my face. With a swipe from my blood appendages, I smashed the lightning to bits and dropped onto the ground, my wounds healing. I then closed my eyes and savored the taste of Suzuki''s blood. Ever since I had become a vampire, this was the first time I had drank someone else''s blood, with the exception being the battle against Asakura Akane, and it tasted so sweet.

    "Bloody fucker!"

    With a roar, Suzuki unleahed a gigantic field of lightning spears, forcing me to jump away and retreat. His Lightning Barrier obliterated and disintegrated my blood weapons, but they had already served their purpose.

    "Bloody is right," I agreed as I wiped the blood off my face and then licked it off my fingers. "Thanks for your blood."

    "Hmph."

    Suzuki landed on his feet and pointed his spear at me. What the fuck, man? How long did he need to charge that damned third attack? It had been over a few minutes since he had started accumulating all that lightning, and he still hadn''t fired it off yet? Granted, I had kept him pretty occupied the entire time and delayed him from firing his attack, but even then¡­could he possibly be intentionally holding his attack back and waiting for the right time to unleash it?

    Wow¡­this guy was really dangerous. But I was tired of fighting him. After all, I already obtained what I wanted ¨C Suzuki''s blood. I could leave the rest to my "friends" who had been standing there and doing nothing all this while.

    Speaking of which¡­

    "Looks like Suzuki is going to release a massive attack."

    I turned to glance at the rest of my former classmates, the ones who weren''t brainwashed and indoctrinated into trying to kill me. Makoto, Sanada, Aoyama and Hoshizaki were all standing there and staring back at me silently. I pushed my glasses up as I issued my question to the four supposedly formidable heroes.

    "Don''t you guys think it''s time for everyone here to get serious?"

    Using Absolute Appraisal, I could tell that besides Aoyama, everyone''s level here didn''t exceed 100. Not that I was going to tell them that, of course. Normally, if we were to follow gaming rules, players who were below level 100 wouldn''t have very strong special abilities, especially when compared to players with levels over 100.

    But I could clearly see that this wasn''t the case here. One reason was that the whole levels and numbers and stats and values were completely meaningless. I knew that from the start. This was reality. A person''s ability couldn''t be measured in terms of values, and even then it wasn''t absolute. In games, a person with a higher level usually had an overwhelming advantage, but it ignored a lot of realistic factors such as strategy, luck, wits, intelligence and skill ¨C skill, not as in the numerical value or type of ability but the skill to use one''s strength or ability to its fullest potential.

    "I don''t know what all this nonsense about level 100 is about or whatever, but it''s clear that you guys wouldn''t lose to anybody of a supposedly higher level."

    Makoto''s wooden flute that could manipulate five elements, Sanada''s incredible ice ability with huge offensive and defensive powers, and Hoshizaki''s overwhelming stargazer ability that could obliterate even Suzuki''s Lightning Dragon. Even Suzuki had trouble fighting against them, and they could easily defeat Ooyama Eiji, who was level 800.

    "Our abilities are indeed special."

    Makoto admitted as he took out five of his knives, a grudging smile on his face. Five different elements appeared and crackled around their blades, from the golden glow of metal, the red and orange blaze of fire, the green and brown dance of wood, the blue swirl of water and the muddy vigor of earth, each representing their elements.

    "But we just wanted to see the strength of the gravekeeper, the guy who supposedly defeated five heroes by himself."

    "It wasn''t by myself," I muttered. "In some cases, I had help."

    "It''s too bad that you haven''t been able to completely grasp your powers," Sanada Hiroyuki remarked as he brought out his ice bell, which glowed and froze his fingers while conjuring a bunch of crystalline snowflakes.

    The ice rapidly spread all over his arm, and even expanded across his head and chest, forming some sort of intimidating frost armor. His hand melded and was sculpted into a gigantic frost blade, while his body was protected by icy chainmail.

    "Although Suzuki is strong¡­as Makoto says¡­everyone at Iron Knights will not lose to any of the elite, chosen heroes in our class!"

    "We wasted a lot of time earlier," Hoshizaki mumbled sheepishly. Conjuring a gigantic constellation, she released much more of her power, which emanated a much stronger force than when she was fighting Suzuki earlier.

    Damn, she had been holding back just now?

    "We''ll all charge in together to finish him off," Aoyama said as he held his dual scythes, which were glowing with blue mana.

    "Oh?"

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    Suzuki looked down on the four Iron Knights who were charging at him ¨C particularly, Sanada, Makoto and Aoyama, who formed the spearhead. With a smirk, Suzuki sneered at their advance.

    "You''re charging in to die?"

    He snickered as he held his spear up and pointed it at them. His attack was finally ready, the orb having stopped growing a long time ago.

    "Hehehe¡­die!"

    The orb lengthened and turned into a single concentrated beam of lightning that lanced out of the tip of his spear and toward the approaching vanguard with a thunderous roar.

    However, even as the golden beam blasted a devastating path through the valley, carving a colossal trail of destruction in the earth and boring a hole in the mountain ahead, the Iron Knights deftly evaded his massive attack. Chunks of earth and rock billowed into the air, lifted up by the sheer force of the strike.

    Atop one particularly huge chunk of earth, Aoyama landed skillfully, using the flying piece of rock to gain a foothold. Some distance away, Makoto mirrored his movements, jumping on another huge rock that flew in the wake of the destruction.

    "Didn''t think it would be a laser type of attack!" Aoyama murmured. "Everyone, you know what to do!"

    And they did. The three male Iron Knights sprang from rock to rock, bouncing about the place, dodging the lightning beam while closing in on Suzuki. They suddenly scattered and spread out, rapidly moving and changing directions. In an instant, they were behind Suzuki, ready to spring an attack on his unguarded back.

    Suzuki glanced at them with a smirk.

    They see that my attack is a beam, so they will probably appear behind me and split up to attack me from all sides.

    "Kekeke! As if I''m going to let you have your way!"

    The thousand divine lightning spears appeared right above him, all aimed at the dodging and evading Iron Knights. At the same time, Suzuki turned around to redirect the lightning beam at their approaching forms.

    "This time, you guys won''t be able to escape!"

    A colossal beam from the front, and a thousand spears from above¡­no matter how skilled, fast or powerful those four were, there was no way they would emerge from this unscathed.

    But right before the lightning beam and lightning spears could hit any of them, a familiar voice cut across the valley.

    "Everyone, stop!"

    Sanada, Aoyama, Makoto and Hoshizaki all froze when they heard the command, or perhaps they momentarily stopped when confronted with the countless lightning projectiles that were descending upon them.

    It didn''t matter.

    A glowing yellow barrier appeared before them and deflected the beam, causing it to bounce off and fly back toward its bearer. At the same time, it protected them from the deadly hail of lightning spears from above.

    The reflected beam blasted toward Suzuki, who dodged his own attack by moving his head ever so slightly. It nearly scorched his hair and shoulder, missing him by a hair''s breadth, but otherwise he was completely unscathed.

    Both Lilith and I watched, completely taken aback by the sudden turn of events, and at the person who was capable of blocking and reflecting Suzuki''s super-powerful attack, which was supposed to be more powerful when fired for the third time. And so easily, at that.

    High above us a cube divided into several more cubes, and they suddenly split up and flew in all directions. One cube hit Aoyama, and another hit Makoto who was nearby. A third struck Hoshizaki, who was perched atop one of those flying rocks, and a fourth collided with a surprised Sanada. A fifth smacked a panicked Nishida Kensuke in the face as he floundered about. The next thing I knew, all five of them were floating in midair, suspended inside huge yellow barrier-cubes, unable to escape from inside them.

    "What the hell is this?!"

    Nishida yelled as he pounded on the walls of the cube-barrier, to no avail.

    The one who''s observing from the tower is finally making her move¡­well, I know this person!

    Inside a gigantic cuboid barrier of his own, Suzuki lowered his smoking spear and glanced at his huge prison, which had trapped not just him but also all of the thousand spears that he was launching from the heavens. That was one hell of a titanic barrier-cube when compared to all the others''. Raising a hand, Suzuki snarled.

    "Who dares to get in my way!?"

    "Stop!"

    A voice issued an order as its owner slowly approached.

    "You are strong¡­but you cannot win against all four of them together."

    Nagano Nanaka hovered atop an arcane-looking yellow barrier-cube thing that resembled a floating stage. Levitating herself to address Suzuki, she continued calmly.

    "And if you include me in the fight¡­"

    Potent magic swirled around her as she glared at the defiant Suzuki with very stern eyes.

    "You will lose very quickly!"

 75 Chapter 75: Cross Castle

    Despite being trapped inside Nagano''s barrier, Suzuki continued to glare at her with a defiant grin on his face. He raised his spear to point its tip at her.

    "If I don''t try, how would I know?"

    "Why?" Nagano responded. "Everyone here has proper business to attend to."

    "To me, fighting is the proper business."

    Instead of feeling ashamed of his actions, Suzuki was grinning shamelessly and widely, his eyes crazed and filled with bloodlust.

    "Since it is so¡­"

    Nagano considered his words seriously as she held his gaze calmly.

    "How about a chance to fight against the leader of the Iron Knights?"

    At her question, Suzuki''s expression changed completely.

    Takeda Tetsuo¡­

    His eyes wide, Suzuki contemplated Nagano''s offer, feeling excitement surge in his chest when he thought about the formidable leader of the Iron Knights and the reputation he had, as well as the fact that he was supposedly over level 1,000.

    "Kekeke."

    Chuckling, Suzuki dismissed his Thousand Lightning Divine Spears with a single wave of his hand and lowered his spear. The golden lightning dissipated from his primary weapon, allowing it to turn back into a normal spear.

    "Ability release¡­"

    With his air of hostility gone, Nagano descended and hopped off her floating cuboid stage to approach Suzuki, who was still trapped behind her barrier. Stopping right in front of Suzuki, with the yellow screen still between them, she nodded in approval.

    "Seems like you think things through."

    "To fight against Takeda Tetsuo¡­I can''t think of anything better."

    Suzuki smirked in excitement, already lost in thought as he waited in anticipation.

    Nagano swung her hand and brought the hovering cube-barriers that imprisoned her comrades back down on the ground, yellow mana swirling around her arm.

    "Open."

    At her command, the barriers began to crack. Aoyama, Makoto, Sanada, Nishida and Hoshizaki waited patiently as their barriers began to crumble and shatter. As the barrier that imprisoned him completely broke apart, Suzuki strode out of the falling yellow fragments of energy, swiping them away with his spear.

    He stopped beside me cockily and glanced in my direction.

    "Though I really want to fight against you."

    I swallowed, not exactly wanting to go against someone of Suzuki''s caliber. Just to match him was already hard enough, especially with my current abilities. It wasn''t that I wasn''t confident of beating him, but the amount of effort needed would be tremendous, especially if he wasn''t on my hit-list or obsessed with killing me for no reason like Minamoto and the rest. He did try to kill me, but he seemed the type to try and kill everybody.

    Already, Suzuki had directed his gaze away from me to stare in the direction of Cross Castle, his mind distant.

    "I am even more excited to fight against Takeda Tetsuo. I am very curious to see just how strong he is."

    With his gaze riveted on Cross Castle, Suzuki impatiently took a step forward.

    "Let''s go¡­let''s enter Cross Castle."

    We traversed the last distance in the valley and approached the massive doors that served as an entrance to the formidable-looking fortress.

    "We''re here!"

    Nagano looked pretty happy and jubilant upon returning to Cross Castle. Right, she was stuck in Havia for quite a while before we returned here by airship.

    "Everyone, please enter." She picked up her smartphone and made a call. "Domon-kun? Yeah, it''s me. You can open the gate."

    An ominous creak resounded throughout the valley as Domon Daisuke complied. Inside Cross Castle, a gigantic purple key twisted, groaning as it unlocked the massive lock that kept the doors sealed against the outside world.

    Domon stood a few meters away from the heavily armored gates, raising his glowing hand that swirled with purple mana and manipulating the intangible key that was made entirely from mana, bending it to his will.

    "Oh?"

    Yonebashi Kyouko leaned against the wall and watched Domon at work, her arms folded.

    "Everyone''s here?"

    Domon nodded and turned around, even as we entered Cross Castle through the main gate. Everyone assembled behind the chubby figure of Domon, and I faintly recalled how he used to be the bully victim before Kobayashi shifted his attention to me.

    That happened all because I stood up for Domon and tried to stop Kobayashi and his cronies from bullying him, and obviously Kobayashi didn''t take my refusal to be intimidated by him or to obey him too kindly.

    "Yes, it has been a while since we''ve had so many guests."

    As Nagano walked past Yonebashi, the latter leaned in to whisper to her.

    "So you brought Tanaka along, huh? Can we trust him?"

    "I fought beside him against the ancient dragon and we saved Princess Merly together. I can vouch for his character, if required. Even if his motives don''t align with ours, he is definitely not someone shady or evil."

    "Not like Kobayashi-kun, huh?"

    "He''s a much better company than Suzuki-kun, that''s for sure."

    Girls¡­you do realize we can hear you, right?

    Escorted between Sanada and Makoto, I followed Nagano and Yonebashi''s lead deeper into the castle. It wasn''t that they were wary of me, but they were deliberately putting themselves between me and Suzuki to prevent the volatile delinquent leader from changing his mind and suddenly challenging me again.

    The castle wasn''t exactly built for indoor fighting, after all.

    After traversing through the long corridors and vast halls, Yonebashi suddenly turned around and called out in a cheerful voice.

    "We''re here!"

    I looked up and saw what looked like an immense portal that stretched across a single wall. Nagano walked through the portal and we followed, only to find ourselves in another part of the castle, a grand interior hall with a red carpet and dramatic-looking torches that burned ominously. The lush, red carpet ended in a huge door at the opposite end of the grand hall.

    "This is the grand hall! Our leader is behind those doors!"

    I glanced around the runic symbols carved into the vast, luxuriously looking grand hall for a few moments before fixing my gaze on the large door opposite me. There were two crosses inscribed into the metallic surface of the door, a smaller one in the middle of the bigger one. No wonder they called this place Cross Castle.

    I wouldn''t want to cross this castle.

    In front of the doors, one last figure awaited. It was a blond guy wearing a hoodie. The last Iron Knight, Gendou Issei stuck one hand inside a pocket as he regarded me.

    "Tanaka-kun, it''s been a while."

    "Gendou-kun. Good to see you too."

    Not exactly, but I was just being polite. Just like all the others, Gendou didn''t do anything but stand by and watch when I was being bullied. He didn''t bully me either, and he showed no signs that he was obsessed with killing me over the most absurd of reasons, so I saw little point in antagonizing him when there wasn''t a need to.

    He spread his hands, as if to welcome me.

    "The eight people in front of you¡­"

    Nagano Nanaka. Gendou Issei. Yonebashi Kyouko. Domon Daisuke. Shidou Makoto. Sanada Hiroyuki. Aoyama Aoi. Hoshizaki Kozue.

    "¡­are the 8 guardians of Iron Knights."

    "Uh, what exactly are you guarding?"

    "That''s¡­" Gendou stuttered for a moment. He obviously didn''t know.

    "Our leader, I guess?" Nagano supplied helpfully. Gendou nodded fervently.

    "Yeah, that''s right! We''re guarding Takeda-kun!"

    I was pretty sure Takeda was stronger than the 8 guardians of Iron Knights, and he didn''t need them to protect him, but¡­whatever. With a sigh, I decided to use this opportunity to cast Absolute Appraisal and check the special abilities of the remaining eight guardians. I had already seen Hoshizaki''s, Aoyama''s, Nagano''s, Sanada''s and Makoto''s, but there were three left that I hadn''t appraised.

    Name: Domon Daisuke

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Guardian/Hero

    Special Abilities: Arcane Herbology, Agricultural Assault

    Name: Gendou Issei

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: War Warden/Hero

    Special Abilities: Spatial Manipulation, Void Chains

    Name: Yonebashi Kyouko

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Illusionist/Hero

    Special Abilities: Mystic Illusion, Demonic Fear

    Those seemed like quite the formidable abilities. Just as with the ones I already knew, I could tell that they were impressive. Before I could explore the possibilities in detail, however, Suzuki rudely cut into my thoughts.

    "Everyone¡­stop with the lame self-introductions."

    Flanked by Ooyama Eiji and Nishida Kensuke, Suzuki Shirou arrogantly strode forward with his spear in hand.

    "I don''t have any interest in any of you."

    Uwah¡­this guy was downright condescending. I couldn''t believe his attitude toward former classmates. He really was a delinquent.

    "Can you bring Takeda Tetsuo out to fight me already?"

    The guy made an outrageous request in a flippant manner. Even Nishida looked appalled at his leader''s audacity.

    Meanwhile, inside the eerie chamber that was behind those close doors, Takeda Tetsuo awaited, seated in front of an altar.

    "Come."

    Without standing up, he glanced over his shoulder to stare past the doors that stood between him and the rest of us.

    "Tanaka Tomoyuki¡­"

    His muscular figure was clad in armor, which was marked with runic crosses. Placing his gauntleted hands on his armored thighs, Takeda mused to himself ¨C his head being the only exposed part of his fully armored body.

    "We need to have a long chat regarding the fate of Restia¡­"

    Why so dramatic, dude?

    As for me, I remained behind the closed doors and continued to use Absolute Appraisal not just on the eight Iron Knights but on the castle.

    Wow, Absolute Appraisal also allows me to see the structure of this fortress as well¡­the ability has finally leveled up enough for me to use it in such a manner.

    All the information was fed into my lenses, which projected and mapped the data in the form of a 3D holographic image visible only to me.

    I can see everything very clearly¡­

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t "everything."

    But it''s all blurry behind this door¡­

    Beads of perspiration trickled down my face as I attempted to analyze the chamber beyond the door with Absolute Appraisal, but the only information I could get was Takeda being dramatic and telling me to "come". Actually, I was surprised I could even hear him saying all those cheesy lines. He probably didn''t intend for me to eavesdrop.

    The most I can make out is a human figure near a blue flame¡­

    The blue flame was indecipherable, an anomaly so vast that it couldn''t be analyzed and converted into data by Absolute Appraisal. If Timothy Morton was here, he would have called it a hyperobject.

    That person must be Takeda Tetsuo¡­

    Well, who else could it be? Kobayashi Kenji? Nah, the creator who planned this story surely wouldn''t pull such a lame twist, would he?

    "Hehehe."

    Beside me, Suzuki chuckled as he stepped forward, approaching the door excitedly. Like me, he sensed the immense power locked behind the door.

    "Takeda Tetsuo is really here¡­"

    Duh. Why would Nagano lie to you? Oh wait¡­because you are crazy. That so justified people lying to you.

    Suzuki banged his hand against the door impatiently as he turned to grin at Nagano and the rest of the Iron Knights.

    "Yeah," Nagano confirmed. "Our leader has agreed to fight you¡­"

    Beside her, Yonebashi smirked while Sanada maintained a calm fa?ade at the back. I stepped back, maintaining my distance from the door.

    "Really? That''s great!"

    Suzuki grinned as he tried to push the door open.

    "I think it''s better for you to give up," Yonebashi warned as she placed a hand on Suzuki''s shoulder and lowered her ruby sunglasses with the other. Suzuki glared at her from the corner of his eye, then slowly turned to confront her.

    "You''re joking, right?" he sneered, his eyes narrowed. "How can I let this chance slip by?"

    Even as he continued pushing against the door with his left hand, the huge door automatically opened by itself. A wisp of smoke trailed out ominously from the tiny gap, wafting into the grand hall like some sort of serpent.

    "Eh?!"

    Suzuki froze when he caught sight of the smoke, his eyes going wide.

    The door opened further, revealing a bright light from within, and the smoke took on a more energy-like form as it seeped and snaked out of the chamber, almost as if it was taking on a life of its own.

    Suzuki instinctively withdrew his hand, even as strands of purple energy shocked his fingers, casting an eerie glow on him.

    This is!?

    He inadvertently clenched his teeth as he stared at the indecipherable bright light that glowed within the chamber.

    Why? Even though I''m standing so close to the entrance¡­

    With Absolute Appraisal, it was easy to tell what Suzuki was thinking. I could simply guess his thoughts just from reading the expression on his face, which was one of abject terror. Suzuki had frozen in place, his legs trembling violently. His hand was still outstretched toward the door, as if he was unable to lower it.

    ¡­I''m unable to take another step forward?

    Even without my Absolute Appraisal and privilege as the first person protagonist, both Ooyama and Nishida noticed that there was something strange about their leader.

    Strange¡­there''s something different about the boss.

    Suzuki was less cocky than before, that much was for sure. But it wasn''t just his loss of confidence. The usually swaggering, bloodthirsty battle maniac looked terrified for the first time ever, to the point he couldn''t move.

    It looks like there is a deep ocean in front of me¡­

    Suzuki swallowed as he stared at the swirling blue abyss before him.

    No, there was no blue abyss before him. It was merely an image that was conjured by his terror-stricken mind.

    ¡­warning me not to take another step further.

    The blue whirlpool that his imagination visualized swirled violently before him, a threatening, ominous vortex that beckoned for him to sink and get lost within its endless depths¡­an abyss that he would never be able to climb out of for eternity.

    Perspiration was pouring down Suzuki''s face as he stood frozen before the door, his limbs locked and immobilized, yet somehow trembling agitatedly. He stared at the door, his eyes riveted on it, as if he was staring at the blood-red kanji for death.

    It''s my first time feeling this sort of sensation¡­could this be the fear that seeps into your bones?

    He gritted his teeth as he perspired profusely, but his body refused to obey him, even as the purple mana drifted about him.

    Am I going to lose like this? The thing behind the door¡­is it even human? It feels like that¡­thing is going to swallow me whole¡­

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    Seeing their leader''s hesitation, Ooyama and Nishida had two very different reactions.

    "Boss¡­kill him!" Ooyama bellowed, trying to encourage Suzuki. Waving his hands frantically, he spurred Suzuki on to the best of his ability. "Boss!! You can do it!"

    On the other hand, Nishida was a lot more cautious.

    "Boss¡­I know, you''re not feeling well! Let''s come back another day, all right? There will be more chances in the future!"

    "What kind of joke is this?" Suzuki growled, gnashing his teeth in frustration. "How can I stop here?!"

    "Ah!"

    Bathed in the purple energy, Takeda Tetsuo turned around to glance at his guests with a smile.

    "Eh?!"

    Suzuki was taken aback when a spurt of purple mana erupted from the slightly ajar door, dancing in his face, and then suddenly a cloud of ominous energy washed over him, along with creepy purple things that looked like clawed, spider-like legs that stretched threateningly out of the door to ensnare the guests in the grand room¡­

 76 Chapter 76: Takeda Tetsuo

    Suzuki froze as the purple legs rushed past him, almost as if enfolding him within a creepy embrace. They extended past his still body and unfurled toward Ooyama Eiji, who was standing behind his boss.

    "!!"

    Ooyama''s eyes widened when he saw the purple legs stretch out toward him. Before he could react, several of the purple legs pierced him and hoisted him high into the air.

    "Koff!"

    He let out a choked cough as he was lifted off his feet, helplessly dangling in midair. The legs then retracted, dragging him into the chamber from which they came.

    "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

    Ooyama screamed and thrashed about desperately, but he was unable to free himself from the clutches of those purple legs. He struggled to pull himself out of the chamber by grabbing the doors, but their pull was irresistible.

    "Damn it!"

    With a roar, Ooyama unleashed his most powerful ability.

    "God of Thunder!"

    Lightning wreathed his body, covering him in an incredible protective and offensive aura that electrocuted anything that went near him. With a snarl, he attempted to break free of the legs with brute force, perhaps trying to destroy them.

    The humanoid God of Thunder aura smashed both hands against both sides of the door, halting his advance. With sheer strength, Ooyama began to drag himself out of the chamber, lightning frying everything in the vicinity.

    But to no avail.

    Despite its formidable might, even the God of Thunder was no match for the creepy, mysterious purple legs that had ensnared him. They continued to protrude out of Ooyama''s chest, as if piercing through his body.

    Realizing how totally outmatched he was, Ooyama issued a plea for help.

    "Boss¡­help me!!!"

    Light glowed out of his mouth, and then erupted in a blinding explosion that shone out of his throat and began spreading all over his body, as if turning him into a human light bulb. He struggled, only to choke.

    "Boss, I can''t take him on by myself! Hurry and help me!"

    Even as Ooyama pleaded with Suzuki, the spearman just stood there, completely frozen. Most likely frozen in fear, unable to react or respond to his subordinate''s cries. His hand was trembling violently as he tried to move, but his body refused to listen.

    Just when he finally mustered up the determination, a hand landed on his shoulder firmly.

    Yonebashi Kyoko leaned in closer to whisper into his ear.

    "Don''t go off and do anything stupid," she warned him. Suzuki turned to her, his expression a mask that could barely conceal his terror.

    He swallowed, perspiration profusely flowing down his pale face. Yonebashi smiled enigmatically, her eyes guarded behind those ruby lenses.

    "It''s not just a simple loss if you go in."

    "AHHHHH!!"

    "Boss!! What are you waiting for?!"

    "NOOO!!!!!"

    Everyone turned to me when I suddenly yelled. I waved at poor Ooyama frantically.

    "Don''t you guys see?! Takeda-kun is ripping off Yin zhi Shoumuren! Or The Silver Gravekeeper! Haven''t you read the manhua? Poor Ooyama is doomed!"

    "Shut up and help me!" Ooyama shouted. I shook my head.

    "No can do. I wanna see what Takeda-kun do to you. Will he copy Yin zhi Shoumuren or The Silver Gravekeeper? Or will he be more original?"

    "What the fuck are you babbling about?!" Ooyama bellowed. I shrugged, stepped forward and kicked him in the face.

    His eyes sparkled for a moment, rolling in their sockets, and with one last yelp, his grasp loosened and he was hauled into the chamber.

    Right before Suzuki''s frozen figure, the doors slammed shut, and Ooyama disappeared within the chamber forever.

    "Do you still wish to challenge the leader?" Nagano asked calmly, but I almost detected a mocking tone in her question.

    Suzuki was still standing there, frozen in disbelief and fear.

    "Boss, you''ve given up on Eiji¡­"

    Nishida Kensuke couldn''t believe what he had just seen. He was staring at Suzuki, trying to comprehend what had just transpired.

    Then he turned to me.

    "What the fuck were you doing, Tanaka?!"

    "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

    "Ah¡­I see you lack the awareness that you''re a fictional character."

    Nishida gaped at me, but I turned away, not caring. Instead, I glanced at Suzuki Shirou, who was still frozen in fear. Even though I was the one who actually kicked Ooyama into the chamber, I was highly wary of the sort of power Takeda used to ensnare him. That was like no magic I had ever seen.

    What kind of monster is behind this door¡­?

    I swallowed as I studied the interior of the chamber before me with Absolute Appraisal, but as with before, I just couldn''t make out what was going on entirely. The eight Guardians of the Iron Knights merely stood there calmly, as if this was a completely normal occurrence.

    Inside the chamber, Takeda Tetsuo continued to sit calmly in a cross-legged position, the purple legs spreading out from his armored back, which had a cross transfixed onto its silvery surface. Like a silky web, the purple magical strands spread out and ensnared everything.

    "Everyone must pay for their own recklessness."

    Takeda smirked as he stared forward, narrowing his eyes.

    "And you have nothing left¡­"

    "Actually he still has his life left!" I called out from behind the doors. "And stop being so cryptic. Your statement makes no sense whatsoever."

    As usual, I was ignored. Fine, go ahead and continue being dramatic. See if I care.

    Above, Ooyama was held suspended in the air, helpless as he was pierced by the purple spider legs that stretched out from Takeda''s back. I could see the flow of mana ¨C Ooyama''s mana was rushing into Takeda at an alarming rate.

    The next thing Ooyama knew, he found himself floating in absolute darkness, drifting aimlessly without any sense of direction.

    Suspended in nothingness, Ooyama continued to drift endlessly until he was suddenly aware of his predicament.

    "Eh?"

    He returned to his senses and looked around him. Straightening himself, he stood on what seemed like nothing, but thankfully it didn''t seem like he was bound to the laws of gravity either. He gulped as he studied his surroundings, but couldn''t make out anything other than inky blackness. It was like he was trapped inside a black hole.

    "Where am I?" he asked, trembling.

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    "This is your consciousness."

    A gigantic visage of Takeda''s sneering face appeared in the darkness to loom over the frightened Ooyama.

    Feeling cold sweat pour all over him, Ooyama swallowed and stared pitifully at the gigantic visage, almost unable to speak.

    "Takeda Tetsuo, why are you appearing in my consciousness?"

    "Because of my special ability, Plunder."

    "Plunder¡­?"

    A bead of cold perspiration rolled down Ooyama''s face as he struggled to understand.

    "That''s right. I took your abilities."

    Ooyama''s jaw dropped at the revelation, but Takeda continued speaking mercilessly.

    "Your job¡­your weapon¡­everything that was once yours in Restia now belongs to me!"

    "Huh?!"

    "You no longer exist in this world!"

    "NO!"

    With a scream, Ooyama jolted awake, only to find himself back in his bed.

    "This is¡­"

    He looked around, recognizing the familiar interior of his room. His jaw agape, he stared around, absolutely stupefied.

    "How¡­isn''t this my¡­room?"

    How did he get back in here? Did he return to Earth from Restia?

    But that meant¡­he had lost everything. All the skills he worked so hard to polish, the legendary equipment, gear and weapons that he had accumulated, the levels he ground toward, the reputation that he built up as a hero¡­

    All of that was gone.

    And now he had to live as a normal human again, unable to return to Restia to bask in glory or enjoy untold luxuries.

    "NOOOOO!!!!!"

    With a howl, Ooyama smashed his bed in despair, bringing his surprised parents up.

    Well, that was as far as my first-person protagonist privilege could go, but needless to say, they were pleased to find that their missing son had returned. However, for Ooyama, the loss of everything he obtained in Restia was a crushing psychological blow from which he couldn''t recover, and he was never the same again.

    Meanwhile, back in the chamber, Takeda continued to sit right in front of his altar, absorbing the last vestiges of power from Ooyama, who had been reduced to a spectral figure. The spectral figure continued to shrink and diminish as Takeda sucked in the final remnants of his mana. He smiled, his eyes hooded.

    As Ooyama''s power was completely absorbed, the purple legs and web-like strands vanished, seeping back into his armor. Wisps of blue light swirled around the satiated Takeda, who finally rose to his feet to peer past the doors that isolated him from others.

    "Let''s have a nice chat¡­"

    Takeda smirked.

    "Tanaka."

    Meanwhile, outside, Suzuki continued to stand in front of the door. He was still gripping his spear tightly in his right hand, but he was unable to move even a single step forward. His head was lowered, his face masked in shadow, but I had no doubt his expression was that of absolute terror right now. Oh, I was so going to mock him.

    "I bet you didn''t see that coming?" I gloated. Suzuki gave me a deadly stare, but I flapped my arms like a chicken and I mocked him. "You deserve it, idiot!"

    "Who are you calling an idiot?"

    "You, of course!"

    "Do you still wish to challenge our leader?" Nagano repeated with a smile. Fine, ignore me then.

    Suzuki glared at her, his expression murderous despite his utter helplessness.

    "Tell me¡­what happened to Eiji?"

    "Our leader''s special ability is Plunder. He has the power to take away one''s special abilities, status, possessions and existence in Restia. Those whose being has been plundered by him will be sent back to Earth as a normal person, never able to return here again."

    Holy f¡­! Wait, so there was a way for us to return home afer all?! Wasn''t that great news? I was sure that there would definitely be several of us who would willingly give up our powers and return to Earth, sick of all the slaughter and stuff that was Restia.

    Unfortunately, I couldn''t return to Earth just yet. I didn''t mind returning to Earth sometime in future, but first I had to take my revenge. I needed to kill Kobayashi Kenji, Yamada Yuji and the other bullies. Only then could I consider returning to Earth.

    Still, I was surprised that none of the others had asked Takeda to take their powers and send them back to Earth. Then again, a lot of my former classmates were treating this as a game and basking in the glory of being heroes. The special abilities we possessed, the power, the prestige and reputation. That could all make us drunk on glory and riches. We were living arguably much better lives than we ever would in Earth, having even the royalty at our beck and call, receiving riches that would otherwise be beyond imagination, and granted statuses that surpassed even that of nobles. The only exception was me, of course, who had to go through a ton of shitty experiences thanks to Kobayashi and the bullies trying to kill me.

    It was because of them I didn''t enjoy the same sort of prestige, riches or status, and I had to survive against all odds with them trying to kill me. No, I couldn''t simply return home. Not until I had my revenge on these bastards.

    I''ve to be careful.

    I had no idea what method Takeda Tetsuo used to plunder someone''s existence and abilities, but I couldn''t let him use it on me¡­yet.

    Lilith, on the other hand, looked bewildered, mostly because she wasn''t from our world and had no idea what we were talking about.

    "I should mention this too," Yonebashi quipped. "Even if they try to find a way to get summoned back to this world, they wouldn''t be able to get summoned here. In other words, those whose existence was plundered by our leader can never step into this world again."

    "That means¡­"

    Suzuki''s fingers curled around his spear, while his left hand clenched into a fist.

    "That in this world, Eiji has died¡­"

    His expression was nothing short of murderous. Mixed with fear, his mind was currently in a turmoil.

    "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?!" I screamed. Everyone stared at me.

    ¡­I give up. I was surrounded by idiots.

    "This is our ticket back home! Do you guys actually plan on staying in this world forever!? Why hasn''t any of you asked Takeda-kun to send you back home!? I want a ticket back home too! Well, not yet. I still have something to do, but once I''m done with my revenge, you can bet I''ll be the first one asking Takeda-kun to send me home!"

    "¡­you can go home on your own," Nagano replied.

    "Huh?! Don''t tell me none of you guys ever intend to go home?! What about your families?! Your friends?!"

    "This is our home now," Makoto replied coldly. "We''ve obtained too much things here to let go of them. There''s no way we can just return home to being¡­ordinary. You''ve to be insane to want to give up your special abilities and statuses. Here, we''re treated as heroes, we have wealth, we have respect, and people actually worship us. What are we going to do once we get home? Live a normal life? There''s no way we can do that."

    You''ve got to be kidding me¡­

    Or maybe this is the so-called human greed. Once they''ve gotten all these wealth, status, fame, admiration and followers, they''re highly reluctant to let go of all this.

    To be honest, I was a little reluctant to give up all the abilities I worked so hard to gain. I had been through so many life and death experiences, endeavored to get some cool equipment like my Redwood jacket and Library of Eden, could even summon a freaking Titan¡­yeah, it would be difficult to give all that up and live a normal life once again.

    "Whatever. It doesn''t matter."

    Suzuki glared at the Iron Knights. He was paying no attention to me and my rambling. Instead, he was indulging in his own fury.

    "For taking away one of my comrades¡­you must pay the price!"

    "Hey, hey!" Yonebashi scoffed as she waved his accusation away. "You''re the one who wanted to challenge our leader, and that was what caused your underling to be returned to Earth. Now you come asking for compensation? Isn''t this too much?"

    "Wait¡­"

    Nagano stepped forward to mediate. She smiled sweetly at Suzuki.

    "I want to know what kind of price the Iron Knights need to pay?"

    Suzuki stopped to consider. I could see the thoughts running through his head ¨C as usual, his expression made his thoughts so easy to read. Or perhaps this was an effect of Absolute Appraisal, which allowed me to guess what he was thinking.

    Currently, I stand no chance of victory if I want to challenge the Iron Knights. Now I don''t even have a chance to fight against Takeda.

    His eyes narrowed bitterly.

    Damn it¡­I can''t let Eiji''s death go to waste.

    Uh, what? Death? Ooyama didn''t die. Hello? Were you not paying any attention to what Nagano said? Then again, this was pure speculation, and I had no proof that this was actually what he was thinking. I was basing it on the dialogue I read from the manhua Yin zhi Shoumuren or The Silver Gravekeeper.

    Suzuki steeled his determination as he straightened himself. I couldn''t stop myself from snorting at how dramatic he was making the whole thing out to be.

    I need to use his death to make myself stronger.

    He finally came to a conclusion. Turning to Nagano, he twisted his expression into a sneer.

    "I heard Cross Castle has a rare and strong magical beast."

    Why didn''t I hear of that?

    "It''s called Demonic Shadow Dragon. Its strength is comparable to a game boss, and it will appear once every six months."

    "That''s right¡­" Nagano nodded to confirm his statement. "If you kill it, it leaves behind one Shadow Dragon Egg. It''s a rare object used to enhance one''s heroic weapon."

    Suzuki raised a finger arrogantly.

    "Give me one of those eggs and I will consider things square."

    "You really like egging people on, don''t you?" I growled. "Better be careful that these guys don''t kick you back to square one."

    What nonsense was this? He just lost a comrade because of his own stupidity, and then he was exploiting that to ask for compensation without even griefing Ooyama''s loss. Then again, it wasn''t as if Ooyama really died, so I guess there was no need to grieve over his absence. It might even be a cause for celebration since the dude got to return home.

    Man, I really needed to ask Takeda to send me home too. After I got rid of Kobayashi, of course.

    "Hey, are you serious?!"

    Makoto was outraged by Suzuki''s audacity.

    "You came here to give us an invitation from Kobayashi. Your underling didn''t have to disappear!"

    Underling¡­hey, Ooyama was our former classmate too, you know? You could refer to him by name instead of "Suzuki''s underling".

    Gendou Issei stepped forward to glare at Suzuki.

    "You dare use this to make deals?"

    However, Nagano didn''t seem to mind. She merely smiled warmly.

    "Okay, we can give you the Shadow Dragon Egg."

    "Hey! Nagano-san!" Makoto shouted furiously. "Are you serious? Why do we have to give it to him!?"

    Nagano ignored him and focused her attention on Suzuki instead. "But¡­we don''t have any Shadow Dragon Eggs left. I am a Sacred Swordsmith¡­I have used Shadow Dragon Eggs to forge everyone''s heroic weapons in the past."

    There was such a thing? Really? Using Shadow Dragon Eggs to forge weapons? I mean, I knew she was following the script from The Silver Gravekeeper, but this was bordering on plagiarism.

    "The Demonic Shadow Dragon from this half a year is still there," Nagano informed Suzuki calmly as she returned his gaze coolly. "If you want the Shadow Dragon Egg, then you need to kill it yourself. Is that fine?"

    "Oh, then thank you very much."

    Suzuki Shirou was grinning manically. As for me, I buried my face in my palm. Even a fool would see that this was a trap.

    No, actually, it might not be a trap. Nagano simply didn''t care if Suzuki obtained it or not. It wasn''t as if the Iron Knights would lose anything. As for me, I smiled as an idea clicked in my head. I already had an idea of how to achieve payback on Suzuki for his attitude toward me in class. If the Iron Knights weren''t going to lure him into a trap, then I would.

    "Aoyama-kun, please escort him to the Demonic Shadow Dragon''s Lair."

    "..."

    Aoyama had remained silent all this while, probably not too eager about this, but he respected Nagano''s decision.

    "Good. Hehe."

    Suzuki chuckled before he retrieved something from his armor.

    "Take this."

    He tossed the object at Nagano. It looked like an invitation card, but I could sense powerful enchantments on it with Absolute Appraisal. Seemed like it wasn''t just a simple invitation card, but it had something more within its contents.

    This was the invitation to the discussion of a truce that they were talking about earlier?

    Were Kobayashi and Takeda really going to have a truce? I honestly doubted it. Knowing Kobayashi, the fucker would probably stab Takeda''s group in the back once they lowered their guard. He was that sort of person, after all.

    On the other hand, I didn''t know Takeda that well, but I was under the impression that he was a cunning fellow. He wouldn''t fall for Kobayashi''s trap that easily.

    "Hey¡­!"

    Suzuki called out to me.

    "Since I have a chance to meet you, I might as well warn you."

    "Warn me? About what?"

    I was taken aback by Suzuki''s statement. Nishida stepped forward.

    "Ah¡­apparently Kobayashi is gunning for your head, Tanaka-kun."

    "I don''t know why, but he and his little group seem pretty obsessed with trying to kill you." Suzuki shrugged callously. "Well, it''s not my problem. Just don''t get yourself killed before I get to fight you. Kobayashi''s one tough bastard."

    "I see. And you¡­aren''t obsessed with killing me?"

    Suzuki barked out a laugh. "Kill you? Why would I want to kill you?"

    "Uh, you''ve been attacking me every chance you get."

    "Because you''re strong!" Suzuki exclaimed. Now that was a change. This was the first time that a former classmate had acknowledged my strength. What the hell, man? I didn''t know how to feel about this.

    Minamoto, Asakura and all the others were so blinded and obsessed with calling me a weakling and refusing to believe that I could defeat them. To put it simply, they were deluded. On the other hand, while Suzuki was antagonistic and aggressive toward me, it was because he recognized my worth as an opponent and wanted to test his skills against mine.

    And just like the Iron Knights, Suzuki didn''t seem to have this fanatical obsession with killing me like Kobayashi and his gang did. After experiencing those murderous maniacs hellbent on ending my life multiple times, this felt strange.

    "What would I do without you? Go back to ripping demons apart? No, you complete me. There are very few opponents who can stand on equal ground with me, so obviously my goal is to beat you someday."

    "Uh, it''s not like you lost to me."

    "But I haven''t won against you either. Both times you successfully fended off my attacks. Makes me curious what the outcome would be if we both go all out."

    I honestly would rather avoid fighting if I could, but Suzuki didn''t seem like he was going to let me off.

    "Well, I''ll catch you later. For now, I''m going to hunt¡­"

    Turning away, Suzuki followed Aoyama as he led them away to the Demonic Shadow Dragon''s Lair. Nishida hastily followed his leader.

    "Tanaka-kun, since Suzuki-kun has left¡­"

    Nagano stepped forward to speak to me.

    "You should go see the leader."

    As if on cue, the doors before me swung outward, opening to reveal the chamber within. As with before, wisps of purple energy drifted out from inside. I felt a creepy sensation as they brushed past my skin.

    "Takeda Tetsuo."

    I swallowed nervously as I stood firmly to stare within what seemed like an abyss. As they said, peer into the abyss and it would stare back at you.

    "Tomoyuki-kun¡­I''ll go with you!"

    Lilith stepped forward to accompany me, but Nagano grabbed her hand to restrain her.

    "You can''t."

    Speaking in a gentle tone, Nagano smiled apologetically.

    "This is a private conversation between them, and¡­"

    Nagano''s smile turned warm and friendly.

    "I have a few things to discuss with you as well."

    "Me?!"

    Lilith was surprised. As for me, I felt immensely suspicious when I watched Nagano pull Lilith''s attention away.

    They don''t even know who Lilith-san is, so why would they want to discuss anything with her?

    "Be careful," I warned her. "But Nagano-san is somewhat right. I''m going to talk to Takeda-kun regarding some personal matters as well."

    "Eh?" Lilith looked surprised. "Aren''t you going to discuss with him the matter of an alliance with the demons? You haven''t forgotten that this is a diplomatic mission for Morten and the whole of the demon race, have you?"

    "Yes, I remember. But there are also other things in the discussion that extends further than the alliance with Morten. It pertains our mutual enemy, Kobayashi. We have quite the long history together. I''m sorry, but it might be too confusing for you."

    "¡­" Lilith stared at me, and then nodded. "I''ll trust you then."

    "Thank you."

    I bowed to her gratefully before turning around and walking through the wide open doors. A vast chamber awaited me, illuminated by gentle, purple flames that flickered atop enchanted torches. I guess they were supposed to resemble a dungeon or medieval fantasy castle or something.

    Clearly Takeda decided to go all the way with this roleplay of his.

    I sighed in exasperation, then shoved all unnecessary thoughts out of my mind as I walked along the cold, dark tiles and toward the leader of Iron Knights. A tall, muscular man in silver armor waited at the end of the room, right in front of the altar. He was facing me, his bare face masked by what seemed like a sinister smile.

    "We finally meet face to face¡­Tanaka Tomoyuki."

    "Takeda Tetsuo," I acknowledged with a roll of my eyes. He smiled.

    "Knowing you, you probably figured out why I''ve invited you here for."

    "Yeah." I nodded, my expression solemn. I still couldn''t help but suppress the desire to bury my face in my palm. Seriously, why so dramatic?

    "¡­?"

    I realized that Takeda was staring at me, confused by how I was being so distracted by issues that extended beyond the fourth dimension. Clearing my throat, I spoke to affirm his statement.

    "We''re here to exchange information, aren''t we?"

 77 Chapter 77: Information Exchange

    As we stood in front of the altar, Takeda smiled at me warmly. Unlike earlier, where he absorbed Ooyama''s existence, his expression was bereft of derision.

    "Like you, my biggest enemy is Kobayashi and his goons."

    I narrowed my eyes and watched him carefully behind my lenses.

    Name: Takeda Tetsuo

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Revered Robber/Hero

    Special Abilities: Plunder (Click to see list of Plundered abilities)

    Plunder, huh? That was quite the scary ability.

    However, not caring what I knew about him, Takeda continued.

    "Did you find anything about them so far?"

    "What would I know about Kobayashi that you wouldn''t already know?" I countered. "You guys have been here for six months more than me. I''m just a newcomer."

    "That might be true, but you''ve been through quite a lot, I''ve heard. What I need to know is a confirmation of who you''ve killed." Takeda shrugged. "There are a few heroes who have gone missing, and all we have are rumors regarding their whereabouts or reasons. It would be a huge assurance if we know which of them are confirmed dead."

    "I see."

    Taking a deep breath, I raised my smartphone and beamed the information to him.

    "Here are the people who tried to kill me and forced my hand. Tsukishima Tomoyo. Kijima Takeshi. Minamoto Kureha. Asakura Akane. Miyazawa Miyako. Sakaguchi Seiji was killed by my comrade outside, Lilith Scarlet."

    "So six down. All of them Kobayashi''s goons." Takeda smiled coldly. "I''m really grateful to you for reducing their numbers so drastically. So there should be maybe ten of them left?"

    "Ten?"

    Six of Kobayashi''s goons were dead. Then there was Samejima Hiroki who Kobayashi had sacrificed to win against the previous Demon Lord. That made seven. Exclude me, the nine Iron Knights, and the three delinquents that made up Suzuki''s group, that left ten former classmates. Twelve if we included the survivors of Suzuki''s group, now that Ooyama Eiji was gone.

    "We can count Suzuki''s group as separate ¨C right now, they''re operating under Kobayashi because he''s stronger than them, but Suzuki has no loyalty toward him. Not like the rest. That leaves ten. Kobayashi Kenji himself, and his two right-hand men, Yamada Yuji and Ishida Ryuuji. They''re supported by two healers, Yoshida Yume and Midorikawa Midori. The remaining five include Kishimoto Hikaru, a divine lancer who''s on par with Suzuki himself, and¡­"

    I decided to move on because I didn''t want to reveal the remaining four former classmates this soon. Probably because I still hadn''t thought up their names or special abilities yet, and might have alternative plans for them later in the future. Cough¡­I mean because the readers didn''t want an info dump.

    Speaking of which, before I had entered the chamber, I had asked Nagano about something.

    "Nagano-san, you said you''re a Sacred Swordsmith, right?"

    "Yeah," she had replied. Since we had traveled together to fight the dragon and rescue Princess Merly, she wasn''t surprised that I already knew about that.

    "I might need to rely on you later to repair a sword."

    I still had Minamoto Kureha''s broken sword with me, which needed repair. As a normal swordsmith couldn''t repair it, I was advised by Smith to send it to a demonic swordsmith or something. But if it was one of the heroes who specialized in swordsmithing, then I definitely could rely on someone like Nagano to repair it.

    However, I didn''t want to keep Takeda waiting, so I had proceeded right into the chamber, telling Nagano, "I''ll ask you about it later, sorry."

    "Yeah, no worries. I''ll be waiting."

    Right now, that Nagano Nanaka was accompanying Lilith along with another former classmate as they walked down a corridor.

    "I''m Nagano Nanaka, and we''ve already met. I''m the Iron Knights'' Sacred Swordsmith. And this is Domon Daisuke."

    "Lilith-san, are you a friend of Tanaka-kun?"

    Domon smiled at her warmly. The guy had lost some weight ever since he had come here, probably due to the strict training regimen of the heroes as well as combat experience against the demons. I wondered if Kobayashi and his gang had decided to switch targets to bullying Domon again after they tried to kill me.

    "Yes, we''re comrades." Lilith nodded in confirmation. "We''ve fought together against an enemy, and he helped save my domain from invasion."

    She was tactful enough not to mention that we slew two of the heroes together, and that her domain had been invaded by the humans. Instead, she diverted the topic toward a more harmless direction.

    "Where are you taking me?"

    "Don''t worry, we''re already here."

    Domon stopped before a door and opened it to reveal a dimly illuminated chamber.

    Lilith frowned.

    "This place is¡­?"

    "We know you''re a vampire," Domon told her. Lilith stiffened for a moment, but Nagano quickly raised her hands in assurance.

    "Don''t worry. We''ve no plans of attacking you or something. You''re an ally, and we plan to ally with the demons. Of course we''re not going to spoil it by attempting to assassinate the queen of vampires and Haemorage."

    "But before we can trust you, we need you to play along with us for a bit."

    Domon stepped forward and summoned a bunch of carnivorous grass-type monsters that writhed and sprouted aggressively.

    Agricultural Assault, no doubt.

    "Domon-san¡­right? Why did you summon these beasts?"

    Lilith frowned.

    "These are Kiyoubana, a type of plant monster." Domon raised a hand and pointed toward the center of the grass formation, where a golden treasure gleamed. "You see that there''s a Golden Blood Medallion in the middle of the chamber?"

    The carnivorous plants were guarding the medallion zealously, snapping their jaws and slashing their razor-sharp leaves in the air.

    "If you can take it, you pass." he smiled warmly. "I hope you can do it in the shortest time possible."

    "What does the medallion do?" Lilith asked coolly, folding her arms. "And why should I play this game with you?"

    "The Golden Blood Medallion boosts blood magic," Domon explained. "It''s a pity we don''t have any vampires or blood magic users among the heroes, so this treasure has been kept here for ages, without being used. We would be happy to give it to you. However, as it is very valuable, we can''t simply give it away to just anyone for free."

    "Therefore you need me to pass a test, so that you officially have a legitimate reason to give it to me."

    Lilith finally understood. Nagano nodded with a smile.

    "That''s right. And there''s another thing. We''ll tell you everything about the heroes as well. Or rather, Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "Hmm, and what can you tell me about Evelyn''s Chosen that I don''t already know?" Lilith asked with a frown.

    "Tanaka-kun probably hasn''t told you, has he? That we''re all from another world."

    "¡­"

    Lilith didn''t respond to that. She frowned as she regarded Nagano and Domon. It was true that the names of both me and all the other heroes were highly exotic, not heard of by anyone in Restia, but the demons simply assumed that the heroes all came from an island from the Far East, separated by violent seas and terribe tempests, as well as sea monsters.

    That was why only the strongest among humanity could cross such tumultuous seas.

    "It''s probably not Tanaka-kun''s fault either," Nagano continued. "Given how he has only just recently arrived here after being thrown off the summoning spell and into a temporal anamoly, there''s a lot of things he doesn''t know about being heroes either."

    "Tanaka-kun might not even be one of us," Domon mumbled softly. "Not a hero for humans, not chosen by the goddess Evelyn¡­he really is an anomaly."

    Nagano shrugged. "As long as he''s on our side, that''s all we need."

    "I''ll tell you a little bit first." Domon raised a hand. "As Nagano-san said, we''re all from another world called Earth. We were summoned to Restia by the goddess, Evelyn."

    Lilith scowled in disbelief. "I mean, I got that the first time, but why would the goddess summon people from another world? If she really needs heroes, why can''t she just bless the current humans of Restia? Is there even a need to summon people from another world? Why go through all that trouble? What''s so special about you guys?"

    "It''s the isekai clich¨¦," Domon explained. "Every isekai story has it. A god or goddess summons a bunch of high school students from another world to be heroes to save the human kingdoms from the demons."

    Nagano smacked his head. "Explain properly! That''s not a good reason, even if it''s always used by every other isekai story out there!"

    Domon coughed, and then continued. "Well, as I was saying, for this particular instance, it appears that the humans of Restia cannot handle Evelyn''s powers. Only humans from another world will be able to endure the blessings and the transformations or enhancements they place on their bodies. If Evelyn blesses a resident of Restia, their bodies wouldn''t be able to withstand the enhancements, rupture from within and lead to their deaths."

    Lilith grimaced. "That sounds like quite the gruesome death."

    "That''s where we come in." Nagano smiled. "And the rest of the information¡­we''ll impart to you after you pass the test."

    Back to where I was with Takeda, we were watching the information of my smartphone.

    "As Nagano-san probably already told you, shortly after we rescued Princess Merly, Kobayashi made his move and executed a coup d''etat. He killed and usurped King Legis''s throne, as well as overthrew all the kings of the human kingdoms and united them under his rule. Right now, he''s mobilizing all the human armies under him to crush the demon race in Morten."

    "Yes, Nagano-san did tell me some of that, but you provide far more detailed information. It seems that you''re the one most familiar with Kobayashi''s methods, having been a victim of his abuse for so long."

    "¡­"

    I decided not to mention about how Takeda did nothing and merely stood by to watch Kobayashi and his gang abuse me. This was why I couldn''t fully trust him. He only reached out to me when he needed my help, but when I wasn''t needed, he didn''t care if I got beaten up or not. But I wasn''t na?ve enough to blame others for my own being bullied. I was picked on and beaten up because I wasn''t strong enough.

    How could I blame others for my own lack of strength? Furthermore, nobody was obligated to help me. Especially since Kobayashi would shift his attention to target them next, as could be seen when I stood up for Domon.

    "It appears that Kobayashi has killed every single king and queen, and forcibly married all their daughters in one gigantic princess harem," Takeda remarked as he studied the information in my smartphone. I nodded.

    "That''s the news I gathered from my guild."

    The mercenary guild posted news online, which I could read and access as long as I had my communication device on me. Along with the mobile storage space, this electronic bulletin and online interface were truly convenient.

    "Well, that''s all the information I can provide you for now. So it''s your turn. I''m kind of interested in what sort of special ability Kobayashi himself possesses."

    I had to fight him one day, so I needed to prepare myself for that.

    "Follow me, I''ll show you something."

    Takeda turned toward the altar and hit a switch. To my astonishment, something opened up in the altar''s surface, revealing an elevator behind those doors.

    There were elevators in this fantasy medieval world? Then again, I couldn''t call this medieval any longer, given how the demonic domains of Morten were on the brink of industrial revolution. We had tanks, airships, armored personnel carriers, muskets and cannons. Elevators shouldn''t be too surprising.

    I stepped toward the elevator, following Takeda''s lead.

    "Where does this elevator go?"

    "To the truth."

    "¡­"

    Dude, what was with that cryptic sentence? I knew Takeda was trying to sound enigmatic and mysterious, not to mention cool, but honestly, that sounded cheesy and lame.

    As the elevator moved upward slowly, the gears and hydraulics hauling us along, Takeda turned to me.

    "Tanaka-kun, have you thought about this before?"

    I shrugged. "Thought about what?"

    "Why is Kobayashi so obsessed with abusing you, to the point that he tried to kill you? And how is he able to get so many of our other classmates to follow him, to listen to him? Surely you must have noticed how unnatural their obsession with killing you is."

    "They''re brainwashed by Fate," I replied with another shrug. "Or brainwashed by some other god or goddesses who is obsessed with wiping me out from Restia."

    "But why are they so determined to remove you from Restia?"

    "That''s something I don''t know," I admitted. "But I suspect it has something to do with some cosmic game that the gods are playing."

    Ching!

    A sharp slice whistled through the air as Lilith slashed through the carnivorous plants with her blood-red spear.

    She watched the remaining writhing plants calmly, her verdant enemies actually shrinking away from her as if they actually felt fear.

    Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

    How boring.

    Lilith almost felt ridicule for this whole farce. Well, the Blood Medallion would make for a good prize if what they said about it was true.

    But she was also curious about what Domon and Nagano had ti say. Somehow these otherworlders had caught her attention. If theyvwere telling the truth, then everything she knew about Restia would be turned on its head.

    Did the humans already know that their heroes are from another world?

    There was no way they wouldn''t know that, right? Then why didn''t the demons know? All they knew about the "heroes" were that they were chosen by the goddess of human, Evelyn. Hence the name they gave to that selected group, Evelyn''s Chosen.

    But what did it mean? Lilith and the demonic intelligence department always knew that there was something strange about Eveyln''s Chosen. They were so much stronger than normal humans, even more so than most of the demons. Why didn''t Evelyn bless all of her human populace then? Perhaps she had some sort of limit. But why¡­these otherworlders in particular?

    There were so many questions, and Lilith bet that even the Eveyln''s Chosen themselves wouldn''t know all the answers.

    Not that she cared.

    Twirling her spear, she obliterated a swathe of greenery flowers who attacked her out of desperation. Spinning her spear, she called forth a barrage of blood spears that pierced through the foliage and tore them apart.

    "Not bad," Domon remarked, impressed.

    But Lilith wasn''t done yet.

    "Bloody Barrage."

    Directing her blood spears, she had them change direction in midair and pierce through the foliage again, tearing through the hapless carnivorous plants. Heaving her original spear up, Lilith infused it with mana before hurling it into the middle of the plants.

    An explosion rocked the chamber before the carnivorous plants were completely wiped out, engulfed by a blood-red explosion that ravenously spread out. Domon casally tilted his head as one of the blood-red trendrils surged in his direction, avoiding the blast.

    He smiled, impressed.

    Amazing. She destroyed the entire bunch of high-level Kiyoubana in just three moves? Even we heroes would have trouble fighting such monsters.

    He studied her triumphant figure, Lilith emerging from the gloom coolly with the shining medallion in her hand.

    She might be stronger than even us heroes. She didn''t even require one minute¡­

    Lilith glared at him, holding up the golden medallion for emphasis.

    "I''ll leave the rest to you, Domon-kun," Nagano spoke up. She didn''t seem surprised at all, but that was because she was familiar with Lilith''s strength. Smiling, she took her leave. "I have other things to prepare for, so I''ll return to the forging room first."

    Lilith stepped right to the front of Domon.

    "Please tell me everything you know about Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "I will." Domon nodded. "But since this is going to be a long talk, let''s first sit down and have some tea."

    Back in the elevator, Takeda was staring at me in amusement as he held up the invitation he received from Suzuki. When did Nagano pass that to him? Or did she send it to him via the mobile storage space that I used?

    "Have you wondered why Kobayashi is willing to sign a truce with us, yet refuses to get off your back?"

    "If I have to guess¡­" I shrugged. "It''s because he hates me."

    Takeda burst out laughing.

    "You''re not mistaken about that," he agreed. "But have you wondered why he hates you so much? To the point that it''s unnatural."

    "I always believed it''s because I defied him," I replied. "I refused to submit to him, and whenever he bullies me, I fight back. I refuse to let him walk over me and beat me. He''s pretty angry at that because he''s so used to having everything his way. He can''t stand anyone saying no or defying him. He wants to break my spirit, break me so that I''ll finally submit to him. Maybe he has some kind of king complex where he needs everyone to obey him?"

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    Takeda chuckled as he placed an arm over my shoulders.

    "That''s a pretty good psychoanalysis of your opponent. I can''t find any holes in your logic at all. You might be right."

    "Well¡­"

    "But what about the rest? Why are they so easily going along with Kobayashi? Are they merely following along with what he says, or are they also just as obsessed and determined in killing you as he is? Do you remember?"

    I frowned as I thought back to what Minamoto, Tsukishima, Kijima, Asakura, Miyazawa and Sakaguchi said when I first met them. They hadn''t even reported to Kobayashi or told him anything, yet they were so deathly afraid of me.

    Afraid and¡­filled with so much hatred. They had used the excuse that they were worried about me taking revenge on them, and immediately tried to murder me before I could reason with them, refusing to listen to me. I wondered why.

    "You''re right. They¡­were all seemingly obsessed with killing me. It wasn''t just Kobayashi. The others too, they tried to kill me for the most ridiculous reasons. They refused to listen to me and just launched their attacks, forcing my hand."

    "Yes." Takeda smiled as he leaned closer. "You were asking me what Kobayashi''s special ability was. That''s one of them."

    "¡­huh?"

    "Kingly Disposition."

    What the fuck was that!?

    Seeing my incredulous expression, Takeda elaborated.

    "It''s one of Kobayashi''s special abilities. It brainwashes all his most fervent followers into believing the same things as him. It''s probably the reason why he was so successful in usurping the thrones and uniting all the human kingdoms under him. He must have so many followers among the residents of Restia. Normally such a bold and outrageous move would result in civil war and strife, and open rebellion. But why do you think the majority of the human kingdoms just accepted him as their new emperor?"

    "Because¡­of this ability?"

    "That''s right. It''s a terrifying ability, if you think about it." Takeda turned grim. "It has the power to move the masses, the potential to unite the whole of humanity against a common enemy. Unlike the demon race, who are fractured after the fall of the previous Demon Lord, the humans will be able to overwhelm them through sheer numbers and under the lead of the heroes. They become fanatical zealots devoted to Kobayashi''s cause, willing to throw themselves and sacrifice their lives for his selfish, greedy ambition."

    "It''s like Kobayashi is controlling obedient, mindless hordes of undead," I muttered, thinking about the irony. And I was supposed to be the undead lich.

    "That''s right. If we don''t do something soon, Kobayashi will soon unite all of humanity under his banner, and the demonic territories of Morten will not be able to hold out against the onslaught of mindless slaves enslaved to Kobayashi''s will. Pretty soon, there will be nothing standing in Kobayashi''s way of becoming the tyrannical dictator of all of Restia."

 78 Chapter 78: Negotiation

    "That has to be the most stupid thing the goddess Evelyn did ever," I muttered in disbelief. "Choosing Kobayashi to be her hero. I thought she wanted us to save the people of Restia, but it ends up with the main hero enslaving the human populace of Restia without any resistance, and becoming a tyrannical emperor who rules over this world?!"

    "Well, it''s not as if there isn''t any resistance," Takeda informed me. "There are several human kingdoms who refused to bow down to Kobayashi''s rule, especially because he pissed them off by killing their kings and queens. The royalties of those countries have formed an alliance to resist his dictatorship, and are rebelling even as we speak. Perhaps we can persuade them to join our cause, to ally with the demons to fight against Kobayashi. To be honest, he''s the greatest threat to Restia now, not the demons."

    How ironic. The heroes who were summoned to save Restia from demons had become the most dangerous threat to Restia itself, and the only hope free humans had of escaping tyranny and slavery was to ally with their previous enemies, the demons.

    This was why you don''t summon random strangers from another world to protect your world. You can''t ever trust them, especially if he was a greedy, ambitious, selfish, self-entitled arrogant bastard like Kobayashi Kenji.

    "Kobayashi Kenji, the self-declared Emperor of Humanity and Restia, and the biggest enemy to both you and us, the Iron Knights. Not only can he enslave the masses through his Kingly Disposition ability, he is also nearly invincible in combat with his Peerless Knight special ability and Royal Armor equipment. Not to mention, he wields the Holy Excalibur treasure sword that our Nagano-san has forged for him."

    "I bet she regretted doing that now," I remarked. It also explained why Nagano was able to stay behind and serve as undercover in Havia City even while the rest of the Iron Knights went into hiding. She had established a close relationship with Kobayashi through forging his most powerful weapon for him in the past. Takeda nodded.

    "That''s why Nagano-san is so determined to stop him. She wants to repent for her mistake."

    "Nagano-san should cut herself some slack. It''s not as if she or anyone could have predicted Kobayashi going this far."

    Takeda snorted. "I''m sure you have already anticipated that."

    "What do you think I am?" I scoffed. "I might hold a grudge against Kobayashi, but even I wouldn''t imagine that he would go this far."

    Not to mention, he also had his sights on becoming not just the Emperor of Humanity but also the Emperor of Restia.

    The guy was totally nuts. Well, that much I already knew.

    "So what exactly do you plan on doing?" I asked, folding my arms. "You plan to ally with the demons and the rebelling human kingdoms to fight against Kobayashi?"

    "That''s right. And from Nagano-san''s information, I can tell that in a week''s time, Kobayashi intends to launch his attacks on ten different domains in Morten. Apart from Moria, he''s seeking to isolate each of the strongest demonic domains and destroy them to cripple Morten''s strength. Your friend ¨C Lilith, if I''m not mistaken ¨C and her domain is among those targeted. The force he sent a few days ago with Sakaguchi and Miyazawa as the vanguard was just to test the waters and scout out their strength. No doubt he''ll personally head a much bigger force there to destroy them in a week''s time. But they aren''t his first target. His first target is the dwarven kingdom of Moria, which is the only exception and not part of the nine strongest domains. He intends to wreck the demons'' technological infrastructure and war industry before he attacks the rest of Morten."

    "You''ve got to hand it to Kobayashi, he is smart," I muttered grudgingly.

    "Once he gets past all nine domains, he''ll launch his attack on the capital of Morten itself, Helsguard, and kill the current Demon Lord. Upon accomplishing that, he will set up a military base there and begin systemaically rooting out all the remaining demonic survivors. When that happens, it will be impossible to defeat him."

    "Yeah. The demon race is the last great power standing against Kobayashi and his armies."

    I gritted my teeth. This was not looking good at all. We couldn''t let iit come to that, or Kobayashi would be surrounded by an unassailable wall of indoctrinated soldiers and citizens solely devoted to his cause.

    "And he has put a huge bounty on each of the demon nobles that lord over those respective domains, such as your friend, Lilith. You can be sure that a lot of warriors, mercenaries, adventurers and soldiers will be aiming for their heads."

    "I just hope they don''t let Kobayashi''s promises of rewards get into their heads," I muttered.

    "I see your penchant for puns still hasn''t changed. Well, the exception is still Moria. While the dwarven kingdom does not have a strong demon noble in charge of them like the other nnine domains, they remain strategically vital to Morten''s war industry. Destroying them will still cripple the demon race."

    Back in Hoshizaki''s room inside Cross Castle, Yonebashi was standing against the window while Hoshizaki Kozue was seated on her bed, staring at her smartphone.

    "From today onward, Kobayashi-kun has issued a huge bounty for each of the demon nobles in charge of the nine domains that he has targeted." She frowned. "Isn''t this Tanaka-kun''s friend? Lilith? Seems like she''s the queen of Heamorage."

    "That''s of course. Each demon noble killed will tremendously weaken the demon race." Yonebashi Kyoko stretched her back as she turned back to Hoshizaki. "Kozue-chan, what do you think? We''ll have to protect the demon nobles, don''t we?"

    "Seems like it," Hoshizaki agreed glumly. Yonebashi giggled at her expression.

    "It''s funny, isn''t it? We were originally summoned to this world to defeat the demons. But now we''re supposed to protect them from one of our former comrades. I can''t believe it has come to this. Just what is Kobayashi-kun thinking?"

    "I don''t know."

    Hoshizaki jumped off her bed, chewing her lip. Raising her hand, she conjured a tear in space, which glowed yellow while revealing a vast darkness on the other side.

    Stellar Travel: Wormhole.

    "Wormhole, open!"

    "Oh?"

    Yonebashi lowered her ruby-lense glasses to peer at Hoshizaki''s spell, astonished.

    "I''ve never seen this move before¡­it looks like a spell that sends you to a specific location?"

    "Yes," Hoshizaki affirmed. "There''s someone I''ve to visit."

    There was sorrow written all over her expression as she regarded the dark space on the other side of her wormhole, but she did not hesitate to step through it, disappearing into the other side. Even as she vanished, her words continued to trail out back into her room.

    "An old friend."

    Meanwhile, somewhere back inside Cross Castle, in an underground cave that was full of stalactites and stalagmites, the trio of guys stood in the middle of the darkness. Nishida Kensuke trembled as he raised a shaking hand to point in front of them.

    "Boss¡­that''s¡­"

    A titanic eye looked down menacingly on the trio. Zooming out, a massive dragon that stretched over a hundred meters in length glared down on the two delinquents, purple demonic mana crackling all over it.

    "¡­the Demonic Shadow Dragon."

    Nishida swallowed in fear. Swallowing, he gestured wildly.

    "Boss, do you need me to bring Aoyama back here? Ask him what weak points this thing has? I heard it''s almost as strong as an ancient dragon."

    Suzuki Shirou glared at Nishida, his veins popping in annoyance.

    "Why are you scared?"

    With a scoff, he turned his back on the intimidating Demonic Shadow Dragon and rested his spear casually on his shoulder.

    "If we can''t even kill this lizard¡­"

    His eyes gleamed murderously in the dark, almost shining golden with lightning that began to spread all over his body in response to his fighting intent.

    "How can we hope to kill the real monsters that are the demon nobles in the nine domains Kobayashi assigned us to take¡­?"

    Back in the elevator, Takeda continued with his explanation.

    "As you know, there are seventy-two demonic domains in Morten. Each domain is ruled by a demon noble, guarded by vast armies loyal specifically to that lord."

    "Seventy-two, huh?"

    I had heard of that. It was similar to the Lesser Key of Solomon and the seventy-two demons of Goetia, except that there were a few differences in Restia''s version.

    "The nobles ruling the top nine domains are on a completely different level." Takeda narrowed his eyes. "Each of them has the potential to be the Demon Lord, the number one Lord of all demons. And each of them has the power to rival us heroes, possessing enough combat ability to beat a party of us. If they get over their pride and ever decide to form a party of their own, they would be able to destroy even us heroes."

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    Now that I thought about it, Regis and Lilith, as well as the previous Demon Lord, only ever fought alone, without asking help from each other. They did send military might, but they didn''t form a party of demon nobles to take out the heroes.

    Was it really just pride?

    "It''s also politics," Takeda added, as if reading my thoughts. "Each of those demon nobles are keeping a watchful eye on each other, waiting for one of them to slip up so that they can usurp the position of the Demon Lord. In fact, it benefits them politically if they allow their rivals to get killed by the heroes. That''s why they don''t bother banding together. They have one eye on the throne that belongs to the current Demon Lord. The sooner he vacates that, the better."

    "So I''ve to convince them to work together?"

    Takeda chortled at that. "Good luck succeeding in that. You''ll have an easier time fighting through Kobayashi''s army."

    "Ugh¡­"

    Somehow I felt as if I had just been made a fool of.

    "And as for this territory¡­Cross Castle used to belong to the demon noble, Varic, who was in charge of this domain, formerly known as Vashna. Varic, also known as the Bone Dragon King, willingly became my equipment."

    Takeda''s armor glowed, and I could see the visage of a skeletal dragon looming over Takeda. It looked very comfortable taking the form of his armor and serving him.

    "We reached an agreement. Kobayashi had slaughtered his forces and nearly killed me. I stumbled across the dying Varic and offered him a deal. Even though I wasn''t able to save him, I could carry on his ideals and take revenge for him."

    "So that''s how he became your equipment."

    "Yes," Takeda nodded. "It happened as part of the multi-pronged invasions shortly after Kobayashi and us defeated the previous Demon Lord. He launched assaults on several domains. This Vashna domain used to be one of them."

    "Uh huh. Cool story, bro."

    I nodded absent-mindedly as I listened. There should be more to this story than what I was hearing, but I doubted I would ever get to know it. Nonetheless, Takeda had given me no reason to doubt him, so there was no point questioning his every sentence.

    Folding his arms, Takeda continued seriously.

    "But the demon nobles of the nine strongest domains are very different. They have a lot of pride. They won''t easily agree to an alliance. Right now, they are cooperating under Emperor Regis''s command, but they''re granted full autonomy. The only exception is Moria but they are not entirely autonomous and are extremely reliant on the other demonic domains for trade and protection. They''re the odd one out in the ten targeted domains. That''s not the case for the other nine domains that Kobayashi has set his sights on. They are not as reliant or vulnerable. Your friend, Lilith, also had her domain break away independently before returning to the alliance a week ago. And even then, I suspect she maintains a high amount of autonomy."

    That was true. From what I had seen, Lilith wasn''t beholden to the beck and call of Regis like the other smaller and weaker demon nobles. She pretty much did whatever she wanted.

    "They descend from ancient, prestigious lineages that are almost as old as Morten itself."

    While Takeda continued elaborating, Hoshizaki walked through a vast, cavernous space filled with rocks and violet crystals. The air itself was imbued with violent mana, shining demonically in the form of mystical bubbles.

    "Since the birth of Morten, the lineage they descended from are among the most dangerous and powerful demons."

    Hoshizaki continued walking along the cavern even as Takeda''s voice echoed in the background. What was this, an anime-styled exposition?

    "Arrogant¡­dominating¡­unyielding¡­"

    Hoshizaki paused in front of a particularly massive purple crystalline structure.

    "Since the beginning, no one was able to command them, nor was there anyone capable of defeating them!"

    "Except the heroes," I muttered. Takeda conceded that with a smile. Back in the cavern, Hoshizaki looked up at the crystalline structure she stopped in front of.

    "Even the heroes will have difficulty defeating them. It took almost the entire class and even so, Kobayashi sacrificed Samejima-kun just to defeat the previous Demon Lord. Now that our numbers have been diminished, especially with you being forced to kill several of them who have¡­gone insane, and the Iron Knights breaking away from the majority of the class¡­"

    That was right. I remembered that the whole class, except me, had gone to fight the previous Demon Lord in Helsreach about a month ago, and even then they had difficulty defeating him. Hell, Kobayashi even failed to kill him. Thanks to that, I ended up devouring the Demon Lord and gaining his special abilities, but even then I only obtained a fraction of his strength.

    ¡­and that small fraction alone was already enough to defeat a hero or two¡­

    "It doesn''t matter if they were heroes or the most powerful guardians, they were worthless in their eyes. Your friend, Lilith, is only the ninth, and weakest among them, but in time she''ll definitely reach her mother''s strength. When she does¡­"

    There was nothing much to say. I knew that Lilith had the potential to become among the most powerful demon nobles, a challenger for the throne of Demon Lord.

    In addition to her, there was also¡­

    "Nice to see you again, Kozue-chan."

    A woman with lavender hair was seated in a throne that had been carved into the violet crystalline structure that Hoshizaki had stopped in front of, dressed in a skintight, leotard that bared her shoulder and much of her upper chest to emphasize her voluptuous figure.

    "Long time no see," Hoshizaki greeted the massive figure, who had a lavender flower in her hair. "Lord of Lustrous, Queen Asmodai."

    Asmodai smiled warmly at Hoshizaki''s deferential greeting.

    "Have you come to play, Kozue-chan?"

    "No, I''ve come to negotiate. I see you''re still maintaining your independence from the Demon Alliance. Even the vampire queen of Haemorage has agreed to rejoin the alliance. Won''t you reconsider?"

    "Kozue-chan, I consider you a friend¡­especially after having that battle to the death so long ago. Hmm, even though I won, you''re the only person who has successfully escaped from me. That''s why I''ve become interested in you."

    Hoshizaki swallowed, but didn''t reply to that.

    "But if you insist on this alliance, even I''ll get angry, you know?"

    "I¡­" Hoshizaki trailed off, unsure of how to continue. "I''m just worried. Kobayashi-kun is very strong, you know? And now he has all of the human kingdoms under his rule. It''s only a matter of time before he arrives here with a powerful army."

    "Let them come," Asmodai replied sinisterly. "I welcome them. If this bold fool thinks he has what it takes to conquer my Lustrous domain, he is welcome to try. I will crush him with my vast armies of incubus and succubus. We''ll show them the heights of pleasure before plunging them into the depths of hell. It''ll be pure ectasy!"

    Asmodai was so animated that she was practically dancing in her seat.

    "Kobayashi-kun is not an enemy that you can underestimate," Hoshizaki warned. Asmodai merely smiled.

    "Perhaps not, but I''ve been longing for an enemy that can finally entertain me and my armies. And I''m sure the other six are the same. Regis might have the whole of Morten to take care of, and Lilith has just only inherited her mother''s title, so she''s still fresh and new, so the two of them might need each other and the other sixty-three demon nobles, but as for the other seven of us¡­we''ll be more than happy to test out skills against these Evelyn''s Chosen."

    Just how high did we need to go?!

    Well, putting that aside, I had more important things to worry about. I placed my finger on my chin and contemplated.

    "That means¡­to make up for the lack of heroes after the splits and deaths, and to tackle the demon nobles who are so strong that even Kobayashi doesn''t dare challenge them directly, he has to enslave the whole human population of Restia to become his fanatical, zealous soldiers who are so devoted to his cause that they''re willing to throw away their lives for him? Kobayashi intends to throw wave after wave of bodies at his foes and perhaps eventually drown the demons in an ocean of demon blood?"

    And here I thought only Commander Kubrik Chenkov of the Valhallan Ice Warriors was ever that ruthless.

    "Exactly¡­and Kobayashi thinks the final peripheral domain of Morten, the hidden domain in the Northmost region of Restia, will be even more terrifying than Helsreach and the nine domains themselves." Takeda raised his head thoughtfully. "Like me, Kobayashi doesn''t know anything about that last, secret domain. He reckons it''s like the secret level in a game, something filled with the most valuable treasures and most powerful monsters that you unlock after completing a game. In fact, he treats this whole thing like a game."

    "That''s why he doesn''t hesitate to expend the lives of the people in Restia," I remarked. Takeda nodded in grim agreement.

    "Yeah. He sees them as NPCs, as¡­units, or expendable pawns that he can always manufacture like in a game."

    "Wait, you mean, him becoming Emperor and exterminating the demon race and invading Morten is just so he can unlock this so-called secret level?!"

    "Yes." Takeda clenched his fists. "Before he and his gang attack that final frontier, they need to prepare some legendary, godlike and even more powerful weapon."

    "That''s why he wants to defeat all the demon nobles in these nine domains," I muttered in stunned realization. "They want to turn these demon nobles into treasure weapons¡­"

 79 Chapter 79: Elevation

    "That''s right!"

    Takeda Tetsuo nodded at my guess.

    "It doesn''t matter who has these legendary weapons¡­Kobayashi and his gang just need people to fight once that day arrives. The strongest warriors with the most powerful weapons, charging in and conquering that last secret demonic domain¡­"

    "So they are trying to invade this peripheral domain through sheer numbers alone," I concluded, thinking deeply.

    "They say that what lies in this last, secret demonic domain is power enough to rival even the gods." Takeda frowned as he stroked his chin. "Knowing Kobayashi, he will want to even conquer the heavens and become the king of gods himself."

    That sounded like Kobayashi, all right. Whether it was actually successful was another matter entirely¡­

    "Speaking of which, I might know something about that last domain."

    I closed my eyes and temporarily shifted my consciousness away from reality. Entering the Library of Eden, I peered through the endless rows of bookshelves. Thanks to my will, I was able to speed through the bookshelves and arrive at the right one, where books were sorted according to the topic I was looking for.

    The last, secret Demonic Domain at the northmost region of Restia. There was only a single shelf dedicated to it, which meant that it was hardly written about. Taking a deep breath, I took a book out and scanned through it.

    "¡­"

    After glancing through its contents, I put it back and retrieved another book. Scanning through it, I saw that the contents were similar. I repeated the maneuver with another book, browsing through it, and as I suspected, much of what was written about the last domain was consistent.

    Pulling my consciousness back to reality, I stared at Takeda grimly. Even though it seemed like I had spent an hour glancing through the books, in reality only a second had passed. Takeda only noticed me closing my eyes for a short instance.

    "From what I know, the last domain isn''t some secret level or dungeon filled with treasure. It''s a dark, secret domain that has been sealed off from the rest of the world. I''m not sure what''s sealed inside but it seems extremely dangerous. If Kobayashi unleashes whatever''s been sealed inside, the world will be destroyed."

    "What?" Takeda''s eyes widened. "Are you serious?!"

    I nodded grimly. "Yeah. From what I''ve read, they refer to this precarious existence as¡­Chaos. I have no idea what Chaos is, and none of the books I''ve read ever gave any concrete description or explanation, but it''s this primordial, otherworldly existence that transcends even the demons. It infects, corrupts and warps all living things into¡­monsters. And I don''t mean normal monsters but something worse than monsters. Beyond imagination."

    Kobayashi could not be allowed to open the seal on that last demonic domain. Hell, it wasn''t even a demonic domain but a gigantic shrine, a vast space of nothingness sealed off to keep this Chaos thing contained within for eternity.

    "¡­if what you say is true, then we have to stop Kobayashi, no matter the cost." Takeda swallowed. "Or the world is¡­doomed."

    "Worse than doomed," I muttered. "It''ll become the new home for Chaos, and will be warped and changed into something so monstrous our existence will be worse than death."

    Takeda didn''t seem like he understood what I was talking about, but that was fine. It wasn''t as if I could pull the book out of the Library of Eden into reality and lend it to him. Besides, I was surprised that Takeda was even believing me in the first place.

    "I know you read a lot. It doesn''t surprise me. Besides, I''ve heard rumors that you''ve somehow become a follower of Lyia, the goddess of knowledge."

    "Where did you hear those rumors from?"

    "Apparently a bunch of Knights were talking about you." Takeda pondered. "The Knights of Blood, if I recall. Led by someone called Dante Infernius. It took a while for us to put the pieces together and realize that they were talking about you, but there is only one other person outside the heroes who can stop Suzuki''s God-Slaying Strike with one hand. Actually, I doubt there''s any among us who can actually stop Suzuki''s God-Slaying Strike at all! Even I would be defeated by that."

    "That''s useful to know."

    "Anyway, good to have you on our side."

    Takeda threw an arm over my shoulders, chuckling warmly.

    "Thanks¡­I do have a question, though."

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    "?"

    Takeda stared at me curiously. I took a deep breath and glanced around.

    Back in the violet cavern, Asmodai raised a hand and studied the swirling petals that gathered atop her outstretched palm.

    "Kozue-chan¡­"

    She suddenly stood up, allowing the petals to disperse and melt away into violet mana, staring down on Hoshizaki''s relatively small figure.

    "If Takeda Tetsuo and his comrades didn''t arrive in time to rescue you that fateful day, you would still have been keeping me company all this time."

    She stepped down from her crystalline throne to approach Hoshizaki, who remained standing defiantly at the bottom of the structure.

    Across the cavern, countless incubi and succubi stirred to life, awakened by their queen''s freshly inspired vigor. Rising to their feet, they marched in ordered ranks silently, getting ready for war. Linked to their queen''s mind through subtle illusions, they could receive instructions in an almost telepathic manner without needing Asmodai to speak out loud.

    Hoshizaki Kozue didn''t pay the surrounding sex demons any attention. Her gaze was fixed on Asmodai alone.

    "I have a question," she said boldly.

    "I expected as much," Asmodai replied jovially, raising her hand and conjuring a purple, crystalline fan to flap it flippantly at Hoshizaki. "If it wasn''t for how special you are¡­and how important you are to me, I would have blown you into a million pieces."

    "I''m grateful that you''ve allowed me to live," Hoshizaki replied with a wry smile. "Besides, you''re not the type to blow your enemies into a million pieces, but the kind to drown them in mindblowing pleasure before torturing them to an excruciating death."

    She tapped her head, as if to emphasize Asmodai''s specialization in mind and mental magic. She stared down Asmodai''s razor-sharp fan, unfazed by the threat.

    "And once again, I beseech you¡­if you will not form an alliance with the demons, then at least cooperate with me and my group¡­the Iron Knights."

    Asmodai merely smiled.

    Back in the Cross Castle arena, where the remnants and pieces of countless carnivorous plant monsters lay scattered across the floor, Lilith was confronting Domon Daisuke.

    "As we''ve told you earlier, we are people from another world. And as Tanaka-kun''s comrade, I feel that sharing our past with you might be relevant."

    "Your past¡­you mean that in your previous world?"

    Back in the elevator, Takeda shrugged.

    "Well, it''s a plot device for me to give an explanation until we reach our destination for an even more dramatic revelation."

    "¡­seriously?"

    I wanted to get out of this elevator already.

    "Anyway, that aside, how are we going to fight against Kobayashi? If what you say is true, he''s planning on invading the ten domains. I''m sure I can get Emperor Regis to defend Moria successfully, and Haemorage too, but the other seven domains¡­I''m not as familiar with the demon nobles as you are, so I don''t know¡­"

    Even with the Library of Eden, I couldn''t possibly find out more current information. It wasn''t as if the library would have the autobiographies that listed the personalities and motivations of the current demon nobles ruling over those domains. They would have historical records, geographical surveys, anthropological data and all that, and even political information and alignments, but nothing more detailed regarding the actual demon nobles themselves.

    "And you''ve never heard of this Chaos thing before? In all of the seven months you''ve been in Restia?"

    Takeda shook his head.

    "First I''ve ever heard of it."

    "This is the first time I''ve heard of Tomoyuki-kun''s past," Lilith admitted as she listened to Domon, who nodded.

    "The vendetta between Tanaka-kun and Kobayashi ¨C the current Emperor of Humanity and the leader of the heroes ¨C stretches way back to our previous world. It wasn''t even Tanaka-kun''s fault. He was only trying to help me."

    Lilith''s brow furrowed.

    "Whoa, slow down there. What are you talking about?"

    "The past. I don''t know why, but Kobayashi and his friends seem obsessed with bullying Tanaka-kun and making his life miserable. They beat him up, abuse him, ostracize him and¡­when we were summoned to this world, even tried to kill him."

    "¡­"

    Lilith studied Domon, who continued in anguish.

    "It all began when he helped me¡­I used to be the victim. Kobayashi and his goons thought it was funny to pick on me, you see. They would give me a punch or kick, slap me, knock my homework and stationary off my desk¡­and the teachers would look the other way because Kobayashi''s grandfather is the board chairman of the school."

    "School?"

    "Ah¡­an institution of learning."

    "¡­I see."

    "Anyway, Tanaka-kun stood up for me, told them to stop it. He would even fight them in my stead. Kobayashi didn''t like it. He wasn''t used to people standing up to him and defying him. He hated that Tanaka-kun wasn''t intimidated by him. So he shifted his attention to Tanaka-kun and tried to destroy him. Beat him up, abuse him, alienate him, etc. Tanaka-kun refused to cow, and his resistance escalated, but so did Kobayashi and his goons'' attempts to bully him."

    Lilith smiled wryly. "That sounds like Tomoyuki-kun, all right. The one I know. He has quite the indomitable spirit that refuses to surrender to anyone."

    "¡­yes. Tanaka-kun is impressive¡­but it''s my fault. I''ve always felt guilty about this."

    "Why?"

    "If it weren''t for me¡­Tanaka-kun would never have to undergo such abuse and bullying. He would be all right. It''s all my fault¡­"

    "I see."

    Lilith studied Domon for a moment, suddenly understanding.

    "You''re not blaming yourself for causing Tomoyuki-kun''s bullying. You''re blaming yourself for standing by and doing nothing while he got bullied. Even though he stood up for you and tried to stop this Kobayashi from abusing you, when the roles were reversed, you didn''t have the courage to stand up and fight for him the same way he did for you. That''s why you feel so guilty. Because you didn''t help him even though he helped you."

    "¡­I¡­"

    Domon trailed off, realizing that Lilith was correct. But Lilith folded her arms.

    "So why are you telling me all this?"

    "?!"

    "Shouldn''t the one you be telling this to¡­Tomoyuki-kun himself?"

    Back in the elevator, Takeda looked grim.

    "What I can tell you, Tanaka-kun, is that it''s possible that Kobayashi still doesn''t know that you''re alive. In fact, no one knew you were alive until that event with Asakura and Sakaguchi, where they found out that you had joined a mercenary guild."

    Yeah, that was a complete idiotic move on my part. Not only did I use my real name to register for the guild, I went and did all sort of stuff to make myself stand out. Killing a manticore, getting rid of a group of orcs and a High Orc, and even defeating an Ancient Dragon. If Kobayashi and the others didn''t notice me before, then they would have realized that there was this rising mercenary with the exact name of the guy they hated for some reason, and investigated him. When that happened, they would out me and try to kill me.

    I was such an idiot. Well, it was for the sake of moving the plot along, so it was inevitable. Not to mention, I was just making things up as I went along and didn''t consider the future too much. I hoped I didn''t have to pay a high price for that carelessness.

    "On the other hand, that helped us a lot because we realized that you''re still alive, and so we were able to reach out to you."

    Takeda placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and smiled.

    I guess this was what they call a silver lining in every cloud, huh? Though, to be honest, I wasn''t sure I could entirely trust the Iron Knights¡­

    Back in the violet cavern, Asmodai seemed to have reached a similar decision.

    "I reject your proposal."

    She casually rested her fan in her other hand as she leaned back, a mocking smile curling her delicate-looking lips.

    "Like before¡­I won''t help you, nor will I need your help. If the humans want to invade Lustrous, then let them come¡­."

    She raised her fan from her hand and with a single flick of her hand, opened it as she pointed it toward the distance.

    "I will destroy them all."

    Back in the elevator, Takeda looked solemn.

    "Our enemies already have a vast number of fanatical zealots at their disposal. Once they conquer the nine strongest demonic domains, they will attain powers never before seen in history. The situation looks bleak."

    "Why are we assuming that they will succeed in the conquest of the demonic domains?" I snapped irritably. "And I''m guessing you''ve already come up with a plan against Kobayashi and his gang, right?"

    "Of course."

    Takeda pointed a finger upward.

    "The answer is at the top."

    Takeda chuckled. "Once my exposition is finished."

    I shook my head in frustration. As I did so, Takeda leaned closer.

    "By the way, I just received a message from Nagano-san. It appears she has agreed to repair your sword."

    "That''s great!"

    I was delighted. Minamoto Kureha''s Saint Sword, which I had pilfered from her corpse so long ago, had been in an unusable condition this whole time. I couldn''t use it because it was broken into pieces, but it would be an excellent weapon in my arsenal if I could get it repaired. Moreover, because I Devoured Minamoto''s Sword Saint special ability, I was sure I could somehow make the best use of it rather than always relying on my staff.

    After all, even with the staff, my repertoire of long-range spells was extremely limited, and most of the time I just ended up engaging in melee combat anyway. Furthermore, against Kobayashi and his Excalibur, I needed a sword to match up against him in close combat.

    "I had no idea how to repair this treasure sword this entire time, but I really wanted to use it because of its potential. What do I need to do to repair it?"

    "Repairing treasure weapons is Nagano Nanaka-san''s specialty. If you have any questions, ask her directly."

    Takeda offered me his smartphone, and I took it hesitantly.

    "She''s one of the two heroes in Restia with the title swordsmith."

    "How much do you need me to pay to repair my Saint Sword?"

    Nagano appeared on the other side of the screen. Apparently she was sipping tea from her cup casually.

    "This kind of legendary treasure weapons doesn''t require any money. But it needs a very valuable material."

    "Oh."

    I could already guess what that valuable material was.

    "Speaking of which, that Saint Sword you''re talking about¡­doesn''t that belong to Minamoto-san? I recognize it¡­after all, I''m the one who forged it."

    "Ah¡­well, yeah. Minamoto tried to kill me about a month ago, and we ended up battling to the death. Sorry about that."

    "No¡­it''s not your fault." Nagano didn''t sound pleased, but she didn''t sound upset either. "I believe Minamoto-san, along with a few others, were among Kobayashi-kun''s group that were¡­pretty obsessed with bullying you. Given how Sakaguchi-kun and Asakua-san reacted when they found out that you were still alive, I can only imagine just how¡­murderous she was."

    "¡­yeah, I wasn''t given a choice. It was kill or be killed."

    "Anyway, since I was the one who forged the sword, I can easily repair it."

    "Thank you! You''re a great help!"

    "The catch is that, to repair a legendary weapon such as the Saint Sword that Minamoto-san used to wield, you definitely need a Shadow Dragon Egg found in this level as part of the materials to reforge it."

    ¡­I knew it. Talk about foreshadowing.

    "This is one of the reasons why we have our headquarters in the Cross Castle. Additionally, the legendary weapons all used by us Iron Knights have their powers originate from the various demon nobles from the nine most powerful domains."

    "I see¡­this is the secret why everyone is so strong despite being of a lower level than the other guys in class."

    Back in the violet cavern, Hoshizaki turned away.

    "I understand¡­"

    She was conjuring her wormhole once again, opening up a rupture in space to travel out of the cavern.

    "Goodbye¡­"

    With one last glance at the demon noble who was her friend, Hoshizaki stepped through the wormhole.

    "And take care."

    With that, she disappeared from the cavern, leaving Asmodai all alone in the cavern with her milling subordinates.

    "She''s gone."

    Asmodai daintily covered her mouth with her fan and giggled before she lowered it with a sigh.

    "Ah¡­it was so boring sleeping for so long. It''s still so boring now that I''m awake."

    She turned her violet crystals into a crystal ball that was perfectly spherical in shape. Another underground cavern loomed inside the crystal ball, showing the short but bulky figures of dwarves diligently laboring inside their mines to construct weapons and vehicles of war.

    "It''s too bad that the first domain the humans plan to attack isn''t mine. Moria, huh¡­I wonder, how will Little Regis protect that subterranean domain from the first human invasion?"

 80 Chapter 80: Comrade

    "Once the Saint Sword is repaired and reforged, will you be adding additional abilities to it from the demon nobles among the nine strongest domains?"

    "I''m afraid not." Nagano sounded apologetic from the other side of the phone. "We can no longer borrow power from them now that they''re awake."

    "HUH?! When were they ever sleeping?!"

    "Ah, sorry. I got mixed up with The Silver Gravekeeper. You''re supposed to be Golden."

    "That''s no longer on the level of a simple mix-up! Wait, you actually read The Silver Gravekeeper?!"

    "They did have a Japanese animated version called Gin no Guardian."

    "Okay, putting that aside¡­" I sighed, trying to suppress my annoyance. "We can''t add a demon noble''s power to my reforged weapon?"

    "Actually¡­there''s where your friend, Lilith Scarlet-san comes in."

    "¡­"

    I fell silent and waited for Nagano to explain.

    "Before we arrived at Cross Castle, I already came up with plans for your Saint Sword. By then, I had met Lilith-san, so I incorporated a version where I can borrow her power to enchant your new sword. It will no longer be Minamoto-san''s original Saint Sword but an enhanced, new weapon with even more power than before."

    I gripped Takeda''s smartphone tightly as I saw the screen change to indicate that a new message was being texted.

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    "This is what I believe to be the strongest version of the sword that I can forge. You can take a look first."

    "Oh¡­with Lilith-san''s ability incorporated into it, it''ll become a vampire sword or something. This looks pretty awesome!"

    I was thoroughly impressed by the schematic I was seeing in the smartphone. Returning it to Takeda, I retrieved my own smartphone and access the mobile storage space. Tapping on the icon that indicated my broken Saint Sword (which formerly belonged to Minamoto Kureha), I delivered it across space.

    "This is great. I can finally repair this broken legendary sword!"

    "If you don''t have any more questions, then use the mail option and send me your broken Saint Sword."

    Nagano sounded pretty excited about working on this new project.

    "Ah! I can deliver it to you directly?"

    I stared at my smartphone, dismayed. Scratching my head sheepishly, I apologized.

    "This is a special ability of swordsmiths. We can directly receive other heroes or warriors'' treasure weapons."

    "My bad¡­I didn''t know about that. I''ve already sent it to Lilith-san."

    I stared at the holographic screen of my smartphone, which indicated that the transfer was successful and that she had received my sword.

    "Looks like I''ll have to get her to bring it to you. Is she nearby?"

    "Yeah." Nagano nodded toward Aoyama, who was standing beside her as they listened to me. "Let her send it to me, it doesn''t matter."

    Nagano smiled insidiously, which was supposed to be unseen by me, but unfortunately for her, I had first person protagonist privilege, so I could see everything.

    This way¡­Tanaka Tomoyuki-kun''s weapon has been dealt with.

    Her smile widened.

    Things are going according to our leader''s plan.

    Uh, you do realize that I still have my staff, right? The staff that I took from Tsukishima Tomoyo after killing her? It made no difference whether I had the sword or not. Well, it did, but I wasn''t completely helpless without my sword.

    Takeda frowned when he studied our exchange, and shook his head in disapproval.

    Nagano-san is being too cautious¡­even if we don''t take away Tanaka-kun''s treasure weapon, that kind of power can''t match up to mine!

    Unseen by me, he smirked to himself.

    Meanwhile, Lilith was still talking to Domon Daisuke.

    "So how do you plan to make up to Tomoyuki-kun?"

    "Hmm¡­I have no idea. But thank you for listening to me."

    Domon smiled.

    "I feel refreshed now. But¡­"

    He suddenly looked away, a guilty expression flashing across his face.

    "¡­right now I owe my life to Takeda-kun. If it weren''t for me, I would end up being Kobayashi''s punching bag again. Takeda-kun was the one who brought me into his group and protected me from Kobayashi and his goons."

    "Well, it''s great that you have a lot of friends that you can rely on."

    Lilith shrugged.

    "Does¡­Tanaka-kun rely on you?"

    "¡­I hope he does." Lilith glanced at her communication device. "I would like to believe that he does."

    "That''s great." Domon smiled. "I really hope there will be someone by his side¡­someone he can trust and depend on. I might not be that person¡­even though I owe him a debt that I can never repay, but I really hope he has comrades."

    Lilith raised an eyebrow. "What¡­are you talking about?"

    "N¡­nothing. Sometimes I wish Tanaka-kun wasn''t thrown off the summoing spell by Kobayashi and the others. If that didn''t happen¡­maybe I would be part of his group instead of Takeda-kun''s. No, I''m still grateful to Takeda-kun, of course, but even then¡­"

    "Why can''t you be grateful to both of them?"

    "¡­I am grateful to both of them. But sometimes, when there''s a conflict of interest, and I''m forced to choose one side over the other¡­"

    Lilith frowned.

    "Choose one side over the other? What are you talking about?"

    "Ah, no¡­sorry. I''ve been talking too much. Anyway, there''s another request I would like to make of you. For Tanaka-kun''s sake."

    Lilith regarded him for a moment, and then nodded.

    "Sure. What is it?"

    "Nagano-san will have a request later. She will be asking you to lend Tanaka-kun your powers, to imbue his teasure weapon with your blood magic. That will vastly improve Tanaka-kun''s combat techniques. If you were to do that¡­then you will be able to help Tanaka-kun a lot. Be a pillar of strength for him, no matter how far apart you are."

    "Ah¡­so that''s what this is about."

    Lilith nodded as she opened the message and read through it. "Yeah, he did send his broken sword to me so that it''ll be reforged by Nagano-san. And he did mention something about borrowing my power. I''m fine with it."

    "Really? Thank you very much!"

    "It''s nothing much, really." Lilith raised her head, a nostalgic gaze taking over her eyes. "Like you, I owe the major a lot. He was the one who led a battalion into my domain to defend it from a couple of Evelyn''s Chosen and their armies. If it weren''t for him, my domain would have fallen to human forces in a very short order."

    "¡­Major?"

    "Ah¡­I guess he didn''t tell you. You know that Tomoyuki-kun is currently affiliated with the demonic alliance, right?"

    "Yes. We heard from Hoshizaki-san and Nagano-san that he is presently fighting for the demonic alliance."

    "That''s right." Lilith nodded. "He''s serving as a Major in one of their battalions. One day, he came leading his army to reinforce my elite guard against the onslaught of human knights and a particularly powerful Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "Sakaguchi Seiji." Domon''s eyes lit up. "I remember him. I heard about that! He and Miyazawa Miyako were defeated at Haemorage¡­your domain!"

    "Exactly. With Tomoyuki-kun''s help, we defeated the two Evelyn''s Chosen, routed the human armies and captured them."

    "As expected of Tanaka-kun!" Domon gushed excitedly. "I always knew that he was special. I didn''t think he would be this impressive!"

    "Ha ha, he always surpasses expectations, doesn''t he?" Lilith chuckled softly. "I always wonder who he was¡­but hearing you talk about your past, and how you all come from another world, somehow none of this sounds surprising anymore¡­"

    Back in the elevator, which was still slowly ascending toward the top, Takeda continued speaking to me.

    "After we defeated the previous Demon Lord, the first few cracks appeared all over the class. I began to notice that there was something wrong with Kobayashi."

    "What, it took you that long?" I blurted out in disbelief. Takeda smiled wryly.

    "Okay, perhaps we knew all along there was something wrong with Kobayashi, but he only truly dsplayed his problems after we defeated the previous demon lord. First, he decided to delare a vacation and have all the heroes move away from the frontlines, leaving the human armies to fend for themselves in demon territories."

    I had heard about that. That was an incredibly stupid move on his part.

    "Thanks to that, we began to lose ground under the new Demon Lord''s counterattack and ended up surrendering the gains we consolidated during the first victory. When news of consecutive defeats and the humans being driven back reached our ears, Kobayashi panicked and began sending us out to reconquer our lost territories."

    "¡­"

    Yeah, that sounded like Kobayashi all right.

    "Before then, he was parading around as if we had already won, marching and showing off in cities, to emphasize his power. I guess the defeats made him look like a fool, especially after he declared that he would eradicate the demon race from the face of Restia."

    Speaking of which, I did remember seeing the heroes'' parade in Havia shortly after I became a mercenary there. So that was what he was doing. Showing off? What a blunder.

    "Wait, eradicate¡­?"

    "Yes, that''s when we realized something was wrong. We had already won. Several of us sued for peace. We were tired of fighting, and we didn''t want to annihilate the enemy. It was just morally wrong. It was genocide."

    And nothing good ever came out genocide. I nodded undersdandingly.

    "However, Kobayashi was obsessed with destroying and exterminating the demon race, to the point where he almost seemed insane. Then he began sharing with the other heroes how he planned on taking the throne for himself¡­how he planned to become Emperor. He asked for our support, in return, he would grant us noble statuses and territories, allowing us to be kings and queens under his reign. He planned to build an empire where he stands supreme over everyone else."

    "That guy sounds like a madman," I muttered. Takeda agreed.

    "I know, right? A lot of us voiced our concerns, but Kobayashi declared us traitors. If we weren''t with him, we were against him, and therefore an enemy. We had a huge argument, and then we decided to split ways. I formed the Iron Knights and took this territory, Vashna, from Kobayashi while allying with the nearby demonic domains, or at least signing truces with them. But we still need the help of the greater demonic alliance."

    "And that''s where I come in."

    "Yes¡­that''s another interesting point. While we were falling out, Sakaguchi and Asakura reported that you were still alive. That was another confirmation when we realized that Kobayashi had truly gone mad. His expression changed. He became¡­obsessed with killing you. Him and all his goons, except Suzuki and his bunch. Everyone else was determined to wipe you out from the face of Restia for some reason, even though you hadn''t even done much other than make a name for yourself as a highly respected and promising mercenary."

    "I''m not highly respected or promising at all," I mumbled, embarrassed. Takeda chuckled at my expression.

    "Don''t sell yourself short, Tanaka-kun. From what I''ve heard, I know you''ll be vital in the resistance toward Kobayashi. We need to stop him before he does anything crazy and unleash that Chaos thing you mention. Even if that isn''t true, we can''t just allow him to become Emperor of Restia and do whatever he wants."

    "Sounds like a plan, but I don''t know how I''ll be of any help."

    "You will. All you need to do is follow my instructions. I have a plan to stop Kobayashi and his group."

    I frowned at that. For a moment, I thought Takeda sounded almost dictatorial. Follow his instructions? What did he think I was, his lackey? If we were going into this as equals, I didn''t mind helping out, but I didn''t feel pleased being talked down to like that.

    Biting my lip, I suppressed my unease and annoyance and waited patiently. Takeda might just be using a figure of speech, or he was just overly confident of his plan. Either way, I shouldn''t let my emotions get the better of me.

    "I see."

    "I''ll be looking forward to receiving your assistance."

    Takeda turned toward the door of the elevator as it jerked to a halt with a metallic sound. I breathed a sigh of relief.

    As the door opened, I shrank back, shielding my eyes as bright sunrays poured into the elevator. The lenses of my glasses automatically darkened, protecting my vision. I straightened and peered outside, seeing a vast, empty space on what seemed like the rooftop of Cross Castle.

    "Finally at the top," I grumbled impatiently. I couldn''t wait to get out of the elevator. Finally! At long last!

    Takeda almost seemed to feel the same, taking a step out of the elevator and into the bright sunlight, which reflected off his shiny armor.

    "Yes¡­" he said. "It''s time to discuss something very important."

    "You mean we haven''t been discussing anything important that whole time we were in the elevator?" I demanded, astonished, as I hurriedly followed him into the open.

    Then I suddenly stopped when I saw a gigantic big box right in the middle of the rooftop. Stretching over fifty meters high, it towered over us, casting a gigantic shadow to the side. Despite it being the middle of the day, I felt a cold, ominous aura emanating from within. Despite using Absolute Appraisal, I couldn''t see its interior.

    "What is this big box?"

    As a reply, Takeda pressed his palm against the box. Immediately dozens of blue light ran through it like holograms, transforming the box into something. I gaped at it as it changed shape, turning into what looked like an intercontinental ballistic missile launcher.

    I see¡­so that blurry thing that I couldn''t make out with my Absolute Appraisal earlier is this box...

    But why the hell was it turning into a massive missile launcher? It reminded me of a Deathstrike missile launcher that was constantly used in the 41st millennium. The detonation of one would lead to a vortex that opened a rift in space and allowed the creatures of the immaterium through. Anything in the vicinity would suffer mortal wounds, or they would be warped into hideous monstrosities that were beyond man''s imagination.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me¡­"

    I gaped at the missile launcher, but was suddenly aware that it was bereft of any missiles. I breathed a sigh of relief.

    At the same time, Lilith was confronting Domon.

    "So¡­about Tomoyuki-kun¡­what was he like in your previous world?"

    She had realized that she had known nothing about me, despite us being acquaintances for about a week or so.

    "Like I told you, Tanaka-kun is a brave guy who will never back down in the face of adversity. He refuses to let even the likes of Kobayashi push him around." Domon smiled ironically. "He''s the true hero among us heroes, even though he''s not exactly a hero."

    "That''s the thing. Just what is he, exactly? You say he''s one of you, comes from the same world as the rest of you, but he''s clearly not an Evelyn''s Chosen. His allegiance seems to be to another goddess. The goddess of knowledge, Lyia, if I''m not mistaken."

    "Yes. As I told you before, Kobayashi and the others threw him off the summoning spell when the goddess Evelyn summoned us to Restia. As a result, he didn''t receive the same blessings and powers that we heroes did. For a long time, we believed him dead. None of us could ever imagine that he survived that fall¡­but not only did he survive, it appeared he got lost in time and transported to Restia six months after we did. And he emerged even stronger than us."

    "A human who''s even stronger than Evelyn''s Chosen?" Lilith scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

    "Yes¡­we couldn''t believe it ourselves¡­but somehow he has killed five of us, despite being six months behind. Perhaps it has something to do with the goddess backing him."

    "Lyia is not known for being a powerful goddess or a war goddess," Lilith countered. Domon shook his head.

    "That''s not what I mean. Eveyln had to split her power and blessings over twenty-nine of us. Lyia has only very few followers in comparison to split her blessings and power to. Therefore she''s able to devote more of her power to her followers¡­like Tanaka-kun."

    "Hmm¡­that makes sense." Lilith considered for a moment. "But from what you say, is he fighting against this Kobayashi and the remaining Evelyn''s Chosen for the same reason as you guys?"

    "Yes¡­and without his strength, we can''t win against Kobayashi and his group," Domon admitted grudgingly. "But he has another reason to fight."

    "¡­from what you told me about his past and enmity against this Kobayashi person¡­"

    "That''s right." Domon nodded to confirm Lilith''s suspicions. "He''s fighting for revenge. Not just to save Restia or the demon race, but purely for revenge."

 81 Chapter 81: Ultimatum

    The two of us stood before the shifting and transforming gigantic box, enormous amounts of mana rippling from it to swirl around us ominously.

    Swallowing and trying not to let the omen bother me, I put on a brave front.

    "What is the important thing you want to talk about?"

    "Don''t you find this hero system weird?"

    "¡­why don''t you ask all these Japanese authors and all the web novelists to stop writing isekai stories then?"

    Takeda Tetsuo chuckled at my bitter remark.

    "Yeah, yeah. You''re right. There''s been a slew of isekai stories in the past few years, with high school students being summoned to another world as heroes and tasked with defeating the demon lord. Fairly clich¨¦ stuff, don''t you agree?"

    "Doesn''t that make our story clich¨¦ too?"

    "It does," Takeda admitted as he glanced over his shoulder. "But for some reason you''re not a hero. You''re not one of us. I wonder why."

    "Blame Kobayashi. You were there. You saw how he tried to kill me. Hell, you didn''t even try to stop him from throwing me off the summoning spell."

    "I know it''s no excuse, but¡­" Takeda raised both hands in surrender. "We were in too much shock at that time. None of us could ever imagine what drove Kobayashi to such depths of insanity as to murder you that time."

    "The guy''s got a screw loose in his head," I muttered. Takeda chuckled in agreement.

    "Yes, but even then¡­it''s almost as if someone was controlling him."

    "Who?"

    "Who knows?"

    Takeda glanced up, toward the heavens, his eyes taking a distant gaze.

    "We know for sure that gods and goddesses exist in Restia. We were summoned by one. And I hear you''ve pledged your allegiance to another. The goddess of knowledge, Lyia, was it? Very fitting of you, Tanaka-kun. You were always one of the smarter ones in class."

    "Um, no. I''m an idiot. I might study and read a lot, but that doesn''t mean I''m smart. I''ve done a lot of stupid things, especially during my time here."

    "Maybe." Takeda shrugged. "But that doesn''t make you less smart than us."

    "Thanks¡­I guess?"

    "No problem. But you''re smart, Tanaka-kun. For example, can you guess what this is?"

    "It looks like an intercontinental ballistic missile launcher," I replied dryly. Takeda grinned.

    "There you go! Correct answer! Amazing!"

    "¡­"

    I didn''t know how to reply. Was there any point to this farce? And what was the point of having a missile launcher that didn''t have any missiles in it?

    "As we''ve been discussing all this while, the heart of the problem is Kobayashi, right? And you were asking me about my plan to deal with him, correct?"

    "¡­yeah."

    "If the problem originates from Kobayashi, then it follows that we can solve it by eliminating him. That''s your goal too, isn''t it?"

    "Yeah, but you make it sound so easy." I shook my head. "My question is how do we kill him? He has armies at his disposal, he''s the most powerful hero with all of Evelyn''s blessings, and now he''s the Emperor of Humanity."

    "It''s simple. We nuke him."

    "¡­huh?"

    I wasn''t sure I heard Takeda correctly. He glanced at me over his shoulder and grinned.

    "You heard that right. We nuke him."

    "How?!"

    "That''s where you come in." Takeda turned to face me solemnly as the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher fully took shape.

    "¡­me?"

    I still didn''t understand what Takeda was talking about. He sighed as he strode toward me, his eyes serious.

    "Don''t you even know the true extent of your abilities?"

    "Probably not, but you sound as if you do."

    "Oh¡­it''s nothing much. Just use your imagination." Takeda tapped his head and smiled mockingly. "Let''s start from something simple. You''ve the ability to summon things, right? I heard that you summoned weapons during the battle against Minamoto."

    "¡­yeah."

    "And you summoned a freaking mecha during the fight against the dragons, didn''t you?"

    He must have heard that from Nagano. There was no point denying it, so I nodded.

    "Theoretically then, there''s no limit to what you can summon. You can probably summon ballistic weapons such as guns, missile launchers, rockets, and modern weaponry, right?"

    "Considering I can summon futuristic hi-tech mecha like Titans, I guess so?"

    Raising a hand, I summoned a M16 rifle and then snatched it out of midair before lifting it to my shoulder and taking aim. Lowering the rifle, I spun it about before summoning a Glock and testing it with both hands. Aiming far away, I fired off a rapid trio of shots. For a final test, I summoned a Stinger anti-air rocket launcher and aimed it toward the sky before suppressing the trigger.

    A missile burst out of the tube and spiraled toward the sky before exploding.

    "Seems like I can," I remarked to an impressed Takeda. The muscular, armored Iron Knight leader clapped.

    "Good. So do you think you can summon a nuke?"

    "I¡­huh?"

    I blinked when I heard Takeda''s request. Scratching the back of my head, I gulped and closed my eyes.

    "¡­maybe¡­? Oh¡­I see."

    I finally understood.

    "You want me to summon a nuke, and then use this intercontinental ballistic missile launcher to fire it at Kobayashi."

    "You finally figured it out, huh?"

    Takeda chuckled and nodded.

    "That''s right."

    Swallowing, I stared at Takeda uncertainly.

    "Huh? Are you sure? Isn''t that¡­overkill?"

    "Kobayashi is a hero. Nothing short of a nuke will be able to kill him."

    "But¡­wouldn''t that¡­? I mean¡­wouldn''t the nuke, like, kill everyone else around him?"

    "Necessary sacrifices," Takeda acknowledged. He stared at me, his eyes narrowed. "This is war, Tanaka-kun. What did you expect? Did you think this will end with only Kobayashi''s death? Either way, we''ll have to cut a bloody swathe through his followers in order to reach him. If that''s the case, we might as well end it immediately. If you''re able to summon a nuke right away, we''ll obliterate Havia City immediately. That''s where Kobayashi is currently residing in, after all."

    "No way¡­" I was horrified when I heard Takeda''s "plan" to deal with Kobayashi and his group. "You don''t mean¡­to ask me to nuke Havia City?"

    Takeda''s grim smile was all the answer I needed.

    Back in the Cross Castle, inside the forging room, Lilith sat in front of a table. Across her was Nagano Nanaka, who was guarded by a standing Aoyama Aoi.

    Nagano poured a cup of tea and slid it over to the seated Lilith, who was watching her warily. She smiled to ease the latter''s nerves.

    "Here."

    Lilith took the steaming cup of tea apprehensively and took a polite sip. Nagano smiled brightly as she watched Lilith.

    "Have you made a decision on whether or not to join the Iron Knights?"

    "Yes, I''ve decided."

    Lilith raised her head and looked at Nagano determinedly. Placing the cup of tea down on the table gently, she straightened up and met the hero''s gaze.

    "I promised to help Tomoyuki-kun and I will keep my promise."

    Wait¡­you did? I don''t remember Lilith ever making such a promise.

    "Even though he lied to you?" Nagano asked.

    "Huh?" Lilith''s brow twitched. "What are you talking about? When did he ever lie to me?"

    "Ah¡­never mind. Sorry. I must be confusing myself with another story. I guess he technically didn''t lie to you."

    "Um¡­why are you talking like that?" Lilith asked warily. "It''s like you''re trying to tear apart my relationship with Tomoyuki-kun."

    "Well, I mean¡­I wouldn''t go that far. But I''m just curious. You still want to be Tanaka-kun''s companion and fight together with him?"

    "Yes."

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    Lilith didn''t hesitate in replying at all.

    "You''re¡­"

    Nagano, instead of being offended, brightened up happily. Before Lilith could react, Nagano had thrown herself at the red-haired vampire queen and wrapped her in an embrace.

    "Too cute!!!"

    "?!"

    Rubbing her cheek against Lilith''s silky hair, Nagano smiled slyly.

    "Your devotion to Tanaka-kun is so admirable!"

    "No, it isn''t. I just don''t want to go back on my promise!"

    What promise!? Oh, the deal. Lilith made a deal with me. In return for helping her, she would assist me in whatever I needed to save the demon race. That reminded me, we still had to solve the problem with the vampire elders in Haemorage later.

    Right now, however, Lilith found herself in a more pressing problem.

    "Hey¡­why are you suddenly so clingy?"

    "When I first saw you, I just wanted to hug you. You''re so beautiful, so dignified, so cute, so elegant¡­"

    "I appreciate the praise, but I believe my beauty has nothing to do with what we''re discussing at the moment."

    Lilith coolly pushed Nagano away. Aoyama also stepped in to intervene and separate the two girls with a cough.

    "Nagano-san¡­please behave yourself."

    Nagano giggled as she composed herself. Resuming her seat, she poured herself a cup of steaming tea and sipped from it, her childish behavior from earlier all gone. Turning serious, she maintained her friendly smile.

    "Anyway¡­Tanaka-kun is really fortunate to have you as his companion."

    Aoyama sighed in relief when he saw Nagano''s dignified composure. At least she has returned back to normal.

    "It is give and take," Lilith replied calmly as she folded her arms. "He helped me, and I''m obligated to return the favor. Furthermore, I requested another favor of him, so it''s only natural that I accompany him all the way. Besides, this concerns the demon race¡­and it''s actually more of my responsibility than his."

    "Yeah, I understand." Nagano nodded, but she still looked as if she was teasing Lilith. However, the dignified vampire queen didn''t rise to the bait. Smiling, Nagano continued. "Next, let us repair and reforge Tanaka-kun''s sword."

    Back on the rooftop, I studied the massive intercontinental ballistic missile launcher apprehensively.

    "If we nuke Havia City, where Kobayashi is residing in right now, we''ll be able to end the war instanty."

    Beside me, Takeda explained his reasoning.

    "We don''t have to worry about anyone trying to force open the seal in that last secret domain and unleashing Chaos on Restia too."

    I watched him warily as he kept his hand raised, purple mana crackling around his arm and linking him to the gigantic missile launcher.

    "If you nuke Havia City, wouldn''t you be killing everyone else in the city too?"

    "Yes. But I told you, this is war. Don''t be na?ve. You''re not going to win without killing anybody. These will be necessary sacrifices."

    "Necessary sacrifices? Who are you kidding?" I scoffed. "Who are you to decide who lives and who dies? Who gets sacrificed and who gets saved?"

    Takeda shrugged. "A hero, maybe? It doesn''t matter. I''m looking at the bigger picture. The much longer term. To save the many, we have to sacrifice the few. To save a billion, we have to sacrifice a thousand. It doesn''t matter whether it''s our previous world or this world. That concept holds through universally."

    I clenched my fists tightly, but Takeda continued ploughing forward with his rhetoric.

    "If we nuke Kobayashi, we''ll not only cut away the root of the problem, we''ll also prevent future wars. As in our previous world, nuclear weapons serve as an excellent deterrent. If both the demons and the humans realize that we possess such apocalyptic power in our hands, neither side will dare to wage war against each other ever again. As I said, I''m looking at the much bigger picture¡­I''ve planned far into the future. This method will ensure longlasting peace."

    I didn''t like it. Even if Takeda was right about nuclear weapons being a deterrent, for any one party to hold monopoly over such excessively destructive weapons was far too dangerous. I didn''t know if I could trust Takeda. Hell, I wouldn''t trust even myself with nuclear weapons. As they said, absolute power corrupts.

    "You, who have the ability to summon any kind of weapon, including hi-tech futuristic mecha, should be able to summon a nuclear missile. If necessary, I will get Nagano-san to help you ¨C with her forging skills, we''ll be able to perfect a design. But I have full confidence in you¡­I know you can definitely do it."

    "It''s not a matter of whether I can do it¡­but whether I want to do it." I glared at Takeda. "You''re a hero. All heroes should be thinking about how they can save everybody, and not give up from the start and sacrifice the few for the many. Otherwise you''re just heading down a slippery slope. If you start sacrificing a person to save a hundred, what''s next? Sacrifice a thousand to save a million? Then a million to save a billion? Where do you draw the line? And don''t those people in Havia City deserve to be saved too? Isn''t that your job as a hero? Why are you already writing them off? It''s your duty to protect them, not sacrifice them! They''re civilians, for the Emperor''s sake!"

    "You''re so idealistic."

    Takeda''s voice was cold.

    "Yes, your ideals sound lofty and great. Normally, I would applaud you, I will agree with you and support you. In the past, heroes surely possess the power to protect everyone, like you said. They had the abiity to achieve that happy end you envision."

    Why the fuck were you speaking in past tense?

    "But now, our enemy holds all the power, and we no longer have the ability to stop them. The only way is to strike at their heart and completely obliterate their brain before he goes into hiding and masterminds a counterattack."

    "At what cost?"

    "Any cost is worth it¡­you should know this better than I do ¨C if what you say is correct, Kobaayshi''s ambitions will mean the end of the world¡­or worse. Will you take responsibility if you fail to stop him?"

    "Why are you already assuming that I will fail?" I snorted.

    "Can you guarantee that you won''t?"

    I couldn''t reply to that. Takeda had a point. I couldn''t say for sure that I would definitely succeed in stopping Kobayashi. But even then¡­

    "I won''t¡­"

    "Actually, you don''t have a choice. I will force your hand if necessary."

    Oh? Interesting. How did Takeda think he could force my hand?

    "I have ''her'' hostage. I will gladly exploit her to force you to do my bidding if necessary."

    "¡­who is ''her''?"

    "The person you want to protect the most."

    "And who is this person?"

    "Riku Rei."

    "¡­who?"

    I gaped at Takeda, utterly bewildered. I had never heard of that name before. No, actually, I had, but she was a fictional character who didn''t exist in reality.

    "Riku Rei. You know, your grandfather''s adopted daughter, the one you''re in love with¡­"

    "Oi. You know I''m the Golden Gravekeeper, right? Not the Silver Gravekeeper. Don''t mix me up with Riku Suigin¡­or Lu Shu Yin. I don''t have a girl I want to protect!"

    "Oh? What about Lilith-san¡­the girl who followed you here?"

    I began laughing. "Lilith-san can take care of herself. If you don''t believe me, you can try her out. Just a warning, she''s the one who defeated Sakaguchi Seiji. She''s one of the top nine demon nobles whose powers surpass even the heroes. If you think you can threaten her, you''re welcome to try. Just don''t come crying to me after she kicks your ass."

    Takeda''s brow twitched as he glared at me.

    "Then¡­"

    "Oh, just shut it already. Anyway, there''s one more person you''re forgetting¡­"

    Back in the lair, the Demonic Shadow Dragon glared down on Suzuki Shirou, uncoiling the length of its body before unleashing a terrifying roar. Its giant jaws yawned open as it lunged toward the Lightning Lancer, intending to crush him between its fangs.

    However, Suzuki effortlessly dodged its attack by jumping high into the air. Sailing above the dragon''s head, he raised his spear.

    "Dumb insect," he sneered.

    Pulling his spear back, he swung it with as much force as he could muster.

    "Take this!"

    Lightning flowed along his spear and lanced out in a massive, destructive bolt that struck the dragon. The volatile currents swept through the entire length of the screeching Demonic Shadow Dragon, electrocuting it mercilessly.

    Explosions rang throughout the cave as the Demonic Shadow Dragon went into spasms, colliding with the walls and roof of the cavern. With a single slash of his spear, Suzuki sent a huge spurt of blood spraying upward in the darkness.

    "Kekeke."

    Landing gracefully in the cavern, he turned his back on the hostile Demonic Shadow Dragon, who reared up intimidatingly, its eyes glowing in the darkness. With a snarl, it darted toward the seemingly vulnerable Suzuki with a speed that belied its immense size.

    "Boss!!"

    Nishida Kensuke shouted a warning in panic, but Suzuki merely turned around calmly, spinning his spear in a defensive maneuver to parry the dragon''s lunge.

    Divine Gate Chaotic Battle: Golden Aegis.

    "You''re only at the sidelines, so why are you so terrified?" he scoffed.

    With a single swing of his spear, Suzuki knocked the dragon''s jaws away. Glaring at the distant Nishida, he snapped.

    "I don''t need your help¡­just shut up and stay there."

    Nishida watched quietly, calming down.

    The boss is back to normal¡­

    He frowned as he thought back to what occurred earlier.

    That was strange¡­why did the boss become so weird when the door opened earlier?

    He was referring to the moment when Suzuki was standing in front of the chamber where Takeda Tetsuo resided, right before Ooyama Eiji''s existence was stolen by him. During that time, Suzuki had looked utterly petrified, to the point where he couldn''t move a muscle.

    Back on the rooftop, in the open, Takeda was looking at me in disbelief.

    "You don''t actually believe that you can save every single person in Restia all by yourself, do you? From the likes of Kobayashi and his gang?"

    I didn''t reply. I didn''t need to. Takeda scowled when he realized my answer.

    "Wake up!" he chided me harshly. "With Kobayashi ascending to Emperor and gaining control over all the human kingdoms in Restia, he has an army of five million at his beck and call. An army of soldiers who are zealously devoted to his cost and willing to sacrifice their lives for him, especially after he brainwashed them with his Kingly Disposition." Takeda''s eyes bore into mine fiercely. "Your chance of victory is nil."

    "We''ll see about that," I replied defiantly. Takeda scoffed.

    "How do you think you''ll win? Haven''t you thought about what happens if you were to lose?"

    "So we''re going to sacrifice an entire city of innocent people just to ''win''? What kind of victory is that?"

    I glared back at Takeda.

    "That''s no victory. In the end, you''re just becoming another Kobayashi¡­another monster, another dictator."

    Clenching my fist tightly, I glanced toward the horizon.

    "And you forget. I''m not alone. I still have the demonic alliance behind me. We''ll work together and repel the human invasion¡­and we''ll defeat Kobayashi. We''ll do all that without sacrificing innocent civilians and imposing terror on the world."

    Takeda shook his head.

    "The demonic alliance is too small. Morten is too fractured. As I told you, the majority of the nine strongest demonic domains have broken away from the alliance. The remaining domains in the alliance are too weak, too divided, and too broken to resist the united human onslaught."

    "I wouldn''t count them out if I were you," I replied. Takeda glared at me, obviously lamenting over my naivety.

    "If Kobayashi succeeds in conquering Morten and reaching the last, secret domain in the north, he will, as you said so yourself, doom the world to a fate worse than death, and unleash something much worse than the demons." Takeda used his superior height to tower over and intimidate me. "You want the whole world to gamble on you?"

    I could see a titanic shadow rising from behind Takeda in a terrifying manner, gazing down on me and filling me with dread. The terrifying visage appeared to give the impression that Takeda was a lot more powerful and dominating than me. Capitalizing on this domineering impression, Takeda gazed down on me in a condescending and dictatorial manner.

    "To be honest, you don''t have any power or rights. Follow what I say and you will win. If you attempt to fight by yourself and rely on the demonic alliance alone, you will stand no chance of victory at all."

    "I see."

    Instead of being intimidated, I smirked.

    "This is the feeling from the horror weapon."

    Raising my head, I grinned, and continued with my explanation.

    "It causes distress in one''s heart. Let me guess, this is Yonebashi Kyoko-san''s special ability, isn''t it?"

    "¡­"

    Takeda merely stared at me in silence.

    I raised my hand confidently and continued.

    "Earlier, when Suzuki Shirou was about to approach you, Yonebashi-san gave him a pat on his shoulder."

    I still recalled that scene, where Yonebashi very clearly warned Suzuki, "I think it''s better for you to give up."

    "When they made eye contact, Suzuki began to act strangely." I nodded as I analyzed what happened back then.

    Suzuki had turned around to glare at Yonebashi, and Yonebashi had lowered her ruby-lensed sunglasses to smirk at him.

    At that moment, Suzuki''s eyes had widened, and fear had begun to set in.

    "I did think that he was afraid of the aura you were emanating¡­"

    Back then, I had frowned and pondered over Suzuki''s sudden loss of confidence and the inset of fear.

    "But it was still bothering me¡­"

    So I used Absolute Appraisal to analyze it. Of couse, I didn''t tell Takeda that I had Absolute Appraisal. The less he knew about my repertoire of abilities, the better. Plus, I wasn''t dumb to the extent where I would show off and brag about my special abilities, only for my enemies to come up with counters and prepare against them in future.

    "I found that Yonebashi was using her special ability."

    Thanks to my Absolute Appraisal ability, I could see black fog forming around Yonebashi, the mysterious dark mist appearing only on my lenses. They coalesced and took the shape of a winged, demonic imp the size of Suzuki''s head and climbed atop his shoulder to whisper ineligible things into his ear.

    "Her special ability, the curse Demonic Fear."

    Once Absolute Appraisal analyzed a target, it would display all the information regarding it. Again, I had no reason to give away my advantage and reveal this to Takeda so I didn''t tell him how I knew about Yonebashi''s Demonic Fear.

    Instead, I showed off what I knew about Yonebashi''s ability.

    "At the right time, she places the curse right in the target''s heart. She can cast the curse with her eyes, which is why she made eye contact with Suzuki¡­and me."

    I still recalled how she deliberately lowered her ruby-lensed glasses to establish eye contact with Suzuki. Those sunglasses weren''t just normal shades. They were meant to seal her abilities and keep her curse from running rampant, as well as to conceal the true nature of her eyes.

    "Am I right? Takeda Tetsuo."

    Takeda remained silent, so I took that as an affirmation.

    "For this ability to activate, Yonebashi must both touch the target and made eye contact with him. When I first entered the castle, she quickly touched me and used Demonic Fear on me."

    I still recalled what happened when I stepped through the gate that Domon opened for us. Otherwise there was no way a female classmate would ever get physically close to me. Sad, but true.

    "Your speech was very effective, and combined with Demonic Fear, you were hoping you could intimidate me into accepting your proposal."

    I tilted my head and smirked.

    "But too bad¡­"

    I glanced at the impish demon that was perched on my right shoulder. Again, I could see it because of my glasses.

    "Such mental manipulations have no effect on me."

    The black imp began crumbling away, disappearing into nothingness under my mocking gaze. It didn''t matter what sort of illusion or mind magic it was. As long as I had the special ability Adamantium Will, I was immune to all sorts of mental manipulations and illusions.

    "Let''s just say I have a very strong willpower."

    "Ah¡­"

    In her room, Yonebashi Kyoko lowered her ruby-lensed sunglasses and shook her head, impressed.

    "Not bad, Tanaka Tomoyuki-kun."

    Takeda Tetsuo smiled, also impressed.

    "Seems like I can''t scare you," he admitted grudgingly as he stared at my defiant posture. "But it doesn''t change your situation."

    The both of us stared at each other on top of the rooftop, the atmosphere around us turning extremely tense. Takeda stared intently at me, holding out one final hope for a peaceful resolution.

    "You will still accept my suggestion, right?"

 82 Chapter 82: Breakdown

    "Nope."

    I turned Takeda Tetsuo down flatly.

    "Honestly, I can''t agree with your ideals at all. You might think I''m na?ve, but the moment you give up on a few lives to save the supposedly greater number of lives, I think that''s when you stop being a hero."

    "Ideals are fine and all, but can you achieve them in reality? That''s the real question here."

    Takeda merely stared me down determinedly. I shrugged and glanced at the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher.

    "But what''s the point of sacrificing those ideals just to kill your enemy? If you sacrifice your ideals for a victory, that victory becomes meaningless. In the end, just what are you fighting for? And wouldn''t you end up making more enemies as a result?"

    "I''m well prepared for that."

    Takeda smirked as he placed a hand on the gigantic missile launcher.

    "And besides, once the world knows that we possess a weapon of apocalyptic power, there''s no way any of them would dare to become our enemy."

    "You''re just becoming another tyrant like Kobayashi," I replied gloomily. "Which renders the whole point of resisting him meaningless. We can''t hold the higher moral ground if we resort to the same sort of ruthless and brutal methods as him."

    "What use is a higer moral ground if it can''t save anybody?" Takeda countered.

    "How can you be sure that nuking a city will be saving people?" I glared at him. "You haven''t even considered the environmental impact or social impact that the existence of nukes will have on this world. Havia City will become a radioactive wasteland, unfit for people to live in for generations. It can''t be rebuilt. The radiation will cause immense suffering to victims, as much as the torment Chaos will bring. What''s the point of avoiding one horrific outcome if you''re going to mete out a horrific measure of your own? Have you considered nuclear winter and other radioactive catastrophes that will result through the use of nukes?"

    "¡­I have. And you''re right. There''s no way we can prevent those."

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    "Yet you still want to go ahead with it?"

    "¡­we''ll minimize the environmental damage by using only one nuke. And obviously we''ll deny the residents of Restia access to such destructive weapons."

    "I can''t."

    At least he was honest about that.

    "Can you tell me if there''s anything else Kobayashi is planning? Something else that will allow me to analyze the situation and evaluate your suggestion¡­"

    I trailed off when an alternative possibility surfaced.

    "Or do you not know what else he and his group have planned?"

    "Of course I know." Takeda raised a hand flippantly. "It''s just that I don''t wish to tell you more about Kobayashi and his gang right now."

    Uh huh. Sure.

    "It means I don''t need to tell you."

    "At least you''re being honest and frank with your replies," I acknowledged grudgingly. "But aren''t you afraid that I''ll reject your proposal?"

    Takeda closed his eyes with a smirk.

    "I hate telling lies," he declared. "Telling lies will only hurt others. Not just others, but also to onself. It creates delusions for the self, which are pretty worthless." He shrugged and then raised his head to gaze down on me arrogantly. "To put it simply, the strong do not need to lie. As I said it before, you''ll follow my suggestion."

    I snorted. "I already turned you down. And besides, you already knew I''ll turn you down. Otherwise, why would you activate your ability the moment you opened the box and reveal the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher to me?"

    I could see an eerily glowing purple skeletal claw extending from his hand.

    It had been shrouding his left hand ever since earlier, from the moment he pressed his right hand to release the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher from its gigantic case. As confident as he was, he was already prepared for the worst outcome.

    That was fine by me. I had already resolved to face Takeda Tetsuo head-on. If we couldn''t reconcile our ideals, then we would clash.

    It was inevitable.

    "Again, I reject your suggestion, Takeda Tetsuo-kun."

    "Oh?"

    Takeda raised an eyebrow. I smiled and shrugged.

    "You made an interesting statement earlier. Something about the strong not needing to lie. In the same vein, I''m suspecting you''re of the ideal that the weak obeys the strong. In other words¡­if I prove that I''m stronger than you, you''ll listen to me instead."

    "Such confidence," Takeda mocked. "But remember, you''ve only been here for a month or so at most. I''ve been here much longer than you¡­at least six months more than you. Do you think you can defeat me?"

    "Can''t hurt to try."

    Takeda burst out laughing, his head thrown back as he guffawed loudly.

    "I like it! I really like your attitude, Tanaka-kun. You''ve earned my respect, if nothing else. It''s just that¡­it''s such a pity¡­"

    "Like I said, we don''t know unless we try."

    "Hmm." Takeda closed his eyes and thought for a bit. "Still, I am curious as to why you would go so far for the people of Havia City. It''s not just your ideals, is it? The thing you''re determined to protect is Havia City itself."

    "Maybe I''m just tired of you guys treating Restia like a game. Angry at how you seem to be treating the residents of Havia City as NPCs. They aren''t NPCs, you know. They''re real, living people, with their individual dreams, ambitions and wishes. They deserve as much a right to live as we do. They''re not AI-run programs."

    "It seems that you''re mistaken about something." Takeda looked at me sorrowfully. "I don''t consider the people of Restia NPCs. None of the Iron Knights do. We treat them the same as we would any normal person. Unlike Kobayashi and the others, we know that these are real, living people that we are dealing with."

    "Then why¡­?"

    "It''s precisely because of that¡­that I have to make such a hard choice. To save the many, I must sacrifice the few. I''ve said it before, haven''t I? That this concept is present, no matter what world we''re in. even if this is Earth, and we''re back in Tokyo, I would have made the same choice. Sacrificing a small town to save all of Japan ¨C that''s something only a hero can do."

    "That''s no hero," I snapped. "The moment you gave up on a few and wrote them off as sacrifices, you no longer have the right to call yourself a hero."

    "How na?ve. But are you sure you have the right to criticize us for that? Aren''t you trying to save Havia because of personal reasons? Because you have close links and ties to the people living in there? That''s why you''re so hesitant to sacrifice them?"

    It was my turn to shut my eyes. Images appeared in my mind. Hughes''s encouraging smile. Alicia''s adoring face. Alan''s admiring expression. Sophia''s calm disposition. Captain Dante Infernius''s valiant figure and his closely knitted Knight Order. Miranda''s cheerful welcome. Her father''s warm food. Princess Merly''s grateful demeanor.

    And then all those vanishing in a catastrophic mushroom cloud that billowed menacingly across the ravaged remains of the city.

    No, I couldn''t let that happen. It didn''t matter that I had only been in Restia for about a month or so. These people were still important to me. I couldn''t let them die.

    "I don''t care if you call me selfish or short-sighted." I then shrugged and gestured to my glasses. "Well, I was short-sighted, that''s why I''m wearing glasses anyway."

    Takeda just stared at me. I cleared my throat and continued.

    "Anyway, I won''t let you destroy Havia City. Not on my watch."

    "How?" Takeda sneered.

    "By defeating you right now and destroying that intercontinental missile launcher."

    Takeda burst out laughing at that.

    "Do you really think you''re capable of defeating me? Really? Do you think I''ll just let you destroy the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher?"

    He stood firmly between me and the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher, his eyes narrowed into a ferocious glare.

    "If you won''t help me, then I''ll personally create the nuke myself and launch it at Havia City. But first, I need to Plunder your summoning ability."

    His armor glowed purple and violet wisps of light burst out of his back.

    SUA!

    In a burst of light, the purple mana lengthened and stretched out into spider-shape appendages that folded and curled menacingly. They expanded high into the air, almost resembling skeletal wings and giving the impression that Takeda was some sort of demon or fallen angel with creepy wings. His right hand glowed and a bony blade protruded out of his fist, lengthening into a sword.

    Rearing to his full height, Takeda glared at me, his visage now resembling that of a skeletal demon in full armor except the helmet.

    "Let me take all of your abilities, especially your Summon ability."

    I watched the skeletal appendages warily, suddenly realizing that I was mistaken. These weren''t spider-legs, but multiple bony frames of a dragon''s wing that acted like spider legs. Each of them were tipped with razor-sharp hooks.

    "If those pierce through me, you''ll Plunder my existence from this world."

    "That''s right," Takeda confirmed. The next instant, he unleashed all twelve of his skeletal appendages at me, their sharp, curved hooks seeking to tear into my flesh.

    I dodged to the side, just barely managing to evade the first one. Jumping back, I skidded across the ground as I tried to regain my balance, only to watch in horror as the dozen or so skeletal limbs smashed a crater into the reinforced concrete.

    Takeda yanked his skeletal appendages roughly out of the crater and slowly turned his head to stare at me, impressed.

    "Your reflexes are quite good," he praised me. I snorted.

    "Don''t play dumb. Your attack earlier wasn''t aimed toward me."

    Takeda grinned when he realized that I had seen through his aim.

    I backed away when I saw purple flames blaze across the crater that Takeda had just created with his attack earlier.

    "Looks like some kind of light ability," I mused to myself, watching the ethereal fire carefully. Then my eyes widened.

    A lavender pillar of light burst out of the crater and pierced the heavens, breaking apart the clouds above. I watched the gleaming pillar of light in awe, not sure what to make of it.

    "It''s nothing special," Takeda remarked with a grin.

    The next thing I knew, the whole space was enclosed within a titanic skeletal cage that seemed constructed entirely out of bone.

    "It''s just to make sure you don''t try to fly away from Cross Castle by summoning those winged dragons of yours."

    In a flash, day turned into night, with the sun completely blocked by the colossal cage. Dark shadows swept across the rooftop, engulfing us in inky blackness. A crescent moon slowly peeked out from between the bone bars, its silvery rays bathing us.

    The whole place just turned into night, I realized.

    Shaking my head, I stared at Takeda defiantly.

    "Preparing to finish me off with the next attack?"

    Takeda grinned back, but his expression carried a tinge of bitterness and regret.

    "Though I want to steal your existence as quickly as possible¡­it''s a pity."

    He made no move to attack me at all.

    "The cooldown for my ability to steal existences is long."

    The guy was actually revealing his hand. He must either be extremely confident, or an extremely idiotic dude.

    "I just used it once. I have to wait 24 hours before I can use it again."

    "Then you''re planning to keep me here until the next day," I concluded grimly. Takeda sat down in a cross-legged manner and spread his hands to the side in resignation.

    "Of couse, during which I won''t let you escape. And you won''t be able to defeat me either."

    "If you''re just going to sit there, I''ll defeat you and find a way to break out of this cage very soon," I warned.

    "Oh?" Takeda was thoroughly amused. "You don''t even have your weapon, how do you think you can beat me?"

    "Through brute force?"

    Takeda chuckled as he remained sitting.

    "The best you can do is to just wait until my ability is recharged."

    Malevolent amounts of purple mana blasted out from Takeda as he displayed a show of force to impress and intimidate me.

    "And let me take everything away from you."

    "HA HA HA HA HA!"

    I couldn''t help but guffaw. There were so many problems with his proclamation that I couldn''t help but laugh.

    For one thing, the broken sword I had wasn''t even my main weapon. All this time I had been using Tsukishima''s staff. If Takeda thought he had disarmed me by taking away the sword that formerly belonged to Minamoto Kureha, he was very mistaken.

    For another thing¡­

    "Your ability to Plunder another person''s existence has its limits. You can''t just simply use it to steal my existence."

    "Oh?" Takeda narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think so?"

    "If you could just use it on anyone, why did you use it on Ooyama Eiji instead of Suzuki Shirou? Suzuki was the greater threat, and eliminating him would be more beneficial to you than eradicating Ooyama''s existence. But no¡­you decide to choose Ooyama instead. Isn''t it because you couldn''t Plunder Suzuki''s existence?"

    I wasn''t stupid enough to think that he was showing off to Suzuki and letting him off with a warning. After all, why bother warning Suzuki in the first place if he could simply eliminate him? Furthermore, Ooyama was just a small fry. There was no value in choosing him over Suzuki. Not unless Takeda couldn''t use his ability on Suzuki.

    "Suzuki still has his uses." Takeda replied with a smile. "He has more value to me by remaining in Restia."

    I snorted. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

    Takeda shrugged. "You can choose not to believe me if you want." He then smiled ominously. "It''s up to you if you want to risk your existence on the belief that I''m unable to steal your existence. In fact¡­" his grin widened. "You''re more than welcome to try and wager on that belief."

    Suddenly, I felt a cold premonition. Takeda was right. I wasn''t stupid enough to try and bet everything on an uncomfirmed guess.

    "Of course," Takeda continued confidently. "I am only interested in your special abilities ¨C especially Summoning. What, it should be a good thing for you too, no? You''ll be safely transported back to Earth, free of all the dangers you face here, free from Kobayashi''s abuse forever. Don''t worry, I''ll take revenge on Kobayashi for you. You have my word."

    "I don''t need you to take revenge for me. I''ll take revenge on Kobayashi, Yamada and the others with my very own hands," I replied stiffly.

    "So be it."

    Takeda lost his smile. Instead, he retrieved his smartphone from his armor and brought it to his ear.

    "The Saint Sword is no longer of any use. Destroy it."

    I roughly understood what was going on from that exchange.

    Takeda is talking with Nagano-san. The Sacred Swordsmith doesn''t just possess the ability to forge weapons ¨C she also has the ability to destroy them.

    "I''m sorry."

    From the other side of the smartphone, Nagano''s apologetic voice drifted out. She had a very rueful expression on her pretty face.

    At that moment, she was standing alone in the forging room, staring at the table where she used to have tea with Lilith just a few minutes earlier. The table and two benches on either side of it had been neatly sliced in half.

    Sighing as she swept her gaze over the destruction, Nagano''s shoulders sagged.

    "But I can''t do that."

    "I see¡­"

    Takeda lowered his smartphone as realization dawned upon him. He raised his head to gaze at me intensely.

    "You told that vampire queen not to send the sword to Nagano-san, right?"

    I smiled, almost in a gloating manner.

    "No¡­"

    In my right hand, the newly reforged Saint Sword¡­no, Blood Dragon Sword materialized. Crimson mana swirled around the black blade, forming a terrifying, blood-red maelstrom that seemed to give the treasure weapon demonic life.

    "The former Saint Sword has already been reforged into an entirely new weapon."

    Behind me, the visage of a blood-red dragon soared and roared soundlessly as it gazed down contemptuously on Takeda''s now relatively tiny figure¡­

 83 Chapter 83: Schemes and Conspiracies

    A few minutes ago, in the forging room, Lilith was seated across Nagano Nanaka. Aoyama Aoi stood beside Nagano, his figure giving off assurance in what seemed like an otherwise tense confrontation.

    However, Nagano continued to smile warmly, placing her cup of tea back on the table in an elegant manner.

    "Give Tanaka-kun''s broken sword to me, Lilith-san."

    Lilith watched her, her face seemingly devoid of emotions.

    "I''m sorry."

    She rose to her feet and drew her blood-red spear.

    "But Tomoyuki-kun never told me to so."

    She calmly leveled her spear and pointed it at Nagano, as if issuing a challenge. Lowering her head apologetically, she continued.

    "Also, I would like to apologize again for this discourtesy."

    She swung her lance.

    At that moment, Aoyama also made his move and lunged forward.

    Crossing his scythes, he parried Lilith''s spear and held firm, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized her.

    "Did Tanaka-kun tell you to attack us?"

    "Hmm¡­"

    Lilith smiled mischievously.

    "You don''t need to know that~"

    With a single swing of her spear, she forced Aoyama back, causing him to stagger several steps from the sheer force of her blow.

    However, Aoyama was not to be outdone.

    He unleashed a counterattack of his own, his swift strokes disappearing into a blue blur that was too fast for the normal human eye to follow.

    Unfortunately, Lilith was not a normal human.

    She parried his strike, twirling her spear almost casually. The two of them charged at each other, disappearing into blur and red blurs that zipped across the room.

    Right in front of Nagano''s eyes, the two superhumans'' exchange sliced the table apart into pieces. However, Nagano didn''t seem the least bit fazed by the violent duel, and calmly remained in her seat to sip her cup of tea, which she had taken off her broken table.

    She smiled, already knowing the outcome of the duel.

    "Give up," Aoyama commanded.

    Lilith merely smiled as she parried another strike from his scythes. This time, it was Aoyama who forced her back with an incredibly strong blow. Skidding backward, she spun her spear around and slammed it into the ground to stop her slide.

    "Why should I?"

    Lilith lifted her spear from the large crack she had just pierced into the ground and elegantly twirled it back into an offensive stance, her lithe body curled and poised to strike.

    Aoyama merely stared at the glowing digits that had appeared on the back of her left hand. Lilith followed his gaze and snickered when she saw the blue 17.

    "I see."

    Even with the revelation, Lilith remained unmoved. She tilted her head as she analyzed the situation, her smile never leaving her face.

    Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

    "And since the one you guys need is Tomoyuki-kun and not me, you have no compunctions teleporting me away from here."

    Aoyama nodded. "That is correct. Don''t worry. We have no intention of killing or hurting you."

    Lilith''s smile widened. "Can you even hurt me in the first place?"

    Back in the underground lair, Suzuki Shirou continued to engage the Demonic Shadow Dragon in furious combat.

    "You dumb oversized lizard!"

    With a yell, Suzuki slashed at the dragon with his golden spear while unleashing lightning on his foe.

    "I''ll show you what the true power of a dragon is!"

    Lighting danced and spiraled around his spear, taking a life on its own and transforming into a bestial figure.

    Divine Gate Chaotic Battle: Lightning Dragon Summon.

    The lightning took the form of a ferocious dragon before it leaped out of Suzuki''s spear and struck the hapless Demonic Shadow Dragon. The monster bellowed before it vanished in a golden explosion, tendrils of lightning spraying out and scorching the surroundings.

    Suzuki landed behind the Demonic Shadow Dragon, his spear dripping with blood after he delivered a particularly vicious slash. Straightening himself, he continued to turn his back on the shrieking Demonic Shadow Dragon.

    "Hmph."

    Lightning and thunder blasted out of the flailing Demonic Shadow Dragon, illuminating the dim cavern and temporarily turning its dark interior into day. With one final cry, the Demonic Shadow Dragon collapsed, the life leaving its body.

    A distance away, Nishida Kensuke whooped and cheered.

    "You won!"

    Throwing a fist into the air, Nishida triumphantly crowed, watching the spectacle excitedly. But Suzuki merely stood there without turning to face the fallen dragon.

    "Boss, what are you waiting for? Finish him off!"

    Nishida urged Suzuki, who remained stationary.

    "Idiot¡­"

    Suzuki glared at the bewildered Nishida, and then turned to sneer at a shadowy corner of the cave.

    "Couldn''t you tell that someone has been watching us all this time?"

    Swinging his spear, he pointed it at the corner, lightning erupting from the deadly tip of his treasure weapon.

    "Hey¡­get out of there!"

    With a single blast of lightning, he blew up the corner of the cave with impudent fury.

    "The person hiding over there!"

    Here, I had no choice but to interject, using my first person protagonist privilege.

    "Uh, if you blow the place up and tried to kill the person hiding there, how do you expect him or her to get out and talk to you?"

    "Ugh! Don''t mind the details! And I''m not talking to you! Go back to fighting Takeda! I''ll take care of the winner after the both of you''re done!"

    Back in the forging room, Aoyama continued to aggressively pressure Lilith, who was defending his blows with astonishing ease. However, Lilith wasn''t toying with him. Even as she parried or evaded his strikes, beads of perspiration rolled down her face.

    As expected of a hero. Aoyama wasn''t going to make things easy for Lilith.

    With another strike, Aoyama sent Lilith skidding backward. The vampire queen grimly lowered her spear and righted her balance before she counterattacked. Aoyama deflected her strikes and then dodged a thrust from her spear before lashing out with a kick from below. Lilith used her left elbow to block his foot, and then jumped back to widen the distance between them.

    Aoyama refused to give her a breather and he pressed on. Realizing that she had no choice but to accept this confrontation, Lilith abandoned her efforts and met his charge head-on. The two of them collided in the middle of the room with such force that the ground caved in, turning into a cracked crater under the tremendous impact.

    The both of them then sprang apart, widening the distance between them. As Lilith paused to catch her breath, she glanced at the back of her left hand.

    The number had grown to 24.

    "A few more attacks and this will be over, huh?" Nagano was still spectating the battle calmly. "Good work, Aoyama-kun."

    "No."

    However, Aoyama shook his head and remained where he was, his expression perplexed.

    "Something is off. That girl should have been forcibly teleported out of here already. She should have surpassed the 33 mark long ago."

    Lilith smiled, her eyes hooded. Aoyama felt a chill run down his spine.

    "This is a trap¡­"

    "Are you sure?"

    Nagano furrowed her brow, puzzled by Aoyama''s remark.

    "But her hand shows that she needs nine more hits, doesn''t it?"

    Aoyama''s eyes widened.

    "Damn it!"

    He glared at Lilith, who was slowly dissolving. Her body was melting away, turning into a human-shaped blob made entirely of blood.

    "We''ve been tricked!"

    Back in the lair, after Suzuki blew up the corner with his little tantrum, Nishida was reacting rather frantically to the person who emerged from the shadows.

    "Aren''t you that beautiful girl who is Tanaka''s comrade?! Are you here to steal the kill on that dragon?!"

    Unlike the flustered Nishida, Suzuki remained calm, but he continued to emanate a murderous aura.

    "Speak¡­what do you want?"

    "I need a favor," Lilith replied as she stepped forward and lowered her two blood-red spears.

    Back in the forging room, Aoyama was glaring at the transforming blob.

    "This¡­"

    "Looks like Bloody Doppelganger." Nagano sighed. "We''ve been had. That''s a vampire ability, to create a clone of herself using her blood. She was never here from the start. And now it appears that the doppelganger ability has expired."

    At her words, the shrinking blob of blood was imploding and slowly disappearing from sight now that its purpose had been fulfilled.

    "Eh? This is¡­?"

    Aoyama noticed something strange. Even though the Blood Doppelganger had disappeared, the spear had not.

    "A favor from me?"

    Back in the Demonic Shadow Dragon''s lair, Suzuki was staring at Lilith incredulously, unable to believe what he had just heard.

    "Not you¡­" Lilith smiled sweetly. "You will be forcibly teleported out of here soon, and will be of no use to me."

    "Boss!" Nishida shouted frantically as he pointed. "Look at your hand!"

    "Eh?"

    Following Nishida''s gaze, Suzuki noticed the blue, glowing digits of 33 etched across the back of his left hand.

    This number¡­isn''t it Aoyama''s ability¡­!?

    Aoyama himself had picked up the spear and studied it, noticing something strange with it thanks to his role as a healer.

    "There''s hardened flecks of blood on it. Don''t tell me¡­this is Suzuki''s blood?"

    He suddenly recalled the battle.

    "Back when Tanaka was battling Suzuki, he cut him and absorbed his blood. Don''t tell me¡­this is the blood from back then? He¡­or perhaps it was Lilith, manipulated the blood using magic and hardened it around her spear."

    Aoyama finally understood.

    "All this time, when we exchanged blows, I was placing the curse not on her spear, but on Suzuki''s blood that was coating the spear!"

    Aoyama clenched his fists in frustration.

    "I see¡­so that''s why she was on the offensive all this while. I had thought it weird that she was taking the initiative because it would accelerate the process of me teleporting her away from Cross Castle. No, it was precisely because she wanted to accelerate the process¡­!"

    "Not bad. Impressive. Very impressive!"

    Rather than furious, Nagano looked very pleased as she sipped her tea cheerfully.

    "Not only Suzuki''s bunch¡­.even we have been played by Tanaka-kun and Lilith-san. We have to hand it to them¡­I didn''t think Tanaka-kun would plan things this far ahead in advance."

    "DAMN YOU, IRON KNIGHTS!"

    Suzuki howled in the lair of the Demonic Shadow Dragon as golden mana swirled around his body, erasing his presence from Cross Castle and unceremoniously dumping him somewhere far away. His eyes glowed with rage as he helplessly cursed the people directly responsible for his current predicament.

    "You dare to trick me! Unforgivable! I''m not finished with you all!"

    Right at that moment, Nagano perked up when her smartphone buzzed, the cute ringtone echoing throughout the wrecked forging room.

    It was a call from the leader.

    "Takeda-kun¡­"

    She swiped the green button and raised the smartphone to her ear. As expected, Takeda''s voice came through immediately.

    "The Saint Sword is no longer of any use. Destroy it."

    "I''m sorry."

    Nagano sighed as she stood up apologetically, surveying the devastated state her forging room was in.

    "But I can''t do that."

    "I see¡­"

    On the other side of the smartphone, Takeda turned to stare at me, mystified.

    "You told that vampire queen not to send the sword to Nagano-san, right?"

    I smiled, almost in a gloating manner.

    "No¡­"

    In my right hand, the newly reforged Saint Sword¡­no, Blood Dragon Sword materialized. Crimson mana swirled around the black blade, forming a terrifying, blood-red maelstrom that seemed to give the treasure weapon demonic life.

    "The former Saint Sword has already been reforged into an entirely new weapon."

    The blood-red dragon roared to life and materialized above me, the resentful, demonic spirit of the Demonic Shadow Dragon taking a new form and hungering for blood.

    "Tanaka really pulled a fast one on us, didn''t he?" Aoyama remarked as he gripped his scythes tightly. "To think he was able to deceive all of us."

    "Yes¡­"

    Nagano acknowledged, still amused by the whole affair.

    "When I think about it, Tanaka-kun is really quite the mischief maker."

    Not sharing Nagano''s insights, Takeda glared at me, still unable to believe what had just transpired.

    "What did you do to get your treasure weapon repaired and reforged?"

    "Oh, this?"

    I raised my demonic sword.

    "It just so happened that today was very coincidental."

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Have you already forgotten?"

    I shook my head.

    "Your own classmates'' abilities¡­don''t tell me you''ve forgotten who has what? Even if you''ve a split, you didn''t go off and forget about them entirely, did you?"

    "¡­"

    Takeda regarded me grimly. I sighed.

    "Did you forget? In our class, there are two heroes with the job swordsmiths. And it just so happened that both of them are in Cross Castle today."

    Back in the Demonic Shadow Dragon Lair, Nishida was sitting on the ground, his staff lying beside him in an untidy manner. He was breathing heavily, cold sweat running down his face.

    "I was almost scared to death!"

    Thinking back, Nishida felt as if his life was hanging by just a thread.

    The boss was mysteriously forced to teleport out of here¡­

    His eyes had bulged when he saw Suzuki physically vanish before his eyes.

    And that scary vampire queen requested for my help!

    Lilith was smiling sweetly as she approached the trembling Nishida, but there was something menacing about that overly friendly expression of hers. A dark, seductive undercurrent that simultaneously enthralled and threatened.

    Using the Shadow Dragon Egg to help reforge and repair Tanaka''s treasure weapon and turn it into an even more powerful sword than before¡­the boss is going to yell at me for sure.

    However, he recalled Lilith''s cold gaze, her blood-red ruby eyes piercing into him ¨C a gaze which her sweet smile didn''t reach ¨C and he shuddered.

    But I can''t beat that legendary vampire queen, who''s reputed to be among the top 9 strongest demon nobles in Restia. The boss will understand¡­

    Nishida sighed, and calmed down for a bit.

    "Having Tanaka owe me a favor isn''t bad either¡­especially if he''s a warrior of such high caliber. And I remember he''s actually not the type to be ungrateful."

    Wiping the cold perspiration from his face, Nishida shook his head.

    "Anyway, the boss should be really mad at the Iron Knights."

    Indeed¡­if Suzuki was furious at the Iron Knights, he wouldn''t bother berating Nishida or directing his rage at me. We were both safe.

    Takeda and his Iron Knights, on the other hand, were not.

    "I didn''t think¡­"

    The purple skeletal wings stretched out of Takeda''s back, almost in a threatening manner. Scorn filled his voice as he slowly spoke.

    "¡­that Nishida¡­"

    He raised his head to glare at me, and at the same time the skeletal appendages lashed out violently in my direction.

    "¡­was also a swordsmith."

    "I didn''t know either," I admitted as I deftly dodged the strikes from Takeda''s skeletal appendages. "But¡­I have my ways of finding out."

    Indeed, when I first met Nishida near the entrance of the Cross Castle, I had activated Absolute Appraisal and seen his job.

    Name: Nishida Kensuke

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Weaponsmith/Hero

    Special Abilities: Demonic Swordsmith, Curse

    "And besides, he was 2nd in command in Suzuki''s group. There''s no way Suzuki would allow him to tag along as a lackey if he doesn''t have his uses."

    I admired my new Blood Dragon Sword. I had to hand it to Nishida. He certainly was capable of crafting such a masterpiece.

    "Furthermore, given my affiliation with demons, plus how this new weapon is complementary to my uh¡­demonic, dark abilities, won''t you say it''s more fitting that Nishida, the Demonic Swordsmith is the one who forged my weapon for me instead of the Sacred Swordsmith, Nagano-san?"

    This was not to say I didn''t trust Nagano. I respected her abilities as a swordsmith, but in the end, I was an undead. I should be wielding demonic weapons crafted by the Demonic Swordsmith, Nishida, and not holy weapons forged by the Sacred Swordsmith, Nagano.

    Takeda didn''t offer a verbal reply. Instead, the skeletal appendages from his armor stretched and expanded, trying to catch me in a pincer attack. I stopped and calmly waited for them to intersect and ensnare me before I dropped down, ducking under their slash.

    "More importantly¡­"

    I grinned at Takeda, his reflection floating inside my glasses as I used Absolute Appraisal. High-speed calculations and estimations filled my lenses, showing me the trajcetories of his attacks and triangulated possibilities and tactics that he might employ against me, given his abilities.

    With this, I was able to dodge each and every attack Takeda threw at me, as well as read every single move he made.

    "You think you can win just because you have a new, reforged and enhanced weapon?" Takeda sneered.

    I shrugged nonchalantly as I glanced at my new sword.

    "I don''t know. There are no guarantees in life except death and taxes. But I certainly wouldn''t say my chances of winning are zero."

    The blood-red dragon reared up and roared behind me. In an instant, my side of the rooftop was covered in a sea of blood.

    "Especially now that Lilith-san has appeared to lend me her power. Looks like this demonic sword, the Blood Dragon Sword, is imbued with her vampiric powers. I really should go thank her later. She has helped me out a lot."

    Not only that, the blood abilities of the sword complemented my own blood magic very well. This was the first time I could fight all out as a "Vampire Lord."

    "Now that she has placed her trust on me, I can''t very well let her down."

    I plunged the Blood Dragon Sword down into the ground, piercing the cement. All around me, the sea of blood began to bubble as humanoid figures rose, turning into Blood Ghouls. Before long, I had an army of Blood Ghouls standing to attention, staggering forward in neat formations, their fluid bodies rippling as they absorbed the blood from the ground.

    "This is the Summoning ability you so wanted to Plunder, right?"

    I smiled as I savored Takeda''s astonished expression.

    "So it''s only fitting that I fight you with it."

    Takeda hardened his eyes and glared at me. While I was used to glares of hatred from former classmates who were obsessed with killing me, this was a fresh change. Takeda wasn''t glaring at me murderously or because he held a grudge against me.

    No, he was grudgingly respecting me as a worthy opponent.

    "Let''s go, Leader of the Iron Knights." Raising my Blood Dragon Sword, I took command of my horde of enhanced Blood Ghouls. "Can the formidable defenses of your Cross Castle hold out against my army of vampiric Blood Ghouls?"

 84 Chapter 84: Lord versus Lord

    The skeletal wings sprouting from Takeda''s back flared ominously, shrouded by blinding purple mana.

    "I''ll adjust the properties of these bones of mine¡­"

    Spreading his hands on either side of him, Takeda proclaimed.

    The skeletal appendages reared over him and pointed toward me like spears.

    "They don''t do any damage."

    With a swing of his arms, he unleashed a fearsome barrage of bone spikes from his wings, botting out the dark skies with a hail of bones.

    "But if you get pierced by them, you''ll be robbed of your ability to move."

    I narrowed my eyes as I watched the incoming bombardment of bones. Using Absolute Appraisal, I calculated the trajectory of each and every skeletal projectile.

    As they homed in and closed on me, I made my move. Blood appendages burst out of the ground and intercepted them, and at the same time I moved under the cover of my bood barrier, dodging the individual bones that easly pierced through the blood appendages.

    While I evaded, I noted how the bones easily pierced my Blood Ghouls and caused them to implode, returning to formless droplets of fluid.

    Sliding across the sea of blood, while using my blood appendages to deflect further attacks, I raised my head and smirked.

    "You were testing to see if your attacks could destroy my Blood Ghouls, right?"

    Even as the bony spikes protruded from the ground, with the red sea lapping at the bottom, the Blood Ghouls regenerated and reformed, the blood taking human shapes once again and solidifying. Worse, they crawled and scrambled over the bony spikes and began to devour them, using them as nutrients to strengthen their fluid constitutions.

    Takeda watched the gruesome scene grimly.

    "Looks like they possess unimaginable regenerative power. There''s no way to destroy them completely, and even if I do obliterate them, they will keep coming back¡­as long as you have that sea of blood."

    While I widened the distance between myself and the fearsome lord of the Iron Knights, Takeda smiled, impressed.

    "But you aren''t too bad yourself, Tanaka-kun. When you evaded my attack, you were also scouting the region near the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher to see if there are any traps."

    His smile widened and he spread his arms in a seemingly harmless manner. Behind him, the bony spikes trembled, even as the reforming Blood Ghouls surrounded them, otherwise unharmed. It seemed their presence hadn''t set off any traps, even when combined with the onslaught from the bony spines.

    "You should know by now¡­there is no such thing."

    I shrugged in response. "Always good to make sure." Straightening myself, I fixed my eyes on the intercontinental ballistic missile laucher. "I guess that means I can charge right in then."

    With a raise of my hand, I commanded my Blood Ghouls to march forward.

    "You''re really underestimating vampires if you think regeneration is all we''re capable of."

    Red mana swirled and raged around the black demonic sword in my right hand. Gathering it to the point of my sword, I aimed the accumulating orb of red and black mana at Takeda. A maelstrom of dark, chaotic energy whipped around my blade, almost turning into a tornado.

    "Oh¡­it seems that it isn''t just my blood magic that''s enhanced by my Blood Dragon Sword. Even my other dark spells too¡­"

    Such as Doombolt. While I casted the spell and accumulated more of the dark mana, I was shocked by how the current Doombolt was on a completely different level from before. Getting Nishida to reforge Minamoto''s sword had been an excellent choice indeed.

    "And one more thing¡­it seems you''ve forgotten that like you, I''m someone who has been summoned from another world and is on the same level as you heroes."

    I aimed the incredibly enhanced Doombolt at Takeda.

    "That is true."

    Takeda closed his eyes and admitted grudgingly.

    "But it isn''t your blood magic and vampire skills¡­it''s your other techniques that I''m worried about. The special abilities that you were granted when you were first summoned to this world along with us. Your original, unique ability."

    I grinned. "And what ability do you think I originally have?"

    "I wonder. At first I thought it might be that Summon ability. But now that I think about it, that ability formerly belonged to Kijima Takeshi, didn''t it? You must have taken it from him somehow. Then your unique ability must be something else¡­something similar to mine that allows you to steal abilities from other heroes."

    "I''m afraid you might be mistaken on that."

    I chuckled.

    My original, unique ability was far too mundane and not as glamorous as Takeda''s Plunder or the Devour ability I gained after defeating the cockatrice.

    No, it was Adamantium Will. The same Adamantium Will that allowed me to resist Yonebashi''s Demonic Fear. While it wasn''t a very flashy ability, it was a vital one that contributed largely to allowing me to resist the Iron Knights.

    "The truth is often very¡­boring."

    I took another step toward Takeda. He frowned when he saw a blood-red mist shroud around me, and the next thing he knew¡­

    He disappeared?!

    I was no longer in front of him.

    So fast!

    Takeda was astonished by my speed. Even without looking, he could tell that I was making a beeline for the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher, blasting past him without even bothering to attack him.

    He summoned a dragon bone dagger that glowed purple around his hand. Spinning around, he slashed with the dragon bone dagger at the spot he estimated I was at.

    I can only force myself to sense his location¡­

    Blood spurted into the air as he slashed a Blood Ghoul apart, only to blink in confusion.

    I was still standing several meters away, with my arms folded, laughing at him.

    "What, you think I''m Lu Shu Yin or Riku Suigin or something? Nah. Of course not. I don''t have incredible speed like him. No, no. I''m fighting this battle my way."

    Takeda''s jaw dropped when he saw the horde of Blood Ghouls surrounding him. He narrowed his eyes and slashed a bloody swathe through the horde, turning them into fine red mist that rained down on his black, purplish armor.

    "This is¡­"

    "A diversion."

    The moment he smashed a hole through my Blood Ghouls, he exposed himself to the tip of my sword, where I had been gathering a lot of mana for.

    Doombolt!

    I unleashed the enhanced Doombolt, which slammed into Takeda and exploded. Black flames soared high into the air as they ravaged the rooftop, burning ominously in the night sky. Lowering my sword, I glared at the epicenter.

    "Still not good enough, huh¡­"

    Takeda emerged from the flames, totally unscathed. Cinders and sparks danced away from his gleaming armor, which didn''t even smolder despite the vicious explosion earlier. With a wave of his hand, Takeda caused the raging mana from the unleashed Doombolt to dissipate.

    "Ho¡­that was powerful. If your opponent was someone other than me, you would have finished him off with that strike."

    I felt a bead of perspiration roll down my face.

    "That''s quite the formidable armor you have."

    "Indeed. As you know, Nagano-san forged it for me. And she''s quite the excellent swordsmith."

    I scratched my cheek as I glanced at the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher. Maybe I should have aimed my Doombolt at that damned thing instead. But it was meaningless to just destroy it. Takeda and Nagano could always just build another.

    No, to enforce my will over them, I had to subjugate them through force and defeat them in an actual battle.

    Dashing forward, I summoned a bunch of blood appendages from the sea of blood and directed them at Takeda, who wasn''t able to dodge because of his cumbersome armor. Relying on sheer, brute strength, I smashed him to the ground with my blood appendages.

    "¡­kuh¡­!"

    Takeda grunted as he found himself pressurized under the bulk of my blood appendages. Clenching his gauntleted fist, he changed the shape of his gauntlet into a purple, skeletal blade and sliced through the blood appendages.

    It didn''t matter. By then I had reshaped the remaining appendages into a battering ram and slammed the iron-hard weapon into Takeda, throwing him into the air.

    "Not bad¡­"

    Takeda dropped back onto the ground, having flipped his body in midair to land on his feet. The tremendous weight of his armor left a crater, and he slowly stood up. The skeletal wings spreading from the back of his armor flared up again.

    I dashed at him and slashed him with my sword, but he caught my blade with his gauntlet. The skeletal wings bent and whipped toward me, seeking to pierce me, but blood appendages burst out from the sea of blood that covered the rooftop and deflected them away. Clenching them into a single, thick club-like appendage, I smacked Takeda away.

    "Heh, I see¡­"

    Takeda skidded away, still on his feet, and chuckled. I frowned, not sure why he was still feeling so confident.

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    "!"

    I instinctively jumped away, only for several bony spines to lash down at me. Doing my best to evade, I threw up my blood appendages to knock away. Several of them got through my defenses, only for my Redwood jacket to resist them.

    "Oh, I forgot all about that. You have quite the troublesome equipment, don''t you?"

    Takeda studied me¡­or rather, my Redwood jacket curiously.

    "That grants you impenetrable defense. Twelve barriers, which constantly regenerate whenever they''re broken. Add that to your innate Regeneration, you''re practically immortal."

    I shrugged sardonically. "That''s a good thing, or I would have died when Kobayashi and his goons tried to murder me long ago."

    "Yes, indeed. It''s impossible to kill you." Takeda smiled. "But fortunately, the goal isn''t to kill you."

    "?!"

    Several dragon bones burst out of the ground. I was a little slow to react, having mistakenly believed that I held the advantage over the ground now that I had carpeted it in a sea of blood. The bones tore my Blood Ghouls apart instantly, returning them to the red sea.

    It didn''t matter. I could just regenerate my Blood Ghouls again¡­

    "¡­!"

    Too late. I had underestimated the bones. While I was too focused on regenerating my Blood Ghouls, the bones had slammed into me. I frowned and tried to cut through them ¨C after all, despite their sharpness, they weren''t able to penetrate the twelve layers of defense that Redwood jacket provided.

    But as Takeda said earlier, his goal wasn''t to kill me. Or even to hurt me.

    "Whoa!"

    The bones wrapped themselves around my limbs, immobilizing me and locking my movements. I struggled, but the flexible bones curled and coiled around me like a serpent, restricting my moves and preventing me from escaping.

    "This is¡­!"

    Normally the bones would have crushed and suffocated me, but my Redwood jacket had prevented that, the barriers resisting the tremendous pressure. However, even if I had impenetrable defense, I didn''t possess worldbreaking strength. I wasn''t able to break free out of the skeletal grasp, no matter how much I struggled.

    "Finally caught you."

    I glared at Takeda''s triumphant expression and defiantly attacked. The Blood Ghouls lunged at him, but with a single swing of his arm, he obliterated all of them, turning them into red mists of droplets that hung in the air, suspended for a brief period before returning to the sea.

    "Go ahead, regenerate them." Takeda smiled. "We can keep at this forever."

    I closed my eyes and concentrated.

    "Hmm? Have you finally given up?"

    I replied by creating a gigantic blood lance from the sea of blood and directing it at his smug face. However, Takeda''s reflexes were equal to it. He blocked the colossal lance with his right hand, deflecting it away from his face.

    "Kuh!"

    Even so, I was satisfied to hear him grunt in surprise. The lance wasn''t just any lance. Even as the titanic blood lance shattered in the collision, the Blood Dragon Sword within was revealed. With a silent roar, the demonic weapon bit into Takeda''s armored arm before exploding in a black and red blast of mana.

    "Ugh!"

    Takeda staggered, winded from the blow. His once-pristine armor was finally smoldering, having suffered damage from my last-ditch attack. The tremendous impact had shattered his right gauntlet, exposing his hand. Waving it, he shook his head.

    "I don''t believe it. You actually managed to destroy my gauntlet¡­the armor that Nagano-san forged for me."

    Takeda watched the fallen Blood Dragon Sword warily, the demonic weapon having pierced the ground and just standing there emanating bloodlust.

    "That Nishida¡­I can''t believe he was capable of creating a weapon of such immense power."

    "You know what the problem is?"

    I shook my head, amused. Takeda turned to stare at me with a frown, but he didn''t seem worried. After all, I was still locked up and immobilized by his skeletal restraints. At this point, anything I said sounded like the barking of a sore loser.

    "You guys always underestimate your opponents. Me, Nishida, Lilith-san¡­you think you''re stronger than us, and that we''re all dancing in the palm of your hand."

    Takeda smiled wryly.

    "But it''s true, isn''t it?"

    "I wonder. Do you really think everything will go according to your plan?"

    "Ah, but it already has. You''ve been defeated. Now all I need to do is wait for my ability to recharge and I can Plunder your abilities."

    Takeda glanced around at the sea of blood, looking impressed.

    "The way you use your Summon ability has surpassed my imagination. It''s a waste to strip you of it, but I''m afraid I will your ability."

    "You talk as if you''ve already won."

    "Haven''t I?"

    Takeda smirked and drew closer, gloating.

    "You''re trapped here, captured and helpless. There''s nothing you can do except wait for me to Plunder your ability."

    "Like you''re capable of taking my existence."

    I chuckled softly. Takeda frowned, but thought that I was bluffing. He sighed and patted my shoulder sympathetically.

    "I''m sorry. If it makes it any better, I promise I''ll take revenge for you. I''ll kill Kobayashi for you."

    BITE.

    "!"

    Takeda quickly withdrew his arm, but it was too late. A trail of blood dripped from his wrist, falling and mingling with the sea of blood he was standing on.

    "You¡­you bit me!"

    "Yes, yes. I''m the type to bite the hand that feeds me. Except the only thing you feed me is a bunch of absolute BS."

    I glanced up and smiled, Takeda''s blood trailing from my mouth. Licking my lips, I savored the taste before swallowing it.

    "¡­you¡­!"

    "I feel better."

    With a surge of strength, I smashed free of the skeletal restraints. Empowered by Takeda''s blood, I temporarily increased my physical strength and shattered the bones. Falling out of the cage, I rolled on the ground and snatched up my sword right at the same time Takeda threw his glowing skeletal dagger at me. The bones had glowed around his hand, purple mana coalescing over his formerly bare hand and turning into a formidable weapon.

    They shattered in an instant.

    "Gah!"

    Takeda staggered back, his right arm bleeding profusely from the cut I dealt him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

    "You cut me!"

    "My bad?"

    Smiling, I slashed at Takeda again, but he caught my blade with his left gauntlet. With a roar, he summoned his skeletal wings and lanced them at me. I withdrew quickly as the bones thudded into the ground, leaving huge holes in the concrete and large spashes of blood that soared high into the air like geysers.

    "I''ve to revise my opinion of you."

    Takeda''s armor glowed purple as he reformed his skeletal wings and wrapped them around his body to reinforce his armor. Now, he looked like some sort of monstrous hulk with oversized, bony limbs and claws.

    "I''m sorry for not taking you seriously before."

    "No¡­"

    I rested my sword against my shoulder and beckoned him with my left hand.

    "I should apologize for holding back too."

    The monstrous Takeda advanced toward me. His right arm was now encased by bony armor, which ended in a massive white blade that glowed as he suffused it with purple mana.

    I pushed my glasses up my nose and lowered my sword to point it at him.

    "Tanaka-kun, here I come."

    Takeda dropped to a crouch, his claws and blade scratching the ground and causing huge ripples in the sea of blood. The next moment he sprang forward, clearing the vast distance between us in a single bound.

    I dodged it.

    "Too slow."

    I had already anticipated his movements and calculated his trajectory and estimated time of arrival with Absolute Appraisal. I was being fed dozens of information through the lenses of my glasses, so much so that my vision was almost overwhelmed and obscured by data instead of focusing on the figure of my foe.

    Takeda swung his bone-sword. I parried the first strike, and then dodged the second, which left a massive crater in the ground. Flipping myself high above Takeda, I countered with a slash, but my sword barely bit into the bone-armor that now encased his body.

    At the same time, I conjured a huge blood appendage from the sea of blood and attempted to puncture that hard shell with brute force, but to no avail.

    My attacks can''t go through¡­his armor is too hard. And that''s just the skeletal dragon armor, never mind his actual armor that Nagano-san forged for him.

    "Tanaka!"

    Bellowing Takeda spun around and slashed at me with his bone-sword, forcing me to dodge again.

    I spun around and slashed his bone-sword with all my might. Black mana gushed into the blade of my Blood Dragon Sword and I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang at close range.

    BOOM!

    How''s that?

    Jumping away from the black explosion, I watched, satisfied, as a huge chunk of the bone-sword flew off from Takeda''s now-exposed hand. But Takeda merely smirked, even as his silhouette remained partially hidden in the black smoke.

    The left hand, which was a mass of bony claws, lashed out from the smog and slammed into me. Fortunately, the tips failed to puncture the twelve layers of defense that my Redwood jacket provided, but the tremendous force alone was enough to lift me off my feet and sent me hurtling across the air.

    "Too shallow, huh?"

    Winded, I flipped myself in midair and landed on my knees and hands. But Takeda didn''t give me any time to recover. His gigantic claws slammed into me again just when I was catching my breath.

    "Gah!"

    I was hurled across the rooftop and sent crashing into the edge of the castle. The concrete shattered and buried me in rubble and dust, causing me to cough.

    Slowly rising to my feet, I wiped the blood from my mouth. Even with the Redwood jacket, the impact had done some minor damage. Taking a deep breath, I raised my Blood Dragon Sword again. At the same time, four gigantic blood appendages rose from the sea of blood.

    "Bloody hell¡­"

    I shook my head before pointing all my weapons at Takeda.

    "I guess in the end, it doesn''t matter if we''re Kobayashi, Suzuki, the Iron Knights, you, or me."

    I cracked my neck and tilted my head, laughing at my own hypocrisy.

    "We all resort to violence, don''t we? I may play the victim, but in the end I''m dong the exact same thing as you all. Using violence. Killing the people who tried to kill me. I''m as much as a bully as everyone else."

    But at least I was admitting that I was a hypocrite. There was no higher moral ground here. I was doing whatever I wanted, same as Kobayashi and the others. Same as Takeda.

    Fuck morals. Fuck the moral high ground. Fuck playing the victim.

    The winner was the one who had any right. So if I wanted to enforce my decision, I had to beat Takeshi and prove that my strength was superior.

    "Now it''s my turn."

    The blood appendages responded to my will. Just as Takeda lunged at me, I smacked him away with the four blood appendages, the conjured "weapons" behaving exactly as my own limbs would. Takeda staggered, but managed to right his balance.

    "Those things are annoying," he muttered darkly.

    "¡­"

    I could say the same thing about him, but I was too busily analyzing his combat capabilities.

    His armor is impenetrable. He hits hard too. His physical strength is superior. It seems that he has the overwhelming advantage in close combat.

    If that was the case, then¡­

    How do I break his armor?

    One way was to imbue my Blood Dragon Sword with Corrupting Darkness and slowly chip away at his armor. But that would take too long, and his armor probably had a high resistance to such spells.

    If that was the case¡­

    Right when Takeda charged at me again, I conjured dozens of blood appendages from the sea of blood and slammed them against him.

    I''ll just have to overpower him with sheer numbers!

    This time it was Takeda''s turn to be driven back. The dozens of blood appendages that emerged from the sea continued to whack him, mercilessly knocking him away and slapping him down. Even if they weren''t able to break through his armor, the sheer numbers alone were overwhelming him and sending shockwaves through his internal organs.

    BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

    I continued battering him with everything I had, forcing Takeda to the edge. Taking one step at a time, I drove Takeda to a corner, hammering him over and over and over again. The leader of the Iron Knights had withdrawn into his shell, relying on his armor to absorb the blows, but the skeletal dragon shell was slowly crumbling under the relentless onslaught.

    "Guh¡­!"

    Takeda realized what a pinch he was in, and he threw out a claw to slash me, only for me to dodge it. Almost dancing to the side, I gripped my Blood Dragon Sword with both hands and swung it down in a vertical manner.

    "Gaaah!"

    Takeda flinched as his claw was severed from his hand, the bony appendage flying high into the air before landing helplessly on a pool of blood several meters away.

    Gritting his teeth, he swung his right hand at me, purple mana swirling around it in a destructive manner. Spinning around, I evaded it by a hair''s breadth, and then countered with a kick to his solar plexus.

    Even with his solid armor, the blow alone was enough to send him stumbling backward. Before he could right himself, I slashed him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

    Chink!

    The blade bit deeply into his metallic breastplate, but didn''t penetrate any more than that. Perspiration dripping down his face, Takeda smirked.

    "You''re really good, Tanaka, but like you, I''ve a formidable defense. You''re not going to be able to defeat me¡­"

    "Shadow Lunar Fang."

    I blasted Takeda with one of my most powerful offensive spells at pointblank range ¨C one that was incredibly enhanced by the improved and reforged Blood Dragon Sword.

    A few seconds, Takeda emerged from the smoke, blood dripping from his head and his armor smoldering from the blow. Destructive black mana crackled and jumped about his fuming armor, and the leader of the Iron Knights fell to his knees.

    It was time to finish this. Just as I swung my sword to behead him ¨C or at least to place my blade against his neck and forced him to surrender ¨C he smirked.

    "Heh."

    "!"

    I found that I couldn''t move. Pink chains had emerged from nowhere and wrapped them around my right arm.

    It wasn''t just my sword arm. Another roll of pink chains had coiled around my left leg, stopping me from moving.

    Turning around calmly, I saw that the pink chains were coming from amidst the row of skeletal spikes that Takeda had launched at me earlier. A single hand stretched out of a portal that appeared from the spines, holding onto the chains that now restrained me.

    "Caught you!"

    I recognized that voice from anywhere. It belonged to Gendou Issei.

    And he wasn''t alone.

    Emerging from a portal that shimmered around the skeletal dragon spines, the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights arrived on the rooftop to confront me.

 85 Chapter 85: The Eight Guardians

    I stared at the pink chains that restrained my right hand and left leg, bemused. Sighing, I tilted my head sheepishly.

    "Whoops¡­seems like I got caught¡­didn''t think I would actually get chained down. What''s next, a chain attack?"

    Takeda Tetsuo merely snorted as he crouched over and began to sit down.

    "In terms of combat, I am better at killing someone off."

    "You say that, but you''ve failed to kill me."

    "That much is true," Takeda admitted as he sat down in a relaxed manner, crossing his legs. "But I can''t kill you right now. And I never aimed to kill you to begin with ¨C you''re more useful to me alive, and I''m only planning to send you back to Earth. But before I can Plunder your existence, I''ll need to capture you. That''s why they''re better suited against you¡­"

    I followed his gaze and glanced back at Gendou Issei, who was wielding those pink chains that now restrained me.

    "The eight Guardians are better at capturing an opponent than I am."

    It wasn''t just Gendou. All the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights had arrived, and were assembling in front of me. Evidently, they had all emerged from a portal that shimmered in one of the gigantic bony spines that Takeda fired at me earlier.

    "Whoa! Boss, it was really a smart move to coordinate with Kozue-chan earlier to send everyone in!"

    Pushing her ruby-lensed sunglasses down, Yonebashi Kyoko sounded impressed. Beside her, Hoshizaki Kozue had a more serious demeanor.

    "It seems like we failed to convince Tanaka-kun."

    "It appears we must fight." Sanada Hiroyuki held up his ice bell. In an instance, the entire sea of blood across the rooftop froze, nullifying my Blood Ghouls and blood magic. Holy fuck¡­what the hell did Sanada just use? That was one hell of a powerful spell! Gulping, I glanced at him, but he calmly continued, "It isn''t bad, I did want to see how strong Tanaka-kun is."

    "In terms of fighting, I''ll leave it to you guys."

    Domon Daisuke backed away and leaned against an outcrop of bone. Opening a single eye, he sighed wearily.

    "Tanaka-kun was my savior¡­I feel indebted to him. I owe him a great deal, so I honestly don''t think I have what it takes to fight him."

    "That''s fine. As long as we don''t let him near the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher¡­" Aoyama Aoi made that proclamation as he drew his dual scythes. "We don''t have to hurt him. Takeda-kun will send him home shortly after we restrain him."

    "It won''t be that easy," Shidou Makoto warned as he folded his arms, in deep thought. "His Summons won''t be that easy to deal with."

    She raised a hand, conjuring a golden cube.

    "Barrier¡­"

    At the same time, Gendou gripped his chains tightly, immobilizing me the moment I sought to evade.

    "I won''t let you run away!"

    "Run away? Why would I run away?"

    I smiled and raised my hand. At the same time the golden cube flew toward me to imprison me inside Nagano''s impenetrable barrier, I casted a spell of my own.

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    A thousand and eight gravestones burst out of the ground, surrounding me in what looked like a defensive formation.

    "It''s useless. Even if you summon such a massive spell¡­"

    Nagano''s cube homed into me and hit me. A massive yellow explosion expanded and solidified all around me.

    "Nagano-san''s Barrier¡­once it hits, it''ll form an impenetrable prison around its target."

    Still seated calmly, Takeda remarked casually.

    "Did you catch him?" Hoshizaki asked. Nagano nodded hesitantly.

    "We caught him, but¡­"

    "Eh?"

    Gendou staggered back when his chains were slackened. Wielding Blood Dragon Sword, I had severed his chains with a single slash. Turning toward him, I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang in his direction.

    "¡­!"

    Gendou jumped back, only to find himself trapped.

    "Hold still!" Sanada commanded as he lunged forward, his hand outstretched. Ice was expanding from his arm and flowing to the front, to form a frozen barrier between Gendou and me. The black crescent-shaped blast slammed into the glacial wall and exploded, sending countless shards of ice raining down on the two.

    That wasn''t all.

    "Oh¡­"

    I glanced at the meter at the bottom left corner of my lenses, which served as a head''s up display. It looked like the meter was completely filled.

    "Standby for Titanfall," a mechanical male voice declared. I smiled.

    "Bring it, Matsukaze."

    An explosion roared at the top of the golden barrier that Nagano had imprisoned me inside, and Matsukaze crashed down heavily, a shimmering blue dome enfolding his titanic frame in a protective cocoon.

    "Looks like he summoned a mecha," Nagano remarked.

    "Takeda-kun is right," Aoyama muttered in disbelief. "It seems that Tanaka really can summon anything."

    "Not only that," Domon added, looking a little pale as he glanced at the golden barrier that surrounded not just me but all of them. "We''re also stuck inside Nagano-san''s barrier along with Tanaka-kun."

    "If I''m not wrong, the size of the barrier is determined by the size of the target," I explained, recalling how the barriers that imprisoned Aoyama, Hoshizaki, Makoto, Nishida and Sanada were sized appropriately when Nagano used it on them.

    Especially the size of the barrier when she used it on Suzuki Shirou ¨C it was particularly enormous.

    "And when I saw how you trapped Suzuki with your Barrier, I noticed how the Barrier turned gigantic so as to accommodate not just him but also his huge array of Thousand Divine Lightning Spears."

    Pushing up my glasses, I smirked and gestured to my Thousand Astral Graves.

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    "So I thought¡­what if I summon an equally large spell? Your Barrier will surely try to enlarge to accommodate not just me but also my spell."

    "So what if you trap us with you?"

    Hoshizaki remained defiant, glaring at me.

    "It''s still an eight versus one battle. The odds are extremely disadvantageous to you."

    I closed my eyes and sighed. That much was true, but I held some hope of persuading at least a few of them.

    "Iron Knights'' true intention is to nuke Havia City along with Kobayashi. Does everyone here know that?"

    "Of course."

    Nagano stared at me determinedly.

    "We agreed with Takeda-kun, and admire him. Our group is like one big family. Whatever our leader wants to do, we will follow him."

    Hoshizaki nodded. "Our leader has chosen the best solution possible. Certainly, we will be sacrificing many innocent people, but we will be saving, many, many more in the process. We are saving the majority in favor of the minority."

    "But you don''t agree with him, Tanaka-kun."

    Sanada''s voice was calm, reasonable even.

    "Of course I don''t¡­"

    Before I could explain, Makoto suddenly sprang to life, drawing his wooden knives, which glowed crimson with fire.

    "He is trying to buy time! Every second he gets, he''ll understand our techniques more! It seems that he has an ability similar to Tsukishima-san''s Absolute Appraisal!"

    Ah, busted.

    Makoto was already summoning a spell, his crimson mana turning into a five-star symbol that reminded me of the Chinese Five Elements.

    "Everyone, don''t fall for it! Take him down!"

    With his spell completed, Makoto summoned a dragon-shaped wooden staff out of his five-star symbol.

    "Five Elements Technique: Fire Dragon Wood!''

    The jaws of the wooden dragon staff burst into flames, the crimson mana coalescing into a gigantic fireball. They streaked toward me like meteors and slammed into their target, detonating in massive explosions that blossomed in the night, blinding everyone nearby with an impressive display of pyrotechnics.

    "That attack was strong!"

    Shielding her eyes, Yonebashi staggered back as she was buffeted by the tremendous shockwaves. Along with her, Aoyama was falling back, Domon stood his ground firmly, and Nagano summoned a protective barrier to defend herself. Squinting through her ruby-lensed sunglasses, Yonebashi tried to make out the aftermath.

    "Did you get him?"

    "Makoto did hit him," Sanada confirmed, having conjured an ice barrier to protect Gendou, Hoshizaki, Makoto and himself from the effects of the blast. Glancing past his frost shield, he scowled. "But¡­"

    I was standing inside the invincible blue dome shield that protected my Titan, completely unscathed by the blast.

    "¡­it appears that he wasn''t affected by the explosion at all."

    "Not only that, he has completely cut away my chains."

    Gendou sounded frustrated as he pulled his severed chains back, staring at the neatly cut ends. None of his metallic restraints could endure a slash from my Blood Dragon Sword, which I had finally sheathed at my side.

    "That''s quite the troublesome weapon," he remarked, frustrated.

    "He also made use of the barrier that''s surrounding his mecha," Nagano added, impressed. "I can''t believe he also has a barrier that''s on par with mine."

    "Don''t be so impressed," I told her, smiling sheepishly. "My Titan''s Dome Shield is pretty limited. It lasts for less than a minute, and will disappear the moment I embark on my Titan¡­or even before that, if I take too long."

    The blue Dome Shield was already flickering away, having reached its expiration time. I jumped back, and Matsukaze stood up, snatching me from midair and tucking me inside the cockpit in his chest cavity. The doors closed, and the darkness was immediately replaced by vivid holograms that streamed from the visual receptors and were converted digitally into clear images.

    "Are you joking? Are we supposed to fight against a hi-tech mecha even though we''re supposed to be in a medieval fantasy world!?"

    Yonebashi''s eyes widened as she tried to grapple with her disbelief.

    "You better believe it," I replied as I retrieved the Predator chaingun that was slung on Matsukaze''s back, and aimed it at them. The barrels began to whirl rapidly before I unleashed a vicious barrage of armor-piercing rounds on the group.

    "Hey!" Sanada snapped at Domon, who sighed and finally made his move.

    "You guys still have to rely on me in the end, huh?"

    As the armor-piercing rounds burst out of Matsukaze''s chaingun, Domon dropped to the ground and pressed his palm against the cool concrete. Green mana rippled out of his hand and flowed through the ground in a vibrant manner before taking the shape of a¡­potato.

    The little potato wriggled for a moment before suddenly growing into a row of gigantic potatoes that towered over the Eight Guardians.

    The barrage from Matsukaze''s Gatling guns slammed into the row of potatoes, but failed to penetrate any of them.

    "That''s pretty powerful¡­as expected of a mecha, huh?"

    Hoshizaki frowned as she studied the barrel of the gun, which glowing red-hot from continuous firing.

    "Don''t worry, we''ll have our opportunity soon." Makoto assured them calmly as he watched Matsukaze''s Predator Gatling cannon spit out rounds unceasingly.

    "That''s right¡­!" Aoyama suddenly understood what Makoto meant. "No matter how powerful that Gatling gun is, he still has to reload eventually! He doesn''t have unlimited ammunition!"

    "Hmph¡­" Makoto nodded as he analyzed my barrage. "Even if that mecha is summoned using magic, it''s still somehow bound to the physical rules of science fiction and mecha games. Plus even if he doesn''t need to reload, those barrels are glowing red-hot. They''ll eventually become overheated and he''ll be forced to stop firing regardless."

    "You''re right."

    Sanada realized that I had stopped firing. I was already directing Matsukaze to reload the spent Predator cannon, slapping a fresh belt of ammunition into its now empty chamber.

    "The firing has stopped."

    "In other words, this is our chance¡­while he''s reloading!"

    Hoshizaki realized that this was the ideal opportunity for them to make their move, and she was already moving from behind Domon''s potato barrier.

    "Indeed, that weapon seems slow and clunky ¨C there should be a window of time before he can fire again."

    Yonebashi nodded thoughtfully.

    "That''s right! We had best make our move right now before he finishes reloading and starts firing at us again!"

    Sanada had frozen his right arm into an icy blade and was lunging forward.

    Aoyama followed suit, his hand glowing with dark blue mana as he prepared a curse. As expected of the Witch Doctor, huh¡­?

    "Be careful¡­" Aoyama warned. "But let''s go!"

    Taking the lead, the Eight Guardians followed the Witch Doctor''s charge.

    There was no way I could fire off another barrage in time, so I dropped the Predator cannon and drew Matsukaze''s broadsword instead. Just as Aoyama threw his curse at me, I blocked the spells with my sword.

    "Sword block."

    "?!"

    Sanada had fired off a hail of icicles, but Matsukaze easily parried the frozen onslaught with his broadsword, falling into defensive maneuvers.

    "It appears that the mecha is capable of close combat as well," Sanada remarked as he studied the huge sword that Matsukaze was wielding. "Don''t get too close or you''ll be sliced in half by that huge sword."

    "Well, I do know for sure that you guys are going to get a large cut!"

    Sliding Matsukaze forward, I swung my broadsword at them, forcing the Eight Guardians to scatter and evade. The sword gouged out a large chunk of concrete from the ground, spraying them with debris.

    Spinning around, I adjusted my Titan''s movements to close in on them, readying to finish them off with a deadly slash.

    "It''s useless."

    However, Gendou had other plans in mind.

    "Iron Maiden Prison."

    Suddenly, dozens of pink traps materialized around Matsukaze, taking the form of giant bear traps, spiked coffins, shackles, gloves and manacles. In an instant, the traps, manacles and chains all bound Matsukaze tightly, restricting his movements.

    In that moment, I turned into an alien admiral.

    "It''s a trap!" I hollered.

    "My special abilities, Spatial Manipulation and Void Chains, allow me to capture everything within 500 meters of me."

    Striking a cool pose, Gendou raised a hand that was crackling with esoteric pink mana, taking the form of keys and restraints.

    "Also, do you think you are the only one who has an ability to read others?"

    "¡­huh?"

    I had no idea what Gendou was talking about, but he was already turning toward Aoyama, who was standing a few meters away.

    "Hey¡­Aoyama-kun, you can see the mecha''s weak points, right?"

    "That''s right." Aoyama nodded. "It might seem tough, but this is a light-sized mecha. It lacks the defensive capabilities and endurance of heavier mechas. It has incredible speed, but that will be useless if you restrain it like what you''re doing right now."

    Okay¡­seems like someone else had played Titanfall 2¡­

    "Furthermore, there are weak spots at the front and the back of its torso. I''ll indicate it in red. Hit those places and the mecha will take critical damage."

    "Did you play Titanfall 2 too?!" I shouted as I fought with the controls in an attempt to break free of Gendou''s restraints. "Hey! Add me on Origin! We should party together and play Frontier Defense! My group even has a Discord channel!"

    Ignoring me, Sanada spoke as if I hadn''t said anything frivolous.

    "Do you remember trying to block Aoyama-kun''s curse?"

    "¡­yeah."

    "That curse is created by Aoyama-kun. If you''re hit by it, the curse will analyze your ability. Though it can''t be compared to Tsukishima-san''s Absolute Appraisal, it doesn''t matter. Because as long as one drop touches the target, it will obtain all information regarding the target''s ability."

    Seemed like the only information they gathered was about my Titan, though¡­

    "You feel weak by yourself."

    Gendou''s voice was full of scorn, even as he tightened the restraints on my Titan, further obstructing Matsukaze''s movements.

    "You can''t even beat the Eight Guards. How can you hope to protect Restia?"

    "Next is to strike the weak points of the mecha and destroy it," Hoshizaki remarked as she summoned a comet spell. Meteorites appeared within the barrier, all of them directed toward the hapless Matsukaze.

    "No need," Gendou declared. "I can destroy him like this."

    "Ah~"

    I sighed as I leaned back in my cockpit.

    "This is why I rarely summon my Titan against heroes. They can so easily destroy my mechas. Well, I did see Hoshizaki effortlessly wreck a couple of tans right in front of my eyes, so I guess this much is to be expected."

    "It''s over."

    Makoto watched as both Gendou and Hoshizaki launched their attacks simultaneously. Both the traps and the comets slammed into Matsukaze and exploded. The comets shattered the weak points of Matsukaze while the restrained clamped down, bending and distorting the weakening frame of the crumbling mecha.

    "Warning¡­critical damage. Advise pilot to eject."

    "I''ll do just that then."

    I thumbed the ejection button and was launched out of my Titan. A good thing I didn''t customize Matsukaze with the Nuclear Eject option, or I would have nuked myself along with everybody within the tight confines of Nagano''s barrier.

    "We just destroyed Tanaka-kun''s mecha," Hoshizaki observed calmly as Matsukaze went out in a blinding explosion. She frowned. "But he is nowhere to be seen."

    "What''s going on?" Makoto demanded. Sanada clenched his fists as he tried to analyze the situation.

    "¡­"

    "Haven''t you noticed?"

    Nagano smiled as she strode forward. Breaking off a piece of icicle from the many frozen shards that Sanada''s attack had left on the ground, she hurled it toward the top of her barrier

    "He''s nowhere to be seen because he''s invisible."

    "Whoa!"

    I flipped my body in midair to avoid the frozen projectile, and as a result, my cloak blinked out, allowing me to appear visible again.

    "Stealth auto-eject," I admitted as I slowly descended toward the ground. "The moment my Titan is doomed, I will automatically be ejected and cloaked."

    Landing on the ground, I immediately sprang away from Nagano and skidded several meters toward the edge of the barrier.

    "It''s amazing what sort of things you can summon with your ability. And here I thought I was revolutionizing the technology of this world with my airship and other inventions. No wonder Takeda-kun prized your Summon ability so highly."

    Well, it originally wasn''t my ability to begin with¡­but I wondered, if Kijima was still alive, would he have been able to use his ability to the same extent as I was doing right now?

    "As expected of Nagano-san," Hoshizaki marveled. "To think you can spot him even when he was hiding¡­"

    "Looks like great minds think alike¡­" I shook my head in grudging respect. "We both come up with the craziest tech ever."

    "That''s true." Nagano giggled. "But your mecha is destroyed. What are you going to summon this time, I wonder?"

    "A very good question." I glanced at my Thousand Astral Graves, which were still looming over us in the confined space of Nagano''s barrier. "I guess I should stop playing around now. While it is fun to summon mechas and guns, I should really fight according to my class. Like Yonebashi-san pointed out, I should play by the rules of this fantasy world and do something more magic-like."

    Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smiled. All around me, zombies began breaking out of the ground and crawling to the surface, moaning and groaning.

    "After all, I''m a Gravekeeper."

 86 Chapter 86: Gravekeeper Tomo

    "Time to feed, my friends."

    The zombies were morphing and transforming under the shadows of the tombstones that towered over everyone. Howling, the enhanced zombies galloped forward, their new monstrous and bestial forms striking terror into the hearts of the Eight Guardians.

    "Don''t falter!" Sanada ordered as he stepped forward. With a swing of his hand, he froze the first wave of zombies. "They''re still just fodder!"

    Crack!

    "Impossible!"

    Sanada''s eyes widened when he saw the enhanced zombies breaking out of the ice.

    "Tch!"

    Gendou quickly conjured his infinite number of restraints and manacles to trap and bind every zombie within the 500-meter radius around him. However, the zombies began tearing the chains and traps apart with brute strength.

    "What the¡­?! How are they so strong?!"

    "They''ve been enhanced by those gravestones," Nagano warned as she glanced at my Astral Graves while erecting a golden barrier to defend herself from an assailing zombie. "They''re no longer normal zombies. Be careful!"

    "Then if we destroy those tombstones¡­!"

    Hoshizaki was already on it, launching a shower of meteors at my Thousand Astral Graves. I merely smiled and drew my Blood Dragon Sword. With a single swing, I unleashed an immense Shadow Lunar Fang that streaked skyward to intercept the meteor shower and obliterate them in midair. The sky lit up as explosions scattered across the skies like fireworks.

    "Kuh¡­"

    Domon grunted as he conjured a bunch of carnivorous flowers and plants to entangle and trap the zombies, but as usual, the zombies merely ripped the vines apart. They felt no pain, ignoring the thorns embedded deep in their flesh, and roared as they inexorably advanced forward. In fact, a bunch of them actually began consuming the plants.

    "How creepy¡­"

    Domon shuddered.

    "It won''t be long before we''re overwhelmed by them!" Aoyama warned as he slashed at a zombie. He had not activated his curse to teleport me away, because that would defeat Takeda''s entire plan of trapping me here to capture me and steal my ability.

    "Yeah, even if you destroy these ones, I can always summon more."

    With a wave of my hand, I demonstrated my prowess by summoning a fresh batch of zombies from the earth, watching in satisfaction as they dug their way to the surface, only to be enhanced by the gravestones. The golden symbols on each tomb glowed brightly, as if in defiance of the Eight Guardians who opposed me.

    "Earlier, you asked how I was going to protect Restia by myself, right? But the thing is, I''m never alone."

    "So what?"

    Narrowing his eyes, Makoto lunged forward and slashed me with his knife.

    "Can you even kill me?"

    I shrugged, not even bothering to parry Makoto''s strike with my Blood Dragon Sword. After all, that knife failed to scratch even the first defensive layer of my Redwood jacket. However, Makoto must have realized that, for he activated his spell.

    BOOM!

    Fireballs blossomed and whacked me off my feet, engulfing me in a furious explosion that caught not just me but a few of my zombies and the nearby tombstones, incinerating them.

    "You have no more chances," Yonebashi crowed triumphantly as she watched the flames ravaged my surroundings.

    I rose to my feet grimly, holding up my Blood Dragon Sword. Despite my Redwood jacket, the explosions did knock the wind out of me, but otherwise I had sustained little damage.

    "After all, our plan isn''t to kill you. You can turn this into a siege and throw an endless hordes of zombies at us¡­but in the end, as long as we keep you occupied and trapped here until Takeda-kun''s ability recharges, it''s our win."

    "In other words, I have to beat you guys decisively, huh?"

    Even as the zombies continued their onslaught, the Eight Guardians pulled together and coordinated an unbreachable defense behind Nagano''s barriers, Sanda''s glacial walls and Domon''s rampantly growing plants.

    "Lock!"

    Not wasting any time, Gendou raised his hand and restrained me with his pink chains, immobilizing me to the spot.

    "I''m not going to let you escape or move around."

    "Your zombies may be powerful¡­"

    Nagano had produced a weapon ¨C a sacred sword. With a swing of her weapon, she mowed down a huge swathe of zombies in one go.

    "¡­but in the end, they''re just zombies. Did you really think they''ll be a match against eight heroes?"

    Despite their initial shock, the Eight Guardians were rallying and destroying the hordes of zombies with their heroic abilities. Makoto''s five elements, Sanada''s ice, Domon''s plants, Gendou''s traps and chains, Hoshizaki''s meteor strikes¡­and Nagano''s holy sword. Even Aoyama was dealing major damage to them with healing spells, reversing the undead''s Regenerative abilities with holy magic and delivering catastrophic damage to them.

    "Now just wait patiently and give up your ability."

    With a raise of his hand, Gendou tightened the grip of his chains around my limbs, forcibly rooting me to the ground.

    Makoto held his knives before immolating another horde of zombies.

    "We''ll finish off all your zombies," Domon declared. "You''re welcome to summon more, but it''s just another fruitless attempt. We have all the time in the world to keep you company."

    "Ah~"

    I sighed and shook my head. At least Gendou had the decency not to put a collar on my neck and bind my head along with everything else.

    "I should have known regular zombies wouldn''t be able to deal with you."

    "Admittedly, these aren''t regular zombies," Nagano conceded with a smile. "It''s impressive how you managed to transform normal zombies into such frightening beasts."

    "Oh, you misunderstand. They are my regular zombies."

    "¡­eh?"

    Hoshizaki''s brow twitched and she instinctively backed away when realization dawned on her.

    "Tanaka-kun¡­he still has further tricks up his sleeve?"

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" Makoto cried. "Just how many tricks can this guy pull?"

    "As many as you need me to." I shrugged. "After all, I''ll need an endless number of tricks if I want to defeat Kobayashi and his armies. You guys aren''t even the end goal here."

    "You talk a good game," Gendou sneered as he gripped his chains tightly. "But can you actually back your claims up?"

    Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

    I closed my eyes, amused. "Are you sure you want me to? Hmm¡­I guess it''s not a matter of whether you want me to or not."

    Four zombies on horseback materialized in front of me. Under the shadows of Thousand Astral Graves, they began morphing and transforming before the Eight Guardians'' wide eyes, taking on new colors and weapons.

    The white knight, Conquest. The red warrior, War. The black nightmare, Famine. The skeletal grim reaper, Death.

    "W¡­what the hell¡­what the hell are those?"

    Yonebashi''s jaw dropped as she stared at the new zombies, unable to believe her eyes. The other seven Guardians unconsciously took a step back, their minds ensnared by cold, unimaginable fear and indescribable terror.

    Every instinct in their bodies told them to run. To escape from the face of such existences that could surpass even the deadliest demon nobles in Restia.

    "These are¡­boss-level monsters, aren''t they?!"

    "How¡­how is Tanaka-kun able to summon something like those?!"

    "Just what the hell are they?!"

    "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

    The four zombie knights rode toward the Eight Guardians, who quickly scattered out of the way. However, War swung his sword, unleashing a strike that blew them off their feet.

    "Ugh!"

    "What power¡­!"

    "Split up!" Sanada shouted, taking charge. "Two to each zombie! We can do this!"

    "Two to each zombie?"

    I smirked. At that moment, Conquest was raising his lance and banner. Hordes of zombies materialized around him, flocking to his banner,

    "There aren''t enough of you to outnumber my zombies."

    "Kuh!"

    "Don''t falter! We can still beat them if we work together!"

    Sanada''s voice remained firm. Nagano nodded.

    "Let''s go, Kozue-chan!"

    "Yes!"

    The Eight Guardians split up into four groups to tackle the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. It seemed that Gendou and Aoyama had drawn the short end of the stick as they had chosen to square off against Conquest and his endless horde of zombies.

    Unfortunately, the rest were not faring much better. Hoshizaki and Nagano had the ineviable task of staring down Death, who decayed anything he touched. Despite Nagano trapping him inside a barrier, Death merely poked it with his scythe, causing the golden barrier to blacken and crumble away. Nagano cursed when she saw that.

    "This is going to be hard," she muttered.

    "You want to switch?" Gendou called out to her.

    "Sure!"

    That was when Gendou saw the decaying barrier, and then he shook his head.

    "My ability works better against huge numbers."

    "¡­excuses."

    "Stop fighting!" Sanada snapped as he fought to contain War. War''s gleaming sword slammed into his icy blade, shattering it and sending Sanada staggering back, but the Ice Lord trapped the crimson warrior in a coffin of frost, to no avail. War broke out of it almost immediately. "Focus on the enemy in front of you!"

    "I''m trying, but my abilities are not meant for combat," Yonebashi muttered as she tried to help Sanada. Unfortunately, her Demonic Fear did not work against undead zombies that felt no emotion, least of all fear.

    "These guys are tough!"

    Makoto complained as he tried to trap Famine under a block of wood, which was reinforced by Domon''s Agricultural Assault. Unfortunately, the bugs began crawling out of the woodwork. Quite literally. Makoto grimaced.

    "Disgusting!"

    "They really are a pain to deal with," Domon agreed as he produced what he hoped were pest-resistant crops to block the incoming swarm of locusts.

    "Well, my particular zombie is bugged," I remarked. "If you aren''t satisfied, you can always make a bug report."

    "Oh, shut it!"

    Even when they outnumbered the four zombies two to one, the eight heroes still had trouble dealing with them.

    "Just burn already!"

    Makoto was struggling to incinerate the bugs with his fire magic, but there was way too many of them, and Famine constantly regenerated.

    "They just keep on coming!"

    Gendou had a similar problem. Despite restraining the enhanced zombies under Conquest''s command, he couldn''t stop them from breaking free of the chains and traps with sheer brute strength. Similarly, Aoyama was finding himself pressured under the constant charges from Conquest.

    "Kuh! This guy is¡­strong!"

    "You think that zombie is strong?!" Sanada snarled as he dodged a heavy blow from War that nearly split the ground in half. "You want to trade opponents?!"

    "I thought you said no fighting!" Yonebashi hollered at him as she dodged another strike from the crimson knight.

    "I can''t believe Tanaka-kun is capable of using his summon abilities to such an extent," Nagano remarked as she struggled to keep Death at bay. "If this was a one-on-one battle¡­no, even if it was a seven-on-one battle, he might actually win."

    "He might actually be capable of beating Kobayashi-kun," Hoshizaki agreed, doubt creeping into her voice, even as she launched a meteor strike against the encroaching Death, who merely decomposed her attacks. Even stars died, after all.

    "Hah! We''ll see about that!"

    Makoto snorted as he tried to conjure a new bunch of elements ¨C this time, water to wash away the swarms of insects.

    The battle between the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights raged on for another fifteen minutes or so, with neither side getting the upper hand. The Eight Guardians, particularly, were getting exhausted as they struggled to defend against their seemingly invincible enemies, whose strength only continued to increase as time went past.

    "This guy just keeps destroying my barriers!" Nagano exclaimed in frustration, but then she noticed something.

    Why is he decomposing Kozue-chan''s attacks? Could it be¡­?

    "Kozue-chan, back me up. Stop shooting at him. We''re going to trap him first¡­"

    "Understood!"

    Nagano took a deep breath and began conjuring several barriers to trap Death. Death merely walked through them, destroying each barrier one by one.

    However¡­

    "Kozue-chan, now!"

    "Got it!"

    Hoshizaki had prepared a single, massive onslaught of meteors and was directing it at Death. Just as Death broke through the last remaining barrier, Nagano opened a small gap for the meteors to go through.

    Death looked up, only for the comets to slam into him and tear him apart. Trapped within a confined barrier, without any point of escape, he was unable to decompose the incoming meteors in time before they collided with him.

    The single spell obliterated him.

    "Huff¡­finally¡­huff¡­"

    Hoshizaki slid down, perspiration running down her face. Nagano smiled and patted her shoulder gratefully, but her complexion remained pale.

    "Good job, Kozue-chan."

    Not to be outdone, Makoto and Domon were having a fierce battle with Famine.

    "Trap him inside your giant oak tree, Domon-kun!"

    "Yeah."

    Domon conjured a gigantic oak tree to swallow up Famine. Even as the bugs began to swarm out of the holes in the tee, Makoto was already moving. Summoning his five element star, he plugged the holes with soil from the earth.

    "Not yet¡­wood elemental magic!"

    Vines, branches and leaves sprouted out from the earth, trapping Famine and his insects further inside the ball of soil and wood.

    "Now¡­fire elemental magic! Draconic Fire!"

    The wood embedded inside the ball of earth easily combusted, serving as fuel for Makoto''s flames, which expanded into a colossal explosion that ripped it apart, consuming both wood and bug alike and utterly incinerating Famine into ash.

    "Huff¡­finally¡­"

    "I can''t believe it¡­we actually did it¡­"

    Both Domon and Makoto panted as they dropped to their knees, heaving from exhaustion. They slapped each other a high five.

    "Can''t lose to them!"

    A short distance away, Gendou had trapped all the zombies, including Conquest, inside iron maiden coffins.

    "Aoyama-kun, now!"

    "Got it."

    Aoyama lunged forward and pressed his palm against the coffin that Conquest was trapped inside. Muttering something under his breath, he unleashed his most powerful curse. Blue mana seeped into the Iron Maiden and worked its way into its contents, corrupting and eradicating Conquest for good. Upon his death, the remaining enhanced zombies began to crumble. Gendou sped up their demise by crushing them with his traps.

    "Bloody hell¡­making us work so hard for that win¡­"

    "Absolutely."

    Aoyama nodded in agreement as Gendou fell to the ground, cursing vehemently. The two of them looked completely spent.

    "Oi, oi¡­don''t you think it''s time for us to finish up as well?" Yonebashi asked. Sanada sighed and shook his head.

    "I guess this isn''t the time to be holding back¡­"

    As War advanced upon him, he parried the zombie''s strike with a thick ice shield. Gritting his teeth, Sanada began casting his most powerful spell. His eyes shimmered and glowed a deep blue as he unleashed his ice magic.

    "Absolute Zero."

    War froze. The ultimate ice magic transfigured him into ice, rendering him into little more than a sculpture. While Sanada froze him, Yonebashi dove forward and kicked the frozen War, shattering him into a million pieces.

    "Huff¡­finally. Great move, Sanada-kun."

    "No¡­I can''t believe Tanaka-kun forced me to use my ultimate spell."

    Beads of perspiration were forming over Sanada''s face as he bent over to heave. He looked up at me, his face pale.

    "But with this¡­"

    "We won," Domon declared, scarcely able to believe it.

    Makoto nodded and turned to glare at me.

    "If I''m not mistaken, those were your trump cards, weren''t they? Your strongest zombies. And now that we''ve taken them down, you have nothing left."

    "You lost, Tanaka-kun."

    Hoshizaki took a step forward and said in an almost gentle, sympathetic manner.

    All eight Guardians stared at me, half recognizing my strength and efforts, and half relieved that they had finally defeated me.

    But I merely smiled.

    "Really?"

    "!"

    All eight Guardians jumped back when my Blood Dragon Sword glowed. With a single flick, I severed the chains that Gendou used to restrain me, freeing myself.

    "You''ve killed about twenty thousand of my zombies, plus minus."

    "¡­so what about it?" Aoyama asked, instinctively getting into a defensive stance with his scythes. "I know you don''t have enough mana left to summon more zombies. You don''t have infinite mana or anything of that sort."

    I laughed. "You already defeated 20,000 of my zombies. What''s the point of me summoning more?"

    "Then what are you talking about?!" Makoto demanded. I licked my lips and held up a finger with my left hand.

    "Do you remember that I drank some of Suzuki''s blood earlier, when we were fighting him outside Cross Castle?"

    "¡­what about it?"

    "Isn''t that disgusting?" Yonebashi grimaced. But Nagano''s eyes widened.

    "No, he''s¡­a vampire. That means¡­"

    "That''s right."

    I grinned and reared my right hand back, holding my sword upright as if I was getting ready to throw a javelin. My Blood Dragon Sword was glowing, turning into what looked like a black projectile, waiting for me to hurl it.

    "Though it''s not as effective as Takeda-kun''s Plunder ability, I was still somewhat able to Devour one of Suzuki''s abilities. Hmm¡­perhaps borrow is a better word. It''s not as if I stole it from Suzuki, after all. He still has it. I merely copied it."

    The Lightning Lancer had a thousand abilities, which was a pity¡­but I was more than happy with the single ability I copied from him.

    "Every zombie that you guys took out can be considered a kill."

    My sword flared even more brightly than before, almost turning into a miniature sun in the middle of the night.

    "Once 1,000 lives have been extinguished within a certain area¡­this ability of Suzuki Shirou''s will have its conditions fulfilled."

    "Don''t tell me¡­"

    Sanada''s jaw dropped.

    "This is his strongest one," I informed them as I stretched my arm as far back as possible.

    "Hey¡­what is this power?!" Domon demanded, his voice trembling in fear as his eyes were fixed on my glowing sword.

    "Of course," I continued with a growing smile. "The higher the number of creatures who get killed, the stronger this technique is."

    "This is Suzuki-kun''s technique¡­"

    Hoshizaki recognized it. I nodded.

    "God-Slaying Strike."

    "Hurry and get out of the way!" Nagano commanded. Immediately, the Eight Guardians scattered and dispersed in all directions.

    It didn''t matter. I flung my glowing sword as far as I could. Blood Dragon Sword turned into a bright, gleaming light of darkness and hurtled toward their direction.

    No¡­not their direction.

    I had aimed for the top of the barrier. My sword completely flew above the evading Eight Guardians and slammed into the top of Nagano''s barrier.

    He missed?!

    Gendou blinked in disbelief, even as he sprinted across the ground.

    Why didn''t he aim for us¡­?

    ¡­eh!?

    His eyes widened when he noticed an anomaly.

    My sword had indeed struck the top of the barrier, far away from the scattering Eight Guardians, but it ricocheted and split into multiple beams of black light, bouncing and reflecting off the surfaces of the barrier to divide into yet more beams.

    What is this?!

    "Ah!"

    Sanada cried out as he was pierced by one of the many beams that were scattering and reflecting across the entire enclosed space of Nagano''s barrier.

    "It''s everywhere!" Makoto cried, similarly trapped and bombarded by the various beams that were criss-crossing the confined space, unable to evade.

    "Thanks to Absolute Appraisal¡­"

    I smirked as I stared at the numbers, calculations, estimated trajectories and paths of the multiple beams in the lenses of my glasses.

    "By firing it at the right angle, the projectile from God-Slaying Strike will reflect and disperse into many beams¡­and these beams will be reflected and fired off continuously as it bounces off the walls of Nagano-san''s barrier."

    Outside the gigantic barrier, Takeda watched the hundreds of beams ricocheting across the walls of the barrier and filling the entire space with ominous lighting.

    "Looks like¡­"

    His voice was grave as he analyzed the situation calmly.

    Inside the barrier, Hoshizaki, Aoyama, Domon and Gendou were similarly caught by the multiple beams, unable to evade the sheer number of them.

    Shortly after, Yonebashi too was hit by several beams.

    "¡­the Eight Guardians have been defeated."

    Instead of sounding furious, Takeda Tetsuo actually sounded impressed.

    Back inside the barrier, Nagano stood alone, the only survivor of the Eight Guardians, as she glared defiantly at me.

    I smiled at her.

    "Just like your analysis¡­"

    I jumped away when my lenses flared up, warning me that several beams were converging on my position. Relying on the estimations calculated by the super-intelligent artificial intelligence embedded into my glasses, I deftly evaded the beams.

    "In this situation, besides me, who has Absolute Appraisal¡­"

    The criss-crossing beams finally reflected and converged on Nagano''s position.

    "All of you¡­"

    Nagano''s eyes widened when she realized that she had no way of escaping the incoming black beam.

    "¡­can''t evade them."

    In the next moment, Nagano''s barrier shattered, falling apart in countless golden shards.

    Takeda watched calmly as the barrier broke apart, giving way to countless drops of blood. Once again, the formerly frozen floor was filled in a sea of blood, with Blood Ghouls rising from it and shambling through the falling pieces of the barrier.

    His expression remaining nonchalant, Takeda calmly watched as the Blood Ghouls staggered toward him.

    At the head of the horde of Blood Ghouls, I stood alone, staring down at the seated Takeda. Even as the golden shards of Nagano''s barrier rained around me, I took another step forward and smirked, savoring my recently acquired freedom.

    "Just as I suspected¡­once Nagano-san is defeated, her barrier will be destroyed."

 87 Chapter 87: Escape

    Inside Cross Castle, Lilith was making her way up by sprinting through several flights of stairs.

    Following Tomoyuki-kun''s instructions, I''ve evaded the Iron Knights¡­then enter the cave where the Demonic Shadow Dragon lurks.

    Lilith was replaying my request through her head as she leaped up the stairs. Reaching the top, she headed straight for a window when the stairs ended.

    Let my doppelganger fight against Aoyama-kun.

    Climbing out of the window, she used her superhuman reflexes to begin scaling the wall, running along the surface and defying gravity.

    Everything happened according to his predictions¡­

    She deftly climbed the steep wall without breaking her step, bounding skyward with her Servant-like capabilities. As expected of someone modeled after the Lancer-class Servant.

    Using Absolute Appraisal, he was able to confirm everyone''s location¡­and was able to devise such a complex strategy¡­

    She frowned as she sailed upward.

    But even if he has gotten that newly reforged sword, he may not be able to win against Iron Knights.

    Clenching her fists tightly around her blood-red spears, Lilith''s hands trembled ever so slightly.

    We had a common enemy. Why do we need to fight?

    Blinking in surprise, she glanced upward and noticed that the sky had changed.

    It suddenly got dark. This is caused by someone''s ability.

    Reaching the top of the Cross Castle, she flipped herself upward and landed gracefully on the edge of the rooftop.

    "Finally here."

    I don''t even know what is Tomoyuki-kun''s situation right now. I''ll join up with you shortly!

    Well, my situation was pretty good, if I might say so myself.

    "I admit¡­you are very strong. But so what?"

    Takeda Tetsuo smirked as he stared at me from his seated position, his skeletal wings unfolded from his armored back.

    I stood in front of him, surrounded by my Blood Ghouls.

    Shaking my head, I silently walked past him. There was no point talking any longer, not to someone who had lost to me.

    "Even if you destroy the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher¡­"

    Ignoring him, I continued walking in the direction of the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher. Takeda made no move to stop me.

    "¡­Nagano-san and I''ll just rebuild it again."

    I stopped in front of the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher and looked up at it, studying it at close range. Then I reached out with a hand to touch it.

    "In addition, I put a barrier on it, so you won''t be able to destroy it that easily."

    Takeda smirked, still turning his back on me. The guy wasn''t taking me seriously at all.

    Takeda''s eyes widened.

    Turning around, he stared at me in utter shock as I summoned a gigantic missile and slotted it into the launcher.

    "Hellstrike missile. You probably heard of it, right?"

    I smiled. A bead of perspiration dripped down Takeda''s face as he glared at me in disbelief, unable to digest what I was doing.

    "It''s not as powerful as the Deathstrike missile ¨C I mean, it''s only Strength 8 AP -2, and lacks the ability to deal mortal wounds, but it''s more than enough to break this cage of yours."

    I tapped a button and the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rocked. The Hellstrike missile spiraled out of the barrel and detonated against the gigantic skeletal cage that had sprouted all over the castle, smashing a huge hole at the point of impact.

    "Thanks for letting me use your intercontinental ballistic missile launcher," I told a stunned Takeda, savoring his expression.

    "You¡­!"

    "It would be difficult for me to destroy your skeletal cage otherwise. I''m planning on getting out of here before your ability recharges. That''s my victory condition, after all."

    Another bead of perspiration slid down Takeda''s face, and he shook his head as he realized that he was defeated.

    "You really are quite the amazing person, Tanaka-kun."

    "Nah, I''m perfectly normal. I just happen to have plot armor, and I''m ripping off an intelligent character from a Chinese manhua titled The Silver Gravekeeper. That''s why I''m the Golden Gravekeeper. Get it?"

    "¡­"

    Takeda just stared at me, his brow twitching in exasperation. Never mind. Seemed like he had never read Yin Zhi Shoumuren or The Silver Gravekeeper.

    Finally climbed up.

    Lilith had chosen that time to land elegantly on the edge. She glanced at me and I waved her over from my position at the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher.

    "You''re finally here, Lilith-san!"

    "Oh¡­Tomoyuki-kun." She glanced around and saw the unconscious bodies of the Eight Guardians, as well as the stationary figure of Takeda Tetsuo.

    His fight with the Iron Knights is over¡­

    "Did you really defeat the Eight Guardians¡­eight of Evelyn''s Chosen all by yourself?"

    Shaking her head, Lilith couldn''t help but be impressed.

    Tanaka Tomoyuki¡­you really are a special individual. And he''s doing all of this¡­for revenge? Revenge against Kobayashi Kenji, the current Emperor of Humanity?

    "Tomoyuki-kun¡­"

    "Get on. We''re getting out of here."

    I summoned a zombie dragon. With my current remaining amount of mana, there was no way I could summon the undead Ancient Dragon, so I settled for a normal zombie dragon. The black corpse spread its wings as it sprawled on the ground. I climbed onto its back, and then extended a hand to Lilith to help her board it.

    "See you, Takeda-kun. I''m sure we''ll be seeing each other again soon enough."

    With that cryptic sentence, I mentally commanded my zombie dragon to take off. The dragon flew through the gaping hole that my Hellstrike missile made in the skeletal cage and soared into the heavens beyond.

    "Next stop, Haemorage. We''re going home."

    Leaning back against one of the bony spines of the zombie dragon, I closed my eyes for a brief moment.

    "Right¡­by the way, Lilith-san¡­do you know the way?"

    Lilith couldn''t help but burst out laughing.

    "Yeah. I''ll guide you. Leave it to me."

    "Thanks for the hard work. You''ve really helped me out a lot."

    Lilith reached out and patted my head, in an almost big sisterly fashion.

    "You''re the one who did most of the hard work. Go get some rest now."

    "I can''t. I need to guide my zombie dragon."

    "¡­that''s true."

    With that, we disappeared into the night sky.

    Back in the rooftop of Cross Castle, Takeda watched as we vanished into the horizon, and then shook his head.

    Standing up, he studied the intercontinental ballistic missile launcher.

    "¡­even if Tanaka-kun didn''t destroy it, this thing''s useless if he refuses to summon a nuke. And Nagano-san is still unable to build a nuclear device¡­she doesn''t have the knowledge to put together one. Not yet, anyway¡­"

    He glanced up toward the heavens.

    "But the way Tanaka-kun was fighting so desperately¡­even to the extent where he would resist all nine of us¡­are the residents of Havia City really worth protecting that much?"

    Meanwhile, six of the Eight Guardians had recovered their consciousness and were sitting up glumly as they faced each other.

    Yonebashi Kyoko, Hoshizaki Kozue, Domon Daisuke, Nagano Nanaka, Shidou Makoto and Sanada Hiroyuki sat in a square that was missing one side, their heads lowered as they contemplated the aftermath.

    "Everyone''s still alive," Yonebashi remarked cheerfully. Beside her, Hoshizaki clutched her hands tightly.

    "Yes, we lost."

    Sanada''s voice was cold and filled with disappointment. Next to him, Makoto was slumped down, glaring bitterly at his lap as he struggled to come to terms with the defeat.

    Domon didn''t look surprised at all, while Nagano calmly sipped a cup of simmering hot tea. She then looked up with a bright smile.

    "Guess we were underestimating Tanaka-kun too much."

    Domon leaned back and glanced at the ceiling, a smile creeping into his expression.

    "Or perhaps he is much stronger than we can imagine¡­this is Tanaka-kun we''re talking about, after all. I always thought he was an amazing guy."

    Makoto rolled his eyes. "Because he helped you out against Kobayashi in the past and took the fall for you?"

    "Admittedly, someone with the guts to stand up to Kobayashi has to be amazing¡­in a way," Sanada pointed out.

    "Maybe Tanaka-kun can really do it and protect Restia," Hoshizaki spoke up, squeezing her hands tightly.

    "Even so¡­until I can understand what he is¡­I can''t trust him," Makoto replied.

    "That''s true," Yonebashi admitted. "Didn''t Kobayashi murder Tanaka-kun by throwing him off the summoning spell? How did he survive that? And Tanaka-kun himself said he only arrived in Restia six months after we did. What''s up with that? Is this the Tanaka-kun we know? Furthermore, what''s with those crazy special abilities?"

    "It''s almost like¡­he''s not human," Sanada muttered thoughtfully.

    "Apparently, when Aoyama-kun''s curse struck him, it identified him as an undead¡­a vampire. Did he get revived as an undead or something?"

    "Who knows?"

    "But his personality is still the same." Domon frowned as he considered. Yonebashi chuckled and shook her head.

    "Especially those stupid puns of his."

    "Just what on earth is he?" Makoto murmured. "Is he human or not? Is he the same Tanaka from our world?"

    "I have a feeling that he''s still the same Tanaka-kun from our world. But even so, he has undergone quite a few changes. There is still something different about him." Hoshizaki leaned back. "But how did he survive?"

    "Looks like he''s a complete mystery." Nagano smiled.

    "Even Sakaguchi and Asakura weren''t able to find any other information on him when they investigated the mercenary''s guild," Makoto pointed out. "How did he survive? And how did he get transformed into an undead?"

    "No one knows for sure¡­but there is one thing for certain¡­"

    Domon grinned.

    "Tanaka-kun is still Tanaka-kun. I think we can believe in him."

    "¡­perhaps so."

    Takeda approached them.

    "Leader¡­"

    Everyone stood up to greet him. At the back, Gendou Issei stirred back to consciousness, holding his head as he rose shakily to his feet.

    "Gah¡­"

    "Are you all right, Gendou-kun?" Sanada asked.

    "¡­yeah." Gendou blinked. "It''s over? Tanaka-kun has escaped?"

    "That''s right."

    "Where do you think he''s headed?" Yonebashi asked as she glanced into the distance. "Where else does he have to go?"

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    "The Demonic Alliance," Nagano replied. "He was working for them before we met up."

    "The Demonic Alliance, huh¡­" Yonebashi shook her head. "But seven of the strongest demonic domains refuse to be part of the alliance, and Kobayashi-kun is bringing the full might of the human kingdoms to invade Morten. Is it really wise of Tanaka-kun to throw his lot in with them? He might get annihilated along with them."

    "I don''t think so."

    Hoshizaki reached out for a can of drink, flipped the tab open, and then gulped down a slosh of soda.

    "I would actually be more worried about Kobayashi-kun and his group if I were them. Weren''t we all just defeated by Tanaka-kun?"

    "As shameful as it is to admit, you''re right."

    Gendou grimaced as his shoulders slumped down.

    "It was our total defeat."

    "Even so, Tanaka-kun can''t defeat Kobayashi by himself."

    Takeda stood over his eight guardians.

    "He''ll need our help eventually."

    "So¡­what do you plan to do, leader?" Nagano asked cheerfully. Takeda responded with a smile of his own.

    "Since Tanaka-kun has won this round, we''ll give him the benefit of the doubt¡­and go along with what he wants for now."

 88 Chapter 88: Engagement circumstances of the Daughter of Haemorage

    "Major!"

    "Yo."

    I saluted when I saw Captain Elia Kratz, Lieutenant Gio Vanni and Lieutenant Daniel Dressia on the holographic projection that was beamed from my smartphone.

    "It''s been a while¡­and I''m finally back!"

    "Where are you, Major?"

    "In Haemorage. Bringing the Vampire Queen home."

    "Ah¡­"

    Immediately, there was an uncomfortable silence that stretched through the air. I frowned when I saw my three officers fidgeting uneasily.

    "What is it?"

    "N¡­nothing."

    "It''s none of our businesses, really."

    While Elia and Gio didn''t say anything, Daniel was more straightforward.

    "There has been rumors about you and her highness, Queen Lilith."

    "¡­I see."

    "Hmm, I''m not sure about the details either, but Lilith-san asked me for a favor, so I''m helping her out with her family matters for now."

    "¡­I see."

    The three officers of my battalion exchanged glances. Elia frowned as she pondered over my words.

    "Personally, I''m surprised. I never imagined her highness Lilith-sama, to be requesting Major Tanaka, considering her character."

    "So what do you intend to do, Major?" Gio added.

    "Whatever she asks me to do." I scratched my head. "To be frank, I still have no idea what Lilith-san plans for me to do for her."

    Honestly, even though Lilith requested for me to be her lover or fianc¨¦, the contents of that request itself remained very vague.

    "But that''s not important right now. As I''ve informed Emperor Regis earlier, the human kingdoms are preparing for a massive invasion. In a week or so, they''ll be invading the dwarven domain of Moria. We need to gather the alliance to mount a counterattack."

    "Yes. His majesty Regis-sama has already ordered us to standby and meet with you in Haemorage in a few days'' time. We''re getting fresh troops and new weapons and tanks, so we''ll need a week to prepare. Once we''re done, we''ll head to Haemorage immediately to pick you up, and then we''ll proceed to Moria from there."

    "Won''t it be too late by then?!"

    I frowned when I heard Elia''s explanations. I didn''t want to show up late to the party, I wanted to be there helping Moria fortify their defenses against Kobayashi''s army right from the beginning.

    As usual, Daniel was on hand with the information. I sighed when I realized that my information ¨C and that of the Iron Knights'' ¨C were a bit outdated.

    "All right. That buys us a bit more time than I thought."

    "Well, you''re there to prepare the vampire company of heavy infantry, aren''t you? We''ve split up and they returned to Haemorage for further supplies and training. We''ll be merging the three companies into a battalion again once we meet up."

    "Uh huh."

    I nodded at Elia''s words and raised my hand.

    "Leave them to me."

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    "Right."

    "Still, I''m unable to surmise Lilith-sama''s true intentions." Gio frowned as he stroked his chin. "You might want to be careful."

    "¡­careful?"

    I blinked, bewildered by his statement.

    "You think Lilith-san is going to betray me or something?"

    "No, that''s not it¡­"

    Gio frantically waved his hands and denied that. Instead, it was Daniel who explained.

    "Well, Major Tanaka, you seem the type to be weak to a girl''s aggressiveness, after all. So we''re a bit worried."

    "Just what do you guys think I am?!"

    "A guy with no experience with girls," all three officers chorused. I felt as if an arrow had thudded right into my heart, especially when I realized that I couldn''t deny that at all. I had been single my entire life and never been in a relationship with any girl, not even once.

    "Putting that aside¡­this time, the battle''s going to be harder than before. For the first time, the human kingdoms are united under a single ruler. And I heard he did something to the populations that are under his control."

    "Yes. We heard that too. Entire populations have turned into zombie-like beings, becoming crazed, fanatical and devoted followers to the so-called Emperor of Humanity." Daniel''s expression was grim. "We do not know what sort of magic Kobayashi Kenji is using, but his armies have become a lot more dangerous than before."

    "Ugh¡­this is so troublesome," Gio complained as he clutched his forehead. "Just when you thought it can''t get any worse¡­"

    "He''s starting to sound like some invincible psyker with godlike powers and golden armor who launches crusades into the stars to unite all the disaparate worlds of humanity under the banner of the Imperium, and bring enlightenment and technology to end superstition and fear¡­"

    "Don''t worry¡­if he does that, he''ll end up becoming a writhing corpse on the Golden Throne, right?" Gio joked. I shuddered.

    "I hope not. It would mean I get my existence annihilated after the Siege of Restia."

    And I really didn''t want Restia to be under Kobayashi''s rule for another 10,000 years, even if he became an imprisoned corpse who was unable to relay anything to his followers and do the actual ruling himself.

    "Ahem¡­"

    Elia cleared her throat.

    "Major, I think it''s time for you to go to the place of the request."

    "What request?"

    "What do you think? Have you forgotten that you''re supposed to help her highness Lilith-sama out this week?"

    "Ah¡­that''s right."

    I saluted my three officers, said the usual encouraging words, then signed off and switched off my smartphone. Taking a deep breath, I left the room.

    *

    "I want you to act as my lover."

    This conversation happened shortly after we escaped from Cross Castle and arrived safely in Haemorage.

    "Pretend to be Lillith-san''s lover?"

    "Yes, that''s right. I want you to play that role after we return to Haemorage, after your diplomatic mission."

    "Um¡­why?"

    That night, I had been taken by surprise, but I wasn''t going to just go along with it because she was beautiful. There was something about this request that bothered me.

    "I told you earlier, didn''t I? About the elders in the capital of Haecient. They''ve been pressuring me into a political marriage. I asked you all those nights ago to pretend to be my lover or fianc¨¦ so as to stave off pressure from those elders."

    "Oh, right! I remember!"

    Lilith nodded.

    "As the daughter of the previous queen, and the current Vampire Queen of Haemorage, there are no small amount of nobles eyeing the position of my husband. They would want to integrate themselves with my family, to forge close links with royal blood. The man who becomes my husband will inevitably wield vast power and hold authority second only to mine. In terms of military, anyway ¨C the elders, unfortunately, still hold the political reins."

    That made sense. I sympathized with her.

    "So¡­yes, in other words, a political marriage of convenience."

    Perhaps it was because I came from modern Japan, specifically Tokyo, that I saw such practices as horribly outdated.

    "Either I get married to one of the candidates that the elders choose for me, or I find my own husband ¨C one who is a high ranking demon noble from another domain, and establish an engagement with him."

    Those were the instructions that Lilith received from the shadowy elders in Haecient.

    Establishing connecctions with an influential person who was holding a strong position in Morten. Despite her battle prowess and being one of the most powerful demon nobles in terms of military might and war potential, Lilith did not hold much political power, and was tasked with such a mission.

    "That''s utter BS," I muttered angrily. "You should be allowed to choose your own husband."

    I wasn''t na?ve enough to be ignorant of how political marriages among particularly prestigious noble houses worked. That was the way of history. Only by maintaining strong ties with other high-ranking nobles could such families maintain and consolidate their power ¨C and even grow and expand their influence politically and economically.

    "As expected, you speak like someone from another world."

    Seeing my bitter expression, Lilith giggled.

    "90% of marriages between nobles are like that. It''s pointless to be angry about it."

    Lilith asserted curtly.

    "¡­"

    I had no rebuttal to that. Lilith was right, of course. As I said earlier, I wasn''t na?ve enough to think that all marriages ¨C especially those between nobles ¨C were committed out of love. In fact, even in modern Tokyo, I heard that the old powerful families in billionaire conglomerates and zaibatsu still continued such practices.

    But still, this is weird.

    "Why me, specifically? Don''t you think there will be much better candidates?"

    "To be frank, I''m trying to avoid trouble as much as possible. Until I achieve my personal goal¡­"

    "Personal goal¡­?"

    Lilith continued without answering my question. Oi, was she ignoring me or something?

    "In several days'' time, a representative will be dispatched from Haecient to here by the Elders. In order to confirm and report the progress of my engagement¡­"

    I scratched my head and sighed, suddenly understanding what this whole farce was about. Simply put, I just needed to pretend to be Lilith''s lover to deceive this representative. It was just the timing of this thing that I didn''t agree with.

    There was a war going on, and Kobayashi''s armies were poised to invade Morten ¨C specifically Moria ¨C in two weeks'' time, and all the vampire elders cared about was political marriages!? Not just them, but Lilith as well?

    But it appeared that the reason why I was selected was clear.

    Apparently, I was a demon of noble lineage ¨C with my title, Vampire Lord ¨C as well as my supposed lordship over the domain of Umbra (which remained deserted, and just for official purposes rather than being any real lordship. Not to mention, I had also achieved the feat of slaying several of Evelyn''s Chosen and defeating the Iron Knights. Those were achievements that no other demon noble could lay claim to.

    "Therefore, I will have you behave as my lover for one week, starting from today. I hope that is all right with you."

    "U¡­um¡­well, I''ve never gone out with anyone before¡­"

    "Oh my? Actually, I don''t have any experience either."

    "I¡­I don''t mean that."

    While I was flustered, Lilith smiled mischievously.

    "Besides, I''ve helped you out tremendously in your fight against the Iron Knights. Don''t you think you owe me a favor after I''ve gone through all that trouble for your sake?"

    "Yeah, I''m grateful to you for that."

    I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

    "U¡­um, if you''re fine with me, I''ll do my best."

    "Thank you. I like that honest side of yours."

    I wasn''t sure how exactly I was being honest, but I decided not to reject a compliment when I received one.

    Lilith nodded, her smile widening.

    "Oh, and one more thing."

    "What is it?"

    I tilted my head curiously. Lilith nodded.

    "I''ll be troubled if the fake lover thing is leaked out to the public, so until this week passes, we''ll keep this matter a secret. Can you promise that?"

    "S¡­sure."

    "Good answer. Then, from today onward, you''re my lover. Please take care of me, Tomoyuki-kun."

    "¡­yes."

    I responded with an awkward smile, wondering what I had gotten myself into. Well, I did owe Lilith a favor, especially after she helped me so much during the battle against the Iron Knights, so I guess I could help her this one time.

    Thus, the agreement was established.

    *

    That night, after I returned to my room, I received a call from none other than Emperor Regis himself.

    "Your majesty."

    I bowed respectfully as his holographic image materialized above my smartphone. He smiled and gestured for me to relax.

    "At ease. It''s good to see you again."

    "Huh? Didn''t I just talk to you earlier this morning?"

    "Yes, I''ve received your report." Regis frowned as he glanced at something off screen. "I''m still surprised, though. The Evelyn''s Chosen you mentioned are ruthless enough to destroy Havia City along with the current Emperor of Humanity and you, who are one of us, are opposed to that. It''s almost like your roles are reversed."

    It could be that the Iron Knights were treating this as a game, but Takeda had offered his reasoning and explained that he would have done this even if this was our previous world. Sacrificing the few for the many, huh¡­

    That wasn''t a concept I could agree with, even if I understood the urgency and value of it.

    "I just heard from Captain Kratz and my other officers that Kobayashi''s invasion of Moria has been pushed back to two weeks later."

    "Indeed. That''s what our latest intelligence tells us." Regis smirked. "Apparently, there were quite a few human kingdoms who weren''t pleased with how the present Emperor of Humanity usurped their kings and queens by brutally executing them and ruthlessly taking their place as their new rulers. There are pockets of resistance everywhere, and the so-called Emperor of Humanity is crushing each and every of them. He claims he only needs two weeks to accomplish that, and then turn his efforts toward us, but I suspect even then he still woudlnt have united all the human kingdoms by then."

    "In other words, these resisting human kingdoms might be potential allies," I mused. Regis nodded, pleased that I caught on quickly.

    "That is correct. In other news¡­do you remember the human prisoners-of-war that you captured after you and Lilith-dono defeated two Evelyn''s Chosen when they invaded her domain of Haemorage?"

    "¡­yeah."

    I still remembered Major Kracauer and his regiment.

    "The Legnica 82nd Regiment and the 7th Battalion of the Marrina Marine Corps."

    Oh, there was a marine company among the prisoners-of-war that I had captured?

    "They are under our custody for now, and we had been negotiating with their kingdoms on the exchange of prisoners¡­but when Kobayashi took the throne, he cut off all negotiations and told us to kill them. Basically he abandoned them and counted them as dead."

    "What the fuck?!"

    I gaped at Regis, but he nodded seriously.

    "Yes. This self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity is a lot more ruthless than I thought. He has no compassion, and cares nothing for the soldiers fighting under him. In fact, intelligence reveals that he is using some sort of ability to enslave his followers and brainwash them into fanatically devoted zealots who are more than willing to die for his cause."

    "¡­"

    I rubbed my head, trying to wrap my mind around all that. That sounded like Kobayashi, all right.

    "So what are we going to do? With the prisoners, I mean."

    "I was hoping you can tell me." Regis looked bitter. "They aren''t taking the news that they''ve been abandoned too kindly. We''re still treating them well enough¡­but the moment they lose their will to live, it''s all over."

    "We could win them to our cause. Get them to ally with us."

    "I''ll try to convince them. I''ve been feeding information about Kobayashi''s current reign of terror ¨C and without being exposed to whatever brainwashing magic he used, they''re furious at what they think is his betrayal. You might be right¡­we might be able to win them over to our cause."

    Regis thought about it, and then smiled.

    "I''ll talk to them about it."

    "Thank you, your majesty."

    "Well, but that''s not the main reason I contacted you."

    I was about to salute and sign off when Regis revealed that. I gaped at him, having thought that he called me this late in the night because he wanted to consult me on what to do with the human prisoners.

    "What is it, your majesty?"

    Regis leaned closer, linking his fingers as he stared at me seriously.

    "Understand that I''m only revealing this to you because I trust you. It also happens that you and Lilith-dono are the nearest forces stationed near the ruins, so it''s most convenient to dispatch you and a contingent of vampire forces to these ruins."

    "Huh? Ruins?"

    I gaped at Regis, puzzled. He nodded.

    "A tomb, if you will¡­of the former Vampire King who ruled over Haemorage a few millennia ago. He was finally brought down by the Evelyn''s Chosen of that time, and the surviving vampires buried him inside a massive tomb, filled with treasures and ancient weapons. And it''s also supposed to be lurking with creatures that possess unimaginable powers¡­said to be the former familiars of the fallen Vampire King, cursed to protect his corpse for eternity."

    "Sounds like an urban legend."

    "Perhaps it is. But as you know, the Demonic Alliance doesn''t interfere in individual domain affairs, so we don''t really have much information on the tomb. Lilith-dono or the vampire elders should know more about it."

    "I see¡­" I paused and stared at Regis. "So what does this tomb have to do with me?"

    "Oh, it has everything to do with you," Regis assured me with an enigmatic smile. "After all, you''re the one who informed me of the Emperor of Humanity''s plans to invade the nine strongest domains in Morten. And Haemorage, where you''re right now, is one of them."

    I felt a chill.

    "You don''t mean¡­"

    "Yes. Intelligence suspects that Kobayashi will be sending one or two Evelyn''s Chosen over to the ruins to scout out Haemorage for potential weaknesses¡­and if possible, to raid the former Vampire King Alucard''s tomb for ancient weapons. We cannot let those weapons and treasures fall into their hands. In a few days time, I will dispatch you and your battalion to intercept that scouting party. They''ll meet up with you in Haemorage in several days. Your first mission once you retake command of them will be to intercept the Evelyn''s Chosen''s scouting party and defend the ruins from them. That''s the primary objective, anyway."

    "What''s the secondary objective?"

    From Regis''s tone, I had a feeling there was one, otherwise he wouldn''t mention the term "primary objective."

    "With Lilith-dono''s permission, you''re to explore the tomb and see if there are any weapons you can make use of in the inevitable clash with the human armies¡­especially before you go to Moria. Any advantage we can get, we should."

    "Yes, your majesty." I saluted. "You can count on me for that!"

    "Good." Regis smiled warmly. "Good luck, Major. The fate of Haemorage might very well rest on your shoulders."

    Giving me this much pressure already?! Ugh¡­

    "Oh, one last thing¡­a couple of your friends want to see you before you go."

    "¡­friends?"

    "Tomoyuki!"

    Richard and Yuan showed up on screen. Regis smiled indulgently before he receded to the background, allowing his son and daughter-in-law to take center stage in the hologram.

    "Your highnesses."

    "Congratulations! We''ve heard about your relationship!"

    "¡­relationship?" I blurted out, puzzled.

    "It''s all over Helsfort," Richard explained, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "We hear that you and Lilith-sama have become a couple!"

    "That''s right¡­from tomorrow onward, you will be with Lilith-sama," Yuan agreed.

    "Er¡­your highnesses, I think you''re misunderstanding something¡­"

    It was pretty obvious that the prince and his wife were teasing me, so I smiled wryly. However, Dragon Princess Yuan suddenly turned serious.

    "But¡­please be careful. Especially of her."

    "By her¡­do you mean Lilith-san? She''s amazing in a lot of ways, but I don''t think she''s a bad person. She has helped me out a lot."

    "Maybe. It''s just woman''s intuition." Yuan looked troubled. "Somehow something about her bothers me. Not only the fact that she once broke away from the Demonic Alliance for a short while, but it''s also as if she''s hiding something¡­"

    That was true. Despite Lilith helping me out, and us being together for quite some time, there was still a lot of things I didn''t know about her.

    "Thanks for the warning." I took a deep breath and nodded determinedly. "I''ll stay on my guard."

 89 Chapter 89: Military Instruction

    "Hey, Tomoyuki-kun. Shall we eat lunch together?"

    "Ah, yeah. That''s fine by me, but¡­"

    The next day, while my mind was still on the investigation on the ruins, Lilith came over to my seat during lunch break.

    Right, I''m supposed to act as her "lover" for one week.

    Given that I had an agreement with her, I guessed this was only natural. Nonetheless, when I was invited by a beautiful girl like Lilith, it still made my heart skip a beat.

    "Ah, so Lilith-sama wasn''t joking after all¡­"

    "Yes, to think that the Lady was so assertive¡­she''s serious."

    The military staff in Haemorage''s HQ was in a stir, and the female members in particular began to gossip excitedly.

    Damn it, we''re attracting too much attention¡­

    Feeling a little awkward, I stood up and was about to leave the classroom.

    "Sir!"

    "Ah, Lieutenant Burado." I returned the salute as the officer in charge of the vampire heavy infantry company that merged with my battalion showed up. "What is it?"

    "Here, the documents that you requested."

    "Great." I nodded. "I''ll show up in the training grounds after lunch. Let the men have a good lunch, then get them to assemble in the plaza."

    "Yes, sir!"

    Benjamin Burado saluted before he turned sharply to leave. Lilith watched him go, and then smiled at me.

    "How''s the company I gave you?"

    "They''re really good."

    Lilith shook her head when she heard that.

    "They''re supposed to be amateurs, though. The reason why I sent them to your battalion is for them to earn experience."

    "Uh, yeah. I''m sure they''ll get a chance soon."

    I nodded, remembering the planned expedition to the ruins a few days later. I wondered if I should ask Lilith about that. She had to be aware of the investigation, especially since Regis mentioned that he had asked her for permission.

    "More importantly, let''s have lunch together."

    "Right."

    I followed her to the cafeteria, feeling a little apprehensive about this. It appeared that vampires still ate normal food, despite supposedly being bloodsuckers. After "evolving" into a vampire, I had somewhat recovered my appetite and could eat normal food again. Yay.

    "Hmm¡­this is delicious."

    Surprisingly enough, Lilith enjoyed spicy meals. She was eating a plate of curry while sipping from a chalice of blood. I gulped when I stared at her red-hot plate. That looked incredibly scary.

    "Want a taste?"

    "No thanks. I don''t like spicy food."

    In contrast to Lilith, I had settled for sweet, mild curry. I had a sweet tooth, after all. Lilith chuckled when she stared at my chocolate ice cream and mild curry rice.

    "It''s really unexpected¡­I didn''t think you would have a sweet tooth."

    "Really?"

    Lilith chuckled as she elegantly scooped another spoonful of rice into her mouth. She smiled at me, amused.

    "So you can only eat sweet stuff?"

    "It''s only recently that I could eat proper food, after all."

    I remembered the days when I could only eat meat. Those were horrible. I would throw up anything that wasn''t meat, especially vegetables, bread and fruits. It was a relief to finally be able to eat normally.

    The only thing that was lacking was blood, but fortunately I didn''t need to drink much of it.

    "Well, eat up. Once we go to war, we''ll be surviving on rations."

    "That''s true."

    I nodded and sighed, not at all relishing the prospect. It wasn''t just the food, but the violence and bloodshed that would result. I had been incredibly lucky in my battles so far, but I knew that it wouldn''t last. This time, I would inevitably lose a lot of men.

    In the last battle, I lost a couple of tanks and most of their crews¡­

    All because I didn''t stop them from attacking Hoshizaki Kozue. Speaking of which, I wasn''t sure I could trust them. Should have asked them to help me fight Sakaguchi Seiji, which she didn''t offer. And now Takeda Tetsuo wanted to nuke Havia City?

    Hughes, Alicia, Alan, Princess Merly, Miranda¡­all the people living there¡­my fellow mercenaries. Like hell I was going to let the Iron Knights obliterate an entire city just to kill Kobayashi! As much as I wanted my revenge on that bastard, I wasn''t about to drag innocent and uninvolved people into this.

    I know I''m being hypocritical and na?ve, but whatever. I don''t give a fuck what other people think. I''m just going to do what I want.

    I knew there were many readers who thought I wasn''t edgy or ruthless enough, and wanted me to kill everybody in my way, even if they weren''t my targets. There were readers who were badgering me to kill my whole class, even those who didn''t bully me. And there were those who wanted me to exterminate all the human followers of Kobayashi purely because of their affiliation with him. They wanted me to be more brutal.

    Yeah, who cares what they said. If I didn''t want to kill the uninvolved civilians, then I wasn''t going to. I knew it was stupid, but I had friends there. I wasn''t going to nuke them just to take my revenge. Otherwise I couldn''t call myself a friend.

    And then there are people who insist that I''m letting my targets off too easily and I should torture them and make them suffer a lot of pain before killing them, to experience even a quarter of my suffering.

    That was bullshit. Firstly, I honestly wasn''t going to take the risk. All stupid villains tended to shoot themselves in their feet when they refused to kill the heroes immediately when they had the chance. By torturing the heroes and allowing them to leave, I was giving them the chance to survive, escape and mount a comeback. More than a million times, I had seen a gloating villain get the tables turned on him when the hero escaped his torture or capture and reverse the situation. And the heroes didn''t even bother gloating or torturing the villains, which proved the decisive factor in their victory.

    Secondly, I wasn''t exactly innocent myself. I was a huge hypocrite who beat up my bullies. It wasn''t as if I was a victim. When Kobayashi hit me, I hit him back. When his cronies picked on me, I beat them back. So what suffering? They caused me suffering, but I made sure to return a great deal of pain. I wasn''t entirely blameless or innocent.

    I was only taking revenge because I was selfish, and because they started it. I was no under illusions that I had the higher moral ground, or that I was some victim whose revenge was justified. Hell, my revenge wasn''t even justified, but I didn''t care because I just wanted to take revenge on the people who bullied me.

    I didn''t need justification. I just needed to do what I wanted. It was as simple as that.

    "Tomoyuki-kun?"

    I snapped my head up when Lilith called me, realizing that I was zoning out. Realizing that I didn''t have a lot of time left before lunch break was over, I quickly resumed eating.

    "Sorry, just had a lot on my mind."

    "Ah¡­you''re going to meet up with your company later?"

    "Yeah."

    I needed to minimize the casualties later. For that, I was going to train with them as best as I could.

    *

    After lunch, I met up with my vampire company in the plaza. We were going to practice battling and sparring.

    "Sir!"

    "Hey, Ben. How are the men holding up?"

    "They''re doing well, sir!"

    Benjamin Burado saluted.

    "We''re ready for inspection!"

    "Screw the inspection. I''m here to join the training, so carry on. Treat me like one of you. We''re going to practice for the mission in two weeks'' time."

    "Yes, sir!"

    I had already briefed my battalion on our mission to Moria in a couple of weeks, and how we were supposed to defend the place.

    We began with the basics, such as cover. As the former Haemorage 597th Heavy Company was a heavy infantry company, they were dressed in heavy armor and equipped with heavy weaponry such as Gatling cannons and machine guns. There were even high-powered laser rifles that drew energy from a hi-tech backpack mounted on their body armor.

    Vampires? They look more like futuristic soldiers from a science fiction story.

    Then again, it was only possible to carry such heavy weapons and be clad in such heavy armor because they possessed the physical strength of vampires. Most other species, such as humans, would be weighed down by the heavy armor and weapons. In contrast, these vampires were able to march for days without being weighed down by their armor and weapons, as long as they had a constant supply of blood.

    "Cover us! We''ll advance one wave at a time!"

    Sergeant Marko was shouting as he waved his soldiers into formation. I followed suit, watching as my men staggered their advance against an invisible enemy. The first wave rushed forward as the second half of the company covered their progress by laying down a suppressive layer of fire. Once the first half hunkered down in cover, it was their turn to cover the second half''s advance. We repeated these maneuvers until we grabbed the objective.

    "Good work, men!"

    As the token commander with no real military knowledge and experience, I was just there to give encouragement and praise my men. I must have made a few mistakes when I rushed forward with my men, but my officers tactfully didn''t reprimand me in front of the men. They focused on talking about the company''s mistakes as a whole. They pointed out where we could improve, where we were too slow, how to react quickly.

    I felt a little relieved. Unlike the fresh recruits, the officers seemed a bit more seasoned and experienced. Sergeant Michael Marko, particularly, looked like the grizzled veteran who had been through his fair share of campaigns.

    "Hmm, you''re still a little green, sir."

    Marko was wise enough to take me to the side to tell me about my mistakes after the training, when the men were resting a short distance away.

    "Yeah, sorry about that. To tell the truth, I''ve never had any formal military training. I''m not sure why his majesty appointed me as a major."

    "For morale." Marko shrugged. "I''ve heard of you and your achievements. Even if you''re not a soldier, your exploits on the battlefield are legendary. I mean, you actually took down five of Evelyn''s Chosen. No other demon warrior can boast that."

    "I was just lucky."

    Marko gave me a look. "Luck doesn''t happen five times in a row. Trust me on that."

    "Yeah¡­I''ll be relying on you, Sergeant. Please teach me and help me shore up on what I lack on."

    Marko laughed at that before slapping me in the back. "Don''t worry, sir. You''re the type to lead from the front and go off to do your own thing. I honestly don''t think you''ll have a problem. If anything, this training isn''t useful for someone like you. You''ll be off fighting the Evelyn''s Chosen in some sort of flashy battle. Your job is to win those ¨C if you can pull that off, you''ll lift the morale of your men, and we''ll be able to turn the tide around."

    "I hope so. I''ll do my best."

    "I know you will. I''ve seen you fight. You''ll be fine."

    Giving me an encouraging pat on my shoulder, Marko turned to the resting men and began bellowing again.

    "All right, break time is over! All of you, gather up! We''re going for another round again!"

    There was a collective groan as the men struggled to their feet and put on their heavy armor again. As I watched, something occurred to me.

    "We''re going to need to integrate the heavy weaponry with the rest of the battalion. Usually you guys will support the lighter infantry, like Captain Kratz''s troops, right?"

    "That''s right." Marko nodded. "This isn''t ideal, and I would prefer having a combined battation exercise, to be honest. Maybe we can try one or two cases when we reach Moria, to get them ready for the actual thing."

    "Sounds like a good idea." I nodded vehemently in approval. "I''ll talk to Kratz, Vanni and Dressia about it."

    "Good. I''ll leave the admin matters to you then."

    Marko turned to leave to direct the men. I was about to join them when I heard laughter. Turning around in confusion, I caught sight of a company of much flashier dressed knights strolling across the plaza, their faces filled with scorn.

    "Look at those newbies¡­"

    "I can''t believe we''re sending such noobs to the frontlines. Morten is really doomed if we''ve to rely on such fresh meat."

    "What do you think their attrition rate will be?"

    "I''ll be surprised if more than ten percent of them make it back alive."

    It didn''t surprise me that their mocking gazes were directed toward my company. Annoyed, I stepped forward.

    "Hey¡­"

    "Ignore it, sir."

    It was Ben. He had quickly strode over to where I was to stop me with a shake of his head. He looked a little glum.

    "That''s the third Blood Knights Company. They''re one of the most prestigious and revered Knight Orders in Haemorage. They have a very high standing here in Haemorage, and most of their knights are nobles."

    In other words, it would be troublesome to get into conflict with them, huh?

    However, I couldn''t ignore the depressed and demoralized looks on my men when they listened to the cruel verbal abuse from the esteemed knights. Somehow I was suddenly reminded of myself when I was being bullied by Kobayashi and the majority of my former classmates.

    "Oh¡­that''s the new commanding officer?"

    "He looks just as green as his recruits."

    "Ha ha, I feel sorry for his men already."

    "Yeah¡­with a commanding officer like that, there''s no way most of his company is going to survive."

    "Hey¡­"

    This time it was Marko who was advancing upon them, murder on his face. Ben quickly rushed over to stop him.

    Unfortunately, the moment he did that, I found myself in front of the knights, smiling pleasantly.

    "So you guys are the¡­Third Blood Knights Company?"

    "!"

    The troop of knights were taken aback, having not tracked my movements. They didn''t expect me to show up in front of them all of a sudden.

    "You¡­"

    "I''m the commanding officer of Magna 1,087th Battalion, Major Tanaka. I''m honored to meet you."

    They stared at my outstretched hand, but didn''t deign to take it.

    "I''ll look forward to fighting beside you during the Moria mission two weeks from now."

    "Hmph. I''m not sure if we''ll be fighting alongside you."

    "It''ll be a miracle if you can survive even past the first hour."

    "Don''t worry. The average life expetency for a Guardsman is fifteen hours. I''m aiming to drag that to fifteen years, enough time for them to retire safely."

    They stared at me, as if I had gone mad.

    "Who the hell retires after fifteen years in the Guard?!"

    Oh¡­right. I forgot. These were vampires. They had very long lifespans. It wouldn''t be strange for them to spend fifteen decades or even fifteen centuries in the Imperial Guard.

    "Ahem." I cleared my throat, trying to gloss over my embarrassing mistake. "Well, I do find it funny for you to say that¡­especially since you guys don''t seem tough enough to beat Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "What''s that?"

    "The truth." I smiled as I raised my hands in a deceptively helpless manner. "You''re making fun of a battalion who has survived two encounters against Evelyn''s Chosen. I wonder¡­how long will you last if you were to fight against Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "Hmph, are you mocking us?"

    The leading Blood Knight drew his sword. Slitting his thumb on the hook that curved from his hilt, he allowed his blood to flow and harden around his blade. Blood arts, huh? Combined with vampire sword techniques, it made for a truly formidable skill.

    However¡­

    "As I said, it''s the truth." I shook my head. "I wonder if your whole order can even beat me. If you can''t do something as simple as that, I wonder where you get such confidence from¡­that you can survive an encounter with Evelyn''s Chosen¡­something that my battalion can boast about."

    "Impudent bastard!"

    The lead knight charged at me before his comrades could stop him.

    "Wait!" one of them shouted. "Don''t do it! He''s the Hero Slayer!"

    It was too late. In one motion I kicked the sword out of the Blood Knight''s hand. In a second, I had spun around and delivered a kick to his chest, sending him flying across the plaza and smashing into the wall of the military building on the other side of the training grounds.

    "Whoops. Sorry, but I acted out of instinct." I raised both hands. "He came at me with a sword, so I was only acting out of self-defense."

    "You¡­!"

    "I''ll kill you for your insolence!"

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    "Get him! All of you!"

    Except the guy who shouted the warning, the rest of the vampire knights had drawn their swords and were charging at me.

    "Oto¡­"

    I hopped back to avoid the first slash, and then kicked the nearest vampire high up into the skies. As he flew, I ducked under the next swinging sword before sweeping my legs under my assailant and tripping him up. Springing back to my feet, I stepped in to block someone''s sword by hindering his sword arm with my elbow and then brought a knee to his solar plexus. As the third vampire went down, I was already moving on to the next opponent, smashing my elbow into his face after avoiding his sword strike, and then kicking another before he could swing his blade down.

    In under a minute, I had taken out six of the revered Blood Knights.

    "!"

    The rest retreated quickly, eyeing me warily. Meanwhile, the guy who had shouted the warning buried his face in his palm.

    "I warned you guys¡­"

    "Just what is this guy?!"

    At the moment, the guy I kicked high up into the air crashed down heavily, leaving a small crater.

    "The answer to that is still up in the air," I remarked, looking at the poor guy.

    "I told you, he''s the Hero Slayer!" the guy who shouted the warning earlier snapped in exasperation. The rest of his comrades turned to him.

    "Who''s the Hero Slayer?"

    "The guy who slew five of Evelyn''s Chosen! That''s the guy! Goodness, do you guys not know what''s happening in the outside world?"

    "¡­ah."

    The Blood Knights realized they had made a horrific blunder. Even though the guys I had beaten up earlier were slowly getting to their feet, their vampire regenerative powers allowing them to heal from the shallow injuries almost immediately, they were backing away with a measure of fear written across their faces. Even if they hadn''t heard of me, they knew that someone who killed five of the human''s heroes was not someone they could easily mess with.

    Furthermore, I had just defeated six of them without using any weapon except my bare hands. Smiling, I tilted my head.

    "Would you still want to exchange a few more¡­pointers? This sort of training is pretty useful, especially for esteemed knights such as yourself. I could also benefit from improving my close combat skills."

    "Let''s go."

    The Blood Knights didn''t want to linger around any longer than they needed to. They quickly departed the scene, fuming in humiliation, and no small amount of fear. Dudes probably didn''t even know I had fought the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights by myself and won.

    I could easily take out the entire company of Blood Knights if I had to. But I decided to leave things as they were because evidently I needed their help, and I couldn''t start making enemies now. Rather, I was sure they owed me a favor now.

    Assaulting a higher-ranked officer in front of so many witnesses¡­if I chose to report this, they would be in deep trouble. Moreover, they knew that I had let them off, especially when I claimed that this was just "an exchange of pointers."

    That warning should suffice for now.

    "That was amazing, sir."

    Marko was shaking his head, impressed. He grinned.

    "I told you that there will be stuff that you''re good at."

    "You should teach us how to fight like that, sir!"

    "Yeah!"

    "Please teach us those moves, sir!"

    The men, in particularly, were gaping at me and pleading me.

    "Uh, well¡­"

    "That''s enough, men!" Benjamin quickly stepped in and clapped his hands to save me. "The major is too busy for that. And besides, it''ll take too much time for us to suddenly change our specializations and switch to close combat now! We''ve invested too much time and resources into being heavy infantry!"

    "And besides, you guys have a very important role. I need you to cover my weaknesses and do the things that I can''t do."

    At my words, the men brimmed with joy and delight. Great. After the insults they received from the 3rd Blood Knights company, their morale had been restored¡­no, their morale was much better than before. Probably because they saw their commanding officer fight firsthand.

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    With that, I left them to continue training for the Moria mission.

    *

    "Ha~"

    I sighed as I sank down on the chair in the library, feeling a little tired.

    "Ara, tired already? Well, it has been a long day."

    "Whoa!"

    I jolted upright at Lilith''s voice. When I hadn''t noticed, she had somehow crept into the library and was now sitting in the same desk as me, sipping from a chalice of blood. She smiled warmly at me before placing her goblet on the table.

    "I saw what happened today. That was quite the lesson you taught the third Blood Knights Company."

    "Ah, no¡­that was¡­sorry."

    "Why are you apologizing?" Lilith chuckled. "I actually appreciate you doing that. They were getting a little arrogant lately and looking down on all the other regiments. It was high time someone knocked them off their high horses."

    "If it''s arrogance, it''s not as if I''m completely innocent of that either."

    I couldn''t deny that I myself was guilty of being arrogant. Showing off and boasting about my battalion like that was not exactly humility.

    Lilith shrugged. "There''s nothing wrong with bragging, especially if you can back your words up. But at least you''re not looking down on others and being condescending. It''s a problem, especially if you end up affecting the morale of the other regiments."

    So she was going to do something about it and stepped in if I hadn''t. That was a relief. Maybe. I didn''t know.

    "Anyway, what are you doing in the library so late?"

    "Oh? I was thinking of reading up on military strategies."

    I gestured toward the books that I had borrowed. They were no Sun Tzu''s Art of War, but they were Restia''s versions. Military tactics, knight formations and command strategies, particularly on how to expose and take advantage of the enemies'' weaknesses.

    "I was thinking that I should do my best to be a proper officer at least. Even if I somehow ended up with this rank by luck or mistake, I should at least fulfil my job properly and not let my men down. Especially since I''ll be responsible for their lives."

    "¡­"

    Lilith was quiet for a moment.

    "Indeed. Being responsible for the lives of my subordinates is something I had have to live with, and I still can''t get used to it."

    I started. That was right. Lilith was the queen of her nation. She was certainly responsible not just for her soldiers, but also the citizens of her domain.

    "Well¡­I hope it all goes well with you."

    "Yes¡­that''s why I hope I''m at least granted this small selfishness of not being forced to marry whoever I don''t want to."

    I smiled. "I''ll help you as much as I can with that."

    "Ha ha." Lilith laughed softly. "And I''m grateful to you for it. There''s no one else I can rely on for this sort of thing¡­to pretend to be my lover." Her eyes darkened as she glanced faraway. "The elders are too powerful politically¡­it''s taking my all just to stave their demands away. And then there''s the encroaching war."

    "Yeah. Life just doesn''t make things easier for us, does it?"

    "It certainly doesn''t."

    Lilith nodded. And then she beamed brilliantly, her beautiful face almost seeming to shine in the dim lighting of the library. I watched her, mesmerized a little.

    "And I''m also grateful to you for allowing to spend a little bit of time with you like this." Stretching in her chair, Lilith glanced at the ceiling and closed her eyes. "I feel a lot more at ease with you than in my castle."

    I said nothing and merely nodded. The library fell back into a comfortable silence as I returned to my books and allowed the weary Lilith a good rest.

 90 Chapter 90: First Date

    Three days had already passed since I became Lilith''s "lover".

    Needless to say, we kept up the fa?ade as much as possible by behaving accordingly. Obviously we didn''t go so far as to flirt or do cheesy and embarrassing things in public ¨C we were still stationed in a military base, after all, and obviously the military didn''t encourage such fraternizing or flirting behavior. So we did simple things such as accompanying each other as much as possible. While dining together in the cafeteria was a given, there were times when we paired up to spar or practice combat moves. Honestly, it felt less like a couple thing and more like¡­

    Eh, I don''t know. I never did this before, so I was the last person to ask about regarding this kind of affairs.

    However, as we settled into a daily routine, the intial awkwardness finally faded away and I became more comfortable with my role.

    Of course, I made sure to spend time with my men as well. It made no sense for the commanding officer to run off and accompany the queen when I had my own company to manage. Marko and Benjamin looked a little relieved when they saw me.

    "Hey, sir."

    "Hey, guys. How''s it going?"

    Apparently Marko was a veteran who had several centuries of combat under his belt. It was unfortunate, but he lost his lost platoon in an intense battle against the heroes, and was posted to this fresh, newly raised company to train them. The higher-ups had thought that his experience would be indispensable to the new recruits, and they were right.

    "I want to make sure I don''t lose my men like that again," Marko muttered bitterly as he chewed on a cigar. I wanted to ban smoking, but given the vampires'' regenerative abilities, concerns such as cancer and health problems were nonexistent.

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    "That''s what we''re training for," I assured him. Marko chuckled.

    "You do your thing, sir. We''ve got your back."

    "I appreciate that."

    After the training session was over, Lilith showed up, taking me by surprise.

    "It seems that you''re done with training today as well."

    "Ah, yes, your highness." I saluted. She frowned and shook her head, gesturing for me to dispense with the formality.

    "Today, I want you to go on a date with me."

    My men, who were passing by to take their break after the session, began to whistle as they walked past.

    "You go, sir!"

    "Enjoy yourself!"

    "Woohoo!"

    I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself in it. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Lilith.

    "Fine, but did you really have to say it so openly?"

    Lilith calmly responded flirtatiously and slightly tilted her head to the side.

    "I just felt like going on a date now, so I came looking for you. Is there a problem?"

    "Rather than a problem¡­"

    I glanced at my men, who were still grinning mischievously, and then sighed.

    "I see, thank you. I''m glad."

    I decided to go along with Lilith for now. I waved farewell to my vampire company, and then followed Lilith into the corridor that led out of the military base. When we finally emerged to the courtyard, which was mercifully empty, I spoke up.

    "Um, so you made that request in front of everyone on purpose?"

    "Of course. If we don''t properly convince everyone that we are really dating, the representative of the Haecient Council who will arrive soon will suspect that our relationship is fake."

    "¡­"

    After Lilith made that smooth declaration, I found myself at a loss for words.

    "Does the representative have nothing better to do?"

    I wanted to roll my eyes as I grumbled bitterly.

    After all, if I thought about logically, even if the representative of the vampire elders came from Haecient to this outpost in Haefield, would he go so far as to doubt Lillith''s words and attempt to gather evidence against her?

    "You''ll understand the circumstances right away. The date itself is true, so we shall prepare a little."

    Lillith offered a curt reply as she stopped in front of the officers'' dormitory. I looked at her quizzically. She sighed when she saw my blank expression.

    "Are you going on a date dressed like that?"

    "What''s wrong with the way I''m dressed?"

    I was wearing my Redwood jacket over my military uniform. A pretty cool getip, if I might say so myself. It was the standard black and gold military uniform worn by the demonic soldiers all over Morten, and I even had my battalion''s crest and insignia sewn above my breast pocket.

    Lilith wordlessly gestured toward her clothes. She was wearing an elegant black dress with a shawl, and high heels.

    "You look good. That really suits you."

    "Thank you, but that''s not the point."

    I sighed, finally understanding it. As dense as I was, even an idiot like me wasn''t that stupid. The readers might disagree, because a lot of them thought I was the most stupid character to exist in Royal Road Legends, and a few even gave 0.5 ratings because of my stupidity, which made me wonder why I bothered to continue this revenge quest.

    "All right. I''ll go get changed."

    After returning to my room, I changed into a more appropriate outfit, and then met with Lilith in front of the military base''s entrance ten minutes later.

    "First, let''s go buy clothes."

    We left the military base and headed toward the city, walking down the main street of the first block. As we continued forward at a brisk pace for thirty minutes, we finally found ourselves in the commercial district, which was normally patronized by relatively affluent customers even among those living in Haemorage.

    The establishments that particularly stood out were those high-class hotels that were orientated toward the upper class, classy restaurants, custom-tailor shops for the rich, shrines and free medical institutions. Further down the street were vast estates where rows of stately mansions stood atop pristine lawns and marble pavements.

    Haefield might be a peripheral city in the domain of Haemorage, but it was still an important base strategically placed to protect the borders of the vampires'' domain. There were many military nobles living in this city, particularly vampire nobles with a lot of power and influence, not to mention wealth. Even the people living in the capital of Haemorage, Haecient, had secondary residences in this border city, probably as villas.

    It''s the same in every world, isn''t it?

    I couldn''t help but think in exasperation. The income gap between the rich and poor remained huge no matter what world I was in. it made me wonder about the existence of humans, or at least humanoid species in general.

    "It''s really interesting."

    Lilith, who was walking beside me, suddenly muttered.

    "Huh?"

    I turned to stare at her, surprised. She shrugged.

    "I mean you seem like a fish out of water. I suppose someone from another world such as you aren''t used to such cityscapes?"

    She gestured to the buildings all around me. Apparently, she had seen me glancing around curiously, and was intrigued.

    "Do you often come to such places, Lilith-san?"

    "I rarely come."

    Lilith''s reply was unexpected. I was almost caught off guard.

    "I see. I think someone like Lilith-san is more suited for the atmosphere of such a refined city, especially when compared to someone like me¡­"

    "Not really. After all¡­I hate it."

    I was taken aback by her reply. Blinking in disbelief, I stared at her elegant, dignified profile.

    "¡­really?"

    "That''s right." Lilith nodded firmly. "I don''t really like aristocrats or nobles."

    Even though you''re a queen yourself?! Even though you''re royalty?

    I scratched my head, confused.

    Lilith was the current queen of Haemorage. If we were talking about nobility, she was right at the peak of it all, as royalty. Initially, I thought the reason why she hated aristocrats despite also being of royal descent, was because she was forced into political marriages.

    However¡­

    I don''t think the reason''s that simple. I doubt she''ll hate nobility over something as relatively trivial as political marriages of convenience. I mean, it''s not exactly trivial, but from the way she spoke about it, I don''t think that''s the real reason¡­

    After all, Lilith was the one who said it so herself. That 90% of noble marriages were political in nature. She already seemed resigned to it.

    "Over here."

    While I was pondering over the possible reasons, Lilith suddenly stopped. I glanced up, taken aback by her abruptness, then followed her gaze.

    There was a tailor shop of immense size standing before us. A beautiful signboard hung over the heavily decorated entrance, its wooden surface covered with intricate carvings. Immediately I felt a strong dislike for the shop.

    "This shop looks pretty expensive."

    "Really? You''re supposed to be a vampire lord, a demon noble with his own domain, you know. You should start getting used to such things."

    Lilith smiled mischievously. I shook my head wryly and shrugged.

    "I might have been granted a territory for show, but I don''t think I have the appropriate income to go with it."

    "Oh, you''ll be surprised. Emperor Regis should have rewarded you with cash after your feats. And you still have a military pay, considering you''re a major in the Helsfort army."

    "Huh¡­I don''t know about that. I should have checked my account."

    Come to think of it, I should have a demon bank account, which was separated from my mercenary bank account. Demons and humans used different currency, after all.

    "Even so, I''m¡­just not used to such places. I would rather spend my money on something else. That said, please go on ahead. I''ll wait for you."

    Lilith chuckled. "I guess this isn''t your kind of activity, huh. Don''t worry. Let''s finish this as soon as possible."

    With that, she stepped into the shop. I hastily followed after her.

    "¡­"

    The tailor listened attentively to Lilith''s instructions, and then began taking measurements of my arms, legs and body size. After taking those measurements, the tailor began fixing clothes according to my size.

    And just like that, an hour quickly passed by.

    "¡­wait, the shopping was for my clothes!?"

    My jaw dropped as I stared at the tailor, who was hurrying away with my measurements in hand. I had only just realized it after Lilith paid for everything.

    "Rest assured, you look quite good in formal clothes. As expected of a demon noble¡­you''re not a vampire lord for nothing."

    Lilith responded with a smile, as if she was paying with someone else''s money. Kind of like how an ojou-sama was paying with her father''s money, or a housewife paying for her fashionable clothing with her husband''s credit card.

    I suddenly had a bad feeling about this, especially when the last thought popped into my head.

    "Um, thanks, but I''m afraid I can''t accept such expensive stuff!"

    As I mentioned earlier, Lilith was the one who paid for my formal clothes and shoes. There was no way I could just accept them. We had arranged with the tailor for the clothes to be completed after three days, but Lilith had paid for them in advance. In full, no less.

    "Relax. It''s within my budget, and to be frank, it''s not even a big amount."

    "¡­"

    Was she serious?

    The amount of money Lilith spent on my clothes was probably three times the amount of money I earned in one month doing the miscellaneous missions for the mercenary''s guild (I was talking normal missions, not high-ranked, special missions such as slaying demon nobles). Guess that was expected of a queen.

    I bet even my pay as a major wouldn''t be able to cover all those fees¡­damn, it must be pretty hard living as a noble and maintaining such a luxurious lifestyle. I would happily surrender this demon noble title and live a "normal" life.

    "Since we''ve come all the way to town, shall we have a meal before we return? I will pay."

    We departed from the commercial district and emerged into a large street. I glanced up, realizing that the skies had darkened. Time must have flown by while we were in the shop, for it was already evening, and the streets were noticeably emptier.

    "Er¡­as expected, I should at least pay for dinner¡­"

    I might be tagging along with Lilith''s plans and following her pace, but even I had my pride.

    "Oh¡­how manly of you. I''m impressed. I thought you were a stingy miser."

    "I am a miser, but even I know proper etiquette. You just bought me clothes. There''s no way I can let you pay for my dinner as well."

    Rolling my eyes, I sighed and relaxed a little. To be honest, it wasn''t bad, strolling in the night beside an extremely beautiful girl¡­

    "¡­! Watch out!"

    Suddenly sensing danger, I dove toward Lilith and knocked her over, just as something flew above us and sliced through the air where her head had been a millisecond ago. As we skidded across the ground, I was already raising my head and using Absolute Appraisal to estimate the enemy''s location. Data flowed across my lenses, indicating origin, trajectory, and estimation of the next attack. It was a whip.

    Not just any whip, but a holy whip.

    Following the information my glasses fed me, I turned toward an alleyway that was a slight distance away from the upper class area.

    "That weapon¡­"

    I narrowed my eyes when I realized I recognized it.

    "A divine weapon¡­so the opponent''s a holy knight from one of the human kingdoms, huh?"

    I promptly drew my Blood Dragon Sword from my waist.

    "Don''t move! If you move, I''ll shoot!"

    Before I could do anything, five holy knights in silver armor appeared in our surroundings, aiming guns at us. Holy runes gleamed on their armor, and their barrels shone with mana as they fed them with energy ammunition.

    It seemed it wasn''t only the demons who had undergone an industrial revolution and developed guns. Kobayashi must have realized the potential of kickstarting the industrial production of modern ranged weapons when he saw the demons using them.

    "How did human knights infiltrate Haemorage?" I wondered out loud, studying the enemies. Their features were concealed by their helms, but even if I could see their faces, I doubted I would know who they were.

    "There are five holy knights, huh? We were careless¡­"

    Upon seeing them, Lilith raised her hands to surrender. I shrugged.

    "Well, I did hear that the Legnica Corps have sent some special forces soldiers ahead of time to infiltrate Haemorage¡­"

    ¡­to investigate the ruins and secure the ancient weapons from there. But I left that part unsaid. Instead, I casually raised my sword.

    "I told you not to move! I''m not kidding! We''ll shoot!''

    "Then shoot."

    Despite changing, I had my Redwood jacket on. Anything they fired at me would be negated by the twelve layered barrier that my Redwood Robe produced.

    "Don''t underestimate us!"

    The five of them opened fire at the same time. As I expected, the bullets all bounced off the barriers that my Redwood jacket generated, unable to penetrate even the first layer. As the little projectiles bounced harmlessly to the ground, the five gunsmen gaped at me in shock. The first guy quickly snapped out of it and sent his whip hurtling forward.

    "You¡­!"

    "¡­need to whip you guys into shape."

    With a single swing of my Blood Dragon Sword, I sliced the whip into two.

    "Gu¡­!"

    "Oi, oi¡­with these meager skills, you dare to try and assassinate her highness? Don''t make me laugh."

    I laughed anyway, before swinging my sword and unleashing a huge Shadow Lunar Fang that almost obliterated one of the knights. His armor protected him, the runes glowing fiercely as they tried to defend him from the dark crescent-shaped blast.

    They lasted two seconds.

    "AAAAAH!"

    The armor buckled and disintegrated, and the holy knight howled in pain before he was sent hurtling onto the ground, bleeding profusely from dozens of wounds.

    "W¡­what is he?!"

    "Aaaaah!"

    Even as our would-be assailants backed away from me, Lilith had not been idle either. She had conjured her blood spear and thrown it, impaling another of the holy knights. He let out a grunt as the spear easily pierced through his breastplate and pinned him to the ground. His comrades watched, horrified, as he hung lifelessly on the crimson rod that was now the only thing holding him up.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    "Retreat! These guys¡­these guys are monsters!"

    "I heard the vampire queen is strong, but who is that guy accompanying her?!"

    "You think I''ll let you guys go so easily?"

    Lilith already had a second spear prepared. Hurling it, she took down one of the fleeing knights. I knocked out a fourth with Doombolt, smashing his armor and rendering him unconscious. The last guy didn''t even bother to spare his downed comrades a second glance, and was sprinting back into the alleyway, hoping to disappear into the shadows.

    He suddenly sighed in relief when he spotted a slender woman standing in the alleyway. He desperately lunged at her.

    "D¡­don''t move! The woman there!"

    Pulling a sword from his waist, the assassin charged at her. Whatever happened to his gun? Oh, he discarded it to lighten his load when he was fleeing from me, especially when he realized that bullets were useless against my Redwood jacket.

    It didn''t matter ¨C he still had his sword. And upon seeing the woman, he saw the chance to hold her hostage and bargain for his escape route.

    "As expected of Kobayashi''s follower," I muttered darkly, and was about to proceed to help the woman, but¡­

    "There is no need to go help her."

    Lilith restrained me quietly with a serious expression.

    "Huh?"

    Even as I was surprised, I immediately guessed the reason. Shrugging, I relaxed and turned to watch the show.

    The holy knight had already reached the woman, and was reaching out for her, his blade aimed at her neck. No doubt he was going to hold her hostage by restraining her movements and threatening her with a blade to her throat. The standard operating procedure.

    However¡­

    "It''s really bad, huh. I can''t believe the border town of Haefield has fallen into such a pathetic state. What are the police doing?"

    Kin!

    Right after those calm words left the woman''s mouth, the assassin''s knife flew into the air.

    "What¡­?!"

    "Please do not move. Otherwise, don''t blame me if my hand accidentally slips."

    The holy knight had fallen onto his rump and was staring dumbly at the woman, who was pointing her sword at his throat.

    He had sought to make her his hostage, and was now stunned to find the reality the complete reversal of his intention.

    Countless crimson lines glowed across the surface of the long blade of the sword the woman held. I recognized the mana signatures that flowed throughout the elegantly crafted weapon.

    "Blood magic."

    In other words, the woman ¨C the wielder of that weapon ¨C was a vampire. A citizen of Haemorage, but not just any vampire. Her sword skills were on par¡­no, surpassed even the Blood Knights of the 3rd Haemorage Company.

    Maybe she''s a general in the Haemorage military¡­

    Just when I thought that, the woman raised her head calmly, her cool expression not changing one bit.

    "Long time no see, Miss."

    "¡­Miss?"

    So she wasn''t a general or a knight, or even a soldier?

    While I frowned and contemplated the other alternatives, Lilith sighed.

    "She''s an acquaintance of mine. The butler of the Scarlet royal family, Claire McAlterize."

    "Oh, I see. Then she must be¡­"

    I had already guessed her identity, and Lilith nodded to confirm it.

    "Yes, she is the representative sent by the vampire elders of the Haecient Council¡­and she''s here to see how I am doing."

    "Perhaps we should find a more appropriate location to continue this conversation," the woman named Claire calmly suggested, and emphasized by flicking her head toward the subjugated holy knights.

    "¡­"

    After handing the holy knights to the military police who finally arrived long after the altercation was over, Lilith and I followed Claire to whatever place she deemed "more appropriate".

 91 Chapter 91: Representative from Haecien

    Approximately ten minutes after we left the scene, we found ourselves in a bar that was near the military base to have our discussion.

    Being so near the military base, the bar was often patronized by military personnel. By this time of the night, there were lots of off-duty men and officers drinking in the bar, getting drunk and laughing boisterously as they clinked their mugs of beer together. The atmosphere was light, despite news of impending war.

    Given that the first place of attack was Moria and not Haemorage, I guess the soldiers wouldn''t be as tense as when their domain was invaded by Sakaguchi Seiji and Miyazawa Miyako. It was also good for morale, but the officers had to ensure the men didn''t get too carried away and got themselves drunk or render themselves unfit for duty the next day.

    Claire said she would foot the bill and let us order whatever we wanted. As I was underage, I didn''t order alcohol, and settled for mango juice. As expected, a queen like Lilith ordered vintage wine, while Claire got herself a cocktail.

    Lilith, Claire and I then sat at a table for three, deliberately choosing one that was secluded and remote from the other patrons of the bar. It would be inconvenient if our conversation was to be overheard by the other customers in the bar, but fortunately the raucous laughter and thunderous banter between drunk soldiers kept our voices concealed.

    "First of all, well¡­it is excellent to see that you''re in fine health, Lilith-sama. At least, that''s what I want to say, but¡­"

    Claire glanced at me, and then trailed off.

    The Scarlet House, the royal family of the demonic domain of Haemorage, had chosen the ruler and leader of their house by virtue of strength and magical power. All rulers, without exception, were peerless warriors.

    Naturally, the servants selected in the royal family''s employ were all excellent soldiers. Claire herself, who served as a butler, was an excellent vampire knight, and one of the strongest people who received the according high rank in Haemorage.

    "There is no need for unnecessary concern just because we''re in front of Tomoyuki-kun."

    At Lilith''s curt words, Claire let out a sigh.

    "Well then, I''ll get straight to the point. Please be a little more careful, your highness. You are the queen of Haemorage, after all."

    "Then, I guess it''s only natural for someone like me to be targeted by assassins from an enemy kingdom, given how huge the bounties placed on the royalty are."

    "¡­"

    Lilith smiled darkly and shook her head. I could detect a little sarcasm in her tone, especially in response to Claire''s superficial concern.

    In other words, if she''s not the queen of Haemorage, Claire wouldn''t worry about her safety?

    Here, I could detect a slight animosity between the two.

    Pushing my glasses up, I watched the exchange curiously. While they were indeed unreserved with each other, I didn''t knw if that was a good or bad thing.

    "There''s not much time before the military base curfew kicks into effect, so it will help if you keep things short. The reason why you have come here is obvious, anyway."

    "It is because your highness is insincere like that that I had to come here."

    The woman butler responded in a strong tone to Lilith''s words.

    By the way, since Claire McAlterize was a woman, why wasn''t she a maid but a butler? I felt that the maid uniform and status suited her more. Or maybe I watched too much anime with combat maids. Regardless, she could play the role of the strict head maid really well. But it was that strict personality of the butler Claire that clashed somewhat with the elusive Lilith. No wonder they didn''t seem to have a good relationship.

    There''s also the matter of Claire-san''s business here¡­the business which Lilith-san told me about earlier. I guess it can''t be helped.

    While listening to their banter, I recalled the circumstances from that night up to the present.

    Right, Lilith was supposed to find a fianc¨¦ herself if she didn''t want to pick any of the candidates the vampire elders of Haecient proposed. That was what led to her request, where she asked me to become her lover in order to deceive the representative of the Haecient Council.

    Speaking of which, if Claire McAlterize was the representative of Haecient Council, despite her seemingly youthful appearance, she was probably very, very old. Several centuries, at least, but I wouldn''t be surprised if she over a millennium old.

    Her brow twitching, as if she had just picked up my admittedly impolite thoughts, Claire scowled as she glanced at me.

    "By the way¡­who is that man?"

    Lilith smiled mischievously.

    "He''s my lover. It''s great, isn''t it?"

    I swear, Lilith was actually gloating when she replied.

    "Your lover¡­? That boy is¡­?"

    Claire couldn''t help but scrunched her face dubiously as she stared at me, her brows furrowing even deeper.

    "Yes. He may not be that familiar with you, but he''s the current lord of the domain of Umbra. He is also the Hero Slayer, who slew five of Evelyn''s Chosen by himself, and is appointed a Major in Emperor Regis''s Helfort''s military. He is attached to Haemorage at the moment because his battalion is being dispatched here for a combined arms operation in Moria two weeks from now. He is also one of the heroes who saved Haemorage from Evelyn''s Chosen and the human armies a few weeks ago ¨C so make sure you know who he is."

    There was a tone of reprimand in Lilith''s voice, and Claire looked away slightly, as if feeling ashamed of herself. After all, there was no excuse for not knowing one of the people who played a major role in driving away the human armies and successfully defending Haemorage from Evelyn''s Chosen just a couple of weeks ago.

    Claire then bowed to me apologetically before she heaved a deep sigh and muttered under her breath.

    "I see. That''s really troublesome. The truth is¡­"

    "Well, well¡­I was looked down upon, too."

    "¡­?!"

    Everyone jolted upright and gasped in surprise when a man suddenly interjected.

    I glanced at the source of the voice and caught sight of a handsome man with longish hair standing behind Claire McAlterize. Pale skin, sharp features, deep eyes, his regal figure was dressed in a red, gorgeous overcoat with golden embroidery. He was incredibly tall, almost two meters in height, and his muscular limbs were barely concealed by the overcoat.

    Although, thanks to his golden hair and upright face, he seemed to be a handsome man of gentle bearing at first glance, I could look past those sharp features and sense the hypocrisy in his smile and the calculating sharpness in his eyes. After all, I often wore that same hypocritical smile, and it took a hypocrite to know another.

    His atmosphere was somewhat overbearing, and I could detect a cold, condescending emotion flowing from him as he rested those dark eyes on me. At the same time, I could tell that he was a seasoned veteran in combat, especially from the way he moved.

    A vampire knight with centuries of experience and supreme confidence¡­or rather, clad in an armor of arrogance. That was the impression I received after studying him, and that was even before I used Absolute Appraisal.

    "Lord Kreuger?! Why are you here?! I am sure that the dinner was scheduled for tomorrow, but¡­"

    "Yes, it isn''t as if I''ve forgotten, Claire-dono."

    The man raised a hand and smiled at the stunned Claire.

    "I may not look like it, but I''m a person who is very nitpicky about fixed dates, you see. Hmm, I''ll admit that if I have any shortcomings, it will be my lack of patience. I just wanted to see the girl who will become my wife in future even just one day earlier."

    As a grin twisted the edge of his lips, he turned to gaze at Lilith. There was something disturbing about his stare as he raked his eyes from the top of her head to her toes, almost as if he was ravishing her in a beastial manner. I gulped and shuddered involuntarily, but the man nodded, as if satisfied by what he was seeing.

    He looks like a beast that''s about to devour his prey.

    That was it. That was the feeling I was getting, and my senses were all up in alert. Clenching my trembling fists, I steeled my gaze.

    "Oh. She''s as beautiful as the rumors make her out to be. Even though I don''t look like it, I''ve actually attended quite a few social parties in the capital, but¡­I''ve never seen such a beautiful girl. Not only is your figure well developed and gorgeous ¨C you have quite the assets ¨C but you also possess the grace and refined air befitting of a queen."

    Ignoring me, the man bowed.

    "It''s an honor to meet you, your highness."

    "I am honored by your praise of her."

    I rolled my eyes at Claire''s words. Lilith was the one being praised here, not you. Why were you the one who was feeling honored?!

    On the other hand, the person herself did not seem appreciative of the compliments being paid to her.

    "Claire. Who is this person?"

    Lilith had a cold expression on her face as she directed that question at her servant.

    "I see. It seems like you still have not been informed of this yet. Well then, I''ll give my name. My name is Bradley Kreuger."

    "Cool. Do you happen to live in Elm Street and haunt the nightmares of teenagers?"

    Everyone stared at me. Lilith coughed as she nudged me.

    "The Kreuger family is one of the four great nobles in Haemorage, second only to the royal family of Scarlet."

    "Oh. It''s an honor to meet you."

    "So¡­he''s really from the Kreuger House?"

    Lilith glanced at Claire, who nodded and launched into an unnecessary explanation.

    "One of the great four noble families in Haemorage, with a historical lineage that extends to today for centuries. Particularly, it is a noble household that has produced many vampire knights from generation to generation. This gentleman is its heir."

    In other words, an outstanding house with pedigree, influence and wealth that rivaled even the royal family itself. In a kingdom like Haemorage, where strength was valued over all else, the Kreuger house particularly stood out with its military achivements and history.

    Unfortunately, as someone not from Restia, I had very little knowledge of how politics or nobility worked in this world¡­or even in Morten itself. Not that I needed to know. I suddenly understood why Lilith hated the aristocracy.

    "An heir of the four great nobles¡­? Claire, don''t tell me you¡­"

    Lilith, who was listening to all this, slightly knitted her brows.

    "Yes. While it was very selfish of me to do so, I went ahead with the talk to introduce your highness to Lord Kreuger through the dinner that I had scheduled for tomorrow, and planned for you to conclude your engagement there. But¡­"

    "Why didn''t you inform me, the person concerned, of that?"

    Lilith sounded amazed and exasperated at the same time.

    "It is because if I don''t do at least this much, your highness will offer an excuse and run away again."

    Claire''s reply was calm and without hesitation. Evidently, it looked like the two girls knew each other''s personalities very well despite the animosity between them. Apparently, after getting tired of Lilith avoiding the engagement by coming up with one excuse after the other, Claire went for the jugular and proceeded by scheduling to bring the fianc¨¦ that she personally chose.

    "I see. But it''s really a shame. As you see, now I have a man I''m going out with. Isn''t that the case, Tomoyuki-kun?"

    "¡­yeah."

    I pushed my glasses up my nose as I analyzed the situation and nodded calmly when Lilith directed that question at me.

    "¡­Tomoyuki, was it?"

    I flinched when Bradley Kreuger addressed me by my given name. Oi, we weren''t that close. But obviously the guy didn''t know my family name, and I wasn''t about to give it to him either. Well, whatever. I was tired of people calling me Tanaka anyway. My father was also named Tanaka, as was my brother. So which Tanaka were you referring to?

    "Ah, I see. I''ve heard some things about you, but I''ve never actually seen you in person. This is the first time we exchange words directly like this, eh?"

    Bradley approached me, staring intently at my face. After scrutinizing me for a few moments, making me feel as if I was placed under a microscope, he finally opened his mouth again.

    "Hmm¡­I can hardly believe it. Someone who looks as weak as yourself actually claimed to have slain five of Evelyn''s Chosen, and participated in the defense for Haemorage? An upstart who was insolent enough to convince Emperor Regis to award him a territory even though his origins remain unknown and mysterious?"

    "¡­"

    Bradley''s smile and tone were filled to the brim with overflowing contempt. Again, I was reminded of Kobayashi Kenji.

    However, I smiled back calmly, despite the clear hostility that Bradley Kreuger was emanating. I had gotten used to it, especially after suffering Koabyashi''s abuse. The best thing to do is not to rise to the bait and pointedly ignore him.

    "Claire-dono. Is there really a need to postpone the engagement because of a man of this level?"

    Bradley was clearly trying to provoke me. How laughable. He should learn from Kobayashi before he could even think he could incite me.

    "Certainly, he has military exploits to his name and has distinguished himself in combat in front of his majesty, Emperor Regis. But can a man of such dubious background, and only such a short period of time as a demon noble really be worthy of the lineage of the royal Scarlet family? Don''t you think his short rise to power is suspicious? Is he really worth the risk?"

    "Certainly, that is¡­"

    Just when Claire buckled under pressure and was about to consent¡­

    "And who do you think you are?"

    Despite the obvious provocation, Lilith''s voice remained dignified and controlled.

    "Where were you when Haemorage was under attack and under siege by the human armies? If I recall correctly, you weren''t part of the expedition I sent to the borders, yet, when Haemorage was invaded by humans, the supposed revered noble house of Kreuger, which was famed for their military strength and generations of formidable knights, did not come to our aid in Haefield. Instead, we had to rely on this supposed ''outsider'' to defend our borders and repel the humans. So¡­if we''re talking about suspicious, don''t you think your house is more suspicious than the man I have chosen to become my partner? The man who actually saved Haemorage, not with words, but with his very actions? Unlike a certain noble house¡­"

    "That''s¡­"

    Bradley Kreuger found no counter to that, but while he fumbled, I suddenly had a rough picture of the political conflict and power struggles that afflicted Haemorage. The Kreuger house was obviously waiting in the wings for the Scarlet family to fall so that they could rise and take its place as the new royal family if they failed to protect Haemorage.

    At least that was my guess. I had no proof for my speculations, and I was just assuming the worst ¨C pretty easy when the guy in front of you was a condescending bastard.

    Bradley Kreuger himself had fallen silent as he absorbed Lilith''s sharp words, but then¡­

    "¡­kukuku. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    He suddenly burst into laughter.

    "What''s so funny?"

    "I see. So that''s how it is. You were having trouble fending off the human armies, and then this boy comes riding in here like a knight in shining armor and saves you. So you fall for him at first sight. Ridiculous. Such a childish fantasy. Unfortunately, the real world isn''t so kind as to accommodate your childish delusions and princess dreams."

    Lilith merely sighed and shook her head. Both of us knew it wasn''t like that.

    "You''re trying to run away by talking nonsense¡­but I fought alongside him, and he has earned my respect and trust by risking his life to save us¡­even though he''s an outsider. Can you say the same for yourself?"

    "If I were there, I would have done the same."

    "Talk is cheap. In the end, you didn''t. You weren''t the one who came to my aid when Haemorage most needed it. Tomoyuki-kun was the one who did. Actions speak louder than words. Wouldn''t you say so, Claire?"

    "That is true, but¡­"

    "Hmph."

    Bradley Kreuger raked a look over my deceptively frail-looking body, and scowled condescendingly.

    "As you know, the war will move on to the next level. The new Emperor of Humanity has plans to conquer Moria, and the nine strongest domains ¨C which includes our kingdom of Haemorage. His invasion is only weeks away."

    "I was the one who got you guys that information, by the way."

    Other than a tic in his jaw and a bulging vein in his temple, Bradley showed no sign that he was paying any attention to me.

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    "The fighting will only escalate from here. Powerful people who can destroy Evelyn''s Chosen and win against the human armies of our enemy kingdoms will be sought for above everyone else. And we, the royalty and nobility, must excel in martial skills and becoming formidable knights. The power as a vampire knight and strength as a leader are imperative above all else."

    After all that bragging, Bradley once again turned toward me.

    "Unfortunately, I''m on an entirely different level from this man. It''s a waste of time, Claire-dono. I would like you to arrange the engagement as soon as possible. Even tomorrow will work."

    "Yes. Then tomorrow night, as scheduled¡­"

    When Claire was about to settle with that¡­

    "Could you please wait for a moment?"

    Lilith was using her authority as a queen to silence both Bradley Kreuger and her butler, her ruby gaze chilling as a void.

    "Ho¡­what''s the matter? Do you want to talk to me, my future wife?"

    "From here on, power as a vampire knight and strength as a leader are imperative above all else. You said so yourself, right?"

    "Yes, the Scarlet family and the elders on the Haecient Council think so. Therefore, Lord Kreuger who is from the four great nobles and one of the foremost knights of the Haemorage kingdom is suitable as a fianc¨¦¡­"

    "Is that really the case?"

    Lilith smiled as she interrupted Claire.

    "What do you mean?"

    "If it''s about skill as a vampire knight and strength as a leader, my lover doesn''t lose too. Because he''s a major in his majesty Emperor''s Regis army, after all."

    "Fu ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Bradley, who heard that, burst into laughter once again.

    "So what? He''s just a major. He''s not even a general. Such a low rank doesn''t even compare to a noble like me. Fine, he might be the current ruler of Umbra, but that domain is completely deserted and devoid of any citizens after Evelyn''s Chosen razed it to the ground. He''s just a demon noble and lord in name only!"

    "Speaking of which, you said it yourself ¨C that powerful people who can destroy Evelyn''s Chosen and win against the human armies will be sought for above everyone else."

    "Indeed."

    "Then who better suited than my lover, who has earned the title Hero Slayer for slaying five of Evelyn''s Chosen by himself? Compared to you, who hasn''t even faced a single Evelyn''s Chosen? Or how about Tomoyuki-kun, who has achieved at least two military victories, against you, who has avoided combat or even defending your own kingdom just a few weeks ago?"

    "What¡­?"

    Bradley suddenly realized that he had cornered himself. Indeed, if we were talking about the destruction of Evelyn''s Chosen, I was the only one with five kills to my name. No one else, except Lilith, had killed any of the other Evelyn''s Chosen. Since Bradley Kreuger had himself advocated for that, he couldn''t very well back out of it now.

    "I¡­if given a chance, I can kill ten of Evelyn''s Chosen by myself?"

    "Then why haven''t you done so already?"

    "¡­I¡­"

    Lilith shook her head in disgust and sighed exaggeratedly.

    "And could you please stop calling me ''my future wife''? You and I are still strangers."

    "¡­"

    The expression of Bradley suddenly turned dangerous when he heard the sharp reprimand from his queen.

    "Lord Kreuger. Please excuse her highness''s rudeness¡­"

    When Claire was hurriedly interceding, I cut in.

    "Whose side are you on?"

    "¡­eh?"

    "You''ve been suspiciously deferential to Lord Kreuger all this while, but said absolutely nothing when he was being rude to her highness the queen. I know Lord Kreuger is a very high-ranking noble, but don''t you think his tone and address of her highness, who is supposed to be his queen, is out of line?"

    Not to mention, she said and did nothing while Bradley was verbally abusing and insulting me, even though I was supposed to be a hero who saved her kingdom from Evelyn''s Chosen and the human armies while the Kreuger house were apparently sitting back in the capital and twiddling their thumbs, doing nothing.

    Disgusting.

    Before Claire could muster a response, Bradley chuckled and maintained his composure, his lips twisting into a smile.

    "I see. Isn''t your highness quite a capable person? I like you more and more, my queen."

    Despite that smile and calm expression, I could tell that quiet anger was burning in his heart. He almost seemed like he was sneering.

    "Well then, let''s see. How about a match between me and the so-called Hero Slayer? A duel between two vampire knights, if you will."

    "¡­"

    At Bradley''s words, the atmosphere in the bar suddenly became tense.

    "L¡­Lord Kreuger, that''s¡­"

    When Claire stuttered in surprise, Bradley smirked cunningly.

    "Certainly, it seems like you didn''t inform her of the engagement. It''s also your fault for not obtaining her consent beforehand. However, there is no way she would consent if you forcibly establish an engagement here, right? So we should resolve this amicably ¨C if I display my ability and prove my worth, the marriage should proceed smoothly."

    Bradley glanced at Lilith questioningly as he spoke. His intentions were clear. He desired to make this stubborn, yet smart, girl yield to him. It was a mater of pride.

    "How about it, Hero Slayer? You wouldn''t possibly consider running away from this challenge, would you? This is a chance to show that you''re the real deal."

    "¡­"

    It was taking everything I had to stop myself from laughing.

    No, seriously. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to roll on the floor, laughing and banging my fists on the ground.

    This was ridiculous. This was utterly ridiculous. I actually felt sorry for the arrogant bastard. The guy actually thought he was better than me. Even though he heard that I had slew five of Evelyn''s Chosen. Okay, he probably didn''t know that I defeated the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights on my own, but still¡­

    This was so going to be one-sided.

    However, this was clearly troublesome. I had to worry about training my troops and getting them ready for the mission in Moria. The human armies were invading next week or so, so I couldn''t waste too much time on such frivolous matters. The defense of Morten and the demonic alliance took precedence over all other matters.

    Well, I should be able to spare some time for this¡­and I owe Lilith-san, after all, especially after she helped me out with the Iron Knights¡­

    "All right. I''ll do it."

    I was trying hard not to smile too widely, and laughter threatened to erupt from my throat. On the other hand, I couldn''t be too overconfident and underestimate my enemy. I had no clue what Bradley Kreuger''s abilities were, other than he was a vampire and most likely would be using blood magic or something similar to that.

    Besides, if I didn''t accept the duel here, the engagement between Lilith and Bradley would be almost as good as decided.

    "No, I cannot afford to cause Lord Kreuger trouble¡­"

    "Yet you''re causing her highness, your queen, trouble! Never mind me!"

    I was utterly shocked at Claire''s audacity. Even though she was reluctant to consent and was protesting, I couldn''t help but think that she was being overly deferential to Bradley Kreuger, to the extent that she was actually overlooking the fact that her mistress was the QUEEN of Haemorage herself. Treat her as one, you bitch!

    "On this occasion, why don''t you also participate in the duel?" Lilith suggested calmly.

    "¡­what do you mean?"

    "It will not look good if I, the person involved, and you, the person in charge of this whole matter, just stood in the sidelines as spectators. We might as well make it a two versus two duel. What do you think?"

    "W¡­what are you saying now?! Please stop joking! Do you think that Lord Kreuger will indulge this madness¡­?"

    "It doesn''t not sit well with me to just sit by idly like a commodity and wait for the results."

    There was no hesitation in Lilith''s tone.

    "Kukuku. I don''t mind."

    Bradley readily gave his consent as he smiled fearlessly.

    "Isn''t this great, Claire-dono? Let us duel without anything holding us back. Sometimes a fight is good for resolving grudges and settling the matter amicably. Besides, it has been so long since I have last fought. I need to put my techniques into practice."

    He extended his hand to the hilt of his sheathed sword and swung it lightly. His weapon had been sheathed in a well-decorated scabbard that sported flashy ornaments and expensive jewels. I couldn''t help but snicker.

    "Then you should have participated in the defense of Haemorage a few weeks ago. I''m sure that was one of the best opportunities for you to put your techniques into practice and fight for real."

    "You¡­!"

    Bradley flared up, but managed to regain control of his composure in time. His lips curling into a snarl, he forced out calmly.

    "It''s regrettable for tomorrow''s dinner, but we''ll cancel it. Then, let''s tentatively arrange the duel in three nights'' time. I''ll book the place for the duel. Since I''m on business in Haefield for a while, I''ll be here until then. Don''t run away."

    With those words, Bradley turned away and left the bar, his luxurious overcoat fluttering along with his movements.

    Upon his departure, the atmosphere in the bar returned to normal and I sighed in relief.

    "Phew¡­"

    "You two, do you know what you have done?"

    Claire scowled as she admonished us.

    "Not only did you reject the engagement, but on top of that, you challenged a member of the four noble houses to a duel. Your joke has gone too far. Lord Kreuger is among the top three knights in the Haemorage kingdom, and is skilled enough to supposedly challenge one of Evelyn''s Chosen, did you know that?"

    "Then why hasn''t he challenged one of Evelyn''s Chosen already? And don''t you think you''re being too disrespectful to Tomoyuki-kun, who has actually slew five of Evelyn''s Chosen himself? Not to mention, even I have defeated one of Evelyn''s Chosen myself. What has that man achieved, other than holing up in the capital when our kingdom was being attacked? And is this the sort of gratitude you show to an outsider who risked his life to protect our kingdom from the humans?"

    "That''s¡­"

    Claire turned to me apologetically.

    "I¡­I didn''t see his feats for myself¡­I''m sorry. I''m still finding it hard to believe."

    "Well, you''ll get to experience his skills firsthand when we duel. Not to mention, you have forgotten that even if that man from the Kreuger house is among the top three knights, I still hold the position of number one."

    Claire met Lilith''s gaze, and saw that she had long since resolved herself for this. Biting her lip, Claire lowered her head anxiously for a few seconds before looking up.

    "I understand. And I apologize for the disrespect. However, that person''s ability as a vampire knight has increased over recent times. During the invasion, he had secluded himself for training. I''m afraid he''s no longer the same vampire knight you fought against during last year''s tournament. He has improved by leaps and bounds."

    "So have I."

    Claire shook her head in resignation.

    "It appears that I''ve spoiled you too much."

    "Spoiled me? You¡­as well as the elders never treated me as a queen. At best, you just tolerated me as some sort of figurehead. Yet none of you made a move when Haemorage was invaded. You just sat in that council in the capital and did absolutely nothing. What''s the point of holding political power when you rely on others to defend yourselves?"

    "We just had utmost confidence in you to defend our borders, your highness."

    Lilith''s expression tightened. "I explicitly asked you and the elders for help¡­as well as the noble house of Kreuger. Did any of you respond to my summons when Haemorage needed you the most? And now you come here and selfishly dump this marriage thing on me. Right before we''re about to head off to a war!"

    "It''s precisely because of the war that I want to get this whole thing settled before you leave for battle¡­"

    "So allow me to pick my own candidate." Lilith gestured deferentially toward me. "I''m sure no one will have complaints if I marry someone who is an actual hero for saving our kingdom and fighting beside me." she smiled. "In fact, if you ask the military, most of them will vouch for Tomoyuki-kun''s valor and skills."

    "¡­"

    At Lilith''s words, Claire tightened her expression. But she didn''t protest or object to her claims. Instead, she quietly rose from her seat.

    "I will leave the discussion here for tonight. But I will show no mercy in this duel with you two."

    With those remarks, the woman in a butler suit left the bar.

    "The feeling''s mutual," I called out to her needlessly. She probably couldn''t hear me anymore, but I just had to get the last word in. Besides, Lilith was right ¨C actions spoke louder than words. I just had to crush that despicable duo in a duel so convincingly that they would regret ever having crossed my path. That was worth more than any verbal insult¡­humiliating them in front of everybody. I considered getting my pals in the military to come watch the show to laugh at how one of the so-called four great noble house got his ass kicked in front of everybody.

    That said, I can''t underestimate him. I need to find information on his skills. He might prove to be more formidable than I think¡­

    It was always a fatal mistake to look down on one''s opponent. If I underestimated him, he would catch me off guard and destroy me in combat.

    While I pondered on those, Lilith stood up as well.

    "It''s almost the time of the curfew. We should return to the base."

    I nodded at Lilith''s words and rose to my feet as well. Since Claire had already footed the bill, the two of us proceeded to depart the bar and return to the military camp.

 92 Chapter 92: The Elders of the Haecient Council

    "Just a while ago, I did something bad to you, Tomoyuki-kun."

    While I was accompanying Lilith back to the military base, Lilith suddenly spoke up. I was surprised by her unusually depressed tone, and hastily shook my head.

    "Don''t worry about it. More importantly, are you really all right with this?"

    I had finally seen for the first time the political pressure exerted on her to marry a noble of high standing. Even though Lilith had informed me of her circumstances beforehand, it sounded so surreal, like something I had always read in a manga or light novel. To think I would actually see a political engagement play out before my own eyes.

    I also admired Lilith''s resolute resistance to Claire''s heavy-handed imposition, but I had rarely seen the usually calm vampire queen this emotional.

    "Furthermore, that butler¡­Claire McAlterize, right? Even though she''s supposed to be a butler for your Scarlet family, she has quite the insolent attitude. As if she has no respect for royalty such as yourself. And she was strangely deferential toward Lord Bradley Kreuger."

    I wasn''t outraged only because Claire slighted me and picked Bradley''s side, but also at the way she completely disregarded Lilith. That was no way to treat a queen¡­no, even if Lilith was not a queen, that behavior was still no decent way to treat a person. Never mind queen, I doubted a usual ojou-sama in a strict noble family would be talked down to and treated so disrespectfully either. Moreover, I had a feeling that the butler and Lilith had some other reason why they did not have an ordinary master-servant relationship.

    This went beyond a "bad" relationship. The lack of reservation on both parties'' part wasn''t just something born from an intimate relationship either, but¡­from more insidious reasons, or so I suspected, but I couldn''t put my finger on a concrete cause.

    "Don''t worry about it. Claire has always been like that since long ago. That aside, you really saved me by accepting the duel with Lord Kreuger."

    Lilith smiled and glanced at me as I walked beside her. I swallowed when I found myself spellbound by those ruby, beautiful pupils of hers, and my heart skipped a beat. I coughed to cover up my embarrassment.

    "Well, that''s only to be expected. After being looked down upon like that, it''ll be strange if I didn''t accept his challenge."

    I had my own pride, after all.

    "But is it all right? A duel with those two¡­would the elders accept that?"

    "Yes. After all, the most important thing in Haemorage is still strength, after all. As long as you defeat Lord Kreuger in proper combat, no one will have any complaints if I choose you over him. I will be relying on you then."

    "S¡­sure."

    "Even then, Claire-san seems to hold that Lord Kreuger in very high regard."

    "Oh¡­that''s right. You''re not very familiar with the way things work in Haemorage."

    Lilith nodded as she mused to herself. Turning to me, she launched into an explanation.

    "The council, which is currently headed by my uncle of the Scarlet family, mostly comprises of the leaders from the four great noble houses, and under them are elders from the smaller but still major nobles of the Haemorage kingdom."

    "Oh, so that''s why she was so deferential to him¡­"

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    I understood why now. Claire was a representative of the elders of Haemorage, and Bradley Kreuger was the heir to one of those elders. The council of elders, who held political power that surpassed even that of Queen Lilith Scarlet, was an existence that even the royal Scarlet family had to tread lightly with. It came as no surprise that a servant of the Scarlet family had no choice but to be deferential to them.

    "Of the four noble houses, the Kreuger clan holds the most military power. This means they have the most influence in the council, second only to the Scarlet family. And my uncle obviously is not on very good terms with me, given how I was chosen in favor of him for the throne."

    I smiled wryly at that. I could just picture the rage of an older man when what he thought was his position was snatched out of his grasp by a girl several times his junior.

    "I see. So that''s why she proposed the engagement with the Kreuger house. It''s to solidify the Scarlet family''s position and the alliance between the two clans, as well as to grow stronger politically and militarily."

    "That must be Claire''s intentions," Lilith agreed with a disapproving frown. "However, she''s too na?ve. She''s playing into the hands of the Kreuger house and my uncle. I''m just a figurehead, and if I''m relegated to becoming the wife of the heir to one of the four great nobles, my uncle can easily call for me to relinquish the throne to him. Furthermore, she''s allowing the Kreuger house to consolidate their power and lodge themselves firmly within the royal family with this marriage. They will only grow stronger and overshadow all the other noble houses¡­to the point where they might even dislodge the Scarlet family from the throne itself."

    "Uh¡­I see."

    No, I didn''t. This whole politics thing was way out of my league. But I could see how marrying into the royal family would allow the Kreuger house to get a huge say in who got to succeed the throne, and increase their political influence overall. It reminded me of the Fujiwara house in the Heian period of ancient Japan.

    Fujiwara no Michinaga, in particular¡­by placing himself as regent, he was able to place his grandsons on the throne while ruling Japan from behind the scenes. For centuries, the Fujiwara family dominated the Heian court and wielded indisputable power by marrying into the royal family. Placing adolescent or child emperors on the throne, the grandfathers would name themselves regents and make the political decisions, alienating the adult would-be emperors and stripping them of their office and power.

    Undoubtedly the Kreuger house was planning to do this to cement their hole over the royal court and dominate the political scene.

    And all this when war is staring right at us in the face¡­

    Some people were so selfish and ambitious that they didn''t care about anything other than their own desires.

    Well, I''m guilty of the same thing as well¡­

    To condemn others for what I myself did would make me a hypocrite. But I was fine with being a hypocrite.

    "Yeah, I will help you," I promised Lilith. "I''m not smart enough to follow all these politics and stuff, but as a historian, I know the disastrous consequences of what will happen if we allow these nobles to get their way."

    The Heian era ended violently when the Taira clan had enough of the Fujiwara politics and took matters in their own hands by pulling a coup d''etat. The imperial court, weakened after centuries of corruption caused by the Fujiwara clan indulging in their political intrigue and thirst for power, fell to the military might of the Taira clan, and Taira no Kiyomori himself became the regent by placing his grandson, the Antoku emperor, on the throne. Despite the fall of the Fujiwara clan, they were replaced by yet another tyrant.

    I wasn''t sure of the new Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, who crushed the Taira and replaced them as the new ruler of Japan, was much better.

    From what I see, I think Lilith-san makes for a great ruler. I''m sure most people would prefer if she stays on the throne.

    Since I wasn''t very knowledgeable about the political and social affairs of Haemorage, I could only come to that conclusion based on my own experiences. Perhaps I should find out a lot more. I decided to ask Lieutenant Benjamin Burado and Sergeant Marko about the current state of Haemorage and the political happenings tomorrow.

    That said¡­

    "I believe in you. You''re the hero who defeated five of Evelyn''s Chosen. I don''t see any problems regarding the duel. In fact, I think you''ll take both Lord Kreuger and Claire completely by surprise."

    Lilith placed a finger on her chin as she spoke, and smiled.

    "Furthermore, I also have my pride. You will not be doing the fighting alone. I am supposed to be the strongest vampire knight in Haemorage, after all. I have my own reputation to protect. I will not allow those two to insult me and my partner."

    "Yeah."

    Even though she said that, I was concerned about our opponents'' strength. As I said, I couldn''t afford to underestimate them.

    In terms of strength, I doubted the opponents this time were in any way comparable to the 3rd Blood Knights company that I annihilated in combat a few days ago.

    On one hand, one of the strongest former vampire knights in Haemorage who was selected from countless candidates to serve the military-focused Scarlet royal family as a competent bodyguard and commander.

    On the other hand, the third-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, who was from the esteemed noble house of Kreuger, known for producing generations of skilled warriors.

    Even if I were to pair up with Lilith, who was the strongest and first-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, it would still be fairly tough to fight against those two opponents unless I went all out like I did against my former classmates.

    That said¡­

    There''s no reason for me to hold back, right? With those condescending attitudes, those two were just asking for me to kick their asses.

    The only danger was me underestimating their strengths. Furthermore, there was something that Claire mentioned that bothered me.

    "That person''s ability as a vampire knight has increased over recent times. During the invasion, he had secluded himself for training. I''m afraid he''s no longer the same vampire knight you fought against during last year''s tournament. He has improved by leaps and bounds."

    Would it still be accurate to estimate his strength based on what I saw off Lilith''s ability? Was it possible that he had surpassed Lilith during his secluded training? If he did, then we couldn''t afford to underestimate him.

    "We should still be careful. We don''t know what tricks they might pull," I warned. Lilith stared at me, and then nodded.

    "You''re right. We shouldn''t get carried away and underestimate them. Even if we''ve fought against Evelyn''s Chosen, those two are still quite formidable opponents that might possibly be on par with them."

    I wouldn''t be surprised if that was the case. Never mind the Demon Lord¡­the powerful demon nobles required the heroes to group together in parties just to defeat them. It was quite possible that both Bradley and Claire were individually more powerful than Evelyn''s Chosen. And now that both of them had banded together¡­

    No wonder Bradley was so confident that he could slay ten Evelyn''s Chosen by himself¡­

    Well, I had reached the point where I could defeat eight of them at once, so I was no slouch, if I might say so myself¡­

    "You aren''t angry, huh¡­"

    As I was lost in my thoughts, Lilith suddenly made that statement.

    "Huh?"

    "Normally, you would get angry when you are dragged into such a duel. Even though you''re not my real lover¡­"

    "No¡­it''s something I decided on my own, after all."

    As I mentioned earlier, I was pretty mad at being looked down upon. But I wasn''t going to respond with insults ¨C actions spoke louder than words. If I wanted to prove them wrong, I was going to show them the errors of their way and the foolishness of their arrogance in combat, not in verbal banter. I was going to crush them, not with words, but with the tanks of the Imperial Guard¡­I mean, with my magic and techniques.

    "Thank you. I will express my gratitude to you in advance."

    I regret nothing. Now I could die happily. Having a beautiful girl thank him was the stuff of every guy''s dreams.

    "Don''t thank me yet. Wait until we actually beat those two first. And besides, they pissed me off. I''m gonna kick their asses."

    Lilith smiled at that.

    "Yes, please do. I would appreciate it very much if you do that."

    *

    That night, while we were strolling back to the military base, a meeting was being held in Haecient.

    At the edge of a round table, which was illuminated by a magical chandelier, seven men and women dressed in formal clothes or military uniform took their seats.

    The ancient-looking man who sat at the head of the table was Sebastian Scarlet, the uncle of the current queen of Haemorage, and the head of the council of elders.

    Beside him was a wizened old man who served as prime minister, and another millennia-old vampire who was the vice-commander of the Haemorage army and second in military rank only to the queen herself.

    The remaining four people were the most influential Dukes and Duchess, who were also known as the four great nobles.

    The family heads of prestigious families which governed the territories of Haemorage for a long time, these vampire elders had lived for untold millennia and were truly ancient. Unbelievable power shimmered in their aged eyes, barely contained by their deceptively youthful bodies. Despite appearing in their primes, the youngest of them was over a thousand years old.

    The atmosphere in the room was so tense, so saturated with killing intent that any of them could cut the air with a knife.

    "I wonder¡­how many years has it been since we were all summoned here like this?"

    A handsome man with long, white hair spoke up, amused. His cheerful question broke the tense silence, allowing the occupants in the room to relax just a fraction.

    "Five years?" the dark-haired man with inky, black eyes replied with a grin. "Not long enough for me to forget your faces. But I''ve been so busy with business that I''ve forgotten to keep up."

    "Putting that aside, I suspect you''ve summoned us all here for a reason, Scarlet-sama?"

    Ignoring the dark-haired man, a gentleman with refined features and a dignified air turned his blood-red eyes to the red-haired leader of the council.

    Sebastian nodded and then glanced at the vice-commander of the army beside him. The general cleared his throat and glanced at his notes.

    "Yes. Just yesterday, Queen Scarlet and I received a report from his majesty Emperor Regis himself. The intelligence department in Helsfort received news that the human kingdoms are aiming at one of our most sacred tombs."

    "The tomb of my ancestor, Alucard," Sebastian put in, his crimson eyes glinting in fury. "They wish to trespass, violate and steal from it, the insolent bastards."

    "Ah¡­"

    The final noble, a lady in night-colored robes and a veil around her beautiful face, nodded as she contemplated Sebastian''s words.

    "But I doubt it''s the humans who came up with this outrageous plan on their own. It must be the Evelyn''s Chosen who planned this."

    The general nodded.

    "That''s right. Or so our intelligence believes."

    Hearing that, the dark-haired man sighed.

    "Those Evelyn''s Chosen just won''t leave us alone, will they? I heard rumors about some Emperor of Humanity killing all the royal families of the various human kingdoms and taking control of all humans, uniting them under his rule."

    By now, all the nobles had heard of Kobayashi Kenji''s plans to invade Morten and exterminate the demon race. They also received the news that Haemorage was one of the ten domains that Kobayashi sought to annihilate in his quest to reach the final, secret demon territory in the far north of Morten.

    If he succeeded, never mind Haemorage¡­the whole of Morten would be doomed. The demons would be hunted down to extinction by Kobayashi''s fanatical zealots. And Kobayashi would inadvertently unleash a horror that Restia had never seen, if he continued to indulge in his greed to "clear the secret level."

    "I see. So you need us to help protect the ruins, correct?"

    The gentleman with refined features concluded. The general nodded bitterly.

    "Yes. But it''s not just that. Emperor Regis has requested that we also send an expedition to investigate the ruins. Queen Scarlet has given permission for that, but in response to his other request, which is to recover ancient weapons to use in the war against humans, she said she would defer¡­"

    "¡­to the council of elders," Sebastian finished grudgingly. "My niece at least has the decency to consult us before making such a momentuous decision."

    The dark-haired man laughed.

    "You should be less harsh on your niece, Scarlet-sama. She makes an excellent queen. Wasn''t she the one who saved Haemorage from Evelyn''s Chosen and the human armies a couple of weeks ago? She has served our kingdom very well. I wouldn''t want anyone on the throne."

    Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired man''s tone. His message was clear. He did not approve of Sebastian''s attempts to try to snatch the throne from Lilith.

    "Enough squabbling."

    The gentleman spoke up with a frown. He glanced at the seven seated on the round table.

    "The question is whether we should approve of whether we should recover such weapons. It has always been taboo to disturb these tombs, but to defend them from these wretched humans, it seems we have no choice but to break into them ourselves for the first time in centuries."

    "I don''t see why not," the lady spoke up. She glanced at Sebastian. "But this is the tomb of your ancestor, so of course I''ll respect any reservations you have."

    Sebastian smiled bitterly.

    "The tombs aren''t sealed, and to defend them, the Haemorage military will have to enter the tombs and take up defensive positions to protect it from outsiders and trespassers. Plus there were ancient secrets concealed inside the tombs¡­secrets that not only Emperor Regis, his majesty, wants, but secrets that would benefit our kingdom as a whole. If we were to retrieve these technologies, we will be able to drive the human armies out of our lands, and even Morten itself. We''ll become a major power within the Demonic Alliance."

    "So it''s decided?" the dark-haired man asked. "We investigate the tomb and recover whatever technologies and weapons hidden in it after repelling the invaders?"

    "Sounds like a plan," the gentleman agreed. "I have no objections to it."

    "So who will do it?" the veiled lady asked, glancing at the general. "I presume the military will be sending out a regiment to secure the tomb, and then to investigate it?"

    "Yes. Queen Scarlet herself is leading a military expedition to the tomb, to protect it from Evelyn''s Chosen. She says that it''s her responsibility, especially since the revered Alucard-sama is her ancestor. There will be several regiments accompanying her, including a small battalion from Helsfort. The battalion does include a company of vampires from Haemorage, though¡­"

    "Ah. The Hero Slayer. If he''s going, then we shouldn''t have to worry about Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "Please wait."

    Everyone turned to stare at the man with long, golden hair, when he suddenly spoke up. He had been so silent the entire time that everyone had forgotten that he was there.

    "It will be embarrassing to always rely on an outsider to protect Haemorage. While I am grateful to the Hero Slayer, we cannot always selfishly depend on him every single time one of Evelyn''s Chosen come to invade us. I would like to send my son."

    "¡­Lord Kreuger?"

    The man who wore a steel ornament on his military uniform and emanated a regal air of intimidation was known as William Kreuger.

    "My son is the third-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, and one of the most promising warriors of his generation. I''m sure he will make a very valuable military asset. Not to mention, he has very strong leadership skills and he has refined and polished his skills during his seclusion of training. I would like to make up for the time we missed the defense of Haemorage a few weeks ago by dispatching our forces to defend our borders this time. And as you know, my son has a wealth of experience in combat over the centuries that makes him more than qualified to be the commanding officer. Of course, with your permission, Scarlet-sama."

    Sebastian Scarlet glanced cautiously at William Kreuger, who was displaying a fearless smile as he bragged about his son.

    Even though he had received news from his butler, Claire McAlterize, that she was planning an engagement between his neice and William''s son, he couldn''t afford to ignore the dark rumors that had been circulating about.

    Even among the four great nobles, the Kreuger clan owned unusually vast territories, and there were whispers that he had been amassing a private army behind the scenes ¨C an army that he held back in reserve even when Haemorage was in danger of being conquered by the humans.

    However, on the other hand, the fact that he did not mobilize that supposedly hidden private army when Haemorage was in danger of falling could be evidence that those rumors were in fact nothing more than unfounded rumors.

    "We cannot afford to expose her highness Queen Lilith to danger. Please, leave this matter to this subordinate."

    "¡­understood."

    Sebastian finally nodded and consented to William''s suggestion, not because he was truly concerned over Lilith''s safety, but because he had no reason to refuse William''s proposal. There were no demerits to him, after all.

    Right at the very moment, William smiled, exposing twinkling white teeth. It was as if he had been waiting for this instance.

    "However, for this important task where I''m likely to lose not only the vampire knights of my territory, but also my son and his treasure weapon, aside from war funds, soldiers and equipment, I think I would also like to have a certain reward."

    "That''s¡­"

    As expected, even Sebastian was taken aback by William''s boldness.

    "Please grant me full authority over the Haemorage Army¡­of course, second only to her highness, Queen Lilith. I would like you to give me position of General when my son accomplishes this mission."

    His eyes brimming with ambition, William brazenly issued his request.

 93 Chapter 93: Mobilization

    Within Haefield, there was a huge mansion that was located in the residence district for the rich and nobles. Built with white marble, vast windows stretched across a single wall, allowing streaks of sunlight to flow inside a massive living room.

    Within the living room, two people were seated on a luxurious, red leather sofa, and sipped tea from cups that they placed on the mahogany table before them. Normally, there would be servants attending them, but the maids and butlers were strangely absent from the room. As there was need for secrecy, their master had dismissed them beforehand.

    Leaning against the soft couch and basking in the gentle sunlight that streamed through the windows, one of the figures let out a chuckle as he placed his cup of tea back on the table. With his blond hair and regal appearance, he was none other than Bradley Kreuger.

    The other party was a girl dressed in white robes, her head and most of her features concealed by a hood. Despite the shade casted over her face, her sharp, piercing eyes were visible. Resting her gaze on Bradley, she smiled.

    "So¡­how is it? The condition of the demonic sword, Azreal Drakkan, which I sold to you?"

    "Yeah, it''s fantastic. Thank you, my dear. I was finally able to completely master its blood magic after spending some time in seclusion and dominating it. I still content myself with third rank among all the Blood Knights of Haemorage for now, but¡­if I feel like it, none of the Blood Knights of this kingdom will ever be a match for me."

    The blond noble''s smiling response was brimming with confidence. The hooded girl beamed, her bright blue eyes sparkling in mirth.

    "I see. As expected of you, Lord Kreuger. It was worth going through the trouble of convincing Nishida-kun to forge that weapon for you. Just make sure to keep this deal a secret."

    The girl, Kishimoto Hikaru, deliberately lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. Evidently, she had used her links with the other heroes to sell weapons in secret to turncoats lurking within the enemy.

    "Then let''s move on to the next topic. I shall be depending on you for that matter we discussed about."

    Bradley smiled at her feminine voice.

    "If I remember correctly, you''re referring to the matter of me marrying her highness, the Vampire Queen from the Scarlet family, correct? It will be difficult to convince the other elders to allow me to marry into royalty, but I have that well under my control. That said, I am curious as to why you want me to marry her. Is there anything special about her?"

    "Do you not know the history of your own kingdom?"

    Kishimoto suppressed the irritation in her voice.

    "Then¡­"

    "Yeah, I want to entrust her to you. That''s why it doesn''t matter what sort of methods you use. Be sure to subjugate her¡­and by using her blood, I want you to wrench the gates to Alucard''s tomb open. If you succeed, I''ll split half of the tomb''s treasures and weapons, and even allow you to rule this kingdom once we conquer all of Morten."

    "Ku ku. I understand." Bradley chuckled and nodded, delight evident in his throaty laughter. "That woman seems to be quite proud, but such a female is worth breaking. I''ll live up to your expectations, my lady."

    He could almost envision his military rule in the future.

    "Well then, I will take my leave. I need to prepare my forces for conquering the tomb. I trust I will see you there?"

    "Indeed I shall."

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    Bradley nodded. Kishimoto smiled, and then rose to her feet. When Bradley stood up, she held up a hand to forestall him.

    "Don''t worry, you don''t need to see me off. Your servants don''t know I''m here, after all. Let''s keep it that way."

    "All right." Bradley bowed and took her hand to plant a kiss on it. "I will see you again, my lady. The tomb will be ours."

    And just like that, Kishimoto Hikaru was gone. Bradley blinked, but he then calmly strolled toward the windows. There was a rustle in the trees, almost as if a breeze was flowing, the only sign of movement in his massive garden.

    Then¡­nothing.

    "Hmph."

    Bradley Kreuger snorted as he watched the rustling slip through the row of trees, and turned away scornfully.

    "Don''t think I''ll be under your thumb forever. Well, it''s fine. If you say I can use any methods, then I''ll be able to consider a huge range of measures."

    As those words left his mouth, Bradley rested his hand on the hilt of his demonic sword, and licked his lips in anticipation.

    "I''m looking forward to it. The next king of this kingdom¡­will be me."

    *

    The next day, after having agreed to a duel with Bradley Kreuger, I arranged a meeting with my officers.

    "All right, guys! We''re meeting up with the rest of the battalion today!"

    "Sir! Yes, sir!"

    The vampires of the heavy infantry company saluted as they rested their heavy weapons on the ground.

    Since Regis informed me of the mission, the date for my battalion''s reunion had been moved forward. Already I could see the tanks and armored personnel carriers in the distance, kicking up clouds of dust as the convoy sped toward the military camp.

    "There they are."

    "Men, forward!" Sergeant Marko barked, and they all spun in a disciplined formation to welcome the armored and mechanized convoy. The gates opened as the sentries allowed the 1,087th Magna Battalion into the camp.

    The tanks ground to a halt in front of me, and Lieutenant Daniel Dressia emerged from the top hatch of the tank, standing behind the turret to offer me a salute. I returned the salute, and then turned to the armored personnel carriers, which also stopped. The infantry borne within all spilled out, with Captain Elia Kratz jogging toward my position to report.

    "1,087th Magna Battalion, reporting for duty!"

    "Well met, Captain." I returned the salute and then nodded to the soldiers. "Everyone, at ease. Let''s not waste time with formalities. Let''s get started!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    As we found a place to park and store the tanks and APCs, as well as began to unload all the weapons and equipment, the vampire heavy infantry helped out. In less than an hour, we were done with unpacking and I had them all gather around in the plaza for a briefing.

    Clearing my throat, I stood in front of everyone and gestured for them to sit. Exhausted after unloading their weapons and equipment from the vehicles, my soldiers gratefully sat down and glanced up at me in anticipation.

    "Can you all hear me?"

    I tried to speak as loudly as possible, my voice echoing throughout the plaza. The soldiers in the back gave a thumb''s up, and I sighed in relief. Nodding, I began my briefing proper, sweeping my eyes across the battalion.

    "As you all know, we''ve been assigned to guard the tomb from Evelyn''s Chosen and their accompanying forces tomorrow. We''ll be moving out at 0630 hours tomorrow, so reveille will be 0500 hours, breakfast at 0515, and we''ll meeting in the plaza at 0615. The drivers can begin to start the engines of their vehicles then.

    "Which tomb are we guarding, sir?" one of the soldiers asked. Private Percy Jackson, if I recalled correctly.

    "Um¡­apparently it''s Alucard''s tomb." I glanced down at my notes uncertainly. "It appears her highness, Queen Scarlet, will be accompanying us tomorrow."

    "Her highness is?"

    "Oh wow¡­"

    "This has gotten serious, hasn''t it¡­?"

    There were murmurs and chatter among the soldiers, but Sergeant Marko silenced them with his bloodshot glare.

    "We''ll scout the tomb and assign sentries and guards accordingly. The tank company will form an armored perimeter ¨C a wall of steel, so to speak. The infantry will take up positions inside the tomb. The heavy infantry, particularly, will be assigned positions to maximize the effectiveness of their weapons. Captain Kratz, your infantry company will be fast and flexible, moving around the tomb to reinforce Lieutenant Burado''s heavy infantry whenever and wherever necessary. After that, we''ll also be relying on you for the tomb investigation."

    "¡­tomb investigation?"

    "Apparently his majesty Emperor Regis Gremory wishes to investigate the tomb and see if there are any ancient weapons or technology we can salvage. Her highness Queen Scarlet has already given her permission."

    To the vampires, who were shocked, I had prepared this explanation. Lilith didn''t seem pleased about it, but she recognized the necessity.

    After all, we weren''t going to beat the human heroes through ideals and sentiment alone. The demons needed something in their advantage, especially since the heroes could render our supposedly superior technology useless.

    This sucks¡­

    I was hoping to overwhelm the enemy with Cadian¡­cough, Morten steel and firepower. What I couldn''t crush with words, I shall crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard¡­I mean, the Morten demonic army. Maybe I could rename my battalion to Morten Iron Guard. It wasn''t as if we were shock troops or ice warriors, after all¡­

    "Sir?"

    "Uh, right. But we''re going to crush the enemy with overwhelming firepower. Secure the objectives and deny our foes the objectives¡­or destroy them completely. I''ll take care of whatever Evelyn''s Chosen who shows up, so you guys deal with the rest." I consulted my notes again. "Let''s see, it seems they''ll have a disposition of at least five thousand soldiers¡­and because they''ve been skirting the terrain and trying to avoid direct conflicts with demonic armies and troops in the area, their journey to the tomb will be delayed. We''ll be able to reach the tomb before them."

    "Five thousand?!"

    "Don''t worry¡­we''ll still be able to defend the objective with our superior firepower and armored might." I jerked my head toward the parked tanks. "And they''ll need much more forces to dislodge us from the tomb if we''re well dug in and well-positioned. We have defenders'' advantage, and don''t forget, they''ll be exhausted after their trek here."

    I waved my hand and conjured a holographic map of the tomb.

    "This map is constructed from old archives and historians'' estimations. I''ll be forwarding this to all of you, so familiarize yourself with the layout somewhat."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Any questions?"

    There were a few here and there and I handled them as best as I could. Following that, I met with the commanders to discuss tactics and logistics based on the present information we had on hand. Before we began, I dismissed the men.

    "Get some rest, all of you. Tomorrow is the big day. Commanders, meet me in my office. We''re going to hold a strategium meeting."

    "Yes, sir."

    "Yes, sir!"

    As the men broke and dispersed, the officers gathered in my office, wher I beamed a gigantic holographic 3D map of the tomb.

    "This is the best reconstruction of the tomb by current historians, derived from old archives. As I said earlier, I''ll forward this to the men, but it''s not 100% accurate. That said, we''re going to formulate and assign positions based on what we have, and then adjust accordingly tomorrow."

    "Sounds like a plan," Lieutenant Gio Vanni remarked as he folded his arms.

    "I bet you anything the actual tomb''s going to be very different," Marko grumbled.

    I nodded in agreement. "I guess we can count on that. But we still need to come up with a plan." I gestured to the tactical display. "Thoughts?"

    "Hmm¡­" Burado contemplated for a few moments before stepping forward. "I think I can position my heavy infantry here, here and here¡­if the enemy approaches from these directions, we''ll be able to channel them into a killing zone."

    "Sounds like a plan." Daniel also piped up. "I see a few alcoves and spaces where I can park my tanks and still benefit from cover."

    "Remember, your tanks and vehicles only benefit from cover if 50% of the model is obscured from sight of the shooting unit."

    "¡­there''s such a rule?" Daniel asked, confused. I shrugged.

    "If your tanks aren''t obscured from sight, don''t you think the shooter will be able to hit the exposed parts of it?"

    "Then why 50%?"

    "Because 8th edition, and now cover saves just give you a bonus +1 to your existing armor save. Good thing your tanks have an excellent armor save." I glanced at the infantry models in the tactical display. "But our soldiers only have flak armor, which is pretty¡­bad in comparison. I hope we invent power armor soon, otherwise we''ll be taking lots of casualties with our 5+ armor saves. Do you guys have invulnerable saves?"

    By now, everyone was staring at me blankly. I sighed.

    "Basically, our flak armor is so poor that it only has a 1/3 chance of stopping a weapon that has no armor-penetration, like¡­normal bullets, arrows or rounds. But if the enemy comes with more firepower such as plasma weapons, or heavy flamer weapons in the form of spells, magic or hi-tech weaponry, they''ll punch through our armor like nothing."

    "¡­so what exactly is an invulnerable save?"

    Elia was still confused. I shrugged.

    "Defensive magic. Barriers, force fields, ice walls, flame walls and the like. They should theoretically be able to ignore armor penetration values¡­I mean armor penetrating weapons and projectiles."

    "¡­ah. Okay. Basically defensive spells." Benjamin nodded. "My company has defensive blood magic."

    "Great. Do they have Feel No Pain too?"

    "Uh¡­"

    "If they take a wound, they ignore it if they roll a 5+."

    "Why do I feel like you''re treating this like a game?" Marko muttered. I realized I was becoming the very same thing I was criticizing my former classmates of, and turning into a hypocrite. I couldn''t treat my men like models and reduce everything into dice rolls and statistics.

    "Sorry. I mean, are they able to regenerate if they sustain a wound?"

    "I suppose so. I''ll make sure to have a supply of blood, which will speed up the healing and help us immensely."

    "Good. I''ll count on you for that." I turned to the rest of the infantry. "I''m a bit worried about the infantry, though, but they''ll be much faster on their feet with lighter armor, so I''ll be using you as a mobile fighting force to respond and reinforce whatever spots we need to defend quickly."

    "Yes, sir!" Elia and Gio saluted.

    "And you''ll bear the bulk of the assault, Daniel." I turned to Daniel, who nodded. "Your tanks will be vital to this operation."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Ben, you and Marko will be entrusted with strategically important positions. I''m relying on you to hold those positions at all costs." I grinned. "Mow down any intruder stupid enough to step into these killing zones."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "All right. Any questions?"

    With that decided, we launched into logistics and other important matters regarding the operation before I dismissed them early so that they could get some rest.

    *

    "So tomorrow is the day, huh?"

    I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Since I had let my men off early, I should set a good example by going to bed early as well. Otherwise they would be up to no good, drinking and having fun. Well, if that was how they rested or needed to let off steam, they could do that. I just needed them to be sober and ready for mobilization tomorrow.

    However, right now, the issue that nagged at my mind wasn''t the mission to guard the tomb or the exploration of it, but the duel over Lilith''s engagement. I didn''t mind that it had turned into a duel. It was the fight itself that concerned me.

    Aside from the woman butler, Claire McAlterize, Bradley Kreuger himself was a dangerous opponent. He might not look much, but being a demon noble who would normally be the equivalent of a boss character who needed a party of multiple heroes to fight, taking him on by myself might prove to be quite a challenge.

    There was also Lilith, who had decided to fight. Despite knowing how strong she was, I was a little worried.

    Not only that, there''s also the issue of her having a bad relationship with her family. Or the elders. Why is she, the queen, being dominated by the council of vampire elders? Is the position of queen just a figurehead?

    Lilith was a powerful warrior who commanded the respect of the Haemorage military, and from what I had seen, was loved a lot by the ordinary vampire citizens of Haemorage. Yet, she couldn''t trust the elders because of their political machinations.

    Well, I''m not a noble, and I was born in an ordinary Japanese family, so it might be very difficult for me to understand her position¡­

    I was so glad I didn''t need to deal with all these politics. They sounded like a complete pain to deal with. I was happy being normal. Unfortunately, I recalled that I was technically a demon noble who was in charge of the domain, Umbra.

    There''s no one living there after the heroes and the human armies annihilated it, though. What did Emperor Regis want me to do with the territory?

    It was very possible that he wanted me to look after the domain after the war. Perhaps there would be plans to repopulate it and welcome the refugees back. Or maybe we were to leave it as it was, an empty, desolate domain that served as a stark reminder of the strength of the heroes and the human kingdoms.

    I had no interest in governing a territory, after all. I didn''t even want this title or to be a demon noble. I just wanted to take revenge on Kobayashi and the others.

    But what comes after that? What will I do after I get revenge on Kobayashi and the rest of the class?

    Come to think of it, that thought had never crossed my mind.

    "..."

    Was there any point to thinking about the future, especially when my present was bloody and filled with violence?

    Would I even live long enough to see that future? Given my current objectives, it wouldn''t be surprising if I died in the line of duty, or got slain by Kobayashi or one of my former classmates before I reached the future.

    When that happened, I would fail at getting my revenge. Perhaps Takeda Tetsuo and the Iron Knights would help avenge me. But after I kicked their asses and defeated the Eight Guardians on my own, I couldn''t say I had much faith in them.

    If you want something done, you had to do it yourself.

    Yeah. I couldn''t entrust my goal of revenge to anyone but myself. I was going to exact my vengeance on Kobayashi, no matter the cost. Before I achieved that, I couldn''t allow myself to die. I would use whatever means necessary to achieve my goal.

    Speaking of which, I will be seeing at least one of my former classmates tomorrow or the day after¡­

    Intelligence reports had indicated that at least one Evelyn''s Chosen was accompanying the invading human army. Even though we were outnumbered one to five or six, I was slightly confident of holding out against them.

    A human army of 5,000 against a demon battalion of 800 soldiers, which included a company of heavily armored tanks. Normally, the aggressors had to outnumber the defenders three to one in order to take the objective, but the tanks alone were worth a hundred men. Given how I had approximately 15 tanks, that was worth 1500 men. So I could assume that we had 2,100 men against 5,000, which was almost one to two rather than three.

    We had this. All I needed to do was keep the heroes away from my tank.

    Oh¡­and Lilith-san says she''ll be accompanying us.

    I wasn''t sure I was comfortable with that. Having the queen of Haemorage accompany us would put her firmly in the crosshairs of the enemy and expose her to danger. Even if we had defender''s advantage, all it took was one accident, or one lucky shot, and Haemorage would suddenly be robbed of its ruler.

    I can''t let that happen¡­no matter the cost¡­

    Clenching my fists, I stared up at the ceiling and vowed to myself to protect Lilith and my 1,087th battalion.

 94 Chapter 94: Moving Ou

    At 0500 sharp, I sprang awake when my alarm went off. Throwing my fingers out, I slapped the holographic picture out of the air and deactivated the shrill noise. Sighing in relief as my room returned to blissful silence, I was about to fall back asleep again when¡­

    "Okay, men! Get up!"

    "¡­"

    As Marko''s voice barked in the room next door, rousing my men from their bunks, I had no choice but to drag myself out of bed. As the commanding officer, I had no choice but to set a good example. I couldn''t tell my men to get up early, but then sleep in, end up late and getting into all sort of trouble. I would lose their respect, and they wouldn''t take my orders seriously in future.

    After washing up and having breakfast, I swiftly returned to my room to get dressed in the number 4 military uniform (had been in admin attire beforehand), laced my boots and equipped myself with the appropriate weapons. Once I was done, I proceeded to the plaza to meet my battalion. Already, the officers were there, getting ready for the mission.

    The drivers had started up their tanks and armored personnel carriers, warming up the engines and getting the hatches and ready for passengers to embark. Already, the plaza was filling up with soldiers lugging heavy equipment and weaponry. The quartermaster was barking to the men, handing out ammunition.

    The primary objective was to defend the tomb from the human armies led by Evelyn''s Chosen, and the secondary objective was the investigation of the tomb to salvage anything we thought was useful or advantageous in our war against the Kingdoms of humanity.

    I had no idea how much time we would spend guarding the place, but apparently we were scheduled to return in five days to refuel and restock our ammunition, water, food and other supplies, and then immediately head out to Moria.

    While we were running around and getting ready, Lilith herself graced the battalion with her presence. I was the first one to notice her approach, and I immediately stiffened.

    "Your highness!"

    "Men, her royal highness on deck!"

    Marko bellowed so loudly that his voice drowned out even the engine roars of the tanks and APCs. Immediately, the whole battalion stopped whatever they were doing and spun around to salute. I followed suit, or rather, I was one of the first to salute.

    "At ease."

    Lilith didn''t seem comfortable with the formalities, and she flippantly waved for us to relax. Looking around, she nodded in satisfaction.

    "Please carry on."

    We all nodded, and I turned to address my men.

    "As you all know, her highness, Queen Scarlet, will be participating in this mission. She has strongly requested that she join us in defending her ancestor''s tomb. She also requests that we do not give her special treatment¡­"

    "No, your highness!"

    "You won''t be!"

    "We''re honored to serve alongside you!"

    As I expected, she was popular with the vampire soldiers. They were all bubbling excitedly, unable to contain their awe. Elia, Gio and Daniel sent me troubled expressions, but I shook my head. I had already informed them beforehand.

    The soldiers also knew what I had asked of them ¨C to protect Lilith as best as they could, but also to preserve their own safety as much as possible and minimize casualties. I didn''t want to lose too many men before we even got to Moria.

    "Please take care of me, everyone."

    Lilith wasn''t paying any attention to the exchange of glances between me and my non-vampire officers. She bowed politely, but didn''t offer an explanation as to why she was tagging along. None of my men knew either. I wasn''t supposed to know, but thanks to PROTAGONIST POWERS I had somehow overheard the conversation between Kishimoto Hikaru and Bradley Kreuger.

    Her blood was the key to opening the tomb.

    Wait, then wouldn''t the problem be solved if we don''t bring her along in the first place? Then our enemies will never be able to open the tomb!

    Unfortunately, there was one huge problem with that measure.

    If we don''t bring her along, how are we going to proceed with the secondary objective of exploring the tomb and unconvering its ancient weapons and technology?

    Did the risk of the tomb falling into the wrong hands outweight the rewards of successfully defending it and recovering the ancient weapons?

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    Even if I decided that the risk wasn''t worth it, would Lilith listen to me? She was the queen, after all. I was just a low-ranking Major. I didn''t have the power to overrule her.

    Shaking my head, I shifted my focus back to the task at hand, only for another person to approach my battalion.

    Lilith made a sour expression as she stared at the newcomer, and then turned toward me apologetically.

    "Well, there''s also a last minute change of plans¡­"

    "¡­huh?"

    "We will also have another person following us¡­"

    "Ah, I''m sorry, your highness. I will personally introduce myself. I cannot afford to cause you any more trouble than this."

    I was all too familiar with the haughty tone, theatrically exaggerated behavior and condescending expression.

    "Who is that?"

    Elia looked confused, Gio frowned and Daniel maintained a neutral expression. In contrast, Benjamin and Marko''s faces darkened.

    "This guy¡­"

    "How audacious¡­"

    "My name is Bradley Kreuger. I am the deputy lord of the Ruanoros region. I graduated as the top student from a vampire knight military academy two decades ago. As instructed by the council of elders, I am to offer my services and lead this operation to defend the tomb of King Alucard from Evelyn''s Chosen and the human armies as well as investigate the tomb shortly after that."

    "..."

    The 1,087th Magna Battalion stirred when they heard the news. None of them had anticipated it. I didn''t either ¨C this was the first time I was informed of it. Or so I would say, but thanks to my protagonist powers¡­

    "I will be taking command of this expedition."

    This time, the noise was more audible, with my soldiers being outraged at the sudden revelation. However, Marko came forward.

    "Quiet, the lot of you!" he snapped. Instantly, the battalion fell into silence.

    "If I may¡­"

    Everyone turned to Lilith as she stepped forward. She held the smiling Bradley''s gaze with stern eyes, and then glanced at us.

    "There is one condition for allowing you to tag along, Lord Kreuger."

    "¡­oh?"

    Bradley looked amused, but Lilith continued.

    "You will have overall command of the expedition, yes, but you are to grant the Magna 1,087th Battalion full autonomy and independence with their operation."

    Bradley chuckled when he heard that, and he shook his head wryly.

    "As expected of your highness¡­but don''t worry. I have no intention of interrupting or interfering with the 1,087th Magna Battalion''s mission. I am solely here to help. In fact, shouldn''t you be happy about that? After all, I, the third-ranked vampire knight of Haemorage, am personally volunteering to assist your rookie battalion in this mission."

    There was some emphasis on the word "rookie", as if Bradley was trying to drive home the point that we were still green and inexperienced. His words were clearly dripping with contempt and his gaze filled with scorn. Marko bristled, but his years as a vampire veteran kept his temper in check. The soldiers were also furious, but none of them said anything because of Bradley''s status as a noble. They were too disciplined for that.

    "Oh, we''re so grateful," I responded sarcastically. "I''m sure your third rank will make a huge difference in the mission. I can picture the humans and Evelyn''s Chosen falling to their knees in fear when they learn that you''re ranked third in the vampire kingdom! They might even ask you for your autograph!"

    Laughter rippled across my men, even as they struggled to hold it in. Bradley''s face was murderous, but he didn''t rise to the bait. I frowned as I studied his darkened expression, feeling a sense of premonition.

    Despite my first-person protagonist''s privilege, I had no idea what his true plans were. The guy was clearly plotting something, but what?

    "Yes, please do that," Lilith told Bradley. "The 1,087th Battalion has been training and formulating plans of their own, so to add a last-minute participation would throw those strategies into confusion. I am also concerned about the participation of a major demon noble such as yourself. If you were to be injured, the military will not be able to take responsibility."

    Lilith remained calm as she coolly informed Bradley of his recklessness. However, Bradley merely nodded and calmly offered a reply.

    "Please do not worry, your highness. I am still part of the military, after all, and have led my own forces. We will act independently and catch the human armies in a pincer movement. Even if something were to happen to me, the 1,087th Battalion will not be held responsible."

    "Even so, why take the risk? Our Battalion should be more than enough to defend the tomb. Even if we aren''t, wouldn''t another vampire regiment be more appropriate¡­?"

    Elia wasn''t able to stay silent anymore and she blurted that question out. Bradley slowly settled his eyes on her and smiled.

    "If you''re asking for a reason, there is one. The girl who will become my future wife will be there. In case anything should happen in this dangerous mission¡­"

    The Battalion exchanged wary glances as they listened to Bradley bragging. I wanted to confer upon him the nickname Try Again Bradley. While several of the vampires glanced at Queen Lilith, she refused to react.

    It seems she''s disgusted, but she doesn''t want to give Kreuger the pleasure of seeing her rise to the bait.

    I pushed my glasses up and stepped forward with a fake smile. Offering my hand, I grinned and proposed a compromise.

    "Well, we look forward to cooperating with you, Lord Kreuger. I will be counting on you and your men for support. I suspect you won''t be involved in the investigation since you''ll be hunting down the human armies when they retreat, correct?"

    Bradley held my gaze, and I detected him scoffing inwardly, as if he couldn''t believe I had the audacity to order him about. But with Lilith watching, he couldn''t overrule my suggestion. He merely maintained an impassive fa?ade and nodded.

    "It is true that my regiment will be more suited for a pursue-and-destroy mission. We are a lot more experienced, stronger and mobile, after all."

    I grinned. "That''s true. So we''ll entrust you with all the difficult work while we dig in and secure the tomb."

    Bradley gritted his teeth when he realized he had just cornered himself, but he didn''t flare up. Keeping his irritation in check, he nodded, but didn''t take my hand.

    "I look forward to working with you too, Major."

    A warning, to remind me of my low rank and not to overstep my boundaries. I ignored him and turned to my men.

    "All right, guys! Let''s get ready and load up! On the double!"

    While we loaded up on the APCs and tanks, which got ready to depart, I found an opportunity to approach Lilith and question her.

    "Um, Lilith-san, are you sure about this? Taking part in this mission¡­"

    She was the queen of Haemorage. Even if she was the overall commander of the Haemorage military, there would be outrage and protests from the high-ranking generals and officers that made up the command structure and command staff. Allowing the queen or sovereign of the kingdom to participate in such a dangerous mission¡­there was no way the top commanders would ever agree to that, even if Lilith outranked them.

    Lilith smiled and kept her voice low as she replied, scanning her surroundings carefully.

    "I will tell you the reasons in detail later. But it''s only natural that I personally protect my ancestor''s tomb, right?"

    "Uh, right."

    But somehow I felt that she had a greater reason than that. It wasn''t just because Alucard was her ancestor. I had a feeling that Lilith wanted to dig her ancestor''s tomb in search of something. In other words, the investigation of the tomb, and not the defense of it, was her primary objective. It might also have something to do with Kreuger''s sudden participation.

    Just when that thought crossed my mind, Lilith scowled.

    "No, it has nothing to do with that person. When I originally planned my participation in investigating the tomb, I never thought he would come along. He probably heard it from my uncle and decided to selfishly come along."

    "Those are really cold words, eh? My future wife."

    As he overheard our conversation, Bradley abruptly appeared behind me. Then he smiled slyly at Lilith.

    "Hey, can you stop with the future something? I remember telling you that we are mere strangers." Lilith''s reply was cold.

    Fortunately, Claire McAlterize wasn''t here, or the woman butler would have flown into a rage after seeing the engagement that she arranged being sysmetically ripped apart by her mistress. It would serve her right.

    "Ah, sorry about that. But well¡­I thought the result of tomorrow''s duel has already been decided."

    "Wait, what? The duel will be held tomorrow night?"

    I cocked my head, confused.

    "What happens if we''re still outfield, on the mission? You want to have a duel while the human armies are assaulting the tomb we''re supposed to be guarding? Dude, prioritize your duties! The fate of Morten is in our hands!"

    Bradley remained calm despite my insolent tone. He looked like he was gleefully anticipating the duel that would decide whether his engagement with Lilith would be confirmed or cancelled. Regarding the duel where Lilith was the "prize", he had already considered his victory a matter of fact even before we exchanged blows.

    I was so going to kick this fucker''s ass¡­

    "Still¡­it''s unexpected."

    Then, as Bradley turned toward me, he displayed a frivolous smile.

    "To think that a man who can do nothing other than hide behind his men is participating in a mission. Geez, there is nothing more ridiculous than this."

    His tone was clearly filled with contempt. The guy was trying to provoke me.

    However, I burst out laughing.

    "Did you mistake me for some other commander, Lord Kreuger?"

    The demon noble narrowed his eyes when he saw how I was amused rather than enraged. There was a tic in his jaw.

    Lilith piled on the misery with her laughter.

    "A man who can do nothing other than hide behind his men? Are you referring to yourself, Lord Kreuger?"

    "No, I''m¡­"

    "I mean, who else can it be? We have Tomoyuki-kun here, who is known as the legendary Hero-Slayer for killing five of Evelyn''s Chosen, and is famous for leading from the front. And then we have you, who did not bother to show up to defend your own kingdom when the human armies invaded. Instead, Tomoyuki-kun defended Haemorage in your place."

    Lilith shook her head as her body trembled with laughter.

    "Big words from someone who claims to be from the military house of Kreuger. But all your boasts becomes useless if you can''t back them up with actions. Unlike you, Tomoyuki-kun has already proven himself in combat."

    "I will prove myself in this mission," Bradley growled through gritted teeth. Lilith smiled with all the fake sweetness of a fox.

    "I''m sure you will, Lord Kreuger. I''m sure you will. In fact, I''m looking forward to it."

    Bradley''s eyes glinted dangerously. It was clear that he was going to do whatever it took to make sure Lilith regretted mocking him.

    "Yeah! The Major has proven himself in combat! He never sends us to a place where he wouldn''t go himself! He leads from the front!"

    "I might sound like a downer, but the Major''s tendency to lead by example gets me worried all the time."

    This time, it was Elia and Gio who had joined in. Realizing that Elia was the daughter of Marquis Kratz, Bradley saw that he wouldn''t be able to argue his way out of this.

    "Sorry for my rudeness, Captain¡­your highness."

    Replying politely, the heir to House Kreuger bowed and quietly withdrew.

    "Let''s go, Major. Everyone''s embarked on the APCs and tanks. We''re awaiting your orders to depart."

    "Yeah." I turned to Lilith. "After you, your highness."

    We already had a seat in the command APC reserved for Lilith. Elia and Gio boarded different APCs, obviously because the command staff couldn''t share the same APC. If the enemy took out the APC, the entire command structure of the battalion would be wiped out in a single stroke, and the men would be left leaderless.

    As for me, I boarded a tank.

    "Man, I really like the Malthas tanks, but I want a Baneblade¡­"

    "Sir?"

    The driver, Jason Jurgen, stared at me, confused by my mumbling. I shook my head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts.

    "All right, men!" I hollered into the vox, my voice dispersed across all fifteen Malthas Executioner tanks and sixty Cerberus Armored Personnel Carriers. "Let''s move out!"

    With my order, the mission finally commenced.

 95 Chapter 95: Defense of the Tomb

    The journey took a little more than an hour, but eventually our armored convoy of Malthas tanks and Cerberus APCs reached the outskirts of the tomb, which was about twenty kilometers away from the peripheral city of Haefield.

    A huge mausoleum stood proudly, alone in the barren wasteland. The white, polished marble surface gleamed in the morning sun, affording the immense structure a majestic appearance. It really looked appropriate as a tomb for a king.

    I mean, let''s be serious. There was no way a commoner could afford to be laid to rest in such an enormous structure. It reminded me of the pyramids in Egpyt, or the terracotta tombs in ancient China, or the kofun graves in ancient Japan.

    "The objective is just ahead. Everyone, get ready to disembark!"

    Captain Elia Kratz, the commander of the light infantry company, announced over the vox. Her voice was tense, crackling over the soft static that hissed over the comns. Lieutenant Daniel Dressia and Lieutenant Benjamin Burado similarly issued simiar instructions.

    "All right, guys. You know what to do. Pull our tanks over to our assigned positions, and make sure our weapons are facing outward. Let''s give any idiots who dare trespass upon this sacred ground hell!"

    "Get ready to disembark. You know the drill. We''ll be protecting his majesty''s resting place with our lives."

    Not wanting to interfere with my officers'' command over their respective companies, I remained silent and instead trained my eyes on the auspex and holographic pict-screen inside my Malthas Executioner tank.

    "This is Alucard''s tomb¡­"

    There were at least three tombs that had been forged throughout the millennia for the various vampire kings and queens who had ruled over Haemorage. They were spread all over the borders of Haemorage ¨C but thanks to the longevity and what was essentially immortality of the vampires, there wasn''t a need to build countless tombs. The dynasty changed very infrequently as vampires didn''t die from old age.

    I wondered how Alucard died. He must have fallen in combat against a powerful foe. Against one of the past Evelyn''s Chosen, summoned thousands of years ago or something. Speaking of which, Lilith''s mother also had a tomb north to Haemorage, but I wasn''t insensitive enough to pry. I doubted Lilith would take my questions too kindly.

    I was only a "fake" lover, after all.

    "¡­"

    Upon successfully defending the tomb, we were to investigate the altar and retrieve whatever weapons and technology we deemed useful and necessary for the war effort against the humans and Evelyn''s Chosen. After all, the legendary Alucard was said to have fought the entire legion of Evelyn''s Chosen by himself all those centuries ago, and was more than a match for them before his eventual defeat.

    The weapons he wielded must possess terrifying power.

    "This must be the first time you''re seeing this."

    Lilith''s voice came over a personal channel. She had used a channel that was open only to me, so as not to let the soldiers overhear. I frowned at the use of personal channels during a mission, but technically she ranked higher than me, so I couldn''t say anything.

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    "Uh. Well, yeah."

    Even though I was supposed to be a gravekeeper, this was the first time I actually saw a grave in Restia.

    "I haven''t been in this world long enough. Maybe two months?"

    "¡­yes. Restia is vast¡­there are too many things to see within a lifetime."

    "¡­yeah."

    "But since we''re vampires, we probably have all the time in the world to see everything in Restia." Lilith mischieviously giggled. "Perhaps we could explore the world in a few centuries¡­maybe a millennium at the most?"

    I sighed. "Then what of your duties and your domain, your highness?"

    There was a pause that indicated that Lilith was shrugging. "I can always abdicate and leave my throne to my descendant."

    She would have to have a descendant first, and from her tone, I knew that she would never hand her throne over to her uncle.

    "All right! We''ve reached! Go, go, go!"

    As the APCs roared to a stop, the ramps slammed down and the passengers began to disembark. Unstrapping their harnesses, they lifted their rifles and shouldered them, filing out in disciplined lines.

    "Move in!"

    I frowned when everyone got into the tomb without any problems. I thought it was supposed to be sealed, and could only be opened by Lilith''s blood, but evidently it was not the case. Either Bradley and Kishimoto were trolling me or they were referring to the secret altar that served as the heart of the tomb. Well, we would find out either way.

    I stayed with the tanks as they parked in huge alcoves that could provide both shade and excellent cover for the tanks, and still afforded them a clear view of the surroundings. The treads spinning, the tanks reversed into the alcoves and whirled their turets and hulls around to point their weapons at the outside. The sponson weapons shifted and tracked the exterior, the sponson gunners keeping an eye out for the enemy.

    "I''ll leave Company T to you, Dan."

    "Yes, sir!"

    Once all the tanks were in position, I disembarked from my tank and hopped into the interior of the tomb, where the infantry were hurrying about. Stopping in front of the command outpost that the two infantry companies had set up, I nodded at the three commanders.

    "Ben, how is Company H doing?"

    "They''re all setting up heavy weapons along the openings and hatches ¨C it seems that the schematics are accurate. We''re having them take position in Lighthouse, Tavern, Hotel and Inn, as instructed."

    Those were military codenames for the locations we marked and arranged in our holographic schematics yesterday, and I nodded in satisfaction.

    "Good, I''ll check on them later. Captain Kratz?"

    "Yes, sir?"

    "Get Company L to form up and task them with scouting the tomb. I don''t want any surprises. If there''s a discrepancy, or a hidden chamber, make sure they report back. Also ask them to map the tomb and see if there''s any difference between the schematics we have and the real thing. I don''t know if the interior of the tomb has changed."

    "Doesn''t seem to have changed much since the last time I was here," Lilith remarked as she entered the outpost. I shrugged.

    "Nonetheless, I don''t want to get caught by surprise. Captain Kratz?"

    "I understand! I''ll get Company L to scout and recon the entire area!"

    "Thanks."

    "Lieutenant Vanni!"

    "Yes, ma''am."

    The two commanding officers of Company L hurried away to dispense my instructions. I nodded at the rest of the command staff, and then proceeded to check on Company H.

    Company L, H and T. They were designated as such thanks to their various specializations, such as Light infantry, Heavy infantry and Tanks. Normally regiment were specialized, such as infantry regiments or armored regiments, and there were very few regiments that were mixed. Mine wasn''t even a proper regiment, but a battalion, and we had two infantry companies and a single armored company. While it made us flexible, it also lacked the numbers of a normal infantry regiment or the sheer firepower of an armored regiment.

    "Ugh¡­"

    However, in the present, there weren''t enough tanks in Morten to field entire armored regiments. It was a pity¡­I wanted to field vast armored columns of Malthas tanks and super-heavies, but that was logistically impossible.

    Morten had yet to manufacture that number of tanks. We were overly dependent on the industrialized Moria to produce our weapons, and should the dwarven kingdom fall, none of the other demonic kingdoms in Morten would be able to step up to the task.

    We couldn''t allow Moria to fall at all costs.

    Well, let''s focus on the mission at hand first¡­

    The heavy infantry saluted me when I came up to them. Ben had positioned the separate squads on various window-like openings and ledges, which both afforded them cover and shelter from the outside. They could unleash a devastating hail of fire down below, while duck down in cover should the enemy retaliate. They also had the high ground advantage.

    "Sir!"

    "Major!"

    "Stand easy. Keep your eyes on the outside. Seen anything yet?"

    "No, sir!"

    "Nothing yet, sir."

    I nodded. Everything had gone according to plan. The enemy shouldn''t be here until tonight at the earliest. Even Bradley Kreuger hadn''t shown up yet with his house''s militia. Unlike us, Bradley Kreuger and his troops didn''t have APCs or transports, so they had to march here on foot or on horses. The problem of technological backwardness¡­

    "Stay vigilant, guys. Don''t let them sneak up on us."

    "Yes, sir!"

    After making my rounds, I headed back to the command post to continue monitoring the situation outside. As I suspected, Bradley was still hours away from reaching, and there was no sign of the enemy. I wouldn''t be surprised if they wouldn''t appear today. The human armies might possibly arrive a few days later.

    Unless¡­

    I shook my head. No point launching into useless speculation. I should focus on the goal at hand. Turning to Elia, who was exchanging dialogue with her subordinates over the vox, I waited patiently for her to finish.

    "How is the scouting going?" I asked when she glanced at me.

    "Good. Nothing much¡­there''s a chamber in the middle ¨C the altar that holds the body of King Alucard ¨C that we can''t access, but other than that the layout of the tomb is exactly the same as the schematics."

    "Make sure they avoid the monsters in the forests, caverns and lakes. We don''t want to accidentally get into a three-way fight."

    "Yes, Major. They''re keeping their distance for now. As long as we don''t bother them, I don''t believe they will attack."

    "Good."

    "Sir!"

    The comns officer, a boy named Benard Beltayn, turned to me.

    "Lieutenant Dressia on the line, sir!"

    "Oh, right. Hand the receiver over."

    I took the receiver from the flustered comns officer and nodded gratefully to him before bringing it to my ear.

    "Tanaka here. What''s up, Dan?"

    "Sir, we''ve spotted the enemy."

    Daniel''s voice was tense. I frowned, my fingers instantly tightening on the grip of the receiver.

    "How many?"

    "5,000. It seems that they''re spreading out to siege the tomb¡­just as we expectd."

    "That was fast."

    "Yes. I was expecting them tomorrow or two days later¡­but it seems that they''ll reach us by evening."

    "The earliest window, huh¡­"

    Good thing we had reached the tomb in the morning and took up positions in the following hours.

    "All right. Keep your eyes on them. I''ll be heading out."

    Hanging up, I quickly spoke to Elia, Gio and Ben, informing them of the situation. Then I quickly left to take charge at the armored lines.

    "What''s the disposition of the enemies?" I asked as I headed toward my tank, clipping the voice-bead in my ear.

    "Still the same. Spreading out and tightening the noose around us."

    Despite the strain in Daniel''s voice, I smiled.

    "Let them come. We''ll spring the trap on them."

    "Yes, sir."

    Hopping onto the top hatch of the Malthas Executioner tank, Purity of Faith, I slid into the tank commander''s seat. The driver, Jurgen glanced at me.

    "Good to see you again, sir."

    "Good to be back¡­is what I would like to say, but we have a major engagement coming."

    "We heard about that, sir," Corporal Gunnery spoke up. He was the main gunner, and was wheeling about in his seat to track the targets with the Malthas tank''s plasma executioner cannon. "We have them on radar. They''ll be here by evening."

    I grinned. With our advanced technology, we could see the enemy hours before they could see or hear us. The advantage was with us.

    "All right. Let''s do this."

    The hours slowly ticked by as we waited in the cramped, hot confines of the tanks. Even though I was happy to have a wall of armor between me and the outside world, being a tank crew member was far from comfortable. We didn''t have proper air conditioning and had to rely on magic to maintain the temperature at bearable levels. I could feel perspiration dripping off my face as we slowly baked in the heat of the crew compartment.

    "They''re approaching."

    "Are they within range yet?" I asked. Daniel''s voice crackled over the vox.

    "Not yet."

    "Good. Hold your fire. Wait for most of them to come within range before we unleash our firepower. Lieutenant Vanni?"

    "Yes, sir?"

    "Continue keeping an eye out for scouts. Snipe them."

    The famed veteran snipers in Company L had been deployed accordingly and were keeping their eyes on the approaching forces. I was sure the military would send scouting elements forward to reconnoiter the base and estimate the enemy''s strength. I didn''t want to give away the knowledge that my tanks were here unless I absolutely had to.

    "They''re coming! Within range!"

    "Hold your fire," I ordered, keeping my eyes on the auspex. The red arrows indicating the enemy''s disposition were flooding in, almost like a swarm of ants crawling all over my screen. Emperor on Terra, but there were so many of them!

    "They''re getting nearer!"

    "Hold!" I snapped.

    There weren''t nearly enough within range yet. I didn''t want to fire too early and only graze the first few lines of the enemies. If I did that, the majority of the human army would fall back to safety, out of range of my tanks, and look for alternative approaches. I wanted to maximize the damage I could inflict on the enemy.

    These weren''t civilians. I had to remind myself that. As much as I loathed killing anybody, be it humans or demons, I had no choice. If I didn''t kill as many human soldiers as I could, they would wipe out my men and subordinates. These weren''t innocent, helpless civilians with no way of fighting. They were trained killers, armed to the teeth.

    Activating the visual holographic screen, I saw ranks upon ranks of armored knights, cavalry and foot soldiers marching across the wasteland. Idiots. There was absolutely no cover, nothing for them to take shelter under.

    They would be massacred within minutes.

    The moment half of them were within range, and we were in danger of being overwhelmed and overrun by sheer numbers, I gave the order.

    "Fire! Fire at will! Destroy the heretics! For the Emperor! For Morten!"

    "For the Emperor!"

    A roar erupted over the vox as my men hollered in fury. Bright, blue blasts of plasma lanced out from both executioner plasma cannons and sponson plasma cannons, ripping through the hordes of soldiers and knights. They didn''t stand a chance. Hundreds of them were incinerated instantly, disintegrated to ash and nothingness by the superheated blobs of bluish-white plasma. Their armor, despite being blessed and consecrated by priests and warded with defensive runes, couldn''t endure the sheer firepower of plasma.

    However, the zealots kept coming. Despite losing hundreds of them in the first volley, the fanatical devouts of Kobayashi shrieked, bloodcurdling cries that echoed in the evening air, and sprinted forward with no regard to their safety.

    "Are they crazy?" Gunnery gasped. I shook my head.

    "No. they''ve been brainwashed. Continue firing!"

    A second volley of plasma bursts streaked out, carving molten craters into the wasteland and laying waste to hundreds more. In just two volleys, we had wiped out at least twenty percent of the enemy, killing easily over a thousand of them.

    The smarter ones at the rearguard were already withdrawing and regrouping. But the bulk of the human forces were still coming. At this rate, they would reach the tanks and overwhelm us through sheer numbers alone. I doubted their melee weapons such as swords, axes, spears or arrows could penetrate the thick armor of the Malthas tanks, though. Before eighth edition came, our front armor plating had an armor value of 14. Now, we were Toughness 8 with a 3+ armor save. These guys'' weapons would probably be Strength 2 or 3 with AP 0. They would need at least a thousand strikes before they could finally even begin to chip away at our armor.

    But obviously, I had no intention of waiting for that to happen.

    "Lieutenant Burado, they should be within range now. Open up with the heavy weapons!"

    "Roger that!"

    All over the tomb, the heavy weapon squads unleashed a withering hail of fire from their heavy plasma weaponry. Automatic bursts of bluish-white projectiles ¨C smaller than the immense blobs lobbed from the Malthas Executioner tanks ¨C arced down from the ledges and windows, peppering the incoming knights and wiping them out. Their heavy steel armor might as well be thin, wet paper, instantly vaporized by the superheated rounds.

    In a single spray, the heavy weapon squads scythed down at least five hundred of the incoming troops. Several of them paused to change barrels and reload, but the tanks were well on their way to cover them, releasing streams of plasma from their cannons and immolating large swathes of infantry and horses.

    By now, half of the human army was wiped out. But they kept coming. Despite suffering catastrophic losses, the remnants of the human army were throwing themselves at us. At least a thousand soldiers had retreated to regroup and reassess their tactics, but there was at least fifteen hundred men still milling around and charging us.

    "Again!"

    Covered by the heavy infantry, the tanks allowed their plasma cannons to cool down before they incinerated the survivors. There were less and less soldier running toward our positions. By now, they numbered less than a hundred and were easily picked off by the snipers in Company L. Those who got too close were roasted by heavy flamers operated by the vampire heavy infantry who were standing guard at the entrances of the tomb.

    "¡­that was quite the massacre."

    I shrugged at Daniel''s surprised remark. In less than ten minutes, we had essentially wiped out eighty percent of the enemy forces, which was unprecedented in Restia history. The technological revolution might have played a huge part in that, but the real reason was far more insidious and sinister, especially when I thought about the so-called Emperor of Humanity.

    "Kobayashi, that idiot. He failed to realize the problem of indoctrinating and brainwashing his followers into fanatical zealots. It might be a terrifying enemy if we were fighting conventional warfare, and any other army would have fallen to fearless, crazed zealots devouted to only a single cause¡­but bring in anti-horde weaponry such as blast weapons, plasma cannons and flamers, and they would just die for absolutely nothing."

    "Do you think the survivors will retreat?"

    I regarded the auspex. The survivors were still milling at the edge, just beyond the tanks'' range.

    "No, it doesn''t seem like it."

    "Sir! Enemy contact!"

    A panicked voice from the rear of the tomb. If I remembered correctly, Sergeant Harker, the tank commander of the Malthas Executioner tank, Blessings of the Emperor.

    "It''s the Evelyn''s Chosen!"

    "I''m coming!"

    Throwing down my headset, I nodded at Jurgen.

    "I''ll leave things to you, Jurgen. Take care of Purity of Faith."

    With that, I shoved the hatch open and hauled myself out into the open. Stumbling down from my tank, I raced toward the position of the Blessings of the Emperor.

    "Sir?"

    Daniel''s voice crackled in the comns-bead in my ear.

    "Take command of the tanks, Dan. If the surviving troops of the enemy approach, obliterate them. I''m going to engage the Evelyn''s Chosen in combat."

    I could hear Daniel swallowing on the other side.

    "Hedas bless you, sir."

    "¡­right."

    Vaulting over to the Blessings of the Emperor, I was just in time to stop a blinding golden beam of light from piercing it and blowing up the poor tank. Grabbing the golden beam, I crushed it in my hand and hopped to the front of the hapless tank.

    Smoke billowed from my hand. I recognized the spell, Divine Lance. It was one of the first spells I had seen cast by my former classmates, to blow open the fortress of the previous Demon Lord and invade it. If it hadn''t been for the twelve defensive layers of my Redwood jacket, I would have lost my right hand from that powerful blow.

    "So you''ve come."

    Ahead of me, holding her staff, was none other than Kishimoto Hikaru.

 96 Chapter 96: Light Golem

    I watched Kishimoto Hikaru warily.

    "It sounds as if you''re expecting me."

    Kishimoto shrugged as she whirled her staff almost lazily.

    "I was. I mean, I heard how you killed five of us¡­six, if we include the one killed by the vampire queen. Of course the demons are going to use you as their trump card to counter us heroes. What was it, they''re calling you the Hero Slayer now, aren''t they?"

    "¡­"

    I wasn''t sure how to respond to that. I continued keeping my eyes on her.

    "But wow¡­I had no idea how you were able to do that. Wipe out most of my forces in less than ten minutes¡­"

    Kishimoto frowned as she glared at my tanks.

    "What''s going on? Isn''t Restia supposed to be a medieval fantasy world? How and where did you get tanks from? Isn''t this essentially cheating?"

    I shrugged. "It''s not our fault that you inaccurately assume Restia is a medieval fantasy world when it''s actually on the brink of industrial revolution."

    Kishimoto''s frown deepened. "The industrial revolution only produced the steam engine and trains. Tanks only appeared slightly before World War II. We didn''t even have tanks during World War I."

    "That''s when you''re wrong." I grinned smugly. "The first battle tanks were actually fielded during World War I, as a response to the stalemate that occurred on the Western Front. The British fielded the first prototype tank in 1916, and then the French produced their own tanks and fielded them in 1917. They sucked really badly in World War I, though."

    "Show-off," Kishimoto snarled. "What are you trying to prove? That you''re some kind of military history textbook? This is why everyone hates you! You''re such a know-it-all!"

    "No, I''m just a military otaku who wargames during his free time, especially in the 41st millennium. Especially because I''m an Imperial Knight and Imperial Guard player¡­so I have to know my history of tanks pretty well. You want to know about how Leman Russ tanks are manufactured on the forge worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus and distributed to the Imperial Guard armored regiments? Ah, no, they''re called Astra Militarum now. Ryza manufactures the most plasma weapons and are probably one of the few forge worlds able to recreate the Leman Russ Executioner tanks. But apparently Armageddon can do that too, and their mass produced Leman Russ tanks and Chimera APCs are used by the Armageddon Steel Legion for armored warfare¡­"

    "Shut up! Who cares about all that?!"

    "Warhammer 40,000 fans."

    "Well, I''m not a Warhammer 40,000 fan! This is why everyone hates otakus! They should all die! Including you!"

    "Oh, just shut up already!"

    Kishimoto unleashed another Divine Lance at me, which I parried with my right hand. Again, the twelve barriers of my Redwood jacket protected me from devastating damage. When she saw that I was relatively unscathed, Kishimoto narrowed her gaze.

    "Just what the hell are you? No¡­it''s your equipment, isn''t it?"

    Why would I tell you? Were you an idiot or something?

    "Hmph. No matter. All I need is overwhelming strength to smash all those defensive barriers in one hit."

    Raising her staff, Kishimoto conjured a spell. Golden light slammed down from the heavens and bathed her.

    "?!"

    I instinctively stepped back and activated Absolute Appraisal.

    Name: Kishimoto Hikaru

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Holy Mage/Hero

    Special Abilities: Divine Lance, Holy Magic

    Then the spell she was casting must be holy magic¡­

    Or so I thought, but when she finished casting it, the golden light turned into a gigantic lump of metal. Gleaming, golden metal, but a lump of metal nonetheless.

    Upon closer look, the lump of metal was humanoid in shape. As I stepped forward, I saw that it was a gigantic metal soldier whose body was covered in armored plating. Golden wings of light stretched out from its back, giving it an angelic appearance.

    "What''s that supposed to be, a Stormcast Eternal? Huh, did I get that right? I mean, I don''t play Age of Sigmar¡­"

    No, it was a Golem. I remembered seeing it once, used by the late Count Raum who I had slaughtered in combat. It was a titanic pilot-controlled fantasy mecha that possessed an immense frame and superhuman strength. Although it was slow and its attacks were repetitive (obviously they hadn''t developed very sophisticated artificial intelligence in this era yet), it possessed a hard, sturdy armored body composed entirely of metal. Even a graze from a single attack of that monster was enough to obliterate an armored knight and turn him into a bloody pulp. In fact, it was so powerful that its fists could smash through even a heavily armored tank.

    It would take a lot of firepower to bring one of these things down. The upside was that a Malthas tank was sturdier, with Toughness 8 and 12 wounds. In contrast I bet a Golem had a similar statline to a Dreadnought, which was probably Toughness 7 and 8 wounds. A couple of lucky lascannon shots would be able to take it down. Hell, concentrated fire from the main plasma Executioner cannon and sponson plasma cannons should be able to deal enough wounds, especially if we supercharged the plasma weapons.

    Well, there''s the risk of sustaining mortal wounds from supercharging the plasma weapons, but if I''ll be able to mitigate that with our regimental doctrine that allows my tanks to re-roll hit rolls of ones if they didn''t move.

    And they hadn''t moved an inch, so we should still get the regimental doctrine bonus from Born Soldiers.

    However, tanks had a WS of 6+ and were horrendous in close combat. The Golem would absolutely rip them apart in close combat. And right now, the Golem was too close for comfort. And knowing Kishimoto, it would have some sort of invulnerable save¡­cough, I mean holy barrier or whatever defensive spell protecting it.

    The Golem was formidable especially in close combat. Already, its fist was glowing with powerful golden mana.

    "That''s¡­"

    "Ha ha!"

    Kishimoto emerged from her cockpit to gloat at us. Stepping out of the open hatch, she sneered condescending at us.

    "Kobayashi-kun put a big bounty on your head. Dead or alive, that makes you worth something to me."

    The moment the last word left her mouth, a powerful Doombolt slammed into her and sent her flying back into the cockpit of her Golem.

    "Guh! What the fuck?!"

    Blood dripping from her mouth, Kishimoto staggered out of her cockpit and glared at me from the hatch.

    "What the hell?! Attacking me when I''m talking and before I got into my cockpit?! Have you no honor, you scoundrel?!"

    "What, you think this is Titanfall 2 or something? A cinematic for you to exit your cockpit and gloat over the protagonist? I''m not Jack Cooper, of course I''m going to abuse the opportunity and shoot you while you''re exposed like that."

    To emphasize my point, I fired off another Doombolt that smacked her off her feet and sent her crashing back into her cockpit. Despite putting all my power into those spells, it seemed that Kishimoto''s Divine Protection had deflected most of the damage, allowing her to escape fatal wounds. The bitch was still alive and kicking.

    "Bloody bastard!"

    Cursing, Kishimoto wisely closed her hatch this time, protecting herself from another onslaught.

    "Sir¡­!"

    "Stand back, people. I''ve got this."

    Glancing at the meter at the left bottom corner of my glasses, I hit the V button. Right after that, I heard Matsukaze''s familiar voice.

    "Standby for Titanfall."

    An explosion echoed overhead and Matsukaze crashed down from the heavens. Her systems warning her beforehand, Kishimoto piloted her Golem and had it stumble back to prevent herself from getting crushed by Titanfall.

    "It''s my turn!" she crowed and began blasting Matsukaze with Divine Lances from her Golem''s arm cannon. However, the powerful spells merely dissipated against the shimmering dome shield that protected my Titan.

    ¡­evidently Kishimoto had never played Titanfall or Titanfall 2.

    "What''s going on?!" she demanded when she saw that none of her attacks were going through. "What''s with that forcefield?! Why aren''t any of my attacks penetrating?!"

    I ignored her and sprinted across the barren wasteland, which was still glowing red-hot from the plasma barrages of my Malthas Executioner tanks. Sliding beneath Matsukaze, my Titan suddenly reared up and grabbed hold of me, then placed me inside his cockpit. All the while, Kishimoto continued her hail of Divine Lances, but none of them was able to break through the glowing barrier.

    Unfortunately, the moment I did so, the dome shield expired. I was forced to draw Matsukaze''s broadsword and used sword block to defend myself from Kishimoto''s Divine Lances. Noticing my moment of vulnerability, Kishimoto cackled and capitalized on it.

    "Finally! That dome shield is finally gone! I''ll destroy you!"

    Well, even if I didn''t embark on my Titan, the dome shield would eventually disappear anyway. It only stayed up for thirty seconds, maximum and after that Matsukaze would go onto autopilot and act according to his artificial intelligence protocols. I had him set on Follow Mode, so he would naturally head toward my position.

    Best to pilot him myself rather than wait for that to happened. Plus once the dome shield expired, both of us would be vulnerable to enemy fire when I tried embarking after that. Might as well get it done while we still had protection.

    Clang!

    Grunting, I slowly moved Matsukaze forward, meter by meter. Kishimoto''s fierce barrage was wearing down the health of my Titan, but I managed to keep him in a healthy condition while closing in the distance between us. Right when Kishimoto paused, I quickly unleashed an Arc Wave to stun her Golem.

    "Whoa?!"

    Kishimoto cried out when her vision suddenly blurred, a result of the bluish-white arc of energy unleashed from my sword and smashing into her Golem. As the Golem staggered, stunned by the electromagnetic pulse, I floored the accelerator and boosted my Titan forward. The jet thrusters on Matsukaze''s back flared as he propelled toward the enemy.

    "!"

    Kishimoto managed to parry Matsukaze''s strike with a heavily armored hand. Swinging around, she tried to punch me. I instinctively yanked the gear and had Matsukaze slide backward to avoid the gigantic fist.

    That was dangerous! Even Matsukaze would be severely damaged if he tried to block that fist head-on!

    The power fists of the Dreadnaught¡­uh, I mean Golem had a damage value of 3. It would quickly shave a quarter of Matsukaze''s health if it hit. Fortunately, it was unwieldy, which meant that Kishimoto was forced to deduct 1 from her WS when using it in combat. In layman''s terms, it meant that the Golem''s attacks were slow and ponderous and thus easy for me to evade. However, the moment they landed, they would deal terrible, terrible damage.

    Fortunately, if Kishimoto''s Golem was the equivalent of a Dreadnaught, then my Titan was the equivalent of an Imperial Knight. Unfortunately, it was not the equivalent of the bigger chassis such as a Knight Paladin, Knight Warden or Knight Errant, but rather it was more appropriate to compare Matsukaze to an Armiger-class Imperial Knight such as an Armiger Warglaive. Gritting my teeth, I tried to pivot Matsukaze to stay out of Kishimoto''s range while slashing at her Golem. My sword strikes landed o the clumsy Golem, but barely scratched its thick armor.

    "This will take too much time," I muttered as perspiration dripped down my face. My attacks were barely dealing any damage to the heavily armored Golem. At this rate, it would become a battle of attrition, where my stamina was pitted against the Golem''s ridiculous durability. All it took was one mistake and my Titan would be damaged irreparably.

    Fortunately, it seemed like I wasn''t the only one getting frustrated.

    "Just die already!"

    While I continued to dance out of reach of Kishimoto''s Golem''s fists, she swung around wildly and frantically, unable to control her temper. Seething, she tried to launch a Divine Lance at close range, but I dodged that too. It was practically a Ronin-class Titan dancing around a Legion-class Titan and staying out of its aim.

    "Stop moving around! Stand still!"

    "Do you honestly expect me to stand still and let you hit me?"

    I was baffled at Kishimoto''s demands. What kind of idiot would listen to such an unreasonable request?

    Furthermore, despite costing more in points and being a bit bigger, the Armiger Warglaive¡­I mean Matsukaze was only Toughness 7 (same as the Dreadnaught¡­I mean Golem). It packed more wounds, though, but 12 weren''t that many more than 8, particularly whe I considered the devastating damage the bloody Golem could do in close combat. My Titan was less durable than a Malthas tank, with the same number of wounds.

    If Kishimoto whittled it down with a couple of attacks, the movement, speed and efficiency of my Titan would begin to degrade, thus compounding my problems. Since her Golem had less than 10 wounds, Kishimoto didn''t have to worry about degradation.

    Clang!

    "You!"

    Kishimoto hollered in frustration as I left another shallow scar on her Golem, the broadsword chipping away at its armor. Well, at least I could do some damage. If I carried on at this rate, I might be able to destroy Kishimoto in an hour or two. Relying on the auspex in my Throne Mechanicum, I mean cockpit, I continued to deliver the attacks to the same spots. As long as I concentrated my attacks there, I would eventually be able to launch a lethal strike that would take out Kishimoto''s armored Golem once and for all.

    Unfortunately, someone didn''t have the patience for that.

    "You''ll take too much time."

    "Eh?"

    I blinked when Lilith''s voice blared over the vox. Turning my head slightly, I caught sight of her striding forward, spear in hand.

    "Can you leave the diversion and attack to me? It''ll be faster that way."

    "W¡­wait a minute, your highness!"

    Elia''s voice crackled over the vox, the Captain sounding flustered and panicked.

    "Do you intend to fight that Evelyn''s Chosen''s Golem by yourself?!"

    It seemed that she was trying to stop the vampire queen, but Lilith had made her decision and overruled the infantry officer.

    "It is possible with my Crimson Blood Lance."

    "That''s certainly true¡­" I muttered. I hated to admit it, but Lilith''s curses would bypass the Golem''s armor much better than my Titan''s physical attacks.

    "If there is no problem, then I''ll go ahead."

    "Ah¡­"

    Before Elia could stop her, Lilith sprang out of the tomb. She bounded onto the wasteland, her crimson spear in her hand glowing ominously as she drew vast amounts of mana into it. It almost seemed that the space around her was distorting.

    "Your highness¡­!"

    Harker sounded like he was in awe, but at the same time I could detect the worry in his voice. The tank crew of The Blessings of the Emperor seemed to hold their breath as they bore witness to Lilith''s savage attack.

    Fast!

    I couldn''t even track her with Absolute Appraisal or the movement auspex on Matsukaze. It was almost as if Lilith had disappeared, her figure turning into a red and black blur.

    With her extraordinary speed, Lilith closed in on the Golem in an instant. Kishimoto reacted, spinning around instinctively to confront the new threat.

    "What''s this¡­?!"

    The Golem issued a mechanical roar and reared its left fist back. Turning around slowly, it unleashed a devastating blow with its massive arm, which almost resembled a gigantic battering ram that disappeared into a golden blur.

    "Watch out!"

    The fist that approached Lilith''s back seemed too close for comfort, and Sergeant Harker yelled out a warning in reflex when he witnessed that terrifying scene from within the safe confines of his Malthas tank.

    ¡­however¡­

    "Eh¡­?"

    The moment it looked as if the fist had struck, Lilith evaded it without even glancing over her shoulder.

    Her skills were incredible. She had evaded minimally without any unnecessary movements. It was impressive, considering she did that right at the last moment too. And even as Lilith evaded, she was thrusting her blood-red lance forward.

    The blinding red flashes shrieked across the air as Lilith hammered the Golem''s arm with her Crimson Blood Lance, unleashing several tiny blood-red explosions.

    "What the hell?!"

    Kishimoto swore under her breath and spun her Golem around to fully face her tiny opponent. She raised its other arm to launch a second attack, but Lilith did not budge.

    "Lilith-san! Dodge it!"

    This time, I was the one who hollered the warning, but Lilith continued to ignore me. However, she didn''t have to.

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    For some reason, the Golem''s movements stopped, probably because of Lilith''s earlier barrage, and its fist hung motionless, suspended just mere centimeters away from Lilith.

    "That''s¡­"

    I frowned as I studied the scene, and right before my eyes, Lilith launched a spectacular attack by smashing her spear right into the Golem''s chest.

    That cursed attack¡­that would bypass the Golem''s armor and strike directly into Kishimoto''s heart. The moment she pierced Kishimoto''s heart, the battle would be over.

    "AAAAAAAH!"

    A scream resounded throughout the wasteland as Kishimoto''s heart was pierced. The Golem stopped moving upon the death of its pilot.

    "Hmph."

    Lilith withdrew her spear and turned her back on the immobile Golem. Meanwhile, the rest of us watched, overawed.

    What the fuck?! An enemy that Matsukaze''s attacks could barely get through¡­Lilith defeated it in just a single instance?!

    Even though I knew of Lilith''s abilities and curse, I couldn''t help but be astonished by the insanely short amount of time she took to eliminate a hero. That was Kishimoto Hikaru, one of Evelyn''s Chosen! One of the human heroes!

    And she took just the better part of a minute to slay her!?

    Well, this takes her tally up to two. If I slack off, she''ll catch up to my achievement of scoring five kills¡­

    Not that I was trying to compete against Lilith in trying to kill more heroes, but my pride as the Hero Slayer took a hit.

    On the other hand, this solved the problem altogether. We had secured the tomb from enemy hands. The leader of the expedition, the so-called hero, Kishimoto Hikaru had been slain. Eighty percent of the human army had been annihilated. The remaining thousand or so soldiers stayed out of range, unable to approach unless they were willing to be incinerated by the steel ring of Malthas tanks I had positioned around the tomb.

    No matter how I looked at it, it was a crushing victory for the Demonic Alliance, and for Haemorage. And we achieved it without losing a single soldier.

    "Amazing!"

    "That was incredible, your highness!"

    The soldiers were cheering when they saw how easily and effortlessly Lilith had handled the fearsome Evelyn''s Chosen.

    "Well then¡­now that the main threat has been eliminated, I supposed we should go investigate the tomb. Major, do you mind lending me a platoon or two as an escort?"

    "A¡­ah, right. Captain Kratz, you heard that, right?"

    I thumbed the vox and informed Elia, but she didn''t reply. Evidently she was still stunned by Lilith''s overwhelming victory.

    "Captain?"

    "H¡­huh? O¡­oh, right! Yes, I''ll prepare the escort detail immediately!"

    I sighed and left it to her.

    "Your highness, you just finished a battle with an Evelyn''s Chosen. Would you like to rest a bit before resuming exploration of the tomb?"

    "I''m fine. I would rather get this mission done and over with."

    "Lilith-san¡­?"

    I frowned inside my cockpit when I heard Lilith''s firm tone. There was something about her behavior that seemed strange.

    Is Lilith-san¡­by any chance¡­impatient?

    Well, it made sense. Lilith probably wanted to investigate the tomb before that bastard Bradley Kreuger arrived. We couldn''t allow the ancient weapons and treasures in Alcuard''s burial ground to fall into his hands. Lilith would want to recover them before him.

    "Ku ku ku...as expected of my future wife. Your skills and combat abilities are nothing short of splendid."

    ¡­we were too late. The surviving human soldiers found themselves surrounded and trapped by Bradley Kreuger and his retinue of soldiers. They had finally arrived¡­House Kreuger''s infamous vampire knights.

    "¡­but an Evelyn''s Chosen isn''t so easily defeated, you know?"

    While I rolled my eyes at Bradley''s mocking tone, a white explosion engulfed the stationary Golem that stood in the middle of the wasteland.

    "¡­huh?"

    I gaped as the Golem self-destructed, only to reveal a golden inferno burning furiously within.

    In the middle of that inferno, the bleeding figure of Kishimoto Hikaru slowly raised her head and glared murderously at Lilith.

    "Bitch¡­I''ll fucking kill you!"

 97 Chapter 97: Divine Angel

    "You''re still alive?" Lilith murmured, scarcely able to believe her eyes. Ignoring the red-haired vampire queen, Kishimoto Hikaru continued to rage.

    "Of course I am! I''m a hero! I''m a divine hero chosen by the goddess Evelyn herself and summoned from another world! There''s no way I''ll be killed by the likes of you!"

    "That''s what Sakaguchi thought, but he still got killed by her," I muttered. Kishimoto sent me ¨C or Matsukaze ¨C a death glare, and then raised her staff.

    "Divine Angel!"

    A golden pillar of light burst from the heavens above and slammed down on her. Reacting quickly, Lilith hurled her blood-red spear at Kishimoto, but the golden barrier blocked her attack. The crimson lance slammed harmlessly against the golden pillar and ricocheted back. Lilith snatched it back from the air with a single gesture and frowned.

    "Damn¡­"

    The pillar of light solidified and turned into an angelic shape, taking up an immense size that easily towered over five meters. Its golden frame gleamed as holy light radiated from it, and glowing feathered wings stretched out from its back. Its smooth, sleek head glowed a little, light leaking out from a visor. A golden and silver lance stretched out in its right hand, its length easily twice the height of the angelic Golem.

    "Another type of Golem?" I muttered, realizing that Kishimoto was nowhere in sight. She must be inside that mechanical angel.

    "I should have known it wouldn''t be so easy to slay an Evelyn''s Chosen," Lilith added sourly before glancing at me with a shake of her head. "I have no idea how you pulled it off, Tomoyuki-kun. Taking out five of them."

    "My vengeance cannot be stopped by mortal means."

    "¡­"

    Lilith ignored my cheesy line and focused on the opponent before her. The power radiating from Kishimoto''s Divine Angel told me that it was an immensely formidable foe with enough strength to destroy a city. This was most likely Kishimoto''s trump card, her ultimate technique. As expected of a hero, it was incredibly flashy and appeared to be powerful.

    Still, I couldn''t help but feel a small amount of fear as I set my gaze on the shimmering angelic form. It was an existence that appeared to be antithesis to us demons. I could feel my hair standing on end, despite being safe inside my cockpit.

    This thing is dangerous!

    My gut was crawling with raw fear and anxiety, but I clamped down on it with military discipline and focused my attention on it. As much as I was afraid of the Angelic Golem, I was more terrified of getting summarily executed by my regimental Commissar. Should he deem me a coward or an incompetent commander, he would not hesitate to blow my brains out with his bolt pistol¡­

    ¡­uh, what?

    Besides, the Commissar got severely nerfed in eighth edition. Now their Summary Execution rule had become an And They Shall Know No Fear rule that activates at the cost of one man. At least it became optional!

    "I will smite you with the divine blessings of Evelyn!"

    Kishimoto''s voice echoed loudly from somewhere within the Divine Angel. As I suspected, it was still a mechanical Golem that required a pilot to control it. If that was the case¡­

    "¡­sir?!"

    "What the hell is that thing?!"

    "Get back to your positions! All of you!"

    Captain Elia Kratz was frantically trying to restore order and discipline in the infantry''s ranks, the demon soldiers having been sent into a panic in the presence of such a holy warrior. While they milled about and shrieked, the Divine Angel let out a melodic hum.

    "Hmm¡­"

    It sounded almost like an orchestra was playing out in the heavens, sang by an angelic choir.

    And then it kicked off the ground and disappeared.

    "?!"

    Even though Lilith was right in front of the Divine Angel and she reacted immediately to its movements, she wasn''t able to catch up to it.

    "Whoa!"

    "NOOOO!"

    Sergeant Harker and the tank crew of The Blessings of the Emperor resounded across the vox when they saw the Divine Angel appear right in front of their Malthas tank. Its lean, metallic right arm was raised, poise to swing its golden lance down to cleave the armored tank cleanly in half.

    "We''re doomed!"

    "Hedas help us!"

    The tank crew cowered and closed their eyes, awaiting the end.

    But it never came. Instead, a sharp metallic sound screeched in the air.

    "Kuh¡­?!"

    I had managed to squeeze Matsukaze between the Divine Angel and the tank and parried its golden lance with my silver broadsword.

    "Sir?!"

    "It''s fine! Fall back!"

    Harker, realizing that his tank would only get in my way, quickly barked an order to his driver. The Blessings of the Emperor immediately lurched backward, its treads squealing as they crushed the concrete that was used to construct the tomb, and then reversed to safety within the interior of the royal, majestic grave.

    "Bloody hell¡­"

    An oath escaped my lips as I fought against the controls. The servos and mechanisms of Matsukaze squeaked and protested hotly as they struggled to endure the tremendous weight of Kishimoto''s attack.

    Even though I had defended against the blow from Kishimoto''s Divine Angel with impeccable speed and timing, the power behind her strike was so strong that it was actually able to crack the blade of Matsukaze''s.

    Worse, even when forced into this position, I still was unable to stop it completely.

    "Come on, come on, come on!"

    Growling under my breath, I shifted Matsukaze into high gear to boost the power behind my own attack. This had to be at least 10,000 horsepower or something, a strike that was enough to cleave a building into two. That was the amount of force I was pouring into Matsukaze, in order to obliterate the foe before me.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t work. Instead, the small cracks on Matsukaze''s blade expanded into massive webs that began snapping ominously.

    At this rate¡­my sword will break!

    The moment I realized danger¡­

    BOOM!

    A powerful plasma shot was emitted from The Blessings of the Emperor. The turret weapon unleashed a stream of superheated plasma that steaked toward the Divine Angel. At that moment, when Kishimoto recognized there was immense danger of getting incinerated by the powerful weapon, she lashed out with her Divine Angel''s other arm. While I blocked the blow, the Divine Angel used the recoil to leap back and evaded the plasma blast.

    "Are you all right, sir?"

    "Yeah¡­but watch out!"

    My warning came out almost too late. While avoiding the plasma blast, the Divine Angel had managed to close in on the hapless Malthas tank, obviously to wreck it in close combat. The tank quickly reversed, its hull lascannon unleashing a desperate shot as overwatch and narrowly missing the charging Divine Angel.

    At that moment, the Divine Angel suddenly paused and jumped back, only to avoid a blood-red lance from Lilith. Using the opportunity that the vampire queen had granted them, The Blessings of the Emperor hastily retreated further. At the same time, the Divine Angel retreated, opening up a huge distance between itself and my forces.

    I sighed in relief when I saw that I still hadn''t lost any of my men or tanks. I was grateful to Lilith for saving my subordinates.

    "Thank you, your highness."

    "It''s nothing. Save your thanks for after we win this battle."

    Lilith''s expression was grim and pale. Her pretty face was dripping with perspiration from the exertion, and she actually looked a little taken aback by the power of Kishimoto''s Divine Angel. I didn''t blame her.

    Even I was astonished by how much faster and powerful it was than the Light Golem that Kishimoto summoned prior. Why didn''t Kishimoto summon this from the start? She could have easily gotten a huge advantage.

    Well, nobody uses their trump card right from the beginning ¨C to give away their ultimate technique right at the start of the game, it will allow others to come up with a countermeasure. It''s usually something reserved for a moment where you can suddenly turn the tables and take the opponent completely by surprise.

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    Or some stupid logic like that. I didn''t know.

    While we continued to track the moments of the Divine Angel, we suddenly heard the unsheathing of a sword from behind.

    "Well then, it''s my turn soon, I guess."

    The owner of the voice was the commander of the Kreuger retinue that had finally caught up to us, Bradley Kreuger.

    He and his forces were positioned slightly behind the Divine Angel. A blood-red and black sword glowed eerily in his hand as he fully drew it and raised it toward the night sky. It seemed to be drinking the gentle moonlight, its bloodthirsty power growing with each passing second.

    "That''s¡­"

    All the soldiers present, despite keeping an eye on the Divine Angel, couldn''t help but be drawn toward the magnificent sight of the demonic sword.

    The demonic sword, Azreal Drakkan.

    Bradley''s demonic sword, which could only be used against high-ranking opponents even during mock battles in Haecient. It was the weapon wielded by the man known as the third-ranked vampire knight in all of Haemorage.

    "Fuhahahahahaha!"

    Why the fuck was he laughing? I couldn''t help but roll my eyes at his pompous, self-important laughter. I hoped he would get his ass kicked by the Divine Angel.

    Just when the mean thought crossed my mind, I saw two gigantic streams of blood-red projectiles swirl above his sword.

    Oh boy¡­that was an exclusive, special powerful blood spell that could be cast only by the use of Azreal Drakkan.

    The two projectiles seemed to suck in all the surrounding mana and expanded to such bright, glowering forms that they resembled miniature suns. The flaming blood projectiles spun around the sword rapidly before being slung from the blade and toward the Divine Angel.

    However, despite the two immense spells surging toward the Divine Angel at incredible speed, Kishimoto managed to pilot her mecha deftly to avoid the twin spells by just a hair''s breadth. The mecha soared into the sky, its wings spreading gloriously.

    "Whoa!"

    "Aaaaaah!"

    The soldiers in the tomb shouted in panic and dove for cover. The gargantuan spells, having missed the Divine Angel, had slammed right into the immense structure. Despite evading the attacks, my men were shaken or grazed by falling debris. I heard shouts for medics over the vox, but fortunately it didn''t seem that anyone had been wounded seriously.

    Bradley shamelessly turned toward me and smiled, despite his spells having been completely evaded by the Divine Angel.

    "How''s that, Major? How about playing a game with me? It''ll be a match between the two of us to see who will be able to defeat that Evelyn''s Chosen first. If you can defeat her before me, I''ll count it as your victory at this point of time and withdraw that duel''s promise."

    "Quit joking, Lord Kreuger!"

    Before I could offer up a sarcastic reply, Elia cut in angrily.

    "You put my men in danger! You almost killed a few of my squads with friendly fire! And you''re causing collateral damage to the tomb! This is not a game!"

    However, Bradley simply ignored Elia''s rage and continued.

    "Are you not confident of besting me? Tomoyuki Tanaka."

    "Oh, no. I''m not confident," I replied dangerously through gritted teeth. Bradley chuckled at that and shook his head.

    "Really? You''re admitting it?"

    I smiled even though my expression was hidden inside my cockpit.

    "I''m not confident I''ll be able to hold back and accidentally injure you."

    Cold fury gripped my heart. I didn''t care about his duel or attitude of treating this whole thing as a game. I knew he was probably serious, but that wasn''t the issue.

    No, rather, this bastard launched his spells right at the tomb, where my men were positioned. He almost injured my subordinates severely with friendly fire. If, by chance, something was to happen, this fucker would definitely cover everything up under the guise of an "accident."

    Fine by me. If he wanted to play it that way, I was going to ensure that an accident happened too. And that the poor noble from House Kreuger ended up crippled¡­or better yet, dead. From an "accident", you understand.

    Unfortunately, before I could deliver that threat¡­

    "Could you please stop fooling around?"

    Lilith had strode right to my side, interrupting the conversation with an unusually serious and grim voice.

    "Kuku, that''s quite the cold attitude, my future wife. But I''ll allow it. It''s why you''re someone worth conquering."

    Bradley gently placed his other hand on Lilith''s shoulder.

    Lilith merely shrugged it off calmly and took a deep breath.

    "I''ll take care of the enemy and destroy her before you do. If I succeed, then there won''t be any problem, right?"

    "I would very much prefer to personally kick that guy''s ass in a duel," I muttered in response to Lilith''s cool declaration.

    "Ooh, how impressive. So you still have energy to spare, huh?"

    "Your highness! Please don''t act recklessly! Temporarily retreat and allow us to deal with the present threat!"

    Elia tried to convince the vampire queen to fall back, but Lilith shook her head as she hefted up her spear.

    "It''s all right. I will not cause you any trouble with my recklessness this time. Besides, time is short."

    Lilith maintained that calm expression of hers, even as she charged forward. The Divine Angel watched her closely, but didn''t move.

    Kishimoto seemed to have some sort of plan. I couldn''t help but feel a sense of premonition as I watched Lilith barrel forward.

    "Crimson Blood Lance."

    Lilith reared her arm back and got ready to pierce the Divine Angel with her cused spear. I could see immense amounts of blood-red mana flowing into her spear, distorting the space around her as she charged forward.

    Instead of retreating, Kishimoto had her Divine Angel launch forward and close the distance between them.

    "This time for sure¡­I''ll pierce your heart and kill you once and for all."

    Lilith skidded to a stop and thrust her spear forward at the onrushing Divine Angel.

    The spear that bypassed all manners of armor and defensive spells¡­

    ¡­should have pierced through the golden armor of the Divine Angel and lance through Kishimoto''s heart. Should have, but¡­

    "?!"

    Lilith blinked in disbelief.

    Her spear¡­it had stopped against the Divine Angel''s chest without penetrating it. And the Divine Angel continued to barrel forward, swinging its own golden and silver lance in retaliation. Evidently, Kishimoto was still alive.

    "My curse¡­didn''t work?!"

    "Of course not!"

    Kishimoto''s voice rang out of the Divine Angel''s cockpit, along with laughter.

    "Your cursed spear might be terrifying, but the Divine Protection of my Divine Angel protects me from all curses!"

    Stunned, Lilith looked up, but there was no way she would be able to defend herself in time. The much larger, titanic form of Kishimoto''s Divine Angel was upon her, raising its lance to run her through. Lilith gritted her teeth and agitatedly withdrew her spear to defend herself, but its tiny size wouldn''t be able to hold back Kishimoto''s enormous weapon.

    She would be sliced through in an instant!

    Clang!

    I managed to block the Divine Angel''s lance, but at the cost of my sword. The blade of Matsukaze''s broadsword shattered before my very eyes, turning into shards. The lance slammed into my Titan, taking out a huge chunk of his right arm.

    But with his left arm, Matsukaze scooped up Lilith and used the momentum of the attack to spin away from Kishimoto''s Divine Angel.

    "Lilith-san! Are you all right?!"

    Any reply she would have uttered was drowned out by panicked cries and a bombardment from my men.

    "Sir!"

    "Cover the Major!"

    "Save her highness!"

    "Distract the Evelyn''s Chosen so that the Major can bring her highness back to safety!"

    The tanks and heavy weapon teams opened up with a ferocious bombardment, showering the Divine Angel with superheated plasma.

    However, that barrage of plasma, which was enough to lay waste to the barren land and melt a crater ten meters wide, was completely evaded. The Divine Angel flew smoothly through the hail of plasma, emerging unscathed.

    "No way¡­!"

    "Impossible!"

    While my soldiers reeled in disbelief, unable to digest the true extent of the formidable enemy''s power¡­

    "¡­good grief. It seems that my assistance is necessary after all."

    Bradley shook his head and raised his sword. The same spell that he had conjured earlier blasted forward, but the Divine Angel naturally dodged it with a speed that belied its huge frame. However¡­

    "Aaaah!"

    Kishimoto suddenly shrieked. I glanced back at her Divine Angel, only to see a blood lance sticking out of its chest.

    "¡­huh?"

    It wasn''t just me. Lilith and all my soldiers were speechless at the incredible sight.

    No one had noticed the blood lance that Bradley had summoned and hurled at the Divine Angel. But now we saw that the ground all around Bradley Kreuger was saturated with blood, which all grew and turned into spikes and lances. With a smirk, Bradley bombarded the stunned Divine Angel with so many lances that the blood projectiles literally filled the sky.

    Even with her immense agility and speed, Kishimoto wasn''t able to evade all of them, and her Divine Angel was pierced in several places. Smoking from the penetrated areas, the wrecked mecha teetered and crashed heavily onto the ground.

    Everyone watched it with bated breath, but the Divine Angel merely lay on the ground, not moving at all.

    "This game¡­it''s my victory, right? Hero Slayer."

    Bradley''s last two words were dripping with scorn as he sneered, and he glanced in my and Lilith''s direction with an oily smile.

    However, I paid no attention to his bragging.

    "Impossible¡­I¡­"

    Although Lilith''s voice was calm as usual, her expression was shaken. Clearly, it was rare for her to be so utterly unable to fight an enemy. Not only that, Bradley had taken out the same enemy that had thwarted her attemtps in less than a minute, with seemingly no effort at all. Consequently, her usual composure had been shaken.

    "Kuhahaha! As expected, there is nobody who can match me, Tomoyuki Tanaka."

    Bradley''s shrill laughter echoed throughout the barren land surrounding the tomb. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

    "Yeah, yeah. You''re so strong. Unfortunately, it''s not over yet."

    As I expected, Kishimoto didn''t go down that easily. Her Divine Angel had forcibly staggered to its feet and was ripping away the blood lances and projectiles that pierced its body. The shredded armor began to glow and regenerate.

    Well, nothing less from a hero, I suppose¡­

    Unable to endure Bradley''s gloating, I decided to dive in and finish the Divine Angel off. Unslinging the triple barrel shotgun from Matsukaze''s back, I squeezed the trigger to pump the hero''s mecha full of shells.

    At the same time, Bradley unleashed his spells and barrage of blood lances. I noticed, thanks to Matsukaze''s sensor array, that they were all headed right at me.

    I knew it. The guy is really trying to create an "accident", huh?

    Unfortunately, there was one thing he didn''t know.

    I slammed my foot down on the accelerator to its limits, and Matsukaze disappeared into a quantum dimension. Using Phase Dash, I blurred out of existence and materialized right behind the Divine Angel.

    Consequently, the spells and blood lances slammed into the Divine Angel instead.

    "Great shooting, Lord Kreuger!" I shouted gleefully. "I knew our coordination was flawless!"

    "Backstabbing betrayer!" Kishimoto snarled and spun around to launch a Divine Lance at the astonished Bradley, who had become dumbfounded because he didn''t expect his attacks to hit the Divine Angel instead.

    "Gaaah!"

    The resulting explosion threw the hapless Bradley back. At the same time, it seemed that the stunned Lilith might get caught up in it, so I boosted forward and caught her, shielding her from the explosions with Matsukaze''s titanium frame.

    "Hmph."

    As I did so, Kishimoto ran Matsukaze through with the Divine Angel''s golden and silver lance. Sparks flew and my cockpit caved in as the devastating weapon smashed through the center of Matsukaze, causing catastrophic damage.

    "And you''ll die, fucking Tanaka."

    The Divine Angel''s head leaned forward, and I could hear Kishimoto hissing from its speakers. She twisted the lance to emphasize her words.

    "Finally! We''ll finally be rid of your lame puns and stupid self! Kobayashi-kun will reward me greatly! Ha ha ha ha!"

    "Critical damage. Eject, eject, eject¡­"

    While Kishimoto gloated triumphantly, Matsukaze''s mechanical voice calmly repeated his advice. I sighed.

    "Guess I have no choice."

    Grabbing the strap beneath my seat, I yanked it. As I did so, I caught sight of one last message from Matsukaze, the digital words appearing on my holographic screen.

    Avenge me.

    I chuckled and shook my head. I certainly will, Matsukaze.

    The next thing I knew, I was blasted out of my cockpit. As I hurtled skyward, I reached out and grabbed the hapless Lilith, who was still mounted atop my Titan when I sought to protect her. Her expression transformed entirely as she was dragged toward the heavens along with me while my seat blasted upward thanks to the ejection mechanism.

    "Whoa¡­whoa?!"

    "Sorry¡­got to grab you, because my Matsukaze is gonna go boom."

    "Huh?!"

    I ignored Lilith''s baffled expression and glanced down at Matsukaze, whose plasma core was glowing white-hot.

    Before this battle, I had customized my Titan accordingly and selected the Nuclear Eject option. Thanks to that, Matsukaze was going to go nuclear the moment I ejected from him.

    Which was¡­right now.

    Matsukaze detonated right in front of the Divine Angel, which was still holding onto him with its spear. Unable to disengage or yank out its spear from the doomed Titan, the Divine Angel lost the opportunity to escape. Instead, it was swallowed by a scorching torrent that billowed upward in the form of a mushroom cloud.

    A thermonuclear inferno ravaged the ground, leaving a molten crater behind. The flames engulfed the entire area, stopping short of the tomb. Fortunately, my men and tanks were safely tucked away behind the formidable walls of the grave, and were thus protected from the plasma explosion.

    I was satisfied to see Bradley get blasted and buffeted by the superheated shockwaves and thrown back at his forces, who were forced to retreat from the ferocious inferno. As for Kishimoto and the Divine Angel, there was no sign of them left. They had completely been disintegrated by the blast, especially since Matsukaze blew up at pointblank range.

    With her utter destruction, there was no way for the Divine Angel to regenerate in a fashion similar to when it repaired itself after Bradley Kreuger''s attack. As if to confirm my point, I heard a chime and a blue holographic window appeared in front of me.

    Title: Hero Slayer.

    Present record ¨C Six heroes killed.

    Attaboy. I actually did it. That was nine former classmates down and ten left to go.

    However, before I could celebrate my achievement, I realized that I was descending back into the nuclear explosion.

    Whoops¡­my mistake.

    Cursing under my breath, I did my best to shield Lilith from the tremendous blast and impact.

    Superheated flames rushed around me, burning through all twelve layers of my Redwood jacket (come on, it was a bloody nuclear explosion) in an instant. The immense shockwaves slammed the breath out of my body, crushing my lungs and heart. I desperately embraced the astonished Lilith to protect her as best as I could.

    And then¡­I finally lost consciousness.

 98 Chapter 98: Inside the tomb

    "¡­this place is¡­"

    I stared at my classroom dumbly, unable to believe where I was. For some reason, I was back in my classroom, the place where this whole story began. The voices of my classmates filled my ears as they chattered incessantly.

    "Tanaka."

    I froze when I heard the cold, sneering voice of Kobayashi Kenji. Turning around, I spotted him, Kijima Takeshi and Yamada Yuji strolling toward me. I recognized this situation immediately ¨C it was my daily occurrence in the classroom, prior to being summoned to another world.

    Wait, if that was the case¡­

    Relaxing, I balled my fists and readied to fight. In this classroom, we didn''t have special abilities or heroic powers. Kobayashi wouldn''t have his cheats. He would just be a normal student who could easily be taken down with a few punches and kicks.

    "How can I help you?"

    Feigning politeness, I steeled myself for the conflict ahead.

    "Move aside. You''re in our way."

    "¡­huh?"

    Blinking in surprise, I took a step back, only to hear a whimper behind me.

    "H¡­help¡­"

    Turning around, I caught sight of Domon Daisuke. He was cowering at his desk, hiding his head under his hands.

    "What are you waiting for? Move aside. Unless you want to get beaten in Domon''s place?"

    Kobayashi narrowed his eyes at me. I responded with a blank stare as my head tried to reel in my current circumstances.

    "Oh."

    I finally understood. This was a bloody flashback. The last thing I remembered was getting thrown about by my own nuclear ejection, disintegrating Kishimoto Hikaru and then losing consciousness. Shortly after that, I was watching a dream from the past.

    Right¡­come on, this is so clich¨¦. A bloody flashback in the form of a dream? This never happens. Dreams are often subconscious figments that might mix a bit of my memories within them, but they never replicate reality completely.

    Nope, flashback dreams were convenient plot devices used by authors to reveal the past or a backstory of a character. They honestly didn''t exist in reality. Unfortunately, it did seem like I was mired in a joke of a story and being forced to dance to the whim of an author.

    "Ha¡­"

    I sighed and shook my head. Since I was stuck in a flashback, I might as well play my part. Besides, I enjoyed bashing Kobayashi''s face in, even if he was just a product of my dream. Hmm, that made me sound like a bully, but I guess I was a bully. As Irrational said on Discord, I wasn''t a victim. I was just as bad as the bullies who picked on me.

    There was no point waiting for someone to save me. The authorities wouldn''t help me ¨C since Kobayashi''s grandfather was the board chairman, he had the teachers all under his thumb and too afraid to punish him. My classmates were more likely to join the abuse than to stop it. In the end, the only person I could rely on was myself.

    "No."

    With a roar, Kobayashi punched me. Fortunately, my reflexes were quick. I dodged his fist and countered with a kick, knocking him back. Growling, Kijima lunged at me, but I spun around and struck his head with my foot, the ferocious strike sending him sprawling on the ground.

    "¡­he¡­he killed him!"

    "Kyaaaaah!"

    "No!"

    "Kijiima-kun is dead¡­Tanaka-kun killed him!"

    My classmates were in an uproar, screaming and shrieking in panic when they saw the blood oozing from Kijima''s head. The guy himself was not moving.

    "Murderer!"

    "Killer!"

    "Somebody call the police!"

    While my classmates milled about fearfully, grabbing their cellphones and hurriedly dialing, I stared at the scene, bemused.

    "Huh¡­I don''t remember this happening."

    Of course not. This was just a dream. It wasn''t real. In reality, I wasn''t that strong in the past. It had erupted into a brawl¡­an ugly dogfight where I plowed right into Kijima and Yamada and wrestled with them, only for the three of us to roll on the ground like¡­beasts. It was only until the teacher arrived that we finally stopped slugging each other in a childish, amateurish manner. At that time, I had no knowledge of martial arts or fighting, so obviously I wouldn''t be able to pull of such graceful kicks that would make a martial artist proud.

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    "You killed Takeshi."

    The ominous voice sent a chill down my spine. Turning around apprehensively, I spotted Kobayashi slowly getting to his feet. Even though this was a dream, I couldn''t help but instinctively feel a stab of fear. There was something very different about Kobayashi.

    Furthermore, in my dream, I couldn''t use any magic or any of the skills or abilities I obtained in Restia. Yet¡­even though Kobayashi should be in the same situation as me, was emanating a terrifying aura.

    "What the hell¡­?"

    I murmured, only for Kobayashi''s eyes to turn black. He was grinning manically, the flesh being pulled tight over his skull, and his body morphing and transforming. His hands lengthened and liquefied, his skin bubbling as millions of¡­something crawled beneath them. He was growing, towering over me as his bones snapped and cracked, shifting and changing shape beneath his stretching flesh. His teeth were sharpening, and dozens of mouths opened all over his body, slavering and snapping underneath his tearing uniform.

    "¡­oh, God-Emperor, please protect me¡­"

    The prayer left my lips before I even realized it. Kobayashi grinned down on me, his eyes as black as an endless abyss.

    "Resistance is futile, little vampire. All shall fall to Chaos in the end." The mouth extended across Kobayashi''s rippling face, the edges slitting across his misshapen cheeks to curve into a grotesque grin full of dagger-like teeth and multiple forked tongues. "None can resist the primordial force that is us. Chaos shall claim all."

    "HOLY TERRA!" I yelped as the Chaos Kobayashi-thing pounced on me, its multitude of claws lashing out to scythe me into pieces¡­

    *

    "Emperor save me!"

    I jolted awake, screaming in anguish as tears poured down from my eyes. Heaving heavily, I shook my head and tried to clear my groggy mind of the confusion.

    "Ugh¡­"

    As I sat up, I realized just how stiff my body was. A dull pain throbbed across my torso, making me feel as if I had broken something. Maybe a couple of cracked ribs. I wouldn''t be surprised. Fortunately, my Regeneration was kicking in to purge the pain and heal whatever broken bones I sustained during the explosion.

    "What the fuck was that nightmare about?" I murmured as I slowly returned to full wakefulness. It didn''t feel like an ordinary dream, but a premonition¡­something that left a deep sense of unease in my heart.

    However, that wasn''t the most important thing at the moment.

    "¡­?! That''s right¡­what happened to everybody?!"

    The memories returned in a painful bang and I forced myself to stand up despite the pain surging through my body, only to see¡­

    "¡­huh?"

    I gaped at my surroundings. Certainly, this wasn''t what I expected to see when I woke up.

    All around me was a thick thicket of grass that grew rampantly, occasionally interspersed with rugged, huge rocks, and sheltered by towering trees. Peering through the dense cluster of trees, I could barely make out a massive lake that stretched across the forest. Above, gentle light illuminated the woods, emananated from the ceiling that looked more artificial than natural.

    Evidently I had crashed into the wilderness shortly after ejecting from my Titan. But the tomb was surrounded by a barren wasteland, so how the heck did I get blown so far away?!

    "Where the hell is this place?!"

    "Probably¡­inside King Alucard''s tomb."

    "Whoa!?"

    I jumped in shock when the feminine voice suddenly spoke up behind me. My heart pounding, I slowly turned around, only to catch sight of Lilith, who was wearing her black dress and combat gear. Her crimson spear was slung onto her back, its sharp tip gleaming in the soft light.

    "I understand that you''re feeling somewhat anxious right now, but do not shout so loudly like that. I still have yet to fully grasp our situation, so it could be dangerous."

    "Ah, sorry¡­"

    Scratching my head, I bowed apologetically to Lilith. Relief filled my chest when I saw that she had returned to her usual, calm and composed self. It was a stark contrast to her behavior earlier, when she failed to pierce the Divine Angel with her spear.

    "What the hell happened?! If I remember correctly, I blew up Kishimoto¡­uh, the Evelyn''s Chosen by self-destructing my Titan''s nuclear-powered core."

    "Immediately after the explosion, the tomb glowed and it seemed that everyone in its immediate surroundings was sucked into its interior. It''s also only just a little while ago when I woke up."

    Sighing, Lilith explained and sat down beside me.

    "Thanks to you protecting me, it seems like I''m fine. Thank you."

    "Ah, no, don''t worry about it. I''m just glad Lilith-san is safe."

    I breathed a sigh of relief myself. Rubbing my forehead, I glanced around and adjusted my glasses. It seemed that whatever wild monsters hadn''t bothered us when we crashed here. Taking a deep breath, I reached for my inventory and retrieved necessary tools and equipment that I brought along for the investigation.

    Good thing I put it in my mobile storage space¡­come to think of it, it''s amazing that this mobile storage space still works in here.

    Fortunately it worked, or I would be in trouble. If I had just lugged it along, I would most probably have lost it during the battle with Kishimoto. The mobile storage space was definitely the most convenient system for explorers and soldiers.

    "Other than us, it appears that several members of your battalion were also sucked in, but other than that, I don''t know the details."

    "Well, now that we''ve defeated the human army and Kishimoto¡­the Evelyn''s Chosen, I guess we might as well proceed to the next phase of our mission."

    I brought my hand up and activated a hologram. The 3D schematic of the tomb materialized and hovered in front of me and I studied it briefly. Like I remembered, there were certain gates at particular points of the tomb. If I could locate them, I might be able to meet up with the rest of my battalion. Unfortunatey, the schematic didn''t indicate our current position. Unlike modern technology back in my world, we didn''t have satellites or global positioning systems. We were practically blind and lost inside the vast space of the tomb.

    "Once we''ve finished defending the tomb, the first phase for the secondary objective would be to proceed to the altar in the center¡­where the actual coffin of King Alucard is, along with all the treasures and weapons. Upon reaching the destination, we are to spend a maximum of two hours investigating the altar before returning to the gate in the internal section. If we do that, we should be able to meet up with your battalion."

    Despite not being part of the strategy meeting or my command staff, Lilith seemed to have familiarized herself with our operating procedures.

    "Yes. But now¡­"

    We didn''t expect such an incident to occur, and our separation from my battalion was certainly unplanned for. Everything that was happening now was completely different from what we had planned.

    As Helmuth von Moltke once said, no battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.

    Moreover, as much as I wanted to reunite with my battalion, and even elements of my soldiers were scattered across the unimaginable vast tomb. Without knowing where the rest of my men were, or even how many of them were sucked into this space, it would be difficult to plan our next step. Particularly since I was worried about my battalion and wanted to prioritize their safety over the secondary objective.

    "Well then¡­let''s head to the altar at the center tomorrow. Everyone will surely gather there too."

    I glanced up when Lilith offered a proposal. She glanced back at me, her calm eyes slightly filled with concern.

    "Is your body all right, Tomoyuki-kun?"

    "Yes, it won''t be long before I fully regenerate." I stretched and tested my body to make sure I was healing up all right. "But what about you? Are you all right?"

    "What do you mean?"

    I hesitated a little when I saw the serious expression on Lilith''s face. Then I glanced away, distracting myself by staring at the blue-tinted holographic model of the tomb in front of me before returning my stern gaze to Lilith''s face.

    If we were in perfect condition, then of course we should go ahead and investigate the tomb. There was no questioning that.

    However, I was worried about my men, and if they had suffered any casualties. If I had lost quite a few men from my own blast (which I doubted, because they were well protected by the tomb''s thick walls and well outside the explosion radius), then I would immediately cancel the investigation and call a retreat so that they could receive medical treatment as quickly as possible.

    Such a scenario would prompt us to proceed toward the nearest gate that led to the outer layers of the tomb and regroup with the rest of the battalion as soon as possible, instead of heading deeper into the core of the tomb.

    Moreover, I was most concerned about¡­

    "We shouldn''t overdo it. Um¡­now that I think about it, don''t we still have that duel tomorrow night? Furthermore, you''re pretty exhausted, aren''t you? Lilith-san?"

    I still remembered Lilith''s mishap earlier. Not only that, I also recalled how flustered she was upon her failure, her usually calm and composed demeanor cracking under duress. It was rare to see her break down like that.

    What Lilith desired should be the cancellation of the engagement proposal selfishly forced upon her. As such, she should not overexert herself during this mission and instead preserve her strength in order to win the duel against Bradley and Claire McAlterize.

    Yet, Lilith risked a lot trying to defeat Kishimoto Hikaru just a while ago. I couldn''t help but feel uneasy over her reckless behavior, which was totally unlike her at all.

    "It''s all right. At that time, I was just a little tired, and I''m not hurt at all. What about you?"

    Fortunately, it appeared that Lilith had restored her composure and she was addressing me in a rather calm manner. Too calm, in fact, when I considered our current predicament. Repressing a sigh, I shook my head.

    "I''m also all right. Seems like I''m fully healed."

    Regeneration was an amazing thing. My Redwood jacket had also regenerated its defensive barriers, so I shouldn''t have to worry about getting injured unless I was facing something that packed the punch of a nuclear explosion.

    Like my Titan''s nuclear eject, for example.

    It''ll also be a while before I can summon Matsukaze again.

    I sighed. Self-destructing Matsukaze was a great idea to annihilate my enemy, but I would need to recast the spell to summon him again. That meant more time and mana. I could speed the summoning process up through combat, but it might be too late by then.

    Fortunately, I still had my Blood Dragon Sword sheathed by my side. If need be, I could unleash techniques that were on par with or even surpass Matsukaze''s power.

    "I''m sorry about your Golem. All because you protected me¡­"

    I glanced up when Lilith apologized and hastily shook my head.

    "N¡­no, we were both safe. That''s what matters the most. Besides, I can always summon Matsukaze again. It''ll just take a bit more time and energy."

    Considering the opponent we were up against, and how we were almost overwhelmed by her Divine Angel, sacrificing Matsukaze was totally worth it.

    However, on the other hand, I had revealed one of my trump cards in front of Bradley Kreuger, who was my opponent for the duel tomorrow. The guy would most definitely come up with a countermeasure for my Titan.

    "If you''re not in prime condition, it really is fine if you head to the gate connecting to the other chambers of the tomb. You shouldn''t push yourself. I''ll be all right going alone."

    Lilith''s tone was sincere and filled with concern. I understood that she wasn''t making fun of me or looking down on me for being weak. She genuinely was worried about my condition. However, that only made me uneasier.

    "N¡­no! I''ll also go with you! I can''t let you go alone, Lilith-san!"

    "¡­thank you."

    When I vehemently insisted on following her, Lilith smiled in relief. My heart skipped a beat as I squirmed under her feverish gaze, only for her to launch into another question.

    "By the way, Tomoyuki-kun¡­are you good at cooking outdoors?"

    "Not really¡­I guess I can if I have to."

    Lilith nodded as she glanced up at the ceiling that stretched above the forest we were currently inside.

    "I don''t know the theory behind it, but within this tomb, it appears to operate on a system where it replicates the time outside. Basically, when it becomes dark outside, it will also become dark inside here. At this rate, it will be night soon."

    "It already is night," I muttered grumpily. The human forces had attacked the tomb at evening, and I was out for at least an hour or so. It wouldn''t surprise me if it was already night. In fact, the ceiling was dimming to adjust to the time outside.

    Right, it was essentially approaching summer, so sunset had moved back to almost 9pm. No wonder it still seemed so bright despite being so late.

    "Regarding the schematics and information from the archives and historians, it is possible to procure firewood and other camping necessities from the forest inside the tomb. I believe this was recorded in the notes, right?"

    "Ah, yeah¡­"

    I agreed anxiously. Lilith had suddenly returned to her usual self, almost as if her breakdown earlier had never happened.

    "And¡­it is necessary to secure drinking water. I believe the schematics have marked down locations of drinkable water springs. Do you mind sending the holographic schematics to my communication device?"

    "You don''t have them?" I was astonished. Why didn''t the queen herself receive the schematics? "I''ll send them right away."

    "Thank you. I''ll watch over the baggage in the nearby vicinity. I''m counting on you, Tomoyuki-kun."

    "..."

    Lilith was already giving orders like the queen she was, asserting her authority and giving me no chance to protest or argue. Sighing, I consented.

    "I understand. I''ll be right back. Please be careful, Lilith-san."

    There was no reason for me to go against her instructions. Furthermore, it had been a while since Lilith behaved like herself, so I had no complaints. It was good to see her return to normal. Listening to her once in a while was worth it.

    "Thank you, Tomoyuki-kun. You''re such a reliable guy."

    Lilith gave me a bright smile. I frowned, knowing that she had me dancing in the palm of her hand and led me around, but decided to let it go.

    While the pain had faded, the fatigue stubbornly clung on. Fighting off my weariness, I proceeded to collect firewood and drinking water. Once I completed my tasks, I returned to Lilith''s position and decided to rest for the day.

    Glancing up at the dimming ceiling, I noticed that there was no sun in the tomb. Nonetheless, the light of the ceiling gradually disappeared and was replaced by darkness, almost as if it was imitating the sunset outside.

    We made a small campfire near the lake and constructed a simple tent by stretching a sheet of canvas between trees and using rocks to weigh it down. Then we began to eat our combat rations and restored our energy through a sip from tiny vials of blood.

    Well¡­we were vampires, after all¡­

    Once we finished our basic dinner, we were finally able to relax a little.

    "I wonder if everyone is safe¡­"

    I couldn''t help but be anxious about my battalion. As their commanding officer, I was responsible for their wellbeing, welfare and lives. It irked me to be forced apart from them like this for the second time in a couple of weeks.

    Elia, Ben, Gio and the infantry should have probably been sucked into the tomb, but I didn''t know for sure. I doubted the armor company had been drawn into the tomb or I would have heard the growling engines of the tanks and the unmistakable noises of treads chewing over rock and wood. They would be far too obvious to conceal inside this forest.

    "They should be. If we had tracking magic, we would be able to track down the positions of your men¡­but neither of us has the ability to cast such spells."

    "In other words, the only plan for us left is to advance to the altar at the center. If we''re lucky, we''ll be able to meet up with them there¡­"

    "..."

    The two of us sank into silence once more. While I was lost in my thoughts, I noticed there wasn''t even the sounds of bugs buzzing or crickets¡­or even frogs. The whole forest was quiet, as if there was no animal living inside it.

    But there wasn''t the case. I could sense¡­living creatures dwelling inside the forest. Their blood, their scent, their temperatures. They were definitely lurking in the forest somewhere. They only kept their distance from us because we didn''t bother them.

    So I ignored them and shifted my mind to the matter at hand. Glancing at Lilith, I recalled that she did not have quite the good relationship with the Scarlet family, especially her uncle who was the head of the vampire elder council in Hacient.

    Moreover, she was also strangely obsessed with the investigation of this particular tomb. And it had nothing to do with Alucard being her ancestor. She didn''t seem to care about Alucard himself but rather she was more concerned with the contents of the tomb.

    I wonder why¡­

    "We should decide on the order of who gets to be the lookout and who gets to sleep first."

    Lillith''s voice cut my thoughts off.

    I nodded. That was a prudent measure. There were ferocious carnivorous monsters inhabiting the forest inside the tomb, serving as some sort of guardians to keep intruders out. As long as we didn''t bother them, the monsters theoretically wouldn''t attack us, but there was still the possibility they would capitalize an opportunity to attack while we were asleep, so we couldn''t let our guard down either. It was important to maintain vigilance of our surroundings.

    "I''ll take the first lookout," I volunteered. "Lilith-san, please go ahead and sleep. You''ve been through quite a lot today."

    Lilith quietly nodded at my suggestion.

    "Understood. Make sure you wake me up after a couple of hours. Don''t push yourself. You''ve also put yourself through plenty today."

    As she lay down on the sheet that we placed under the shelter of our makeshift tent, she suddenly turned back to me with a smile.

    "Don''t assault me, okay?"

    I stared at her blankly.

    "Why would I assault you?"

    Lilith sighed. "I meant sexual assault. I''m a girl and you''re a guy, and we''re alone. It''s not unusual for you to succumb to lust¡­"

    "As attractive and beautiful as you are, even I''m not depraved enough to attack the queen of the vampire kingdom. I would much rather keep my limbs and body intact and in one piece."

    A vein twitched in Lilith''s brow and she shook her head in resignation. "I''m just teasing you."

    I knew that, but I was in no mood to play along. The best way to counter teasing would be to take her words literally and turn them back on her.

    "But¡­"

    Lilith smiled brilliantly.

    "Thanks for the praise."

    "??"

    "You called me attractive and beautiful. I''m honored."

    I shrugged. "Just saying the truth."

    Lilith stared at me. "You''re a natural playboy, you know?"

    "Hah!" I snorted at that. That would be the day. All the girls in class hated my guts, most girls found me creepy, and the girls I had a crush on avoided me like the plague while accusing me of stalking them.

    Nope, I would never be popular with girls. Not once in my lifetime.

    "Well then¡­good night."

    Despite reading my disbelieving expression, Lilith wasn''t in the mood to argue with me and she closed her eyes. She turned her back on me, and in a few moments, her breathing slowed down. Without looking, I immediately knew that she had fallen asleep.

    She was really exhausted, huh?

    I glanced at her sympathetically, and then sighed. Glancing up at the now dark ceiling, I narrowed my eyes.

    "Alucard''s tomb, huh¡­?"

    I wondered what secrets lay within the grave of the vaunted ancient vampire king, who was revered as a battle god who led the fight against an earlier generation of Evelyn''s Chosen. From what I had read, he was practically a godlike existence and near unkillable.

    Unfortunately, even the most powerful Demon Lord or invincible Vampire King still fell to the miraculous existences that were the heroes. The heroes were supposed to be entities that could turn the tables on the most tyrannical demonic monarches and bring hope to human kingdoms wallowing in despair, saving them from the ultimate villains. That was the job of a hero, after all.

    In order to defeat the heroes, I couldn''t become a demon lord or a villain. I had to be an antihero. Or something.

    And there was something in Alucard''s tomb that could possibly help me, given how he gave the previous generation of heroes a run for their money and killed at least half of their number before he was eventually vanquished by the survivors. If I had that and continued my plan of isolating and destroying the remaining heroes, I just might be able to pull my impossible plan of revenge off¡­

    But first, there''s still that duel with Bradley Kreuger tomorrow night to worry about¡­

    I sighed heavily and shook my head.

    "I hope nothing untoward happens¡­"

    Even though the sky beyond was obscured from view, the dark ceiling of the tomb seemed to resemble ominous-looking storm clouds.

 99 Chapter 99: Secrets of the Tomb

    And thus the night passed quietly in the tomb, and before I knew it, the next day had arrived.

    At some point of time, I must have dozed off, but at least I managed to stay awake for six hours straight. Lilith woke up, saw the time, smacked me in the head and ordered me to go to bed. I was so exhausted by then that I didn''t protest, and just passed out on the spot.

    Now when I woke up, I caught sight of Lilith sitting in front of the extinguished campfire. She glanced at me with a smile.

    "You really were extremely exhausted, weren''t you?"

    "After all that happened yesterday? It would be weird if I wasn''t exhausted."

    "Then why didn''t you wake me up?" Lilith glared at me.

    "You were even more tired than I was. You need the rest more than I do."

    "No, I don''t! I appreciate you looking out for me, but you should take care of yourself more! You''re not a machine! And I''m not some damsel in distress, so I would appreciate it if you don''t treat me as one. Rely on me more!"

    "Yes, your highness."

    After that, we ate our combat rations in silence, then proceeded toward the altar that was located in the center of the tomb.

    I was tempted to summon Matsukaze, after recovering all my mana thanks to a couple of hours of sleep, but I decided against it. It would attract too much attention and there was a high risk that Matsukaze''s titanic presence would provoke the monsters in the forest into attacking us. I would prefer to keep a low profile.

    Not only that, we should preserve our strength as much as possible, not just for the duel tonight, but also in case of emergencies.

    We couldn''t afford to let our guard down at all, especially in such an alien land.

    "It looks like it''s going to rain."

    "Huh?"

    I gaped at Lilith, who was walking ahead of me. She had held her hand up to her face and was glancing skyward. I frowned.

    "Rain? Does it even rain inside the tomb?"

    "Based on the archives, it did. Didn''t you read the archives and reports? There is a self-sufficient ecosystem within the tomb itself."

    I did, but I didn''t remember reading anything about weather. Must have missed a page or two. There was so much information that it was impossible for me to memorize all three hundred pages of details.

    "Let''s hurry."

    With that, Lilith picked up the pace. However, just after a few steps, she staggered.

    "Watch out!"

    I managed to catch hold of her slender body before she hit the ground, and was shocked to find that she was feverish. Her body temperature was incredibly high.

    "Lilith-san¡­don''t tel me¡­"

    "I''m all right. I already told you that yesterday, didn''t I? Thank you for helping me."

    Despite that, Lilith gently shrugged me off and continued to proceed forward, her determined gaze riveted to the front. As she strode forward, I could see a small trickle of perspiration on the nape of her neck.

    This wasn''t good at all. The interior of the tomb wasn''t even hot ¨C rather, it was actually pretty chilly. Yet¡­

    "I said I''m fine. Don''t worry about me. It''ll pass after a while."

    "Your safety is more important, your highness. I''ll summon Matsukaze and escort you back to the inner gate safely. You need medicine¡­"

    "I am sorry."

    As Lilith cast her eyes down to avoid my gaze, she refused to stop walking.

    "I must go, no matter what. This is one of the few chances that I have, so please understand. I need to¡­"

    "¡­I understand."

    I could see the determination in Lilith''s eyes. There was no way I could stop her. I didn''t have the right to. This was so important to Lilith that she would risk her health and forge a path no matter the cost. I should do my best to help her instead of stopping her.

    "Then allow me to take point."

    Lilith hesitated a little, and then she relented. Even for a vampire, her complexion was pale and ghastly.

    For a while, the two of us advanced silently.

    "Hey, Lilith-san."

    "¡­what is it?"

    I couldn''t stand the awkward atmosphere any longer, so I randomly addressed her to break the ice.

    "What do you think will happen next week?"

    "¡­next week?"

    Lilith frowned and glanced at me. I shrugged.

    "Moria. Do you think we''ll be able to fend off the human armies and Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "With you in command, I believe we will." Lilith smiled at me. "We''ll be counting on you to lead us, Major."

    I groaned at that. "You give me far too much credit."

    "Well¡­you''ve killed six Evelyn''s Chosen so far, haven''t you? And you''ve forged an alliance with nine others. If there''s anyone who can turn this around and save the demon race, it''s you."

    Right, let''s continue to pile the pressure upon me, eh? Thanks a lot.

    Shaking my head, I continued striding forward, mindful of my pace. Lilith still seemed sickly, so I was careful not to walk too fast and accidentally leave her behind. I couldn''t help but remain concern for her health.

    Fortunately, our journey didn''t last much longer. After ten minutes, we finally reached our destination.

    "We''re here. This place must be it¡­"

    The altar at the center of the tomb. We had finally arrived.

    There was a massive circular platform, upon which was mounted an enormous chamber. Right in front of the chamber, there was a single column that was embedded with a silver skull that radiated a mysterious light.

    My eyes were riveted to the skull. For some reason, even Absolute Appraisal couldn''t identify what the hell that was. I wondered why. The skull itself didn''t seem organic, but rather appeared to be made from the same material as the tomb''s walls and ceilings.

    "It looks like we''re the first to arrive, huh¡­"

    Lilith cautiously approached the skull while keeping a vigilant lookout on our surroundings. I sighed and nodded.

    "Seems like it. Well, let''s wait for everyone here¡­"

    Creak¡­

    I was cut off by a metallic noise that resounded through the forest and sent birds flapping and soaring into the air in panic.

    Oh boy, this is not good¡­

    My hand instinctively went to the hilt of my Blood Dragon Sword, but a second later I realized that it wasn''t a threat.

    "Oh¡­seems like we just activated some sort of system."

    I sighed in relief when I saw the familiar blue light shining out of the silver skull. A voice slowly hissed from its open jaws.

    "Scanning¡­existence of the <key> confirmed and acknowledged. Unlocking security seals. Transfer process¡­initiating¡­"

    I winced as the mechanical voice intoned those strange words in a monotonous tone. Without stating the obvious, it was coming from the altar.

    Huh? Why does it almost sound like Matsukaze¡­no, like an AI?

    It wasn''t Matsukaze''s voice, but the monotone was unmistakable. It was the voice of an AI.

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    Before I could confirm my suspicions, a brilliant light flashed from the column and engulfed the both of us.

    "Whoa?!"

    I cried out and reflexively closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes, only to find that our surroundings had completely changed.

    We were no longer inside the forest.

    "It appears we''ve been transported inside the chamber."

    The trees and grass had been replaced by mechanical constructs, metallic plates and conveyor belts. It reminded me of an interior of a factory.

    So this was the interior of the altar that we had heard so much about. Glancing around, I caught sight of a coffin¡­or a sarcophagus right in the middle. That must be where King Alucard''s remains were held, if they still existed.

    After countless millennia, his corpse had no doubt disintegrated and been reduced to dust. Unless they embalmed him like a mummy, but I doubted they did that. He would have become a mummy instead of a vampire, otherwise.

    "This place¡­is my ancestor''s¡­"

    While I was studying the unfamiliar surroundings and relating them to whatever modern knowledge I learned back in Tokyo, Lilith moved forward at an urgent pace. She approached a strange box-shaped object and placed her hand on it.

    "!"

    A white light emanated from the hovering object and a new mechanical voice spoke up, but this time it was feminine in nature.

    "Validating the authenticity of the <key>. Level 2 security clearance confirmed. Removing seal to the second layer control room."

    "More AI¡­"

    I recognized the mechanical voice. Evidently the ancients had far advanced technology than current Restia. Did they go backward technologically or something?

    But more importantly¡­

    It reacted to Lilith-san and verified her identity. Well, Kishimoto and Kreuger were discussing this secretly, about her being the key to unseal the tomb. I guess this was what they''re referring to.

    "So¡­I was right after all."

    With a small sigh, Lilith withdrew her hand from the object. Then she slowly made her way toward the other side of the chamber, where a tall shelf resided.

    "Lilith-san? That shelf is¡­"

    I could see rows upon rows of boxes laid out neatly on the shelf. There was no doubt these were containers that possessed ancient technology, weapons or standard template constructs. Schematics, documents or instructions on how to build weapons, at the very least. If I were to believe the historical archives, of course.

    However, the boxes seemed firmly sealed, and I could sense powerful defensive spells protecting them. It would require equally powerful magic to break those seals and open those boxes, spells that would require us bringing the boxes back to base camp and utilizing enormous spell circles or heavy equipment and machinery.

    "..."

    "Verifying the authenticity of the <key>. Level 2 clearance confirmed. Removing seal to the second layer control room."

    Lilith had a serious expression on her face as she reached out with her finger to stroke the edge of a box.

    With just that, the box despite being protected by formidable barriers and strong mechanical locks opened with a soft click.

    Inside the box were numerous ancient weapons and armaments, along with schematics and documents that bore strange characters that I was unable to read. Absolute Appraisal immediately identified them as an ancient language, but offered no translation.

    What are those?

    While I wondered, Lilith browsed through the documents and scanned their pages. However, she shook her head, as if to say, "This is not it." Then she moved on toward the back. The metallic walls automatically opened as she touched them, revealing another chamber.

    "¡­wow."

    I peered at the chamber. It seemed there was another flight of stairs that led further underground.

    "I still can''t find it. I still don''t understand¡­are the answers located deeper inside? Should I search deeper?"

    Lilith was muttering fervently to herself. Placing her hand on the opened door at the back of the chamber, she was about to take a step, only for her to suddenly collapse.

    "Lilith-san!"

    "Uh¡­"

    I managed to catch her before she fell. She shook her head to try and shake off the pain while trying to rise unsteadily to her feet, but she was unable to straighten until she had my help. I could feel the immense heat radiating from her body.

    That was one hell of a fever.

    "I know you''re pretty hot, but I didn''t think you would literally be hot."

    Lilith glared at me.

    "This isn''t the time to make stupid jokes."

    "Sorry. But you''ve quite the fever. We really should¡­"

    "¡­I''m all right. I can still¡­"

    WOOOO!

    An alarm suddenly sounded in the chamber, and the floor underneath our feet began to shake. No, even the walls were trembling violently¡­

    "Of all the times to have an earthquake occur¡­no, wait, this isn''t an earthquake¡­?"

    "Danger. Collapse imminent. Please evacuate to a safer level."

    Soon after the object issued a warning coolly, the ceiling began to fall apart, debris raining down on the chamber.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!"

    Complaining, I supported the now immobile Lilith and rushed into a nearby room. Shutting the door, I placed Lilith down to rest and checked our surroundings. In a few seconds, the tremors had stopped, and I tested the door, but to no avail.

    "Seems like there''s rubble outside blocking the door."

    I heaved a sigh of relief and shook my head. Good thing there was a safe room or we would be crushed to death by the debris outside. It was a minor cave in, but as expected of ancient tombs, exploring them was a dangerous task. I wondered if it was a trap. I didn''t watch much tomb raider movies, but they always had traps hidden in these things.

    Honestly, the architects of these tombs had nothing better to do than to concoct stupid traps.

    "Let''s rest here for a bit. With your current condition, I think you should rest. I''ll check the place out and hopefully meet up with my battalion¡­"

    I had stood up to check the surroundings after the tremors faded away. Glancing at Lilith, who had cast her eyes downward, I turned back toward the rest of the room in hopes of finding something useful.

    Most likely the collapse had busted a wire or something, but the lighting in this room had mostly gone dead, leaving the room shrouded in darkness.

    "¡­I am sorry."

    I heard a faint voice from the girl who was hanging her head.

    "No, don''t worry about it. More importantly¡­huh?"

    Before I could finish my sentence, I suddenly felt Lilith''s slender fingers tugging at my hand. They curled around my fingers tightly and stopped me from moving away.

    "Could you please indulge my selfishness for a bit? I would like you to hear my story."

    "¡­um, sure." I shrugged. I had nothing better to do, so I might as well listen to Lilith''s story.

    "My ancestors¡­I am¡­descended from a line of traitors¡­"

    "¡­traitors?"

    Now that was something I never expected to hear. I stared blankly at Lilith as my jaw dropped, completely dumbfounded by the sudden revelation.

 100 Chapter 100: Line of Traitors

    "My ancestors¡­I am¡­descended from a line of traitors¡­"

    Talk about writing styles and dramatic devises¡­

    More importantly¡­

    I raised my eyebrow at Lilith''s words, speechless at the moment.

    The both of us were trapped inside this room somewhere within the altar, where Lilith''s quiet voice resounded.

    "What do you mean traitors?"

    "The lost archives." Lilith bitterly glanced at the chamber from which we had just fled. "Those documents. They chronicle what really happened."

    "So what really happened?" I tried to sound as curious as possible.

    "Do you remember the box from earlier? It''s not just a treasure vault of weapons. It also contains historical records. Documents¡­authentic documents by people who actually lived through that time. The weapons¡­they''re powerful, but they''re no stronger than what we currently have. It''s not as if we had technogically regressed backward. They rely on the same spells passed down over generations. And vampires are long-lived. The whole ancient weapons thing was a lie¡­a lie I made up to convince Emperor Regis Gremory to send a battalion here to investigate the tomb."

    "¡­wait, what?"

    "I''m sorry."

    Lilith lowered her head, but I wasn''t convinced.

    "Um, you said you told Emperor Regis that, but why do the heroes know about it? I mean, why do the Evelyn''s Chosen and human kingdoms know about that rumor?"

    Lilith shrugged. "Good question. I think they developed myths of their own, myths that sprang from rumors. After all, human soldiers, mercenaries and explorers have ventured as far as Haemorage and seen the tombs. Not knowing what mysteries lay within them, they gossiped. These then became rumors that spread throughout the human kingdoms. Over time, these rumors developed into myths. And as you know, there is no smoke without fire. So the so-called Emperor of Humanity must have wanted to confirm it for himself."

    I shrugged. I certainly could see that happening. "Sounds like Kobayashi all right."

    Lilith nodded. "When I heard intelligence reports of what the humans were up to, I saw a chance. That was why I told his majesty Emperor Regis that there is a possibility of excavating ancient technology and powerful weapons from the tomb. Of course, there''s a measure of truth to it¡­even if we can still reproduce them today, the weapons buried together with King Alucard are still top quality comparable to the best weapons forged today. They will still make quite the difference in our war effort against the human kingdoms."

    "True¡­but that''s not the point."

    Lilith''s shoulders sagged and she stared at the ground bitterly.

    "I first heard about it from the discussion between my mother and uncle¡­many years ago. Their argument stuck in my mind¡­they were trying to hide the truth from the people of Haemorage. The truth of our ancestors."

    So what the fuck was this truth? Could you, like, get to the point already?

    Taking a deep breath, Lilith shuddered and continued.

    "I tried to press my mother for details, but she refused to tell me. Neither would my uncle. In fact, both of them make me swear to forget it, and to never mention it again. It was a taboo topic, and I wasn''t supposed to know about it."

    Then why the hell were her mother and uncle arguing about it inside their castle where they could so easily be overheard? As a matter of fact, why even bring up a taboo topic at all in the first place? That defied common sense.

    "So¡­what exactly is this truth or taboo topic?"

    "¡­my ancestor. He wasn''t the noble, revered vampire king that the myths made him out to be. He was a tyrannical dictator who overthrew the previous vampire king, betraying and backstabbing the previous king and usurping his throne."

    Honestly, that sounded like almost every bloody king or emperor out there in history. I didn''t see a reason why Lilith had to be so hung up on how her ancestor seized the throne for himself. It really wasn''t a big deal.

    "The previous demon noble to rule Haemorage was King Zagan. He was a noble and well-respected ruler who was popular with the masses. Under his rule, the kingdom of Haemorage flourished, and we turned into a military power that operated autonomously."

    ¡­sounded like Haemorage today, if I were to be honest.

    "But that all changed when Alucard backstabbed and betrayed him."

    "Why so dramatic?" I sighed. Lilith turned to glare at me. I held up my hands in mock surrender. "Sorry. Please carry on."

    "Immediately, his reign of terror reduced Haemorage to a shadow of its former self. Thousands were put to the sword for protesting, and he caused countless bloodshed. He was a tyrant¡­a cruel, ruthless dictator who did not tolerate any resistance to his rule. He murdered vast scores of vampires, all so that he could feast on their blood and consolidate his own power."

    "Sounds like quite the evil guy," I remarked. Lilith''s brow twitched, but she continued.

    "In his reign of terror, Alucard launched attacks on the human kingdoms, abducting countless innocents to drip them dry of their blood. By doing so, he sowed his own seeds of destruction, for when that generation of Evelyn''s Chosen was summoned to Restia, one of their first targets was the king of terror, the cruel tyrant, the bloodthirsty monster¡­Alucard."

    Well, that served him right for rampaging recklessly and killing so many humans. Push someone far enough, and he would become desperate enough to stab you the next day, even at the cost of his future.

    "And Evelyn''s Chosen won."

    "Yes. They all but destroyed Haemorage. The vampire kingdom was on the brink of annihilation after a month of fierce fighting. Even though Alucard destroyed half of the Evelyn''s Chosen''s number before they finally brought him down for good, they had done enough damage to reduce the vampire population to 10%. We were on the verge of becoming extinct."

    "That¡­doesn''t sound good."

    "No. But even in the face of death, Alucard''s son¡­my family¡­still refused to relinquish their hold on power. They slowly built up their base and reconsolidated everyone back under their rule. But this time, with far more subtlety, more finesse. They weren''t as openly cruel or ruthless as Alucard, or indulgent in wanton murder and bloodletting, but they continued to control the vampire kingdom behind the scenes."

    "¡­.and you learned this how?"

    "¡­after my mother''s death, I cracked open her room and found all her archives and records. She lived through those times¡­and she had to bear such a heavy secret. She needed to learn from her ancestors'' mistakes, and she wove a masterful tale of myth and deception to lead our citizens away from the truth and believing that our ancestors were heroes, not monsters. My mother and uncle¡­they were aware of what would happen if we repeat the route of tyrannical domination that our ancestors had chosen."

    "Your mother sounds like a good person."

    "¡­"

    Lilith was silent for a while, probably because she didn''t believe me, but she also couldn''t criticize her beloved mother.

    "¡­I wanted everything to be a lie. I really did. I couldn''t believe the notes¡­the archives that my mother left behind. I wanted them all to be a fiction¡­to not be reality. All the memoirs and records she sealed away¡­I wanted them to be false."

    "Does it matter? History is history. Whatever we do now won''t change the past."

    "That''s not the point. I¡­I''m unable to believe myself. The blood of traitors and liars flow in my veins. What if I¡­what if I repeat their mistakes?"

    I sighed heavily. "And¡­so? What does this have to do with the tomb? You found historical records and archives in this tomb that confirm what your mother had written?"

    "¡­yes."

    Lilith sounded resigned, desperate almost, as she slumped against the wall. She was practically in tears.

    "I¡­I knew it was truth, somewhere deep inside me. I can''t be the ruler of Haemorage. I can''t let anyone of my line be ruler¡­we''re descended from traitors¡­from tyrants. It''s only a matter of time before our true nature takes control and we engulf Haemorage in fear and bloodshed once again. I can''t let my kingdom be destroyed by my bloodline¡­"

    "There''s nothing wrong with your bloodline."

    "No, it''s fine already. I appreciate you comforting me, but¡­"

    Lilith''s lean figure was trembling slightly as she hugged herself, burying her teary face into her knees.

    "I have to atone for Alucard''s sins. For my ancestors'' atrocities¡­I have to abidicate the throne and prevent any of my bloodline from succeeding me. Then I need to pay for Alucard''s sins, with my life if necessary. If I reveal the truth, and then offer myself up to the masses for execution, then only will I be able to pay off the debt that my ancestors owe Haemorage. I will have to suffer the punishment for the wrongdoings of Alucard and my forefathers."

    "Don''t be ridiculous." I couldn''t help but raise my voice. "You are you. You''re not your ancestor. You''re not Alucard. You''re Lilith Scarlet¡­you''re not anyone else. You shouldn''t be held responsible for the actions of your ancestors. Nobody should ever be held accountable for their parents'' or ancestors'' sins. Children shouldn''t be obligated to pay off their parents'' debts or atone for their sins."

    "Perhaps not¡­but there is no other way. Can you imagine the people''s reaction when the truth eventually gets out? And it will eventally leak out. They will find out sooner or later. When that time comes, they will want revenge. They will want me to pay for my mother''s¡­for my ancestors'' lies. They will want me to pay for the blood that my ancestor Alucard had spilled. As the queen, I need to bear that burden¡­and take the blame. Accept the people''s anger and hatred for what my ancestors have done. It might sound irrational, but that''s the duty of a queen. If I lie to my subjects, then I do not have the qualifications to rule over them."

    "Lilith-san¡­"

    Even as Lilith looked forlorn and sank deep into despair, I determinedly reached out with my hands.

    "I''m sorry. For forcing you to go along with my selfishness, for a traitor and liar like myself¡­"

    "That''s not true!"

    I snapped in a loud voice and grasped Lilith''s hands.

    "Tomoyuki¡­kun?"

    "I don''t care about the throne or the people in your country. Lilith-san is my friend¡­you''re a precious comrade who has fought alongside my battalion, and risked your life combating Evelyn''s Chosen! And for now, you''re also my love¡­partner, right? So stop spouting such nonsense. If you want to bear such a burden, I''ll bear it with you!"

    Then I blinked. Realizing what I had just done, I blushed furiously and turned away, but I was sensitive enough not to let go of her hands. Quietly looking to the side, I continued to hold her hands tightly to express my support.

    "..."

    After Lilith stared at me blanky for a few moments¡­

    "Fu¡­fufufu¡­"

    She burst into laughter, unable to repress all the emotions that she had been holding back all this while.

    "What''s so funny?"

    "Tomoyuki-kun. I will give you a piece of advice. You should not believe a woman''s complaints so easily."

    "Huh?"

    Lilith seemed to have regained her composure and was now teasing me. I stared at her, confused, and let go of her hands.

    "Wait, are you telling me you were lying?"

    "You should stop sympathizing with other people''s misfortunes. You have quite the weakness of being kind and helpful to others, so I said that just to test you out. But your reaction exceeded my expecttions. Be careful during the duel."

    "¡­right."

    I scowled, but I had a feeling that Lilith wasn''t lying. Instead, I shook my head and muttered something.

    "Well, true or not¡­assuming that such a scenario really happened¡­I think it''s pointless for you to sacrifice yourself like a martyr. Delivering yourself to the people for punishment, getting yourself killed, whatever, that doesn''t solve the problem. Don''t run away from your responsibility as a ruler. You think you''ll be let off if you let your masses execute you? It''s not so simple."

    "¡­eh?"

    Lilith stared at me, but I continued regardless.

    "As I said, this is just speculation on a what-if scenario. But rather than putting your head on a platter and offering it to the people, you should be the first queen to transfer the power to the people. Create a republic¡­a government chosen by the people¡­voted in by the people. A political system with checks and balances, where the leader is someone selected by the masses, and rules according to the majority. That way, you avoid a situation where a new Alucard or tyrant rises up to take your place after your death. If you die, you merely create a power vacuum that will be quickly filled up by a new dictator. And Haemorage will fall back into that black history that you fear. If you really care about the wellbeing of your people, then don''t run away. Repent and atone for those sins by instituting reforms. Talk is cheap, and you''re useless to anyone if you''re dead. Instead, use your life to do something for the people, to improve their lives and reform the political system altogether."

    Astonished, Lilith was speechless as she tried to digest the gigantic chunk of text I had just thrown at her.

    "Eh¡­huh? Is that¡­a political system from your world?"

    "Yeah. It''s far from perfect, but it''s arguably better than the current monarchy system. We call it democracy. Well, there are a couple of nations that continue to preserve their monarchy even alongside democratic governments, so it''s not necessary to eliminate the royalty altogether¡­but what is important isn''t what sins your ancestor did in the past, but what you do in the present and what you plan to do in the future."

    "Wise words." Lilith smiled and shook her head. "I think you''ll make a great king."

    "Nah." I waved my hand flippantly. "I can''t handle that sort of massive responsibility. I don''t have the political know-how either. I''ll get utterly destroyed by my political rivals. Manipulating things behind the scenes isn''t my kind of thing."

    Lilith smiled and shook her head in disbelief.

    "But really¡­why are you so softhearted? And why are you so¡­kind to me, no, to us? Even though you''re a person summoned from another world¡­"

    "Maybe it''s because I''m a person from another world that I have the luxury of growing up in an environment that allowed me to be kind."

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    "Really?"

    Lilith frowned and shook her head.

    "I heard from Domon-kun. You¡­you were bullied and abused by your classmates, were you not? Everyday¡­even though you fought back, your class picked on you and tormented you daily. Did you not resent them? Did you not hate them?"

    "Sure I do. That''s why I''m killing them." I grinned and pushed my glasses up. "Haven''t you noticed? I''ve killed six of them already. Seven, if you include the one you helped me take down. I''m taking my revenge on them."

    "Yes, indeed, but¡­"

    I shrugged. "But what? The only people who are the targets of my revenge are the people who bullied me. Why should I direct my vengeance and wrath at innocent people? They didn''t abuse me. They did nothing to deserve getting killed or maimed."

    "No, but I thought your outlook on the world would be a bit more¡­bleak."

    "Why?" I snorted. "I''m not some emo edgelord who goes around proclaiming that I hate the world and everybody who lives in it. I''m not some idiotic edgelord who thinks humanity should die or the world should be destroyed. Only childish, emotionally handicapped morons adopt that sort of idiotic attitude. My worldview is simple enough. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you hit me, I hit you back. If you try to kill me, I kill you. If you did absolutely nothing to me, then why the hell would I bother you? Do unto others what you want others to do unto you. That isn''t to say I help others so that they will help me in return, but I would very much prefer to be helped than to be ignored or abused. If that''s the case, then I should treat people how I would like to be treated, but of course I don''t expect anything in return."

    Leaning back, I finished off my longwinded rant with a relaxed smile. Yeah, I was a cringeworthy hypocrite, but I hadn''t gone over the edge into emo edgelord who childishly ranted about how they wanted all of humanity to die and hated the whole world for absolutely no good reason.

    "¡­you really are a good person, huh?"

    "No, I''m a hypocrite who doesn''t hesitate to kill people for trying to murder me. And I help people because that makes me feel better, and not because I''m some saint who genuinely helps for the sake of kindness."

    I shook my head and admitted those things bitterly. Lilith smiled briefly and glanced down, mumbling under her breath.

    "If you had ended up becoming a prince in Morten, would you also have saved me?"

    "¡­well, technically, I am a noble with my own domain. Whether that makes me a prince or king, I have no idea, since I don''t have any subjects to rule over. But I do have a territory of sorts, even if it''s just for show."

    "That''s not what I meant¡­never mind."

    Lilith returned to her usual smile. Before I could formulate a retort¡­

    "Major! Your highness! Hey! Are you under here?!"

    From upstairs, Elia''s voice echoed, followed by heavy gunfire.

    "Captain Kratz?!"

    Before I could shout anything else, the ceiling above us turned red-hot from superheated temperatures. The next moment, it literally disintegrated, leaving a gigantic, molten hole that both dripped liquid rubble and gave off fumes.

    "Oh, they are here! Finally found you, sir!"

    Elia jumped down from the hole, followed by Benjamin and the heavy infantry from the vampire heavy infantry company. Marko was bellowing something in the background before Gio popped his head from above and waved.

    "Sir! Seems like you''re in one piece! And your highness too! Glad to see you''re safe!"

    "Yeah." I glanced at the molten hole. Evidently they had blown through the metal with heavy plasma weaponry. "Be careful. The edges are hot."

    "Thank you for coming to our rescue."

    Lilith bowed her head slightly.

    "No problem!" Gio grinned and patted one of his subordinates. "Corporal Hound here has a good nose. He cast a tracking spell and was able to locate the two of you in no time at all."

    "I''m glad you''re both safe, sir! Your highness!"

    Corporal Henry Hound saluted. I returned the salute.

    "Well done, Corporal. Well done."

    "Thank you, sir!"

    "We have a few teams excavating the ancient documents and ancient weapons, but I think it''s a better idea to escort the both of you to the outer chambers."

    "Yeah," I agreed with Elia''s assessment. "Take her highness and bring her to a medic. She seems to be sick."

    "Understood, sir!"

    I sighed in relief as I watched my men go to work, and finally our mission came to an end.

    *

    By the time our armored convoy returned to the military base camp, it was already evening. We packed up, unloaded everything, returned our arms and then I dismissed everyone for a much-needed rest. We had accomplished so much, and my men had given me a lot of reasons to be proud of them.

    Marko was sure to force me to the medical office, but it seemed that I had completely regenerated, so there was nothing to worry about. Once that was done, I was finally able to return to my room.

    Or so I thought, but the doctor stopped me before I could leave the infirmary.

    "Sir, you''re heading to the grounds later tonight, right?"

    "Huh?"

    "The duel," Doctor Dorden reminded me with a smile. The aging doctor had gray hair and lots of wrinkles, and he was ancient, even for a vampire.

    "Oh, right. Don''t worry, I didn''t forget about that."

    I still remembered that I had an appointment with Bradley Kreuger. I was so going to kick his ass.

    "In my professional medical opinion, you shouldn''t be fighting in your current condition. Your wounds and physical injuries might have healed fully, but you''re suffering from fatigue. You honestly need to rest."

    "I''ll rest after this." I pushed my glasses and grinned gleefully. "I''m so looking forward to this duel. I can''t let my men down after that bugger insulted them. Uh, sorry. I mean Lord Kreuger."

    Dorden laughed. "I share your opinion, actually."

    "Oh, really? Thanks."

    "Yeah. The nobles tend to piss me off. House Kreuger, especially. They enjoy looking down on us commoners."

    "Don''t worry. After I''m done with him, he''ll be looking up to you instead. Especially since he will be needing your medical expertise to fix him up."

    "I''ll do my best. Well¡­speaking of which, here''s something to help you."

    I blinked, baffled, when Dorden handed me a cup of brown liquid.

    "Uh¡­what¡­?"

    "It''s medicine. You still have some time before the duel, so take this medicine and rest for now."

    "Oh, okay. Thanks."

    I took the cup of medicine and downed it in one go.

    "Ugh¡­"

    That was a bad idea. Now I felt bloated as hell. And for some reason, incredibly sleepy as well.

    "All right¡­I''ll take a nap. Remember to wake me up in time for the duel, Doc."

    "I will."

    With that, I toppled over and fell asleep. And while I was deep in dreamland¡­

    "¡­are you all right with this, your highness?"

    "Yes, thank you."

    Immediately after I collapsed, Lilith stepped into the doctor''s office. She stared at my sleeping form and heaved a sigh of relief before returning to her cool expression.

    "This will allow us to rest easy for now."

    "Are you sure? If you ask the Major, I''m sure he''ll fight alongside you."

    "He certainly will. But¡­"

    In response to Dorden''s question, Lilith nodded and glanced at me hesitantly.

    By the time I woke up after taking a medicine with such a strong tranquilization effect, the duel would be long over. That was why Lillith asked Dorden to prepare a strong sedative.

    "I cannot afford to get the Major involved in my situation any more than this. He has already helped me a lot."

    "If you say so, your highness. Admittedly, it would be impossible for Major Tanaka to fight tonight."

    The old doctor nodded in agreement as he glanced at me, his aged eyes narrowing in concern. Sighing, he took off his glasses.

    "He suffered quite the injury and fatigue during the mission to defend the tomb. Even though his wounds have healed completely, his mana levels have yet to restore themselves fully. I''m not sure he can take on two powerful opponents in a duel in such a subpar condition."

    "That''s right."

    Speaking in a firm tone that indicated that she understood, Lilith turned on her heels to face the exit.

    "And defeating a noble from one of the four great noble houses might mark him as a target for later vengeance. These nobles love to hold grudges, don''t they?"

    "Not only that, Tomoyuki-kun isn''t politically shrewd enough to handle them. Even if he can crush them with brute strength, he''ll be outmaneuvered politically."

    Lilith comprehended the implications of me winning the duel. I would draw too much attention to myself. Already, there were disgruntled demon nobles who were growing increasingly anxious over my meteoric rise. Precisely because I had Regis''s favor, they were viewing me with suspicion and wondering if I was going to snatch their positions and statuses away from them.

    These doubts had been firmly seeded ever since I defeated Count Raum. Furthermore, I had even been awarded a territory of my own.

    And now I was somehow barging my way into potentially marrying into the royal family of the vampire kingdom Haemorage. This was an unprecedented pace of progress, especially for an outsider like myself.

    Therefore, Lilith, after much consideration, had made her decision.

    She would bring an end to her fate without relying on me.

    "Well then, I''ll leave him to you. If he does wake up, tell him that the duel was called off. And my request will be over by tomorrow."

    "Huh? Request?"

    "Just tell him that. The Major will understand."

    Lilith bowed her head slightly, and then left the room. Dorden watched her go and then glanced at my sleeping form with a sigh.

    "As expected, you still know nothing about the Major¡­"

    Muttering in resignation, Dorden got up and was about to tend to other patients when someone else knocked on the door.

    "Come in."

    "Doc! Is the Major still here?!"

    "Yeah. He''s asleep, though."

    "¡­eh?"

    Elia was stunned when she caught sight of me on the bed. Yeah, I wondered how I knew all this when I was asleep. Call it protagonist power or first person protatonist privilege. If you want to be realistic, just assume I heard all this after I woke up, and included it in my first person narration when I ended up writing this thing.

    "Do you have business with the Major, Captain?"

    "Actually¡­yes."

    Elia looked pale as she conjured a blue-tinted holographic screen that displayed an email from Emperor Regis himself.

    "It appears that his majesty Emperor Regis had expressed some interest in the matter regarding the duel between Lord Bradley Kreuger and Major Tanaka. He did a little investigation of his own, and this is what he found¡­"

    Gulping in an effort to swallow her panic, Elia glanced at me again, but I made no sign that I was going to wake up.

    "We need to inform the Major of this as quickly as possible."

 101 Chapter 101: Duel

    Unfortunately¡­I was fast asleep and couldn''t do anything about this until I actually woke up. It sucked, but I had to live with it. And besides, it made sense to narrate the whole thing chronologically instead of me launching into flashbacks and narrating the tale from after I woke up. Ugh, sorry, but I didn''t really like flashbacks.

    "Tomoyuki."

    "¡­? Dad?"

    I blinked. Evidently I was in dreamland, because I was staring at my Dad in front of me right now. He waved at me.

    "It''s been a while, hasn''t it?"

    "¡­how long has it been?"

    Thanks to Kobayashi''s stunt, I had been thrown out of the transportation spell and toward what he believed was my death. The temporal distortion tossed me six months into the future, and while less than one second had passed for me, the outside world had gone through half a year of upheaval. I had no idea how time flowed between worlds or dimension, but for all I knew, either only ten minutes had passed on Earth or ten years.

    "Who knows?"

    Dad shrugged flippantly, wearing that genial smile I was so used to seeing. God, but I really missed him.

    I missed my family.

    "This is just a dream, after all."

    "I''m not supposed to know this is a dream while I''m dreaming," I muttered. Dad laughed at that.

    "I don''t know about that. But man, you''ve grown up."

    "¡­"

    I watched him, and then frowned.

    "You¡­you''re not my read Dad, are you?"

    "¡­oh? As I expected, you''re pretty perceptive."

    "Dad" began to shimmer and changed. Within a few seconds, he transformed into a complete stranger, a muscular man with dark hair and a somewhat unshaven face, in contrast to my Dad''s clean, shaven appearance.

    "Who are you?"

    I frowned and pushed my glasses up my nose as I studied the unfamiliar man in front of me. His posture was relaxed, friendly even, which allowed me to relax and drop my guard a little. However, I remained wary.

    "I am Chronos."

    "¡­who?"

    Staring at him blankly, I searched my memory, but that name didn''t register. Oh, wait. Perhaps it did. I suddenly remembered reading that name somewhere inside a book written about the Restia pantheon of gods and deities.

    "The god of time and space."

    "Correct." Chronos smiled. "And you''re the follower of my wife, Lyia, aren''t you?"

    "Oh¡­Lyia¡­yeah¡­huh? You''re her husband?"

    Now that I thought about it, the book certainly did state that. I nodded and snapped my fingers.

    "That''s right! You''re Lyia''s husband!"

    "Yeah. And any follower of my wife counts as my follower as well."

    "Uh¡­thanks, I guess?"

    I tilted my head, not sure what I should say to this.

    "And¡­um¡­I suppose you have a reason for meeting me like this?"

    "Oh, all right."

    I waited. Chronos chuckled when he saw me sink into an awkward silence.

    "You might be knowledgable and well-read, but you don''t seem very bright or sharp. That''s fine. I do like your honest and kind personality."

    "I''m not kind at all."

    "Well, compared to the other Chosen summoned from another world, you''re actually a nice guy, all things considered."

    "¡­thanks?"

    "It''s the truth. You have to believe in yourself more. Granted, you did do a lot of unkind things, but only to your former classmates and your enemies. But you''re the one who prevented your allied Evelyn''s Chosen from nuking the capital of the kingdom where your archenemy resides in, aren''t you?"

    Chronos must be referring to my battle against the Iron Knights, where I thwarted Takeda''s plan and refused to summon a nuke.

    "Well¡­that''s down to my own selfishness¡­"

    "If you want to put it that way, then yours is a kind selfishness¡­or a selfish kindness. Well, let''s not waste time with rhetoric. I''m here to warn you."

    "Of what?"

    "Chaos." Chronos had turned deadly serious. "You had a dream earlier, didn''t you? About Chaos. It''s starting to break free¡­having embedded agents in Restia. Kobayashi Kenji, thanks to the Fates'' meddling, is one of those agents. He is growing in power with each passing day, and will inadvertently open the door for his masters to invade Restia. If he succeeds¡­a terrible calamity will fall over the mortal world and¡­change things forever."

    I could tell that this change was not a good change.

    "Fates? Masters?"

    "Kobayashi Kenji doesn''t know it, but he is being manipulated and puppeted by primordial forces that have existed in an alternative¡­immaterial dimension that is separated from the material universe through a thin fabric of space. That fabric of space is particularly thin at that northernmost domain you''re trying to prevent him from reaching. If he gets there and unleashes Chaos¡­then Restia will be overrun by creatures of the Immaterium. Foul, fell beings whose existence is anathema to reality¡­whose very presence distorts, warps and mutates the material world, turning its inhabitants into monsters and transforming the landscape into the hellish terrain they live in."

    "That sounds like this whole thing is way over my head¡­"

    Chronos smiled. "That is why you sought allies, did you not? You know you cannot do this alone. You''re not some overpowered, edgelord protagonist who can curbstomp your opponents and save the world with a flick of your finger. You''re just a normal, ordinary guy who got thrown into extraordinary circumstances and you''re fighting against all odds."

    "¡­yeah¡­"

    "Oh, and one last thing." Chronos nodded as he folded his arms. "For your immediate battle, while I''m not allowed to interfere and help, I can at least offer an obscure hint that you''ll have to figure out on your own."

    "What hint?"

    "The key to victory lies in Adaptive Mutation."

    "Uh¡­what?"

    Before I could ask for an elaboration, Chronos disappeared from view.

    And then I woke up.

    *

    Under the moonlit sky, Lilith stood alone in the shadowy battlefield.

    Bradley Kreuger had designated an abandoned temple as the place for the duel, one located in the outskirts of Haefield. The grim, glorious statue of Chronos stood at the entrance, his hands spread out as if to demonstrate the vastness of time and space.

    The temple building had been abandoned a few weeks ago, half-destroyed when Sakaguchi led his human forces on a siege on Haemorage. As the war against the human kingdoms was still ongoing, repair and restoration efforts had been slow, and scattered debris continued to lie uncleared throughout the temple grounds.

    Fortunately, this site was secluded and far away from the populated city, and there was absolutely no sign of any people taking shelter or living in the desolate temple. Located a kilometer away from the towns and cities of Haefield, the abandoned temple struck a forlorn site.

    Bradley and Claire were already standing inside the temple, waiting for Lilith.

    "I came at the appointed time, my future wife. I believed that you would safely accomplish the mission of investigating the tomb and return in time for this duel."

    Bradley declared pompously, his insidious behavior causing Lilith to scowl slightly. He then glanced around exaggeratedly.

    "By the way¡­where is the man who you claimed was your lover? I heard that he safely returned from the tomb as well. Did he collapse from fatigue after all? Or¡­did he get scared and run away like the coward he is?"

    "I had him stay in base camp."

    Lilith remained unmoved by Bradley''s condescending provocation. As she issued that cool reply, she fixed her cold piercing eyes on the two people before her.

    "I cannot let him get involved in such a worthless farce like this any more than this¡­"

    Then she calmly unslung the blood-red spear on her back and held it in both hands, taking up an offensive stance.

    Upon seeing that, Bradley smiled broadly.

    "Let us begin the duel then. The duel will only end if the opponent is unconscious and rendered unable to battle¡­or when both opponents surrender."

    To follow up on that, Claire McAlterize also drew her sword.

    "Escaping this temple site which is the stage of the duel will be considered a defeat. Other than that, we will be conforming to the regular tournament rules that we hold for vampire knights. You''re fine with that, your highness?"

    "Yes. I have already made up my mind¡­since a long time ago."

    "..."

    There was some sort of hidden meaning in Lilith''s words that made Claire feel uneasy, but she repressed that sense of anxiety and took a deep breath.

    Blood-red magic circles materialized around her, and she wielded extreme blood magic that conjured countless little things that looked like bats.

    Extreme blood magic. The most powerful blood magic for non-noble vampires, which could allow them to fight on par¡­no, perhaps even surpass most vampire nobles. Lilith understood that this was what made Claire, who had centuries of combat experience, a formidable foe. Furthermore, such blood magic could rival her own blood curses.

    Bradley too was impressed as he sent an admiring glance at Claire''s magic circles.

    "Extreme blood magic¡­as expected of the Scarlet family. To think that even a mere butler in their household can wield such formidable spells. I look forward more and more to my engagement with you, your highness, Queen Lilith."

    "Could you please stop acting so intimately with me? It''s a waste of time."

    Lilith responded coldly to Bradley''s praise.

    "I might not be experienced, but as part of the royal family, even I have learned to see through appearances and understand how people really think of you¡­whether they''re sincere or not, and whether they have hidden motives."

    "Ho¡­?"

    Bradley smiled, amazed. Ignoring him, Lilith activated her own magic. Streams of red mana flowed into her spear, almost enlarging it. In the sky, dozens of lances appeared, all of them pointing toward the two vampire knights.

    The heir to House Kreuger smirked at the awe-inspiring sight, but he slowly drew his demonic sword, Azreal Drakkan and conjured a sea of blood of his own. Unlike Lilith, he created lances that pointed upward from the ground.

    The two armories appeared to face off, the lances pointing at each other. Satisfied, Bradley turned to Claire and urged her to give the start signal.

    "Then¡­let''s start the duel!"

    The moment those words left Claire''s mouth, Lilith sprang forward. While Claire braced herself for a direct confrontation, Lilith suddenly skidded to a stop. Instead, she jumped high up and arced her back, stretching her right arm as far back as possible.

    "Blood Barrage!"

    With a yell, she threw her crimson lance like a javelin. As if they had received a signal from that toss, the floating lances moved at once, bombarding the temple and carpeting its grounds with blood projectiles.

    At the same time, Bradley launched his own projectiles. The lances met in midair and exploded in sprays of blood, raining down on the ground and staining it crimson. However, Lilith''s primary spear smashed through whatever lances Bradley fired as a counter and streaked toward the haughty noble in a red blur.

    "Ho¡­not bad."

    Bradley swung his demonic sword to intercept the lance, only for it to explode upon contact. A tremendous inferno swept across the devastated temple grounds, disintegrating rubble and concrete and burning a gigantic crater into the ground.

    "Lord Kreuger!"

    Claire, who hadn''t been the main target of that attack, had jumped away to safety, her bats fluttering all over her. She staggered, the flames and shockwaves battering her, but her wounds immediately regenerated.

    Such was the greatest strength of the undead vampire.

    "I''m all right."

    However, Bradley was laughing. Even though he had been heavily injured, his wounds were already healing.

    "These are just minor wounds."

    As long as they were life-threatening or he didn''t lose a limb, Bradley would be able to heal his injuries instantly.

    "But as expected of my future wife¡­she really is strong. Hah! That''s what make her worth conquering!"

    With a guffaw, Bradley launched himself at Lilith again. The vampire queen merely swung down her hand and rained down multiple lances.

    However, this time, Bradley merely raised his sword and plunged it into the ground. The blood rose and hardened into a shield that stretched over him, blocking the deadly hail of lances. Lilith frowned and reared her arm back. Her lance, which had already returned to her, was glowing dangerously as she drew in mana from the surroundings.

    However¡­

    "Don''t forget that I''m also your opponent, your highness."

    "!"

    Lilith was forced to dodge when Claire slashed at her from behind. Twisting her body to avoid the blade, Lilith countered with an immense swing that sent the woman butler skidding backward. Claire drew a second sword and fended off Lilith''s fierce retaliation with her twin swords, desperately parrying and blocking.

    "Impressive¡­"

    Even as she knocked Claire back, Lilith was amazed that she wasn''t able to finish Claire off. Among all her opponents, only Evelyn''s Chosen could defend and fight on par with her like this. Claire''s sword skills had been honed to the extreme where she could fight toe-on-toe with the greatest spear user in Morten ¨C Lilith herself.

    "But it''s not enough!"

    Despite Claire''s superb skill and vast experience, Lilith was able to eventually overpower her. She feinted, luring Claire to attack, and then subtly struck, knocking one of the swords out of Claire''s left hand. As Claire struggled to cope with this sudden turn of events, Lilith surged forward to finish her off with a thrust toward her chest.

    The fatal hit would not kill Claire, but would force her to spend all her energy on regeneration. When that happened, she would be incapacitated and knocked out of battle.

    However, before her spear could reach Claire''s chest, she was suddenly forced to pull back.

    "!?"

    A blood lance sailed through where Lilith was standing a millisecond ago. Flipping back, Lilith dropped to a crouch as she landed nimbly on her feet, and turned to glare at Bradley, who was pointing his sword at her.

    "Have you forgotten about me, your highness?"

    "I''m afraid not¡­as much as I would love to."

    "How cold. You hurt my feelings you know?"

    "I would love to hurt more than just your feelings," Lilith spat. But before she could attack, she suddenly noticed a change in the battlefield.

    Kree¡­

    "?!"

    The numerous bats were floating in front of her. Instinctively, Lilith fell back, realizing the great danger.

    "Damn it¡­!"

    The bats exploded, their combined detonations hurling the vampire queen back with sheer force. As Lilith reeled, Claire capitalized on the opening and slashed at her. While Lilith blocked her twin blades, more bats descended upon her to attack her from all directions, clawing or biting. Retreating, Lilith contended not just with Claire''s ferocious slashes, but also the swarm of bats.

    "This¡­!"

    Her lances fired down, destroying the bats and almost catching Claire off guard. But the woman butler managed to retreat elegantly, jumping and flipping back. She knocked away several lances that she couldn''t avoid with her swords, the force behind the strikes sending her skidding back. However, even as she evaded, Claire deftly summoned another magic circle.

    "That''s¡­!"

    Lilith''s eyes widened when a Blood Leviathan emerged from Claire''s magic circle and pounced on her. Cursing, she swung around and sliced the monstrous beast with her spear, only for the Leviathan to reform and reshaped. Roaring, the blood behemoth wrapped around her and tossed her into the air. As she soared, Lilith drew more mana into her spear, the runes glowing blood-red, and she blasted the Leivathan apart with sheer force.

    ¡­only for Bradley to seize the opportunity to stab her in the gut with his demonic weapon.

    "You¡­!"

    Lilith slashed back at him, but he evaded and then backhanded her. With godlike reflexes, Lilith managed to block the blow, but Bradley struck her with a blood hammer that he formed with a blood spell from his Azreal Drakkan, sending her back to the ground.

    Where Claire was waiting.

    The butler had a third magic circle materializing in the spot where Lilith crashed, and despite the vampire queen''s best efforts to evade it, she was unable to avoid landing on the third circle. With a swing of her twin swords, Claire activated the spell.

    The circle disappeared as it turned into a pillar of blood-red mana.

    "AAAAAAH!"

    Screaming in pain, Lilith crashed out of the pillar of blood-red mana, her body steaming and fuming. As she collapsed, her wounds began to heal, but she had taken major damage and needed to expend a significant amount of mana to regenerate.

    Not only that, Bradley wasn''t about to give her the chance.

    Jumping over, he kicked Lilith in the stomach and sent her flying. She slammed into a broken wall of the desolate temple, demolishing it and vanishing under the shower of rubble.

    "Kuh¡­uh¡­ah¡­"

    Groaning, Lilith writhed as she crawled out of the debris, blood streaming down her usually composed face, which was now twisted in agony. Despite her regenerative ability, she was barely able to endure the excruciating pain.

    "Oops, sorry. It''s the important belly that will someday bear my child. I''ve got to be a bit gentler."

    Despite his words, Bradley was laughing unabashedly, displaying not even the slightest sign of guilt.

    Damn it¡­

    Lilith gritted her teeth as she forced herself to stand up.

    It was true that she was the number one warrior in Haemorage. There was no question that she was the strongest knight in the vampire kingdom.

    However, her opponents were the third-ranked vampire knight and an elite veteran who served as the butler in the revered military Scarlet royal family. Perhaps in a one-on-one fight, she would be able to best them individually.

    But trying to take on two such formidable opponents on her own¡­she had underestimated them, and now she was paying the price.

    Not yet¡­I still have not¡­

    Allowing her healing ability to erase her wounds and ease her pain, Lilith stood up determinedly and glared defiantly at Bradley.

    "Do you still intend to fight? I admire your tenacity and perseverance, but you no longer have any chance of victory."

    Bradley''s tone was mocking and condescending.

    "We won''t know until we try."

    Lilith recalled her spear and hefted it up. A maelstrom of mana flowed into it, swirling furiously, but compared to the start of the battle, it was much less than before.

    However¡­it was more than enough.

    Lunging forward, Lilith thrust her spear at the bragging Bradley and pierced his chest. He looked confused, almost disbelieving, as he stared at her weapon. Lilith smiled.

    "The battle still isn''t over."

    "Indeed it isn''t."

    "?!"

    It was Bradley''s turn to smile. Before she understood what was going on, Bradley exploded in a shower of blood, buffeting the vulnerable Lilith with tremendous shockwaves. The vampire queen toppled over, her flesh simmering from the violent force and heat.

    "That''s¡­!"

    "A Blood Doppelganger."

    A second Bradley stepped forward from behind the ruined temple. And then a third. And a fourth. And a fifth.

    "Now, my future wife, can you tell which of us is the real one?"

    "You¡­!"

    Lilith crawled to her feet and pounced on the doppelgangers. The four of them scattered, guffawing mischievously.

    "Oh, and don''t worry¡­"

    "¡­even though there''s so many of us¡­"

    "¡­each of us possess the same combat potential as the original!"

    The doppelgangers laughed before they raised their swords and unleashed several blast of blood on her. Lilith dodged on reflex, but she was still somehow caught in the crossfire. The fourth doppelganger''s attack caught her and sent her spinning.

    Not willing to waste this chance, Claire launched her Blood Leviathan spell, which caught Lilith in its enormous jaws and engulfed her in devastating mana that exploded into a steaming geyser of blood. The bloodsoaked Lilith crashed down helplessly and lay motionless on the smoking crater. Lilith coughed and tried to get up.

    But the four doppelgangers had surrounded her.

    "Still not going to give up yet?"

    In response, Lilith stabbed one of the doppelgangers, who was completely taken by surprise and caught off guard by her speed. Even when injured, Lilith was still the number one knight. It was not a good idea to let down one''s guard.

    "Kuh¡­"

    "Oh¡­scary."

    "What an idiot. Number three let himself get caught by her."

    "Well, we can just replace him and create more copies."

    "Hey! Don''t talk about me as if I''m dead!"

    "!"

    Lilith blinked in surprised as the dying doppelganger suddenly grabbed her spear. Alarmed, she tried to yank it out, but he gripped her weapon tightly.

    "What are you guys waiting for?!"

    "Oh."

    "That''s right."

    "Let''s do it."

    The other three doppelgangers raised their swords and unleashed the massive blood blast that was the signature attack of Azreal Drakkan.

    Lilith quickly let go of her spear, but she wasn''t able to evade in time. The three blood projectiles slammed into her and exploded.

    At the same time, the doppelganger that she had fatally wounded also detonated, showering her with more devastating blood.

    "Aaaaah!"

    Lilith was blown off by the multiple shockwaves and sent hurtling through the sacred grounds of the broken temple.

    "Ku¡­ah¡­"

    She violently slammed into debris and rolled to a stop. Her breath caught in her chest and she almost blacked out despite her regenerative ability trying to heal her severe wounds as much as possible.

    However, she refused to give up. Grabbing her spear, she tried to shakily rise to her feet¡­

    ¡­only for someone to cruelly kick her arms out from under her and send her plummeting back to the ground.

    "How unsightly. Don''t disappoint me, my future wife. Stop struggling unnecessarily in a fight you have no chance of winning. I honestly don''t want to hurt you further."

    Bradley''s voice was smooth and mockingly gentle, as if he sought to persuade her.

    Claire probably felt the same way. She was no longer actively participating in the battle and attacking, and instead was just watching the course of events from a distance, her twin swords lowered.

    Admittedly, in the eyes of any objective spectators, the outcome of the battle had clearly been decided.

    But¡­

    "I''m sorry to disappoint you. But I am not fond of men who lie so obviously."

    Despite being cornered, Lilith maintained her usual, serious expression, and asserted defiantly.

    "What¡­?"

    "Disappoint you? No¡­you''re actually very happy. For tormenting me like this¡­for things to have developed just as you''ve expected."

    Bradley, who had been smiling all this while, suddenly lost all pretense of friendliness and his expression turned cold.

    "You''ve found a way to counter my blood techniques. In fact¡­it''s all for that reason, in order to investigate my abilities, that you joined the defense of the tomb. Even saying that you took a liking to me as a wife is also a lie. It''s only because you want to use me as a tool, correct?"

    "..."

    Bradley showed no sign of interrupting and merely listened silently to Lilith''s calm and indifferent accusations.

    "Besides¡­about when we were attacked by human knights and assassins in the upper class residential area¡­wasn''t that also your doing? In order for humans to infiltrate the vampire kingdom like that, they must have some inside help ¨C and not just help from any vampire. They would have to be a very powerful and influential insider to allow them to sneak into Haefield like that. If you saw my techniques during that attack, it would have saved you the trouble of tagging along in the tomb mission, correct?"

    "¡­ha!"

    The moment Lilith concluded her suspicions, Bradley smiled cruelly. And then he stomped on her right arm and pinned it to the floor.

    "Ku¡­uh!"

    He was careful enough not to apply too much strength to break Lilith''s arm, but enough to cause her a significant amount of pain. Slowly increasing the pressure so as not to let Claire who was on standby behind notice, he chuckled.

    "As expected of a descendant of the Scarlet family¡­the key to unsealing the tombs of the Scarlet rulers. You were able to analyze the situation this far."

    "¡­?! You¡­?!"

    Lilith was completely taken aback when Bradley revealed that he knew that she was the key to unsealing the tombs of her ancestors, which should have been a secret. She stared at him, aghast and pale.

    "How sad, Lilith. What a pitiful girl you are. To think that the likes of a tool from the Scarlet family ¨C the thing that has been sold to me now ¨C was this intelligent."

    In a sympathetic tone, Bradley continued.

    "Yes. It''s exactly as you said, Lilith."

    He had lowered his voice to a whisper.

    "That was all plotted by me. Everything was a plan laid out by me. Hearing about how you are the key to unlocking the secrets of the royal tombs, and approaching that butler with the proposal of engagement. It''s unfortunate that not everything went as planned, though, such as someone getting in the way and defeating those assassins. Oh, and informing the Evelyn''s Chosen of your plan to defend the tomb and providing her a shortcut to bring her forces to the site earlier, and luring her to the tomb¡­ah, I was hoping she would be able to defeat the Major and destroy his battalion, but that idiot proved to be a lot stronger and more competent than I thought. But still¡­yes, everything¡­"

    "..."

    "But you know what? Even if you know the truth, you can''t do anything about it. You, who are no more than a ''tool'' and a figurehead, has no means of changing this reality."

    Bradley''s expression was full of contempt, his mouth twisted into a condescending sneer. Finally, the true nature of Bradley Kreuger was in full view for the first time.

    "¡­tool."

    Upon hearing that word, Lilith trembled violently.

    Despite being the number one vampire knight and the queen of the vampire kingdom, she had been defeated and bested in combat. Even though she understood that she was merely a figurehead put in place while the vampire elders ruled from the shadows¡­but she had tried her best to reap military achievements and establish Haemorage as a military power.

    Was it not enough? Was nothing she did ever enough?

    Would no one recognize her efforts? No¡­the military certainly recognized her efforts. She had the respct of the military, and was well-loved by her people.

    Yet¡­the true power still lay in the hands of the elders¡­of the nobles like Bradley Kreuger, who manipulated things from behind the scenes and sow the seeds of corruption to satisfy their own ambitions and greed.

    "Don''t you understand, your highness? The likes of a figurehead and a tool such as yourself has no right to oppose me."

    Lilith felt cold. Even though the fever that had plagued her body earlier had left her and she recovered fully, her current condition was the opposite of that. Instead of heat, her veins felt as if ice was running in them.

    Bradley was correct. Her title of queen was just for show. She was a mere figurehead, a tool for her family and the elders to buy and sell her off for political alliances. She had no real power, and had no choice but to accept¡­

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    "I will take all the tombs'' ancient technology, weapons and treasures for myself, and ultimately stand at the top of this kingdom. You''re a tool for that purpose. By marrying you, I will become king. And in time, it will be my bloodline that rules this kingdom. If you behave yourself, I''ll cherish you from now on."

    He planted his demonic sword in the ground and reached out with his hand to stroke Lilith''s belly with his fingertips.

    "You understand, right? There is nobody in this world who will ever come to save you. So accept it. Your fate of devoting yourself to me, your master¡­whoa?!"

    Bradley was forced to jump away when a black bolt of destructive mana streaked from the heavens and slammed into where he was standing a few moments ago.

    "Who is it?!"

    Bradley retreated frantically and glanced up at the night sky.

    "What, you don''t recognize my Doombolt? Oh, right. I''ve never used it in front of you. Well, whatever."

    High above the sky was a single hovering dragon. An ancient dragon ¨C but not just any ancient dragon.

    It was a zombie ancient dragon.

    And atop its black skull was me, pointing my Blood Dragon Sword at the pale, disbelieving Bradley Kreuger.

    "Sorry for the over the top and dramatic appearance," I remarked with a grin. I wondered if the black ancient dragon zombie that I summoned could eventually become a symbol of destruction that inspired awe in all those that saw him.

    Nah, it would just inspire laughter. That said, I should do this more often. Sneak up on people with a gigantic Ancient Dragon. People would finally recognize me as a Tactical Genius. I mean, seriously, who else would be able to Scout¡­I mean sneak up on the enemy with a gigantic Ancient Dragon the size of a Titan?

    "Why¡­?"

    Lilith stared at me in disbelief, amazed yet unable to understand what had just happened.

    "I''m sorry for being late, Lilith-san. I heard the circumstances from Doctor Dorden."

    I smiled at her gently. However¡­

    "Not that! I did not intend to get you involved anymore!"

    She let out a sorrowful cry.

    "Why did you come?! Even though you''re hurt¡­even though you''re just an outsider¡­!"

    Evidently Lilith still felt guilty over me getting injured when I protected her, and how I exhausted myself during the mission. Not only that, she knew how I was someone from another world, and wasn''t involved in all these internal politics of her own kingdom.

    That was why she gave me the sleeping medicine and attempted to fight in the duel alone, all by herself¡­

    "I''m no longer an outsider. I''m your friend."

    With that simple statement, I jumped down from my Ancient Dragon zombie and landed in front of Lilith, shielding her from the three remaining doppelgangers of Bradley Kreuger.

    "I''m Tomoyuki Tanaka, a participant of this duel. It''s a little late, but I will now enter this battle. There should be no problem, right?"

    Declaring in a voice full of determination, I raised my Blood Dragon Sword and pointed it at Bradley Kreuger.

 102 Chapter 102: The Duel part 2

    "A zombie Ancient Dragon as his familiar? Who the hell is he?!"

    At my proclamation, Claire McAlterize stared up at me, perplexed. Her eyes wide in disbelief, she gripped her twin swords tightly.

    The Ancient Dragon was a powerful existence, revered and feared even by the demons. Most demons, even the noble vampires, had never witnessed an Ancient Dragon, who were supposedly godlike existences with incredible strength and magic.

    Yet, here I was, controlling an undead Ancient Dragon. Even though Claire was staring at one right in front of her eyes, she still had trouble comprehending the reality because of just how absurd it was.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    At the same time, Bradley burst into laughter. He grinned at me, his eyes filled simultaneously with rage and amusement.

    "Look who''s here. I''ve completely misjudged you. I was so sure you ran away. To think you would rush all the way here on a dragon just to save one woman¡­it looks like, contrary to popular belief, you''re actually a stupid man, eh, ''Hero Slayer''."

    "Well, a dragon is the fastest way to fly here," I replied with a shrug. "Unless you would have preferred me to take a helicopter¡­except that helicopters don''t exist in Restia. Running wouldn''t have gotten me here in time, but you''re right. Maybe it would be better and more impactful if I arrived in a tank. I''ll just pop out of the hatch of my tank and yell at my driver, ''drive me closer! I want to hit that bastard with my sword!''"

    While I rambled on, Claire, who was still confused, couldn''t help but whisper to herself.

    "Oh. Right¡­he''s the Hero Slayer. But even so¡­how did the Hero Slayer manage to defeat and force an Ancient Dragon into his service? Even Evelyn''s Chosen wouldn''t be able to defeat an Ancient Dragon¡­"

    Well, actually¡­I did have help from Nagano Nanaka, so Claire was mistaken. I was sure Kobayashi and his party of heroes would somehow be able to kill an Ancient Dragon, even if they did it with much difficulty.

    However, I didn''t have the time to correct her misconception. I ignored Claire and calmly stared at Bradley, who was standing before me.

    "Indeed¡­but it doesn''t matter whether you''re an Evelyn''s Chosen or the Hero Slayer. Stop doing something so meaningless. Even if you do your best to fight despite your fatigue, this woman is of no benefit to you whatsoever."

    "¡­!"

    Lilith gritted her teeth in frustration when she heard that, her hands balling into fists.

    Even at 95%, I could still kick this guy''s ass.

    That was why I merely grinned.

    "I refuse, Lord Kreuger."

    Unmoved, I looked right at Bradley and declared firmly.

    "What¡­?"

    "You don''t understand how much she is worth at all."

    I shrugged and then gathered black mana into my Blood Dragon Sword to unleash a devastating Shadow Lunar Fang.

    Right before I could complete the swing and release the destructive crescent of energy, however¡­

    "Wait!"

    Kicking off the ground, Claire launched herself at me, slashing with her twin swords. Several blood magic circles materialized around her as they launched blood projectiles, bats and other deadly spells in my direction.

    "Lord Kreuger is worn out after fighting with her highness Lilith-sama. This is a two versus two duel. As such, I will first be your opponent!"

    Using a couple of the blood magic circles to strengthen her body to the maximum, she delivered extremely powerful slashes with her twin swords.

    To be honest, it was a beautiful, elegant surprise attack that would have caught me off guard and taken anyone out instantly.

    "Tomoyuki-kun?!"

    Fortunately, I wasn''t just anyone.

    By the time Lilith cried out to me from behind, the outcome of the match had already been decided.

    "Wha¡­?! What just¡­?!"

    In just one swing¡­

    I unleashed Shadow Lunar Fang and obliterated not just her bats, her blood projectiles and all her spells but also almost destroyed her physical body. The black crescent-shaped mana engulfed her body in a destructive embrace, dealing damage at a cellular level and leaving large swathes of wounds across her body. Even as she fell, I slashed with my Blood Dragon Sword and neatly cut her twin swords apart, rendering her weapons useless.

    "N¡­no way¡­in just one move¡­"

    Even as her vampire regeneration ability kicked in, the damage was too overwhelming and Claire was losing consciousness. To repair that incredible amount of damage, her body was forced to expend every ounce of energy.

    And to finish it off, I stepped forward and kicked her in the gut, sending the bitch butler flying and crashing into the rubble. She landed in a dignified heap, a shameful shriek of pain escaping her lips, and collapsed.

    She would live, but she would be out of the fight for a very long time, thanks to the overwhelming amount of damage I dealt her.

    "W¡­wait¡­"

    Despite that, Claire was struggling to her feet, blood dripping down her face. The bleeding had somewhat stopped as her healing mechanisms kicked in, but it was clear that she was no longer in any condition to fight. Yet she was stubbornly rising to her feet, refusing to believe that a renowned and skilled warrior such as herself had been taken out in less than ten seconds.

    "It''s not over yet!"

    "Claire-dono."

    While Claire struggled to cast a blood spell with her remaining mana, Bradley approached her, shaking his head. With a calm voice, he placed his hand on her shoulder, almost as if to stop her from hurting herself any further.

    However, his seemingly kind act had an insidious motive.

    "Eh¡­? Ah¡­aaaah!"

    Claire screamed as the Azreal Drakkan in Bradley''s hand glowed fiercely. The sword was sucking her blood, and the usually calm and composed Claire was now writing in agony, shrieking and crying out as tears spilled from her eyes.

    "What¡­what are you doing?!"

    "This is the only way that you can still be use of me in the duel."

    Bradley''s voice had growned chilly.

    "I want you to leave this to me. You''ve no chance of winning now anyway¡­especially when he went easy on you, the outcome is already clear."

    "Easy on me?!"

    "Do you really want me to spell it out for you? He defeated you in less than ten seconds¡­without even using his ultimate technique. Or that Ancient Dragon hovering up there. Do you really think you''ll be alive if he decided to be serious?"

    "Ah¡­to think that he really is the legendary Hero Slayer¡­"

    Claire gritted her teeth, but confusion reigned in her pain-addled mind.

    "Even so¡­why did he¡­? For her highness¡­Ojou-sama¡­"

    Unable to comprehend my motives, Claire tried to brush off Bradley''s hand. The noble cackled.

    "However, to defeat him, I''ll need to borrow your power. Please give me a bit of your blood."

    Even though Claire was already severely injured, Bradley mercilessly drained her of her blood. Claire let out a final scream before she collapsed, unconscious. Only then did Bradley released her shoulder and stood up to face me.

    "That should have replenished my mana and energy somewhat."

    "You really don''t hold back at all, do you?"

    As much as Claire deserved it, even I felt sorry when seeing her broken, collapsed body. Bradley merely smirked.

    "Be careful, Tomoyuki-kun. I still don''t know what the ability of that man''s Azreal Drakkan is."

    Leaning against the broken wall, Lilith sent me a warning.

    "Understood."

    The moment I nodded slightly, Bradley kicked off the ground and charged right at me, swinging down his glowing sword.

    "Let''s begin, Hero Slayer!"

    His blade swung toward me and blinding speed, but I parried it smoothly. Sparks flew as our blades clashed against each other, but Bradley pulled back to deliver a barrage of precise, lethal strikes that forced me into the defensive. Despite that, I managed to block each and every one of his attacks. Those that managed to slip through failed to penetrate even the first defensive layer of my Redwood jacket.

    "¡­!"

    Bradley''s eyes narrowed, but he forced me back with another slash while summoning a sea of blood lances from underneath. Firing them off, he pelted me with countless blood lances, but I managed to destroy the hail with a single Shadow Lunar Fang.

    "Hmm¡­you''ve quite the troublesome defense, don''t you? But only defending and not attacking, do you really intend to win like this?!"

    With a roar, Bradley lunged forward again, only for me to block his strike. We exchanged a few more blows and I ignored the blood lances that rained down on me. None of them could penetrate the barriers of my Redwood jacket¡­

    "!?"

    I had completely forgotten about Bradley''s Blood Doppelgangers. While I was engaged with the opponent in front of me, the other two doppelgangers snuck up on me and slashed me with their corresponding Azreal Drakkans.

    Hah. As if they would penetrate my Redwood jacket. I allowed them to attack, but their blades bounced off the first defensive layer without leaving a single scratch. Twisting around, I kicked the first doppelganger, catching him off guard. The second immediately withdrew, evading my attack. I turned to slash the first guy I was fighting thus far, but he had also retreated to a safe distance.

    The guy was smart.

    "What the hell is that jacket? How is it able to withstand the strikes from Azreal Drakkan?"

    Bradley was scowling, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

    "It is lliteral plot armor," I replied. Bradley glared at me.

    "I''ll be sure to cut your insolent mouth off once I''m done with you."

    "And I''ll be sure to cut your head off."

    The three doppelgangers pounced on me again, the one I kicked earlier getting back to his feet. I dodged them and focused my attention on the first one, but when the other two struck me from behind, I suddenly had a premonition.

    "?!"

    They were drawing lots of mana into their swords. I recognized this technique. Wasn''t this¡­?

    "Die!"

    With a yell, the two Bradleys slashed at me. While I parried the first one, the second one stabbed me in the gut. The blade didn''t exactly penetrate my Redwood jacket''s barriers, but it was more like the wound had always been there, magically opened.

    "Hah!"

    The first Bradley thrust his sword from behind, forcing me to dodge, but he managed to pierce my shoulder.

    "Hmm¡­the curse isn''t perfect, but nonetheless I''ve managed to copy most of it."

    As I staggered back, my wounds regenerating, I understood what I had just witnessed.

    Bradley Kreuger had just executed the cursed Crimson Blood Lance strikes that Lilith was so famous for. The reversal of cause and effect ¨C rather than thrusting the spear to deal a wound, the wound was already there, which led to the thrusting of the spear.

    It was indeed a terrifying curse, but the fact that he missed my heart meant he hadn''t perfected it.

    Wiping the blood from my mouth, I couldn''t help but chuckle. As the third Doppelganger closed in to finish me off, I suddenly unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang that utterly destroyed him, erasing his existence.

    "?!"

    The two remaining Bradleys jumped as far back as they could, retreating to safety and keeping their wary eyes on me.

    "You¡­"

    "The battle''s not over yet. And stop holding back. I know you can summon more Blood Doppelgangers. Call all of them."

    I beckoned Bradley with a provocative gesture. His lip curled and he glared at me.

    Even though Azreal Drakkan remained mostly a mystery, I was able to analyze his Blood Doppelganger technique with Absolute Appraisal. Yeah, his limit was 4 extra copies of himself, and they all had to remain within 50 meters of each other, or they would lose coherence. But that was an annoying ability because it ensured he would be able to escape no matter what.

    Thankfully, that was why I had Ryuu circling above. The Ancient Dragon zombie will spot and destroy any fleeing Bradley if I failed to get all of them.

    "You asked for it."

    Unaware that I knew of his ability, Bradley summoned all four Doppelgangers, bringing his number back to five. They circled me, their blades gleaming with mana. However, thanks to that, Absolute Appraisal revealed yet another critical flaw of this ability.

    He''s spending too much mana to maintain his doppelgangers and supplying them their attacks. If he runs out of mana, he''ll be unable to create new doppelgangers¡­in fact, he won''t even be able to maintain the existence of his current doppelgangers.

    So the best strategy was to drag this out and force him to run out of mana. But that was assuming I could survive that long in the first place.

    "Hah!"

    The first Bradley lunged forward. While I was occupied with defending against him, the other four launched their attacks simultaneously. I dodged, ducked and dove under their curses, trying my best to avoid them. Normally it would be impossible for me to physically escape the curses no matter how skillfully I dodged, but Bradley''s curses were incomplete. Furthermore, they took too much mana, so he couldn''t use the complete version when he was in doppelganger mode.

    Obviously I wasn''t going to tell him that.

    "!"

    The four Bradleys were taken by surprise as Blood Ghouls rose from the ground and swarmed over them. Being a vampire noble, Bradley ¨C and his doppelgangers ¨C were strong enough to dispatch them, slashing their fluid bodies with their swords. However, the Blood Ghouls merely reformed and regenerated before lunging at him again.

    "How annoying!"

    Raising his sword, Bradley cast a powerful blood spell that blew up his surroundings, vaporizing the Blood Ghouls and erasing them from the ground. As he did so, I dove forward and stabbed one of his copies in the heart. Before he could react, I ripped him apart from within with a Shadow Lunar Fang, obliterating him.

    "You¡­!"

    The surviving four doppelgangers spread out and launched ranged blood spells. Unlike the curses, however, they had no effect on my Redwood jacket. As I ignored the spells, I launched myself at one of the copies, but they hurriedly dispersed.

    "Funny¡­you criticized me for running away, but now it seems you''re the one running away."

    "Hmph."

    Bradley didn''t even bother to reply, but instead he turned to launch more blood spears from the ground. His other copies created blood spells with their versions of Azreal Drakkan and prepared to fire them off. I stood my ground, confident that I would be able to withstand them with the twelve defensive barriers of my Redwood jacket.

    "?!"

    However, I realized at the last moment that the spells were aimed not at me but at Lilith, who was no longer able to move.

    "You might be able to withstand all these spells¡­but I wonder¡­what about her?"

    "Bastard¡­!"

    Bradley merely laughed before his copies all launched their spells simultaneously at Lilith, their contrails flaring in the night air.

    "It''s fine¡­as long as that woman belongs to me, I don''t care if her limbs get crippled or she becomes handicapped. In fact, it''ll be more advantageous to me."

    "¡­you do realize that she''ll just regenerate from whatever damage you deal to her, right? It''s impossible to cripple a vampire thanks to our regenerative abilities."

    I couldn''t help but shake my head at Bradley''s statement. Was this guy a moron or something? He did realize what we vampires were capable of, right? Hell, wasn''t he a vampire himself?

    That said, I couldn''t let Lilith get hurt. He might potentially kill her with that attack, and she looked like she was running out of mana to regenerate.

    That was why I dove to the front of Lilith and took the full brunt of his attacks. To be honest, I was planning to do this in the first place ¨C I had no intention of dodging the attacks, so it was just a matter of repositioning myself.

    However¡­

    "You fell for it, ''Hero Slayer''."

    "Tomoyuki-kun!"

    Even before Lilith finished calling out my name, the three doppelgangers of Bradley stabbed me with their cursed swords. The curses bypassed the defensive barriers of my Redwood jacket, reversing cause and effect and making the wounds manifest on my body. Blood leaked from my mouth, but I gritted my teeth and grabbed the sword of one of the doppelgangers.

    Before he could avoid me, I scythed him down with Shadow Lunar Fang. The other two retreated, but I didn''t have enough hands to lock them down.

    Or so they believed¡­

    "Guh!"

    "What¡­?!"

    Blood appendages rose from the sea of blood around us and pounded the two of them, pinning them to the ground. With a flick of their Azreal Drakkans, the two doppelgangers succeeded in freeing themselves from the gigantic blood appendages, but I was already upon them.

    "!"

    With a single swing of my sword, I took both their heads off before they could react. The two doppelgangers collapsed and exploded into mists of blood, but the shockwaves had no effect on the barriers of my Redwood jacket.

    "Impressive¡­but you surely were hurt by that¡­and very badly at that."

    I slowly turned around, staggering as blood leaked from the three grievous wounds the doppelgangers had dealt me. They were already closing up, my regeneratve ability kicking in and healing them, but that was mana lost.

    "Unfortunately for you¡­"

    Another four doppelgangers rose from the sea of blood to flank the last, remaining copy of Bradley Kreuger. All five of them wore identical grins as they gloated.

    "¡­as long as even one of me is alive, I can endlessly recreate my doppelgangers."

    They slowly stepped forward, their postures indicating just how certain they were of their victory.

    "You can keep struggling, but you''ll never win in a battle of attrition against me. I''ll eventually overwhelm you with numbers. No matter how many copies of me you kill, I''ll keep creating more. Your resistance is meaningless."

    Five swords pointed at me, tremendous amounts of mana flowing into them as a result of casting the curse once again.

    "You''ll die if we continue fighting like this. Are you fine with that? You know what, if you beg for your life and surrender, then I might just overlook this matter and treat it as if nothing had ever happened."

    His words dripping sweetly, almost as if he was a devil dangling a deal of temptation in front of me, Bradley offered me those terms.

    But¡­

    "You''re lying."

    I maintained my composure and replied flatly, unmoved and unintimidated. Instead, I glared at Bradley from behind my info-riddled lenses.

    "What?!"

    Even in the face of such a desperate situation, against all odds and fighting against an unkillable enemy, I was still smiling. In a cold voice and with a chilling gaze that would freeze anyone who looked into my eyes, I offered a calm explanation.

    "Don''t make promises you can''t keep. I know what you''re planning to do. After Claire-san concludes the engagement and returns to the capital, you''re planning on launching a suprise attack with your subordinates, right? Even if I surrender now, you still plan on killing me eventually¡­to tie up loose ends. Do you think I''m that stupid? Maybe I am, but even an idiot can see that you have no intentions of letting me live."

    "¡­"

    Bradley fell into an astonished silence when he heard that. Perhaps he was surprised at how my attitude had taken a complete 180 degrees.

    "Ku¡­ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Then, he suddenly burst out laughing.

    "I see. You''re an interesting man, indeed. All right, ''Hero Slayer''! Show me what you can do in this situation by struggling as much as possible! I hope you can at least entertain me!"

    "Sure."

    I cracked my neck and then lunged forward. Four of the doppelgangers scattered, but the central one met me in direct combat. Our blades clashed and sparks flew, but before I could follow up with another attack, the other four stabbed me with their curses.

    "Guh!"

    "Ha ha ha! After all that prattling, you can only do that much?"

    Laughing hysterically, the first Bradley kicked me and sent me crashing into the ruined temple. I broke a few of the walls, debris raining down on me.

    "Let''s see¡­it''s not just curse, but if we combine our spells and maximize their power, we should be able to break through those annoying barriers of yours!"

    While I struggled to my feet, the five of them were standing together and fusing their blood spells into a single gigantic projectile. Realizing that if I dodged, the attack would hit Lilith behind me. Gritting my teeth, I raised my sword and prepared for impact.

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    The five Bradleys unleashed the merged spell, which streaked across the ruined grounds of the temple like a meteor and smashed into me. Despite parrying the powerful attack with my Blood Dragon Sword, the twelve layers of barriers generated by my Redwood jacket shattered instantly and the destructive mana of the spell washed over me.

    "Aaaaaaah!"

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I knew it!"

    While I was blown away, the five Bradleys jumped after me in pursuit, hammering down with a hail of blood lances before my barriers could fully regenerate.

    "Guh!"

    I found my body impaled by dozens of blood spikes and lances, and held aloft by the cruel, barbed lengths of the crimson weapons. I writhed and struggled, but was unable to break free of my painful restraints.

    "Isn''t it about time you give up? ''Hero Slayer''?"

    The five doppelgangers had combined their spells again, ready to launch the gigantic blood projectile to obliterate me. Panting heavily, I destroyed the blood lances with a slash of my Blood Dragon Sword and dropped heavily onto the ground. As my wounds healed, I leaned on my sword, unable to stand fully, never mind evade.

    "Well¡­since it''s such a rare opportunity, I might as well share some information with you."

    "I don''t want to hear it," I replied as I rolled my eyes. Typical villain gloating and giving away too much information because he wanted to brag. Or perhaps this was the clich¨¦ plot device to explain to readers his motives.

    Whatever the case, I was sick of listening to such nonsense.

    "I am trying to save the future of Morten. Not just Haemorage, but all of Morten. Do you know, Tomoyuki Tanaka? The crisis, which is approaching this world. The advent of Chaos."

    "I know."

    I sighed and shook my head.

    Needless to say, it was the disaster that Kobayashi would unleash on the world if he got his hands on the northernmost domain after defeating and wiping out the demons in Morten.

    "That saves me a lot of talking. Simply put, the only one who can rival and combat the arriving human armies and Evelyn''s Chosen is me."

    Bradley raised his voice so that even Lilith could hear him.

    "I''m saying that I''m the only one capable of saving not just Haemorage but the whole of Morten. That''s why it''s necessary to obtain further military power and ancient weapons from the tombs. Therefore, it''s necessary for me to marry that girl. And from here on, I must use that woman as soon as possible, to unlock all the seals on her ancestors'' tombs and dig up more weapons and technology. Furthermore, she will bear my children¡­the children of the ultimate warrior bloodlines, who will possess more potent magic than any other vampires!"

    "¡­"

    Lilith couldn''t help but look disgusted and reviled at his declaration.

    "You''re the favored of Emperor Gremory. If it''s you, you understand, right? This is something that''s necessary. It''s for the future of Morten. There is no victory without sacrifice. By giving the queen over to me, the demon territories will be saved. Even so, are you saying you''ll still get in my way? After having failed to be a hero for the human kingdoms, did you decide that you''re going to be the bane of the Demon Alliance next?"

    "I said I don''t want to hear it," I muttered through gritted teeth. There was so much that was wrong with his speech that I didn''t know where to begin. For starters, Bradley claiming that he was the only one capable of saving Morten was complete delusion. The guy had gone bonkers if he really believed that (admittedly, I doubted he really believed what he was saying). There was Regis, Lilith, and the seven ultimate Demon Nobles who were much more powerful than Bradley, and could turn the tides of war against the humans.

    "..."

    However, the speech wasn''t targeted at me.

    Bradley was deliberately espousing all this nonsense, not to convince me, but to use me to break Lilith emotionally. In order to throw her into despair and make her yield, he was telling me to abandon her.

    There is nobody in this world who will ever come to save you.

    I guessed as much and ignored Bradley''s bullshit. Nothing that came out of his mouth was ever worth listening to. However¡­

    "It is fine already, Tomoyuki-kun."

    "¡­Lilith-san?"

    While I was trying to stand by leaning on my sword and breathing heavily, Lilith spoke up in a resigned tone.

    "It''s enough already. You''ve fulfilled my request in the most satisfactory manner possible."

    "Nope. It ain''t over yet¡­"

    "No, it''s fine. I''ll be honest. I was only using you. The only reason why I approached you from the start was because I intended to use you from the very beginning¡­to get out of this engagement. That''s why you no longer need to feel any responsibility or obligation to help me."

    Lilith showed me her usual cool smile and continued.

    "That''s why, give up already. You shouldn''t have to die in such a place. This isn''t even your country. You have nothing to do with all of this."

    Lilith continued to ground out her words, weaving her thoughts painfully into dialogue. She wanted me to abandon her. That was why she maintained that icy expression of hers and continued to speak.

    "For me, you were just a tool. That''s why¡­I know you won''t be happy being used as a tool. If I had explained everything from the start, it would have been resolved without me delusionally believing that I ever had a chance¡­"

    Drip.

    Tears streamed down her eyes. Unable to bear it, Lilith couldn''t help but weep.

    The solitary, cool and noble girl.

    Having made to bear such a great burden at such a young age, cast off alone and disregarded as a mere figurehead despite working so hard to have everyone acknowledge her¡­even though she fought her way up to the top¡­

    ¡­all she desired was just one simple thing¡­and now that was being taken away from her¡­

    I understood all that, and I sympathized. No¡­I just couldn''t leave her alone. To me, Lilith was someone important.

    "You''re¡­my lover. That''s why I''ll definitely save you, no matter what."

    Asserting that strongly, I then turned to glare at Bradley. The great noble smirked and snorted in amusement.

    "Hah! Even though you have no chance of victory, you still wish to continue? Your so-called ''lover'' doesn''t seem to want you to continue fighting, though? In the first place, how do you intend to save Morten from the calamity of Chaos after defeating me?"

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    "By kicking Kobayashi''s ass and beheading him. I have a bone to pick with him, and he''s my prey. I''m not going to let anyone else steal my target."

    I returned the smirk and pointed my black sword at a stunned Bradley.

    "Why¡­"

    I glanced back at Lilith, whose eyes were moist, and smiled.

    "You''ve helped me a lot too. I was happy when we fought together. Whether it was against the dragons or Iron Knights, you were an invaluable comrade. You were very kind to me. I want to be your strength. So let me fight. You''re someone precious to me, that''s why I want to protect you. If I can''t even protect you, then how can I save Restia?"

    Then I turned my murderous gaze back to the five doppelgangers of Bradley and beckoned for him to come at me.

    "Let''s finish this, Bradley Kreuger."

    "Ha ha ha ha ha! I''ll teach you what it is like to fear a noble vampire!"

    Laughing, all five vampires unleashed their combined spell and blew me away. I was knocked off my feet and engulfed by the devastating blast.

    And even before the explosion was over, the five doppelgangers descended upon me, stabbing me with their swords, their blades reaching my vitals.

    "I''ll slice you apart!"

    With a series of maneuvers, the doppelgangers sliced me into pieces. Both my arms¡­both my legs. They left my head intact on my torso, trying to preserve my life as long as possible so that he could continue to torment me.

    Terrible mistake. This was why antagonists never won against the protagonists. Always doing stupid things like these.

    "I''m on a completely different level from all the enemies you''ve faced before, ''Hero Slayer''! Don''t put me on the same level as them! I''m more powerful¡­I''m the strongest! I''m even stronger than all the Evelyn''s Chosen combined! You should just leave Morten to me, and I''ll clean up the surviving Evelyn''s Chosen in your place!"

    Laughing manically, Bradley slashed me before letting the remains of my body drop to the ground.

    And then¡­

    Adaptive Mutation¡­activated.

 103 Chapter 103: True Vampire

    As the blood around my body bubbled, I smiled despite the blood leaking from my lips.

    "¡­?!"

    Seeing my expression, which was amused despite the supposedly hopeless situation of utter despair that he believed he had forced me into, Bradley and his doppelgangers instinctively took a step back.

    "All right. I''ll recognize you as a powerful vampire."

    "¡­what?!"

    "Class 1 Vampire¡­therefore I''ll be removing all the seals¡­down to level 0."

    "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

    Adaptative Mutation. No, of course not. I was just ripping off Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate.

    However, Bradley Kreuger didn''t know that. All five copies of him watched, aghast, as the blood around me swirled and my body disappeared into it.

    "What¡­"

    All of a sudden, they were all wiped out, dragged, screaming into the pool of blood. One of them managed to escape, but at the swing of my sword that emerged from the red sea, his legs were severed just beneath his knees.

    "Ah¡­aaaaah!"

    Bradley sprawled on the ground and floundered helplessly. It was his turn to feel how it was like to lose his limbs.

    Rolling on the ground, he struggled to get up on his knees. As he did so, he turned around, only to stare wide-eyed at me.

    My black, shifting form was emerging from the sea of blood, my physical shape seeming almost too fluid to be captured by his vision.

    "You¡­you monster!"

    "Well then!" I laughed and spread my newly regenerated hands. "Let''s fight! Let us fight as how vampires should! The ultimate battle between two of the strongest vampires in history! Well! Let us enjoy ourselves!"

    "Ah¡­ah¡­!"

    His jaw dropping, the lone surviving doppelganger of Bradley stared at me, and then backed away. He swung his Azreal Drakkan at me, unleashing a blood spell, but I merely held up a hand and absorbed the blood.

    "Hmm, pretty lackluster. I''m sure you can do better than that."

    "No¡­no way¡­impossible!"

    Screaming, Bradley stumbled and fell back into the sea of blood, splashing wildly and thrashing about.

    "What''s the matter? Didn''t you say you''re on a completely different level from all the enemies I''ve faced? Aren''t you the strongest vampire, the one whose shoulders the fate of Morten rest upon? Weren''t you the ultimate hero who was supposed to save Restia? Come then! Show me the full extent of your powers!"

    "M¡­monster!"

    Bradley shrieked and tried to kick away with his severed legs. I merely stared down at him condescendingly.

    "What are you waiting for? Regenerate your legs right away. Transform into bats. Summon your famliars. You can do at least that much, right?"

    "Don''t come near me!!!!"

    Too slow.

    "What a disappointment."

    "?!"

    With a swing of my Blood Dragon Sword, I left a massive gash on the shrieking Bradley, almost opening his back and severing his spine. He crashed down, paralyzed, wailing in pain and rolling about in the puddle of blood.

    "I¡­impossible! There''s no way¡­.!"

    "After all that bragging, I thought you still had something up your sleeve."

    I slowly walked over to his flailing body and shook my head bitterly.

    Thanks to Adaptive Mutation, it seemed that I had powered up tremendously. It was a pity. If Bradley had chosen to kill me instead of letting me live (albeit painfully) in order to torment me longer, he would have won. The Adaptive Mutation ability wouldn''t have kicked in, and I would have died permanently.

    But I knew his character. I knew how he would act, and so I gambled on it. After receiving the hint from Chronos, I had devised a plan based upon how I knew he would act. Just like every other clich¨¦ antagonist who decided to play around with the protagonist instead of killing him once and for all. Basically the same mistake I refused to repeat against my fomer classmates.

    This was why I killed my former classmates immediately instead of trying to make them suffer. It was stupid, it was risky and it wasn''t worth it, especially if they escaped and turned the tables on me. I wasn''t going to give them that chance.

    Hmm, let''s see¡­this is interesting.

    At the corner of my eye, I could see my updated information.

    Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

    Species: Undead

    Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Vampire King

    Title: Hero Slayer

    Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Rapid Regeneration, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint, Adaptive Mutation, Blood Thralls, Blood Magic, Enhanced Attributes, Nightmarish Hypnosis

    Initially, it didn''t seem like there was any difference, but I realized that I had been promoted from Vampire Lord to Vampire King. Furthermore, I didn''t receive any new abilities except Rapid Regeneration, which was more of an improved version of an already existing one.

    Oh well. That was better than nothing. No wonder I was instantly growing back amputated limbs.

    "But it seems like the match is already over."

    "Ah¡­ah¡­!"

    Bradley was staring at me, his eyes wide in shock and fear. My shifting, misshapen form almost looked like a window into the immaterium. Countless eyes opened and blinked, staring at him from behind the screen that was my body and fixing him under a chilling gaze with their bloodshot pupils. A hallucination, an illusion¡­but one that felt so real to Bradley that he was practically pissing himself from sheer terror.

    But the dragon''s head that I had summoned was real. A familiar¡­the undead dragon that I had enslaved after killing it. Its slavering jaws snapped as it reared over the trembling Bradley.

    "¡­hmph. You''re not even worthy enough to be dragon''s food."

    "¡­ku! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    As if something inside Bradley had snapped, he burst into hysterical laughter, his eyes taking on a crazed gleam. Pushing his hands off the ground, he forcibly leaped back and wore an ugly grin that bordered on insanity.

    Raising his sword, he fired a single spell into the air ¨C a flare that exploded and emitted a shrill shriek.

    "Uh¡­what''s that supposed to be?" I rolled my eyes.

    "Ku ku ku! It''s just a signal. To my private army! My subordinates, the retainer knights of House Kreuger, all of them deployed and scattered across the surroundings from the start! They''ll be here within seconds!"

    "¡­does this mean you''ve planned all this from the very beginning?"

    I remained calm as I questioned Bradley.

    Since Claire McAlterize had already consciousness, there were no eyewitnesses. If he disposed of me, he could easily cover it up by claiming it was an unfortunate accident. Moreover, he could threaten Lilith to keep her quiet.

    Or so he thought, but there was no way in hell Lilith would keep quiet. The moron was obviously underestimating her.

    The main point was that he had prepared the venue for the duel with the intention of having his subordinates cover the place from the start.

    "This is also a brilliant strategy, Hero Slayer. Such is the nature of duels¡­you should know that! The third-ranked vampire knight and heir to House Kreuger can''t afford to lose! Surely you, the hero of demons, should understand?"

    Bradley was smiling triumphantly.

    Apparently he believed that I was close to my limits after dealing terrible damage to me, and Lilith was clearly no longer able to fight.

    If everything didn''t go according to plan, he knew he would at least be able to weaken me enough for his private army to finish me off with sheer numbers. This was his last resort, a contingency he had in place in the unlikely event of his defeat.

    Or so he thought, but¡­

    "I know. I kind of expected that, so I brought my own battalion along."

    "¡­eh?"

    Gunfire and cannons exploded in the air, and the night sky lit up as surges of plasma beams and las-fire lanced through the surroundings. Shrieks and screams of men were drowned out by the thunderous roar of tanks.

    The vox-bead in my ear crackled.

    "Sir, we''ve engaged the enemy. Also battalion sized, but they have no heavy armor. They''re dug in pretty tightly, but we''re pummeling them hard. I estimate we''ll be able to break their lines in ten minutes."

    Daniel''s voice hissed over the comns system. Another explosion resounded in the distance, and someone wailed in the background.

    "Uh, make that eight."

    "I''ll be done by then too."

    Smiling, I turned back to the dismayed Bradley.

    "Well¡­it appears my men have engaged your private soldiers. I hope you brought some anti-tank weaponry¡­ah, whoops. I forgot. I don''t think anyone in Restia other than the dwarves of Moria have developed such destructive weapons yet."

    "What¡­?!"

    "You really didn''t think I would come here unprepared if I knew all about your nefarious plans and what you''ve orchestrated, did you?"

    While Bradley shouted in shock, I sneered. The dragon lowered its head and bit off the lower half of his body, causing him to scream.

    "Major! Don''t do that! We need him alive to testify!"

    While Bradley howled in pain, a familiar voice shouted from behind. I glanced and caught sight of Captain Elia Kratz and a platoon of light infantry hurrying over the temple grounds. The soldiers turned around and fired their rifles into the surroundings, elicitng a cry of pain. A man, dressed in a white uniform bearing the crest of House Kreuger, yelped and fell, blood leaking from his chest. A second guy toppled over, his head a bloody mess.

    "Sorry, but you''ll have to explain to his majesty Emperor Gremory what you were conspiring behind the scenes¡­and why you decided to commit high treason."

    "¡­what are you talking about?!"

    "Don''t bother making excuses," Lieutenant Gio called out as he led his platoon into the temple. "We heard and recorded everything with the smart communication devices that the Major gave us. About how you had threatened her highness Queen Lilith, the sovereign of Haemorage. Also how you employed assassins from the enemy, the human armies, to assault her. And the violation of the rules of the duel as well as the attempt to intentionally kill your opponent. We heard and recorded everything, and even broadcasted it to the rest of the Haemorage army."

    "U¡­gah!"

    Bradley Kreuger realized that he was cornered. Even if he was one of the four great nobles, there was no way he could explain his actions¡­now that the military had a recording of his admission to his crimes, there would be an enquiry. The council of elders wouldn''t let him get away with this, and his father might just lose his position. Plus there was still the Demon Lord, Emperor Regis, to answer to.

    And from the approaching rumbling noises of tanks and the dwindling gunfire, it was clear that his private soldiers were being routed by the 1,087th Magna Battalion.

    "Please surrender, Lord Kreuger."

    Elia solemnly requested that he allowed her soldiers to arrest him without resisting.

    "¡­fu¡­"

    Bradley realized that he was way over his head and utterly cornered. However, despite recognizing his defeat, he refused to be captured so easily.

    Using his sword, he casted a spell and summoned wings of blood. They stretched across his shoulders and flapped. Creating a gust of wind that sent Elia and her men staggering backward, Bradley took off and soared high into the air.

    "Wait! Are you trying to escape?!"

    Elia cried out, but it was too late. Bradley was hurtling away, even as his body ¨C half of which had been devoured by my dragon ¨C slowly healed and regenerated. He was heading toward the dense forest that grew right next the temple grounds.

    It was obvious what he intended. He was going to disappear into the forest, heal his wounds, and then escape Haefield. Upon which, he would then return to his territory and make use of his influence to cover everything up.

    Or perhaps, to flee the council of elders'' wrath and live in another demon kingdom while plotting his revenge.

    "¡­too na?ve."

    A red streak of light sailed across the night sky like a shooting star and pierced the flying Bradley, knocking him out of the air and sending him crashing into the ground.

    The Crimson Blood Lance then spun around and returned back to Lilith''s outstretched hand. Evidently, she was the one who had activated her curse and threw her spear at the fleeing Bradley before he could disappear into the forest.

    "Lilith¡­san?"

    I glanced at the vampire queen in wonder, amazed at how she launched such a precise shot despite running out of strength earlier.

    "I told you earlier, right? That you should not underestimate me."

    That was right. Even though she was exhausted and injured, Lilith Scarlet was still the number one vampire knight in Haemorage and their queen. She was their strongest spearwoman and possessed the ultimate blood techniques.

    "You¡­!"

    As Bradley hollered, I stepped over to him and smiled.

    "Oh, by the way¡­nice try."

    "?!"

    Ryuu swooped down, having emerged from the shadows, and crouched. From his jaw dangled the half-alive doppelgangers of Bradley Kreuger. All four of them. Including the one Lilith just shot down, that made all five of them.

    "Sorry, but¡­"

    Ryuu crushed them all in his jaws before I beheaded the disbelieving Bradley with my sword.

    "¡­Major! You''re not supposed to kill him! We need him to testify in court!"

    "Ah whoops¡­let''s just write this off as an unfortunate accident. We tried to apprehend him, but he escaped and we were forced to shoot him¡­something like that?"

    "¡­you¡­!"

    Elia sighed, but shook her head and glanced at the headless corpse as well as the crushed doppelgangers. The four doppelgangers were all disappearing into bloody mists, leaving only Bradley''s headless original body lying in the dirt, his neck spilling out blood. For good measure, I stabbed his head to ensure he stayed dead.

    With these vampires, you would never know.

    "Well, it''s our fault for not being able to apprehend him, so¡­I guess you didn''t have a choice. But Blood Doppelgangers? Isn''t that technique supposed to be a rare and powerful skill used only by the most powerful vampire nobles?"

    "He is one of the most powerful vampire nobles, you know," I reminded her, only for the Captain to grin sheepishly.

    "Oh, right. I forgot."

    "Anyway, good job, guys."

    "Ah. Thanks!"

    "Thanks, sir!"

    "Good job, sir!"

    My men saluted or reacted happily when I praised them. Elia coughed and turned to them.

    "All right, let''s round up the prisoners! Don''t let any of them escape! We''ll get them to testify in front of the council instead!"

    I watched as my battalion mopped up the rest of Bradley''s private army. With nothing much to do, I plopped down to my feet, exhausted. Dismissing Ryuu and whatever familiars I had summoned, I began resting.

    "Are you all right, Tomoyuki-kun?"

    "Yeah. How about you, Lilith-san?"

    Lilith smiled and shook her head. She was still resting against the stone wall of the broken temple, her ruby eyes staring up at the night sky in wonder.

    "In the end, you''re the only person who did not abandon me. Even when the situation seemed to be at its most desperate¡­you never gave up on saving me."

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    Her mind seemed pretty distant as she whispered that.

    In contrast to me, Bradley ¨C despite assessing the girl named Lilith as the "best tool" ¨C had discarded her and escaped by himself.

    "That isn''t true."

    While Lilith sank deep into her thoughts, I smiled and shook my head.

    "¡­eh?"

    "When I said that I will head to the venue of the duel and participate in it, everyone helped me. Not just my battalion¡­all the soldiers in Haefield Camp did. Your commanders, your men¡­your soldiers. They were all concerned for you. The whole camp mobilized to help you. Well, only my battalion moved out, though, but your officers and commanders have been preparing a lot of things back in camp. They''re getting ready to invade all the territories of House Kreuger."

    "¡­what?"

    I grinned. "Yeah. Your soldiers are all willing to go that far for you, your highness. So please don''t ever think you''re alone. You have an entire army that''s willing to fight for you. Furthermore, this is after they deciphered the historical records in Alucard''s tomb."

    "¡­huh?"

    "Yeah, when I talked to them, they were beginning to read the historical records and understand what happened in the past. But none of them cared. They told me, ''Alucard is Alucard. Queen Lilith is Queen Lilith. What she does now is more important than what her ancestor did in the past. We''ll all follow her to our deaths.''"

    "That''s¡­"

    Tears dripped down from Lilith''s eyes.

    "Yup."

    I rose to my feet shakily and offered her my hand.

    "So let''s go back. You still have a lot of things to take care of, your highness. Your loyal army awaits you."

    "Yes."

    Lilith took my hand and stood up unsteadily.

    Then the both of us turned to join the rest of my battalion, who were busily rounding up the prisoners.

 104 Chapter 104: Rules of Engagemen

    "Looking good, eh, sir?"

    "¡­not really."

    I grimaced when Sergeant Michael Marko let out a hearty chuckle, feeling uncomfortable and uneasy in my attire. These were the formal clothes that Lilith bought me when we went out a few days ago. As arranged, they arrived and were sent straight to the military base, and Lilith requested that I wore them today.

    "Ugh¡­"

    Formal attire, with a long-sleeve shirt, tie and fancy stuff. This really wasn''t my kind of thing. I wanted to wear my Redwood jacket over everything, but it would ruin the outfit and it would be too hot. Besides, I wasn''t going into combat today, so I didn''t need it.

    I hoped.

    "Anyway, thanks for yesterday, Mike. You guys really helped me out a lot."

    "Nah, it''s our duty." Marko slapped my shoulder. "Rather, we should be thanking you. For exposing Kreguer''s atrocities and revealing his conspiracies against the royal family¡­yeah, we''re grateful to you for stopping all that."

    "His majesty Emperor Regis is the one who uncovered all his schemes, though. He''s the one we should be thanking."

    Marko guffawed at that. "That might be true, but you are the one who executed the plan and defeated Kreuger. All the plans and strategies in the world will come to nothing if the people actually on the ground aren''t able to pull them off."

    "Those people on the ground include all of you, you know. I wouldn''t have been able to do it without any of you."

    "Yeah, yeah, you already thanked the battalion yesterday. We heard it until our ears are bleeding. And you''ve given us all a day off today, so take your break, sir."

    Thanks to the incident of yesterday, as well as accomplishing the mission of defending the tomb, I had rewarded my battalion with a vacation. The majority of them had decided to leave camp to visit Haefield City and have fun.

    "Speaking of which, why are you still here, Sergeant?"

    "Oh, I''m going home after this. Can''t let you be the last one to leave, Major. And I''m not exactly looking forward to seeing my wife." Marko laughed wryly. "She''ll be dragging me out to visit relatives today¡­even though all I really want is a good sleep."

    I returned the smile and friendly gesture, clapping him on the shoulder.

    "Go see your wife, Mike. We''ll be heading out to Moria tomorrow, so it''s best to spend as much time with her as possible before we depart."

    "Is that an order, sir?" Marko grinned, then shook his head. "You shouldn''t be worrying about me, young man. Now go and enjoy your youth. You''ve a date waiting for you."

    "Thanks¡­wait, it''s not exactly a date, though."

    The typical light novel protagonist response. How clich¨¦. Well done, myself. I was behaving like the usual dense protagonist.

    "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Sarge. I''ll see you tonight then."

    "All right, sir. Enjoy!"

    We parted ways at the gate of the military camp. Marko headed toward the direction of his house while I proceeded toward the meeting place. Unexpectedly, Lilith was already there, waiting for me at the front of the gate.

    Damn, I screwed up. I shouldn''t have kept the lady waiting. This was bad.

    Fortunately, Lilith didn''t seem like she cared. When she spotted me, she smiled brilliantly, her pretty face radiating an air of attractiveness and joy.

    "Well then, shall we go? I hired a carriage for today, so¡­"

    As if to punctuate her declaration, a carriage pulled up in front of us, a horsemen in a fancy black suit tipping his top hat in greeting as he reined in his horse. Lilith nodded, and I proceeded to open the door before gesturing for her to board first.

    I knew to do this much, at least.

    "Thank you."

    "No problem."

    After Lilith boarded the carriage, I proceeded in after her. As I took my seat, I glanced at her and found my breath taken away by her beauty.

    Lilith was wearing a long, evening-black dress that swept all the way to her feet, a formal gown that gently accentuated her curves and complemented her flowing, fiery hair very well. She had also tied her hair stylishly into an elegant bun, which was completely different from how she usually hung her long hair loosely in casual attire or uniform.

    "Are you ready?"

    Catching my gaze, Lilith smiled gently and inquired. I nodded.

    "Uh, yeah."

    Despite my affirmative reply, I couldn''t help but feel nervous. We were going to meet with that butler from the Scarlet family, after all.

    Trying to calm my nerves, I glanced out of the window and watched the scenery flash past us outside. The destination was a high-class commercial district, which was supposedly the original location for officially establishing the engagement. Perhaps because it was the weekend, the streets outside the carriage window were bustling with lively crowds. Luxuriously dressed people commuted across the shops, leisurely strolling.

    Good for them, I thought bitterly. None of them seemed to have noticed the crisis that had almost befallen them last night¡­or the impending war with the human kingdoms.

    Yesterday night, after everything was settled, the only news I heard of Bradley Kreuger''s death was that it would not be publically announced. That much was obvious. If the public head that the heir to one of the Four Great Noble Houses had committed high treason, there would be quite the massive outcry and unrest.

    Apparently Bradley had arranged for the human knights to disguise as private soldiers under his command, and had them infiltrate Haefield behind both his father''s and family''s backs. He was also reported to have worked in the shadows to orchestrate the illegal excavations of ancient royal tombs and blackmailing any rivals.

    There was no way I would be smart enough to play a political game with cunning opponents who had been hiding and covering up their crimes for decades, or even centuries.

    Well, at least I killed Bradley Kreuger. His father would be next on my list if he was stupid enough to attempt revenge. But before worrying about all these politics, I was more focused on my next goal. Next week, I would be proceeding to Moria. There, I would most certainly confront at least one of my former classmates again.

    Thanks to this battle, I was able to kill Kishimoto Hikaru. There were about ten targets left, including the final boss, Kobayashi Kenji.

    I''ll definitely kill all of them.

    Those ten were the ones who actively bullied, like Tsukishima Tomoyo and the other six. Unlike the Iron Knights, or Suzuki Shirou''s bunch, they verbally abused me, and sometimes participated in trying to beat me up, so they were on my hit list.

    Nine down, including Sakaguchi Seiji, who Lilith killed, and Samejima Hiroki, who Kobyashi sacrificed, and Ooyama Eiji, who Takeda Tetsuo exiled. Almost a third of the class was down, and another third of the class were off the list, so¡­a third left to kill.

    I was getting there¡­

    "We''ve arrived."

    "Ah¡­"

    While I was lost in my murderous thoughts, the carriage had finally pulled up in front of our destination.

    Glancing outside, I saw the grand entrance of a high-class restaurant that usually served the nobility or the wealthy. It was obvious that Claire McAlterize had arranged for us to meet there to discuss the engagement.

    After the horseman reined the horses and pulled the carriage to a stop, Lilith and I alighted the carriage. Claire was already waiting for us outside a nearby shop, and she hastily hurried to meet up with us. Once she joined us, the three of us entered the restaurant, a waiter at the front politely waiting to lead us to our seats.

    The interior of the restaurant was strangely empty. Apparently Claire had reserved the restaurant beforehand, so only the staff was present. The waiter patiently waited as we got seated around a relatively small table, and then left to inform the chef to begin cooking. Once he was gone, Claire bowed deferentially to the two of us.

    "Welcome, Ojou-sama, and Tomoyuki Tanaka-sama."

    Straightening her posture as she sat rigidly on the luxurious chair, Claire then lowered her head apologetically.

    "First, please allow me to apologize to the both of you. The issue this time¡­it was caused by my ineptitude, and I will take responsibility for my rudeness and mistakes. It is fault for trying to force the engagement without thoroughly evaluating Lord Kreuger and misjudging his character completely. I have no idea how to atone for my rudeness toward both Ojou-sama and Tomoyuki Tanaka-sama. Before I return to the Scarlet Family and repent for my errors by receiving a severe punishment, I would like to request for your forgiveness."

    "..."

    Both Lilith and I hesitated for a few moments after listening to the heartfelt apology from Claire. If she put it that way, even Lilith couldn''t be angry at her.

    Later, I heard from Lilith that Claire was a knight who was taken in by the Scarlet household at a very young age, when she was orphaned. Consequently, she became extremely devoted and loyal to the Scarlet family because they provided for her and raised her to be a respectable knight. This deep loyalty was what drove her to resort to drastic measures in order to serve the Scarlet family and answer their expectations.

    Even though I wasn''t pleased with the way she handled the matter, I had no intention of blaming her either. She did what she thought was right. That was all to it.

    "Lilith-san¡­"

    I glanced at her, wondering how she would deal with this.

    "Can you raise your head? It is shameful to lower your head in public, especially when we''re inside a restaurant."

    Lilith replied coolly. Despite her cold expression, I could hear the gentleness in her tone. Clearly Lilith had no intention of blaming her butler either.

    "As for the matter this time, I am also at fault. I made things difficult for you, Claire. I was the one who forced you into a corner. That''s why we are even. There is no need for you to apologize."

    Even though it was slight, I could see the two girls exchange understanding glances with each other.

    I wasn''t very sure of Claire''s background, but I could see that she had reached an understanding with Lilith. There obviously was mutual respect between the two, and I even detected a trace of sisterly bonds.

    "Those words are wasted on me. That said, it seems that my mission has been successfully accomplished."

    "Huh?"

    Both of us couldn''t help but exclaim in confusion at Claire''s sudden statement.

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    "Tomoyuki Tanaka-sama''s ability as a warrior¡­as a vampire knight¡­and his intelligence that allowed him to see through Lord Kreuger''s conspiracies and countered his schemes. I have most definitely borne witness to them. Moreover, he is acknowledged by his majesty Emperor Regis Gremory himself, and is an outstanding military officer of substantial rank in the Helsfort military, one of the most prestigious armies in Morten. The head of the elder council, as well as all the elders, will certainly judge you as suitable for being the fianc¨¦ too."

    "¡­huh? Wait, what?"

    I stared blankly at Claire, who was smiling humbly. But the gears were already shifting in my mind, and I roughly understood what was going on here.

    "Ha¡­"

    I sighed and then turned to Lilith, dropping my voice to a whisper.

    "Lilith-san, I''m guessing you still haven''t told her that our relation was an act?"

    "I did not have the time to do that. I was intending to tell her now, but¡­"

    Lilith herself was flustered at the unexpected turn of events, and wasn''t able to react appropriately to Claire''s bombshell.

    "Um, Claire-san, I¡­"

    "Please rest assured that I will do everything within my power to convince the council of elders in Haecient to accept you as the fianc¨¦. From here on, you can leave everything to me."

    "No, that''s not the point. I¡­"

    "Well then, I shall take my leave. I have already paid the bill for dinner, so please, the two of you can take your time. It''s the least I can do to apologize."

    With that, Claire rose to her feet and left her seat.

    "Well then, excuse me. Ojou-sama, I will visit you someday again."

    "You too. Please take care."

    Claire responded with a bow to Lilith''s gentle smile. The latter was no longer flustered, and had returned to her cool, usual self. In fact, there was a mischievous smile floating on her beautiful face.

    "¡­no one''s listening to me¡­"

    I gave up. It was clear that no matter what I did or said, nobody would pay me any attention. And if I vehemently denied the engagement or yelled after Claire, it would seem too suspicious and cause trouble for Lilith.

    In fact, I had an inkling of a suspicion that Claire already knew the truth, or at least suspected it somewhat. But she didn''t want to go through all that trouble again, so she was brushing my protests off and leaving hurriedly before I could clearly say anything.

    Boy, was she smart or what?

    "She''s gone. I''m a little worried about her when she returns to Haecient, about the punishment that awaits her, but I think she''ll be fine."

    "I''m sure Claire-san will be fine. She''s tough and competent." I sighed bitterly and glanced at Lilith. "Well¡­so what do we do now? About the engagement, I mean."

    "If Tomoyuki-kun is fine with it, I do not mind officially establishing an engagement with you."

    Lilith''s reply was accompanied with a mischievous smile. Looking at her, I couldn''t help but blush a little.

    "What if I''m not fine with it?"

    "Ouch, you hurt my feelings."

    The red-haired girl feigned shock and sadness. But she returned to her usual mischievous smiling self.

    "But you did help me out a lot with this request, and I really shouldn''t impose on you further."

    Right. The request¡­Lilith had asked me to pretend to be her lover to alleviate the pressure mounted upon her to find a fianc¨¦, after all. Because of her status, position and personality, it had caused me quite a few problems, but I couldn''t say I hated it.

    I wonder if I did carry it out well enough, though?

    As this was my first time¡­no, as I had never been in a relationship in my entire life ¨C not even once ¨C I didn''t know if I was actually able to pull it off.

    "I might not have been the suitable person for the job, but I enjoyed it."

    I smiled relaxedly as I leaned back in my seat.

    "That''s right. But sorry¡­as expected, I am not too fond of indecisive men."

    "¡­indecisive?"

    I raised an eyebrow at that. Was I really being indecisive? Maybe it was that incident with Alicia that caused Lilith to have that impression, but I was pretty sure I decisively kicked Alicia away and put a stop to her nonsense.

    Well, whatever.

    "After being your ''lover'' for a week, I became aware of that fact again."

    "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I''m the worst person to approach regarding these matters, and the worst kind of ''lover'', after all."

    I couldn''t help but shrug bitterly. This was why I had never gotten a girlfriend my entire life. I just wasn''t meant for it. There was no girl in the entire universe who would ever like me.

    Unless she was as insane as that bitch, Alicia¡­

    Besides, I already knew this would happen. For one thing, this whole lover thing was an act, and was fake, so it was never meant to last. Lilith was the queen of Haemorage, and it was natural that she would require a more competent, decisive, handsome and stronger man as her husband.

    However, Lilith slowly drew closer to me and whispered softly.

    "But the real you is quite the unwavering person. And I like the unwavering you very much."

    "¡­huh?"

    The second I raised my head to stare at Lilith, I suddenly found my lips sealed.

    I couldn''t see anything¡­instead, the sweet scent of high-class perfume drifted upward, and the sensation of soft lips filled my mind.

    "What?!"

    It was just a slight, gentle kiss, but my whole body turned rigid and my face reddened, my head practically turning into a volcano.

    "This is a tiny expression of my gratitude for fulfilling my request. Are you unsatisfied with it?"

    Despite wearing her usual cool expression, Lilith''s cheeks were slightly flushed.

    "Uh, no, that''s not the problem¡­"

    "Then, one more time¡­"

    While I was still confused by the sudden turn of events, Lilith exploited the opening, leaned in and kissed me again. This time, for much longer.

    When she finally released me, she leaned back and smiled, her tongue subtly sliding out to lick her lips.

    "Uh¡­what? Huh? Shouldn''t you treasure yourself more, Lilith-san?"

    I was mumbling incoherently, my mind swimming too much for me to think properly. I was never smart in the first place, and this was sending me into a mental overload.

    "Treasure myself? It''s not as if I lost anything, so it''s fine, isn''t it? Plus, if Tomoyuki-kun really accepts the engagement with me, I do not mind continuing this."

    "I would much rather you don''t¡­"

    "So you''re agreeing to the engagement after all?"

    Lilith giggled as she gently traced a fingertip across my cheek. I couldn''t help but sigh.

    "¡­I didn''t say that."

    "You''re also not outright rejecting it," Lilith observed in a teasing manner. "It can''t be helped. Well then, take some time to think about deciding whether you want to accept the engagement or not."

    "Uh, well¡­"

    At least Lilith was several thousand times better than Alicia, and I certainly found her attractive, not just physically but also in terms of her personality.

    Heaving a sigh, I closed my eyes and sagged against my chair while waiting for the food to arrive. Yeah, that''s right.

    Enjoying the expensive, delicious food in this high-class restaurant was way more important than worrying over clich¨¦ things like engagements and romance troubles.

 105 Chapter 105: The Dwarven Kingdom

    "Major Tomoyuki Tanaka¡­.your new assignment is in Moria."

    "Yes, your majesty."

    The blue holographic picture of Regis Gremory flickered as he set his majestic dark eyes on my kneeling figure. The dark-haired emperor regarded me with a favorable smile, and nodded before gesturing for me to rise.

    "My friend, dispense with the formalities. I know you''re not exactly from this world, and even so, I appreciate your loyalty and help¡­even if it''s all just to defeat your old foes."

    I shrugged. "Well, your majesty, there are people in this world who have become pretty important to me, so it''s no longer just about revenge. That said, I will still carry out my revenge, no matter what. Just not at the expense of my friends."

    "Oh, right." Regis grinned mischievously. "I heard about it¡­your engagement with Queen Lilith Scarlet, that is."

    "¡­huh?!"

    I blanched at that. News really traveled fast¡­wait, that wasn''t the issue¡­ugh.

    "No, that''s¡­uh¡­"

    Regis held up a hand. "It''s all right, you don''t need to explain. And I don''t want to hear it either, to be frank. It''s none of my business who you marry¡­actually, to be honest, this engagement benefits me a lot, especially since you''ll be helping me keep the political rivals in Haemorage in check. I would much rather Queen Scarlet stay in power than any of those Four Great Noble Houses, and this will cement Haemorage''s place in the Demonic Alliance."

    "¡­right¡­"

    To be honest, I had completely no idea how that worked, but politics weren''t my forte so I decided not to ask about it.

    "Speaking of the Demonic Alliance¡­your mission to Moria is crucial. As you already know, we have a great relationship with Moria, trading and importing lots of war material and technology from them. They''re responsible for manufacturing over 90% of our weapons and vehicles, and to lose them would be a massive blow."

    "So like forge worlds, huh?"

    "Forge worlds¡­?" Regis stared at me blankly. I shook my head.

    "I''ll induct you into the priesthood of Mars and reveal the secrets of the Adeptus Mechanicus in time, but not now. You were saying about Moria¡­?"

    "Yes. Your battalion is to head to the dwarven kingdom effective immediately, and help in the defense against the Emperor of Humanity and his military forces. There are already sightings of Evelyn''s Chosen on the move, so we''ll require your battle power."

    "Yes, sir!"

    A dwarven princess, huh? I couldn''t imagine what female dwarves looked like, but I wondered if they were bulky, muscular, short and heavyset.

    "Understood, your majesty. I will try¡­if time affords it. But defending Moria takes priority."

    "I expected no less of you, Major. Pull this off, and I''ll reward you massively."

    "I need no reward¡­except help to kill Evelyn''s Chosen. If I''m not mistaken, I''ll be able to convince the Iron Knights to join this fight as well."

    Fortunately, I was still in contact with the Iron Knights. Takeda Tetsuo had already agreed to lend Moria a hand, and was mobilizing his group to meet the Evelyn''s Chosen in combat.

    "Hedas bless you, Major, and good luck. We must defend Moria at all costs¡­or we''ll be crippled. When that happens, the humans will run over all of Morten with their numerical superiority and fanatical devotion to the current Emperor of Humanity."

    "I won''t let that happen," I vowed. It wasn''t just to defend the demon race¡­but to deliver a crushing blow and ruin Kobayashi Kenji''s plans would be a sweet part of my greater plans for revenge. I would love to see the look on his face when he failed to conquer Moria.

    But I couldn''t underestimate him.

    "I have great expectations of you, Major." Regis grinned. "Don''t worry. I''ll also be moving out and confronting Evelyn''s Chosen myself. The elite of Helsfort will march to war alongside you. Your battalion will prove to be pivotal in swinging the outcome of this war, but you won''t be alone this time. Don''t worry, I''ll still grant you full autonomy."

    "Thank you, your majesty."

    "See you on the battlefield then."

    The hologram blinked out and I stood up, stretching myself. Turning toward the door of my room, I took a deep breath.

    It was time to dispatch my battalion to Moria.

    *

    Moria, the mountainous dwaren kingdom, hidden both underground and within the valleys of towering mountains. Black smoke churned and spewed out of sky-piercing chimney stacks, and factories regurgitated rows upon rows of war vehicles, weapons, rifles and other armanents. A Malthas Executioner tank rolled off the conveyor belt, only for crews of dwarves to hurry over and begin painting it in base coat. The details would wait ¨C the regiments these tanks were sent to would decide the specific color and patterns they want for their own tanks.

    Across the tank factory, rows of staff oversaw the production of ballistic automatic rifles, plasma weapons and sniper rifles, assembling cartridges of ammunition or fitting the stocks, scopes, barrels and triggers of the guns. In addition to rifles, small arms such as revolvers or pistols were also being assembled, alongside heavier weapons such as missile launchers and laser cannons.

    Morten was at war, and Moria was supplying the weapons, vehicles and ammunition needed for such a vast undertaking.

    "My lord!"

    As the smoking factories of Moria bustled in a hub of ceaseless activity, a single dwarf with a grand beard and regal robes stood atop an overarching cliff that curved off the face of a mountain. Behind him, a soldier hurried over, carrying a scroll of printed text.

    "Helsfort has sent soldiers over for reinforcements! They''ve crossed the foot of the mountain and are approaching!"

    His eyes hidden underneath a sombrero, the thickly built dwarf continued gruffly even as the shaft of his axe poked at the huge rim of his Mexican-styled hat.

    Chewing on his cigar, the dwarven king continued to look out from his perch atop the cliff, his glowing eyes piercing the shadows of his sombrero. Apparently, it was more stylish for the king to wear a wide-rimmed hat instead of a crown.

    "Hell, it''s about time."

    "They''re led by a man named Tanaka¡­"

    The dwarven soldier who was reporting the news to his lord continued, his sombrero barely concealed his wized, battle-scared face.

    "My lord¡­it is rumored that this man¡­this Tanaka is the mighty Hero Slayer who has slain six of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­"

    "Hmph."

    The dwarven king slammed his mithril hammer against the ground, blue sparks of lightning dancing around its massive head as the power field activated slightly. He offered a cigar to the messenger, who took it and took a huge drag, puffing massive clouds of smoke into the air, mirroring the chimmey stacks of the factories behind them. The king exhaled a huge beath of smoke himself before sneering.

    "Just more frauds¡­pretending to be heroes and hoping in vain to claim and defile my sister. We appreciate their help, but I don''t care about all that Hero Slayer thing or stupid titles Gremory comes up with. They''re not taking my sister from us."

    Deep within the castle at the heart of the mountainous region, a single girl stirred in her bed, her shapely form stretching out behind silk linen and curtains. Unmoved, the dwarven king continued in a thunderous manner.

    "And if they prove to be the same type of frauds who arrived before them, they will also break under my Thunder Hammer before they even get to face the enemy!"

    *

    Back in Haemorage, I strode forward briskly between lines of soldiers in black uniforms. They maintained their salute as I proceeded to the front of the unit, where my officers waited. Captain Elia Kratz and Lieutenant Gio Vanni of Company L. Lieutenant Benjamin Burado and Master Sergeant Michael Marko of Company H. Lieutenant Daniel Dressia and his tank commanders of Company T. They were all waiting for my command.

    With a flick of my hand, I gestured for them to be at ease.

    "Let''s go."

    Everyone swung their hands down in coordinated fashion, and proceeded to their tanks and armored personnel carriers, which were waiting for them. Drivers started their engines and opened the hatches, the doors slammed down against the ground to allow my soldiers entry into the armored interior of the Cerberus APCs. Tank crews jumped through the hatches, taking their place inside the tanks or sponsons and buckling themselves up for the long journey ahead.

    Everything felt so surreal.

    Even though Restia was supposed to be a medieval fantasy world¡­or at least that was the impression I received¡­the sciences and technologies were developing at a rapid rate. It was a fantasy world on the brink of the Industrial Revolution, but they were mixing magic with science and technology to achieve the best of both worlds.

    The Malthas tanks, particularly, were a marvel of the fusion of magic and technology, relying on mana cores to power their devastating plasma cannons and laser cannons. The heavy, man-portable plasma guns and rifles that the men of Company H carried were miniature versions of those cannons, capable of unleashing a deadly hail of magic-infused plasma and incinerating any enemy on the battlefield.

    Even Evelyn''s Chosen would be hard-pressed to stop entire battalions of tanks and plasma weapons. That said, I couldn''t underestimate them. They were still heroes who were granted power by the goddess Evelyn, and capable of destroying entire tank companies with their spells without receiving a single scratch in return. With magic so dominant in this world, no wonder technological advance had stagnated for a long time.

    It was a good thing that there were only so many heroes, or the demon race would have been exterminated long ago.

    I jumped onto my tank Purity of Faith and waved to my driver, Jason Jurgen.

    "All right, Jason. Get ready. We''re moving out. As expected, we''re going to form the vanguard of the convoy."

    "Sure thing, boss."

    Shifting the gear into motion, Jurgen then started the tank, and Purity of Faith roared forward with a vengeance. The rest of the tanks formed up behind me, spreading out into an armored spearhead, and we were followed by rows and rows of Cerberus APCs that ferried the infantry of Companies L and H. As usual, all the commanders were split up so that we wouldn''t lose our command structure in a single stroke should the enemy target a single tank or APC.

    "We''re really going to Moria, huh?"

    Jason''s voice was filled with awe. He glanced at the glowing console of dials, screens, pict-screens, auspexes and switches before him.

    "I mean¡­I always knew that our tanks were manufactured in Moria, but this is the first time that fact has really hit me."

    "Yeah¡­is this the first time you''ll be going to Moria?"

    "Sure is! Do you know how secretive the dwarven kingdom is? Outsiders are rarely allowed inside. They hoard all their technology and guard it secretly from even all the other demons! The only reason why we''re even allowed to approach Moria is because of the crisis¡­of the threat of the human invasion. Otherwise they would blow us out of the ground long before we even reach the foot of their mountains!"

    "¡­I see."

    "But man, this is impressive. Look at this, Major."

    Corporal Gunnery spoke up. He was running his hand across the console, where intricate patterns and tiny figures that were sculpted as worship to the God-Emperor¡­I mean Hedas, spread out in a dizzying array.

    "Look at all the details! Wow, this is really amazing!"

    He''s right. I nodded quietly as I studied the details of the reliefs and all the other patterns and details sculpted into the consoles around us. The interior of the tank looked like a work of art, every little detail crafted in precision.

    "Dwarves are always so tough and grim¡­it''s surprising to see them capable of making stuff as fancy as this!"

    Gunnery marveled over the details as he leaned over his gun controls, thoroughly impressed by what he was seeing.

    "There''s a dwarven saying," Jason called back from the front in his driver''s seat. "''A man should forge with his hammer as a woman sews with her needle.'' Basically the dwarven women are the ones who are responsible for all the delicate and artful designs."

    "Oh?" Gunnery perked up and leaned toward Jurgen. "Have you seen dwarven women before, Sergeant?"

    "Nope. I have never even set foot in Moria before, and obviously only dwarven men have departed from their kingdom to do trades and stuff."

    "So they''re supposed to be mysterious?" I snorted, amused. "Don''t tell me they have some weird law requiring you to marry them if you see one unveiled or something."

    "¡­where did you get that from, boss?" Jurgen laughed. "That sounds like something you read from a manga."

    "¡­no, never mind."

    I didn''t know they had manga here in Restia, never mind read them.

    "I did hear they''re pretty hot, though! Even though I haven''t seen one in the flesh, I''ve seen photographs! At least, pictures that were supposed to be photographs of them. Of course, they could very well be a hoax."

    Gunnery was on a roll. Jurgen and I exchanged glances and rolled our eyes.

    "¡­yeah, sure."

    "Well, boss, at least you''ll be treating the men to a magnificent sight." Jurgen chuckled. I was half-expecting him to sound phlegmatic, but he wasn''t my aide and I wasn''t a Commissar either. Come to think of it, he wasn''t driving a Salamander but an actual Leman Russ¡­I mean Malthas Executioner tank, so it all didn''t match up.

    "Good for them."

    Other than Elia Kratz, the vast majority of the battalion were all men. Actually, wasn''t Elia the only female soldier in my battalion? That was¡­unexpected. Then again, we were on the brink of industrial revolution, so ideals of gender equality and equal opportunity still hadn''t graced Restia yet. Elia herself only reached her position because she was the daughter of Marquis Kratz.

    "Um¡­well, boss wouldn''t understand since you''re already engaged, but the rest of us pitiful mortals are still single. Speaking of which¡­her highness Queen Scarlet¡­she didn''t seem all too happy about you basically going on this¡­uh, well¡­delicate mission alone."

    "Alone? I have you guys with me. The whole battalion''s participating. I''m not alone."

    "That''s not what I mean¡­"

    "And she sent us off with a smile too¡­"

    I closed my eyes and remembered Lilith forcing a smile, even as a vein popped in her face.

    "Do¡­do take care, Major! And I''ll see you soon! Very soon!"

    Why the hell was she behaving like Princess Sakura from Shinju no Nectar? It wasn''t as if I was going there to suck the dwarven princess''s ambrosia or something.

    "Maybe you haven''t heard, Major¡­but after rescuing her highness Dragon Princess Yuan, defeating both Count Raum and Lord Kreuger, saving Haemorage not once but twice, and slaying six heroes, you''ve becoming quite the big deal in Morten¡­"

    This time it was Gunnery, who had a bead of perspiration trickling down his face.

    "Yeah¡­what with that impressive title, Hero Slayer, eh, boss?"

    Jurgen folded his arms and scoffed. I couldn''t help but roll my eyes.

    "They really have to stop shoving these weird titles on me¡­anyway¡­" I cleared my throat. "Focus on the road ahead, Jason. Full speed! We''re going to reach Moria before sundown!"

    *

    "Tomoyuki Tanaka the Hero Slayer¡­what a fearsome title!"

    Back in the dwarven castle, Mariachi music blared out from an esemble of guitars, violins and trumpets. Fancily dressed servants played the music with grace while dwarven soldiers with sombreros and smoking cigars knelt down before the princess, whose silhouette was concealed behind velvet and silk curtains that flowed down her bed.

    "Do not worry, your highness! As your guards, we have been appointed by the King himself¡­and we will protect you with our lives!"

    "Uh¡­huh? Protect me from¡­the Hero Slayer? Isn''t he supposed to be on our side? I thought he''s coming here with his soldiers to fight the human armies from invading our kingdom? Aren''t you supposed to protect me from the humans and Evelyn''s Chosen instead?"

    "Sh!" the dwarf in front raised his head, his eyes barely visible under the rim of his sombrero, and placed a finger on his lips. "Don''t mind the details, your highness! We''re trying to rip off Shinju no Nectar here, so just play your part!"

    The princess rolled her eyes and sighed.

    "The moment you wore all those sombreros and smoked cigars, you kind of failed the spoof, like, totally."

    "Ugh¡­"

    The elite guard looked at each other, then sighed.

    "Well, we''ll do our best to protect you from the hated humans and their Evelyn''s Chosen then!"

    "I am very grateful to you all, but don''t force yourself. I''m not sure how you''re supposed to defeat Evelyn''s Chosen."

    "Hah! See this?"

    The lead dwarf rose to his feet and pounded the gleaming armor that he wore, a powerful suit that doubled his size and encased him in a protective power field. Massive gauntlets that allowed his fists to grab an adult human''s head in one hand and crushed it, with a single combi-bolter attached to one arm, and the other arm wielding Thunder Hammers.

    "We''re dressed in Terminator Armor! Also known as Tactical Dreadnought Armor, these are sophisticated armors available only to the most elite warriors of Moria! It grants us a 2+ armor save and a 5++ invulnerable save, not to mention 2 wounds and Teleport Strike! With our Strength 4 Rapid Fire 2 combi-bolters and a Thunder Hammer that doubles our Strength and deals 3 Damage in melee. Not to mention, we have at least 1 heavy weapon in each 5-man squad, like plasma cannons or heavy flamers. Oh, and if you''re worried about us falling to the humans'' massed blades or arrows, or even the spells of Evelyn''s Chosen, we can alternatively trade our combi-bolters for storm shields, which would give us a 3++ invulnerable save!"

    "¡­"

    The princess merely stared at them blankly, completely confused by their tabletop talk. The lead dwarf then cleared his throat, realizing that he had momentarily turned into a nerdy neckbeard who mixed up reality with wargaming.

    "Sorry, that''s how it works in the crunch, but obviously everything is gonna differ in the fluff. I mean, in reality."

    "Oh. I see. So that''s how it is."

    The princess nodded and bowed.

    "We''re at your command, your highness! So don''t hesitate to call us when you need us!"

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    "Um, of course. For now, a little bit of privacy, please?"

    "C¡­certainly!"

    The neckbeard¡­I mean Terminator dwarf with a sombrero and cigar realized that he had overstepped his boundaries and quickly rose to his feet. With a single gesture, the brother-sergeant gestured for his Terminator squad to leave the princess''s room as quickly as possible.

    When they did so, and the princess was finally alone in her room, she wrapped herself in her covers and contemplated.

    "Major Tomoyuki Tanaka¡­the Hero Slayer¡­"

    Within the sparkling castle, the princess stayed in her bed and dreamed.

    At the same time¡­

    "Ah¡­ah choo!"

    "Hedas bless you, boss." Jurgen didn''t glance back, his eyes focused on the visual display in front of him. "Catching a cold?"

    "No, definitely not."

    Could undead catch colds? Since we were technically dead, I couldn''t imagine bacteria infecting us, but then I could still feel pain, emotions, eat food, digest them, and basically behaved like a living person, so¡­

    "I think someone''s talking about me behind my back."

    "Ah¡­that makes sense." Jurgen shrugged, but he obviously didn''t care enough to argue. "By the way, we''re almost here."

    "Finally."

    Consulting my own pict-screen at the command console, I couldn''t help but gasp at the breathtaking view as we proceeded across a magnificent bridge that connected mountains. The armored convoy had lined up in a single file to traverse the relatively narrow courseway, but the undertaking of such an engineering marvel in an early modern fantasy world was incredible.

    These guys have just barely stepped into the industrial revolution age and they''re already capable of such engineering feats!

    I couldn''t help but be impressed. Clenching my fists tightly, I glanced up and studied the awe-inspiring sight of the subterranean cities buried within the mountains, vowing to ensure they didn''t fall to the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity and the might of his fanatical armies.

 106 Chapter 106: Moria

    The cities of Moria resembled hive cities.

    Just like the hive cities in the 41st millennium, the cities of Moria were encased inside mountains, with countless levels of urban or manufacturing districts. The lower districts, in particular, were reserved for residential houses, underhive gangs and other malcontents, while the higher districts were occupied by the rich. The middle levels were packed full of manufactories and industries, which drew their labor and workforce from the residents dwelling in the lower levels.

    I would be surprised if the majority of dwarves ever got to leave the mountain and see the sky outside, but I hoped they weren''t ruled by a tyrannical dictator whose only goal was to push out as much war material for the Imperium¡­Demon Alliance as possible.

    "Look at this!"

    Gunnery had gotten off his seat and was gaping at the pict-screen that showed the interior of the hive city that our armored convoy had just rolled into. I consulted my own visuals and was blown away by the shiny, advanced and sophisticated station and hangar that our tanks were pulling into. At the gestures and signals from worker-dwarves, we were instructed to park our tanks and APCs and alight. I told my men to obey, and exited the Purity of Faith after Jurgen pulled it to a halt in our allocated parking position. I could see the rest of my convoy pulling up beside my lead tank.

    "Amazing!" I couldn''t help but glance around at the clean, metallic platforms, crystalline pillars and sophisticated machinery. "To think they built all this in the heart of the mountain. This really looks like a hive city!"

    "Hive city?"

    "Never mind."

    I forgot that neither Gunnery nor Jason played Warhammer 40,000.

    "A combination of our secret technology, ancient magic and traditional crystal sculpting. I''m glad you like it."

    A clatter and rumble, and my battalion suddenly found ourselves surrounded by short but massive dwarves in thick, bulky Terminator armor, armed with combi-bolters, power fists, storm shields, thunder hammers, plasma cannons, assault cannons, heavy flamers and an assortment of other lethal weapons.

    "¡­!"

    I quickly raised my hand and gestured for my soldiers to relax and to keep their hands away from their weapons.

    The lead dwarf stomped forward, smoking a huge cigar under his wide-rimmed sombrero and resting his massive Thunder Hammer on his heavily armored shoulders. Gosh, but those pauldrons were bigger than his heads, but were still somehow¡­well, dwarfed by his sombrero. Leering at us, his glowing eyes narrowed into a murderous glare.

    "Now¡­which one of you is Tomoyuki Tanaka?"

    I stepped forward and bade for Marko to fall back. Then I met the lead dwarf''s glare evenly, refusing to be cowed.

    "Your majesty King Hedol. I am Major Tomoyuki Tanaka."

    Boom!

    Smashing his Thunder Hammer onto the ground, King Hedol bore down on me in an intimidating manner, his eyes glowing beneath the rim of his sombrero and the smoke from his cigarette giving him an ominous air.

    "Leave."

    "¡­"

    Yeah. Since he didn''t deny it, I was sure that this guy was King Hedol. There was no mistaking it. This was the king of Moria, and the ruler of the dwarves.

    "I know why you''re here. My sister, Donorea. You''ve come to steal her¡­and the ambrosia within her."

    "HUH?!"

    I couldn''t help but yell at that.

    "Why the fuck are you ripping off Shinju no Nectar?!" I hollered, forgetting to keep my composure in front of my men. "Ambrosia doesn''t exist in Restia, and even if it does, it''s not as if I can use it! Okay, I might count as a marebito or whatever, but I''m not here to suck women''s ambrosia and form some sort of harem!"

    "Oh, really? Then what are you here for, if you''re not here for my sister? I heard how you''ve conquered the queen of Haemorage herself. If you''re not here to seduce my sister and add her as your concubine, then¡­?"

    "I''m an advocate of monogamy," I interrupted. "I will stay faithful to her highness, Queen Lilith, and Queen Lilith only. I have vowed never to take another wife or concubine, not as long as I''m married to her highness Queen Lilith. Sorry, but I find this harem thing bullshit. Besides, I think you''ve underestimated me a little."

    "Oh, aye?"

    I smirked and pushed my glasses up my nose.

    "I''m not here for your sister. I''m here for Moria itself."

    The dwarves all bristled at that and the atmosphere tensed, becoming saturated with violent killing intent.

    Iin a single, fluid motion, King Hedol lifted up his master-crafted Thunder Hammer and swung it at me. Blue lightning crackled and exploded as it formed a destructive power field around the head of the hammer and pulverized the concrete ground, leaving a smoldering crater.

    Simmering with rage, Hedol glared at me and gritted his teeth.

    "You say¡­you''ve come to conquer?"

    "Nope." I raised my hands and shook my head.

    To be honest, I had anticipated Hedol to hit me with his Thunder Hammer. Not because I was a masochist who was a glutton for punishment, but because he wouldn''t be able to break through the twelve defensive layers of my Redwood jacket, even with that master-crafted Thunder Hammer. Its power was fearsome, but I was literally clad in plot armor.

    Well, this was a plus. It meant Hedol was still willing to talk, so I waited a second for him to calm down before speaking again.

    "I am here to represent Helsfort. Your majesty, as you know, Helsfort and Moria are staunch allies, even among the closely associated domains in the Demonic Alliance. As the human kingdoms are drawing near to invade your realm, his majesty Emperor Regis has commanded me and my battalion to honor our brotherly bonds and defend Moria with our lives. We are but a fraction of the full fighting force that Emperor Regis has brought to bear in defense of your realm. In the next few days, more men from Helsfort and other demon kingdoms will be arriving to drive the human invaders away."

    "I will be frank with you."

    Hedol was looming over me in an intimidating manner, his sombrero casting a dark shadow over me and my men.

    "We dwarves have been molded in war and forged in fiery lava. The humans cannot overcome our vaunted defenses. We''ll fortify Moria and repel them, even without your help. If necessary, Moria will stand and fight alone, even without the aid of the Demonic Alliance and we will still prevail victorious. Our technology is unrivaled in all of Restia."

    "It might be as you say," I conceded. "But at least accept our assistance as a token of our friendship, and as a bonus service for allowing us to purchase your technologies, weapons and vehicles. We might not be able to contribute much to the war effort, but we would like to at least repay you for fairly conducting businesses with us, and to also express our friendship. Otherwise, what sort of Demonic Alliance would we be if we do not at least put on a show of offering our help when a member is under attack from a common enemy? The Demonic Alliance would be a laughing stock. So please, I implore you to at least allow us to maintain some modicum of dignity by accepting our assistance, regardless of how insignificant it is."

    "¡­"

    Hedol regarded me fiercely for a few moments, then lifted his hammer from the smoldering ground.

    "Fuck!" he wore. "I''ve never had the patience nor the finesse to engage in verbal debate with you cunning Helfortians¡­"

    Resting his Thunder Hammer on his shoulder, he made to turn away, but continued to keep his glowering eyes on me.

    "¡­so I''ll only say this much. Whatever reasons you may have come to Moria for, I''ll ensure that you''ll return empty-handed."

    "That is fine," I replied. "We have no intention of obtaining anything from Moria. The only reason we came here is to fight. The only thing we wish to return with is victory over the so-called Emperor of Humanity and his armies."

    "Hmph!"

    Hedol scoffed as he swung his left hand flippantly at me.

    "Just don''t get in the way of our fighting. I don''t care if you''re the rumored Hero Slayer or whatever. You''ll only drag us down when the war comes."

    "We''ll do our best to stay out of the dwarven firing lines," I promised. "And if you really are that bothered, I do not mind if you make the decision on where to post us or which bastion to assign us to, as long as we bear some brunt of the fighting."

    He then stalked off without another word, his elite Terminator bodyguards parting to allow him to leave the station. All of them glared at us, their glowing gazes murderous underneath their sombreros. After a few steps, Hedol suddenly stopped.

    "Ah¡­but I think I might know where to post you and your battalion, Major Tomoyuki."

    Abruptly turning back to face us, Hedol smiled sinisterly.

    "It''ll be the best place to make use of the tanks and weapons we''ve armed your battalion with through our friendly trade."

    "¡­"

    I watched the dwarf king depart silently, unease creeping up in my heart.

    *

    The barracks we found ourselves in turned out to be luxurious and extravagant, with electric chandeliers, silk lining, soft beds and vast chambers ¨C even for the grunts of my battalion. My soldiers looked around in disbelief, unaccustomed to having such comfortable quarters, especially in the middle of a war.

    "The king sounded like the angriest dwarf in the world¡­but he sure as hell gave us the best barracks in Moria!"

    Gunnery was muttering in disbelief. Lieutenant Gio Vanni folded his arms as he considered the weird turn of events.

    "Hospitality is very important to dwarves," he explained. "It''s not merely their way of taking care of their guests, but also an opportunity for them to show off their wealth, power and pride."

    "It''s pretty different from Japan''s concept of omotenashi, huh?" I murmured under my breath. Gio turned to me, perplexed.

    "What did you say, sir?"

    "Oh, nothing. Just recalling something from my home country."

    I shrugged it off and sighed before turning our attention back to the matter at hand.

    "But I''m puzzled. I would think that the dwarves of Moria would be happy to see us and receive reinforcements, especially since they know the human kingdoms are marching upon them. Yet they seem pretty hostile to our presence, especially for allies who are supposed to be part of the Demonic Alliance."

    "Well, to be fair, Moria is among the strongest demon domains. They''re probably the 10th most powerful domain, slightly behind the Big Nine, but way ahead of the others because of their advanced technology."

    Gio sighed, a bead of perspiration rolling down his cheek as a sign of his frustration.

    "Furthermore, it''s not as if Moria actually needs allies. As you saw each dwarf is a fearsome warrior, and among the strongest of demons. Well, they might lack in magic, but their physical prowess is formidable, and trust me, you do not want to go up against a line of armored dwarves who armed to the teeth with magical weaponry."

    I nodded in agreement.

    "Yeah¡­"

    "Fortunately for us, dwarves are less interested in war and are far more interested in construction and trade. Otherwise they would have conquered much of Morten."

    "Yeah, but do you think they''ll be able to withstand the overwhelming numbers of the human kingdoms, especially with Evelyn''s Chosen leading the charge?"

    I wasn''t too sure about that.

    "Yeah. We''ve to work fast and convince the king that we''re valuable allies, and that we''ll contribute significantly to the war effort if given a chance."

    "About that¡­"

    I walked to the extravagant-looking windows, placed my hands on the intricately sculpted frames and looked outside.

    "This is a great fortress."

    "Huh?"

    I turned back to Gio and smiled.

    "Lieutenant, get the layout of this place mapped out, and call our officers for a meeting. I want the commanders to assign a squad to sentry points, bastions, hardpoints, and man this fortress. When the enemy hits here, we''ll be ready to hold them off with just a single battalion."

    "Huh? Major, do you seriously think the enemy will strike here? It''s pretty remote from Moria! We''re practically in the middle of nowhere, posted to one of the most insignificant mountains that''s far away from any of the hive cities or manufactories!"

    "Call it a hunch," I replied with a smile. "But I''m certain the enemy will attack here¡­because there''s something in this mountain. Why else do you think they build an outpost here? Earlier, I saw a convoy of trucks ferrying ores into the foot of this mountain¡­and it certainly wasn''t to this barracks. Knowing Kobayashi and Evelyn''s Chosen, I wouldn''t be surprised if they''ve already obtained intelligence on this place."

    "¡­really?"

    Gio was staring at me in disbelief. I waved my hand at him.

    "Come on, Gio. Have I ever let you down before? Just call the commanders. We''ll commence the strategic meeting in fifteen."

    *

    From the western border, a ragged line of human zealots marched across the blizzard, oblivious to the snow and wind. Countless soldiers had already succumbed to hypothermia and the cold, but the loyal devotees to Kobayashi''s cause continued to march on regardless, heedless of the devastating toll it was taking on their forces.

    For them, Kobayashi''s word was law, and they would gladly offer their lives to serve him and his tyrannical ambitions. Having lost their individual will, they were enslaved to his desires through the activation of Kingly Disposition.

    The commander of the human forces turned around to yell at them.

    "Once we''ve crossed this mountain range¡­we''ll be in Moria proper!"

    Clad in a fur coat, with thick gloves and winter gear, the commander gestured wildly to encourage his soldiers to maintain their progress.

    "Do not stop moving, men!"

    As the men marched forward, a single armored vehicle rumbled across the snow, kicking up white puffs of powder.

    "¡­"

    One of the heroes turned to glare at the vehicle, lowering his hood to expose his handsome, determined face. Beside him, a girl with long, auburn hair and a beautiful face concealed underneath her fur hood and her lithe body wrapped inside a huge coat, turned around in concern.

    "Shigeo-kun?"

    Umezu Shigeo shook his head and put his hood back on, turning away to continue the march along the bitterly cold mountain range.

    "It''s nothing."

    His girlfriend, Kido Mayumi, stared at him, unconvinced. Having known him for years, she knew her boyfriend was troubled by something.

    "Something about that ugly tank just bothered me," Umezu finally admitted as he turned his back on the squat, black tank, which was now white from the snow.

    Its treads continued to kick up huge clouds of snow with a deafening rumble while its turret weapon lazily traversed about, aiming at nothing in particular.

    It was a tank ¨C a different class from the Malthas tank, but still a tank nonetheless.

    Umezu and Kido still couldn''t believe that such things existed in what, seven months prior to this invasion, seemed like a medieval fantasy world.

    *

    "What to do¡­?"

    Alone in my room, I lay down on the massive, comfortable bed, and stared at the ceiling. Sighing, I allowed my thoughts to wander.

    I wonder¡­was I mistaken? I did see the convoy of trucks ferrying ore to some secret place buried inside this mountain, but I was guessing about Kobayashi sending a force over to this place. He might not even know about this place¡­

    After all, the Demonic Alliance had no intelligence regarding this particular mountain. The dwarves had done an excellent job keeping this mountain range completely under wraps. If Regis Gremory and his intelligence division didn''t know of its existence, why would Kobayashi and the human kingdoms know about it?

    Gio is right¡­

    The barracks we were posted to was a remote mountain that was far away from the hive cities and manufactories of Moria, and were projected to not play an important role in the fighting. The brunt of the war would be borne by the dwarven king and his armies at the immediate vicinities of the hive cities and surrounding manufactories. I hoped he would treat Regis more respectfully and allow him to combine their forces to defend Moria, instead of sending the Demon Lord over to remote outposts like he did with my battalion.

    I had contacted Regis, but shared with him my suspicions, so that the Demon Lord wouldn''t be outraged at Hedol''s treatment of me and my battalion. Everything would fall apart if the Demon Lord Gremory came to blows with his close ally, King Hedol of Moria.

    But if I proved to be wrong, and Moria fell while my battalion was stationed here, too far away to contribute to any of the fighting, then¡­

    Knock, knock.

    A sudden noise cut into my thoughts and I hastily sat up, putting my glasses back on.

    "Yes? Uh¡­Jurgen?"

    I was half-expecting my aide to be carrying some sort of news from high command, or perhaps one of my officers ¨C Ben, Daniel or Gio ¨C to be confirming some last-minute thing from the strategy we developed in the meeting earlier.

    The door creaked open and someone stepped inside the room, but she wasn''t any of my subordinates.

    "Major Tomoyuki¡­I''m sorry to bother you at this hour."

    It was a lady, dressed in a white gown, and her face veiled by silk and linen.

    "Is¡­is this room to your liking?"

    "Uh¡­yeah. Definitely."

    "I''m pleased to hear it."

    I sighed, half-expecting her to strip right in front of me. But obviously she didn''t. This wasn''t some ecchi manga, after all.

    "Um¡­who are you? Could you possibly be¡­your highness, Princess Donorea?"

    "That is correct."

    The lady nodded.

    "I am King Hedol''s sister. Please call me Donorea. You can dispense with formalities and the honorifics."

    "Fine, Donorea-san. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

    "¡­I¡­I know this is improper, but this was the only way I have of directly approaching you. I need your help."

    "For what? The war? That''s why we''re posted here, right? To defend your kingdom from the humans."

    "I know of the unfair treatment my brother has given you, and I wish to apologize for that." Donorea bowed her head. "Even worse, my brother is planning to reject the assistance of Helsfort and the Demonic Alliance when they arrive tomorrow. His pride has blinded him to the crisis that is staring Moria in the face."

    "So how can I help? I am a soldier, not a politician. If you''re asking me to persuade your brother, I''m afraid I might not be able to do it."

    "That''s¡­"

    Donorea hesitated for a moment, and then turned away.

    "Below this outpost¡­inside this mountain, there is a factory."

    "Oh, I know about that factory. I saw trucks ferrying ore to it today."

    Donorea half-smiled, her lips barely visible behind the translucent veil.

    "I guess it is difficult for us to conceal such an obvious thing from you."

    "Well, I do have a question, though. What are they building here?"

    "I do not know the details¡­but it appears to be some sort of weapon for war. A tank¡­but not just any tank. A tank to surpass all tanks. It is unfortunate, but they have run into¡­problems constructing this tank. At any rate, I do not think they''ll make it in time before the human kingdoms invade. But that''s not why I''m here."

    "¡­okay." I cocked my head in bafflement. "Then why are you here, your highness? If it''s to apologize for your brother, it really isn''t necessary. I understand why he chose to treat my battalion the way he did. He is indeed a mighty warrior, and his pride is well-earned."

    "Uh, thank you for your praise, but despite his prowess, my brother is not invincible. That''s why, I want you to help him when the fighting hits. Please¡­I beg you."

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    "I will, but¡­"

    Donorea held up a hand to stop me, and then continued.

    "The factory I told you about? It is linked to the other mountains through an underground passage. When the war begins, I want you to bring your men and tanks through that subterranean tunnel, and proceed to the hive cities. It will take you to Mount Aleron. That is the entrance to Moria from the west borders, and the most likely place the enemies will hit. My brother may be formidable in combat, but against countless hordes of humans and the Chosen of the goddess Evelyn herself, even he will find it hard-pressed to fight off all of them. I beg of you, please aid him."

    "I will." A ghost of a smile flittered across my lips. "In return, I would like you to permit me access to this new tank of yours¡­and give me as many details about it as possible."

 107 Chapter 107: The Great Undertaking

    "This is it."

    Princess Donorea led me and a small retinue of my men into the factory that was buried in the mountain where our outpost was garrisoned.

    "Whoa¡­this is amazing!"

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    Corporal Geoffrey Gunnery was gazing around in wonder, his jaw dropping as he feasted his eyes on the endless conveyor belts, neatly arranged rows of machinery and automated mechanical arms and drills assembling and disassembling vehicle parts.

    "As expected of Moria," Sergeant Jason Jurgen agreed, similarly impressed. I had brought my aide along with my tank crew, Lieutenant Gio Vanni and a small squad of riflemen to act as my escorts in our trip to the secret factory.

    "My brother has ordered the staff here to undertake a secret project," Donorea explained gently, gesturing with a slender hand. Upon seeing her, the dwarf workers immediately dropped to their knees and bowed their heads deferentially.

    "Your highness!"

    "At ease, please don''t mind me. I''m just showing our guests around."

    "But your highness¡­"

    One of the lead dwarfs, who was smoking a cigar and wearing goggles beneath his sombrero, swaddled up. Damn, but was that a Mexican mustache, complete with the swirl, the curl and the swagger? Amazing!

    "This is supposed to be a top secret facility. Never mind outsiders, even the majority of Morians are not allowed in here."

    "I have granted them special permission," Donorea explained. The dwarf, who appeared to be the lead supervisor of the workers in the factory, looked as if he wanted to protest but thought the better of it and merely kept his head lowered.

    "I understand."

    Like hell he did. I could clearly detect the hostility and distrust emanating from him. Not that I blamed him, though.

    "No wonder this place is located so far away from the cities," Gio remarked as he glanced around. "Top secret project, huh?"

    "What exactly are they building?" one of the men, Kyle, asked.

    "It looks like a tank," Gunnery observed as he watched the individual components being assembled and pieced together. Then he frowned. "No¡­it''s too big to be a tank."

    "We''re still in the experimental phases," the dwarf supervisor replied gruffly, chewing on his cigar bitterly. "All work but nothing to show for."

    The dwarf supervisor raised an eyebrow at the princess''s request.

    "Are you really sure about this, your highness? His majesty is not going to be pleased if he finds out about this."

    "I''ll take responsibility," Donorea assured him. "I''ll talk to my brother and convince him. He might be a stubborn fellow, but he''s not unreasonable."

    If King Hedol was anywhere near the personality of that dwarf king from Shinju no Nectar, I highly doubted Donorea was right. Then again, she was his sister, so she would obviously be favorably biased toward him.

    Despite Donorea''s assurances that she would take responsibility, this was not boding well for me or my men at all¡­

    "¡­I understand, your highness."

    Whatever grievances he had against us, Ledrey did not have the will to defy his princess, so he quietly turned around and bade us to follow him.

    We passed through massive conveyor belts and components that were as big as the Malthas tanks themselves. The scale of the industrial production of war machines in this particular manufactorium was nothing short of breathtaking.

    It looked as if they were preparing an entire continent¡­no, planet for war. Mass producing millions of tanks, armaments and weapons to be shipped off to the wider galaxy-spanning Imperium to fend off the myriad of enemies that attacked humanity.

    Wait, we weren''t humans. We were supposed to be demons. And besides, even if we were on the verge of industrial revolution, we hadn''t reached the age of space travel yet¡­never mind faster than light spact travel.

    I bet we can circumvent that somewhat by creating ships that can fly through the Warp. Just need to find a way to invent Gellar Fields or something.

    "Here it is."

    Ledrey suddenly stopped in front of an armored behemoth. It was so huge that I didn''t even know what I was looking at initially until I took a step back to appreciate the full view. My men looked puzzled, but when they followed my lead and took in the whole picture, they became dumbfounded by the sheer immensity of the monstrosity before them.

    "That¡­that''s¡­"

    "It looks like a tank¡­"

    "Impossible! No tank is that big!"

    "It''s a mobile fortress, that''s what it is!"

    While my men argued amongst themselves¡­

    "It''s a Baneblade!"

    "¡­huh?!"

    Everyone turned to gawk at me after I inadvertently blurted that out. I flushed, and then sought to explain.

    "A super-heavy tank. An armored behemoth¡­a Lord of War that is packed with apocalyptic weapons and bristling with countless armaments, is nearly impossible to destroy and has enough firepower to level a city by itself."

    The "Baneblade" was the size of five to six Malthas tanks, wider than a house and probably several times heavier. A massive cannon stretched from the turret, almost ten meters long. Buried in the hull was a demolisher cannon, which had shorter range but was no less deadly than the primary weapon. Accompanying it was an autocannon and a twin heavy bolter, spaced relatively far apart amidst the thick adamantium armor. At the each side was a gigantic sponson three times as big as the normal one mounted on Malthas tanks, for they contained a lascannon and twin heavy bolters. Massive adamantium treads lay still, but I had no doubt it would crush any poor fool who attempted to boldly charge the titanic, armored behemoth.

    "Awesome! I don''t believe it! I never thought I would ever see a Baneblade in Restia!"

    While I was getting all excited and whooping with boyish joy, Ledrey glared at me.

    "It''s not a Baneblade."

    "¡­eh? Then what is it?"

    Ledrey shrugged, then grudgingly lowered his head.

    "You''re close though. It''s a Hellblade."

    I almost fell over. Okay, I knew it was to avoid copyright infringements or whatever, but you might as well not change the name at all¡­

    "And this is just the prototype?" Jurgen asked, his tone disbelieving. Ledrey looked sour as he turned toward my aide and driver.

    "¡­yeah."

    "Awesome. I wonder what the finished product will look like." He grinned as he pumped his fist into the air. "With entire regiments of this tanks, we''ll be able to crush the enemies of Morten and defeat the human kingdoms once and for all!"

    "¡­actually, that''s the problem."

    "¡­huh?"

    We all turned to Ledrey, who looked pretty bitter as he walked over and kicked the thick, armored hull of the Hellblade.

    "The Hellblade is a failure."

    "What do you mean it''s a failure?" Gio demanded, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. Ledrey glared at him.

    "Exactly what I said. It''s a failure. As your leader says, it does pack enough firepower to level a city. Unfortunately, it won''t be able to pull it off if it can''t get to the place where it''s supposed to bombard. You get what I''m saying?"

    "¡­no, not really."

    While my men looked puzzled, I suddenly understood.

    "Ledrey-san means that the tank can''t move."

    "¡­huh?"

    Ledrey looked at me, impressed.

    "Oh, so we have a smart one among you muscleheads after all."

    While my men bristled at the slight, I calmly pressed him for details.

    "Why isn''t it able to move?"

    "The engine." Ledrey cursed, leaning over to spit his cigar. Stomping his boot on the extinguishing cigarette, he flattened it to the ground before fishing out a box. He offered me one, but I declined. I wasn''t old enough to smoke and I had no intention of starting when I became of age either. I valued my lungs.

    "What about the engine? Does it¡­lack power to move the Hellblade? Hmm¡­makes sense. The tank looks a little too heavy."

    "That''s right." Ledrey flipped the lid of his lighter open before he lit up his cigarette. The smoke billowed up in his face, slightly impeded by the wide rim of his sombrero. "The engine is too weak. We''ve tried to strengthen it, but the tank is too heavy. The amount of mana crystals we need to power the tank to move it and allow it to fire its weapon when it reaches its destination is exorbitant. In fact, we can''t fit the necessary amount of mana crystals into the Hellblade itself ¨C it''s about two or three times the entire mass of the freaking tank!"

    "¡­so it sits there powerless, unable to move or fire." Gio finally nodded in understanding. "That''s why you call it a failure."

    "Nonetheless, the Major requested that I show this to him anyway." Donorea, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke up. She looked at me seriously before she lowered her head in shame. "This is why I said you''ll be disappointed."

    "No, I''m not disappointed at all," I assured her excitedly. "On the contrary, I''m impressed. This opens up new possibilities for tank warfare. If we can just¡­"

    "DONOREA!"

    An earth-shaking voice thundered throughout the factory, cutting me off. Ledrey paled and buried his face in his palm.

    "This is what I was worried about," he whimpered under his breath.

    Crashing footfalls echoed before King Hedol burst into the chamber where the Hellblade prototype lay, his hammer smashing a hole through the thick, reinforced walls.

    "Has he hurt you!?"

    "Brother¡­!"

    Donorea looked stunned at his sudden intrusion. The king glanced at her, then bore down on me murderously.

    "You¡­you lying, thieving¡­fraud¡­!"

    "¡­huh?"

    "You dare drag my sister around and involve her in your schemes?!"

    "¡­what schemes?"

    "SILENCE!"

    Roaring, Hedol smashed the ground with his Thunder Hammer to vent his fury.

    "You blackmailed her and forced her to bring you to this place¡­how dare you¡­"

    "No, brother! Listen! I''m the one who permitted them to visit this factory! They are my guests! I invited them here! I''ll take responsibility, so¡­"

    "I understand," Hedol interrupted, his voice gentle and understanding as he turned to his sister. "Don''t worry. Now that I''m here, I won''t let these sneaky, dishonorable, lying Helsfortians deceive you any further¡­"

    "Listen to me!" Donorea yelled. "They didn''t deceive me! I was the one who told them about the factory and showed them the prototype!"

    "Do you not know what this implies, Donora?" Hedol asked quietly. "You''re betraying Moria. Morian law dictates that we do not show outsiders our secrets. These sneaky spies will be executed for the crime of stealing our secrets. I care not if this man is Gremory''s favorite. Even he will have to respect Morian custom and laws on dwarven land!"

    "¡­"

    I merely stared at Hedol calmly. My men were already drawing their weapons in response to this threat, but I threw out a hand to stop them.

    "Stand down."

    "But Major¡­" Gio protested.

    "I said stand down, Lieutenant."

    Gio''s shoulders drooped and he reluctantly released his grip on his carbine. The rest of the retinue did the same.

    "Wise choice. If you do not resist, I may show mercy to the rest of your battalion."

    "¡­the rest of our battalion?" Gunnery muttered. "What does that mean?"

    "I''m afraid that all of you who have borne witness to the secrets of my Hellblade production facility must be executed. I cannot afford to allow outsiders to leave with the knowledge and sight of our biggest project."

    "I''m sorry, but I cannot allow you to execute any of my men." I stood firmly between my retinue and Hedol. "Take my life, if you must, but you are not to lay a hand on any of my battalion¡­including the soldiers who accompanied me here."

    "I''m afraid I cannot comply with that." Hedol glowered at me. "I''m already being reasonable by showing mercy to the rest of your battalion. Do not push your luck with me further."

    "Brother! If anyone should be punished, it''s me! You cannot do this! You''re breaking the promise I made to these men!"

    "Stand down, Donorea."

    "But¡­"

    "I said stand down."

    There was an icy quality in Hedol''s voice that made Donorea falter for a moment. Even then, the dwarven king kept his murderous gaze on me the entire time. I met his eyes squarely, then cocked my head to the side.

    Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smirked.

    "Are you sure you want to do this, your majesty? I mean no disrespect, but you might be the one pushing your luck."

    "Are you insane, Major Tomoyuki Tanaka?" Hedol continued glowering at me, his expression incredulous. "You''re audacious enough to attempt to steal secrets from my kingdom, and now you presume to threaten me?!"

    "I''m not threatening you," I replied with a shrug. "Merely pointing out the fact that you don''t have the ability to kill me. I apologize if I have broken the rules, but I will not stand by idly and let my soldiers die uselessly. I will fight for them¡­using force if necessary. Their lives are not something I will expend carelessly or waste on nonsenesical rulings."

    "Nonsensical rulings?!" Hedol bellowed as he raised his Thunder Hammer. "Utter rubbish! Do you really think I can''t kill you?!"

    I smiled and beckoned for him to hit me with everything he had.

    "You''re welcome to try if you don''t believe me."

    "You''ll regret this after being smashed into a bloody pulp! I shall execute you here for your insolence, you impertinent pup!"

    Lifting his Thunder Hammer high up, Hedol smashed me with everything he had. Blue lightning crackled and danced about the glinting power field that encased his hammer before unleashing their fury on me. I merely raised a hand and grabbed the hammer the moment it struck, stopping it centimeters away from my face.

    The tremendous impact behind the blow shattered the reinforced ferrocrete of the manufactorum and sent violent tremors throughout the factory. My soldiers stumbled and crashed about, and even Donorea was forced to reach out and grab hold of something to prevent herself from falling. Ledrey was already sprawled on the ground, though whether he had fainted from fear earlier or had lost his balance, I didn''t know.

    "¡­nnh!"

    I couldn''t help but grunt, my breath leaking involuntarily from my lips. My right arm strained under the immense pressure that threaten to crush me, but the defensive layers of my Redwood jacket held strong. I had slightly underestimated the dawrven king ¨C to think he smashed through ten barriers of my revered Redwood Robe in just one blow!

    Fortunately, the last two layers held strong, firmly deflecting the majority of the power behind Hedol''s devastating blow and dissipating the worst of the impact. I couldn''t help but marvel at his sheer strength. The guy could smash a hole through the Hellblade behind me with a single strike of his hammer!

    "You''re strong," I muttered grudgingly.

    "¡­"

    The powerfield crackled and fizzled out, the blue lightning disappearing as the Thunder Hammer''s power core was spent. Heaving, Hedol retreated, his face flushed and perspiring after putting everything he had behind that blow.

    "I¡­impossible."

    He was staring at me in disbelief, his eyes wide. I shook my right hand a little, trying to get rid of the last remains of the blue lightning and also to relax the bunched up, tense muscles in my arm. Boy, but I could still feel the powerful reverberations even after the strike.

    "How is this possible?!"

    "If you still aren''t convinced, you''re allowed to try again."

    The power core of Hedol''s Thunder Hammer was rapidly recharging, and at the same time the shattered barriers of my Redwood jacket was instantly regenerating. However, despite my repairing defenses, I was putting on a bluff. Even if my Redwood jacket could withstand the blow, I wasn''t sure if my body itself was durable to endure the violent impact. Sure, Regeneration would heal my wounds, but I would prefer to avoid getting hurt if I didn''t have to.

    "¡­no¡­troops!"

    "If you want to have a minor civil war just before the clash against the human kingdoms, you''re welcome to go ahead and set your army on me. Just know that it''ll be a costly battle for you. And besides, it''s your domain of Moria that will be at risk if you pull this stunt. Not Helsfort, not my territory, not anyone else''s."

    Hedol gritted his teeth as he glared at me. "Mark my words, I''ll remember this! After the war with the humans, I''ll make sure none of you will be leaving Moria alive!"

    I pushed my glasses up my nose with my left hand ¨C my right arm was still trembling and I concealed that with a brave front.

    "Rather than that¡­your majesty¡­why not we resolve this peacefully? I have an idea."

    "¡­huh?"

    "Your majesty. Allow me to make a deal with you." I jerked my hand at the Hellblade behind me. "I might have a way of improving and perfecting your Hellblade and making the idea of a mobile, indestructible fortress a reality. If I fail, you can take my life¡­and the lives of my men here. But if I succeed¡­"

    I grinned, savoring Hedol''s impatience. It was so fun to be dramatic and toy with his anticipation like this.

    "¡­not only will you pardon me and my men and allow us to all go free, you will give my battalion one of the Hellblades that you will no doubt be mass-producing in the future."

 108 Chapter 108: Engineering Revolutions

    "Wait, Major! Are you serious?!"

    Gio hurried after me as I strode back into the factory, his jaw hanging in disbelief.

    "Do you really intend on fixing their super-heavy tank and getting it ready for actual use in the battlefield?!"

    "Yes," I replied. Gio couldn''t help but blanch at that.

    "How?! Do you have some engineering background that I don''t know of?!"

    "I''ve played Dead Space and pretended to be Isaac Clarke, an engineer. If I can put together mining tools and use them to dismember necromorphs, I sure as hell will be able to fix a tank."

    "Huh?! But those are two completely different things!"

    I waved Gio away dismissively. "Don''t mind the details. Besides, I convinced his majesty King Hedol to lend me some help."

    Basically, a few minutes ago, after I proposed the deal to King Hedol, he was so taken aback that he was speechless.

    Hedol had glared at me, his eyes hooded and unreadable under that massive sombrero of his and slightly concealed behind cigarette smoke.

    "How do I know you''re not lying? For all I know this could be a trick. You''re buying time to live while using this chance to escape with your men.

    "You really think very little of me, don''t you, your majesty?"

    I had sighed dramatically, but Hedol had remained unmoved.

    "Without evidence, it is hard to believe you. And the risk is too high."

    "So all I need to do is show you proof?" I had countered. Hedol had frowned at that.

    "You have¡­proof?"

    "Yeah." I shrugged and gestured toward the exit of the chamber. "Follow me outside. I have something to show you."

    "It might be a trap," one of Hedol''s Terminator bodyguards growled. The retinue of Terminator bodyguards had arrived just a couple of minutes prior to our exchange, and they were surrounding my men and me.

    "¡­trap?" Gio muttered.

    "You might have the rest of your battalion positioned outside, ready to take us out and assassinate his majesty. Do you not think we''ll see through what you''re planning? It''s too obvious, you Helsfortian scum!"

    "You really think too little of me." in a second I emanated a chilling killing intent that dropped even the vaunted Terminator bodyguard elites of the Morian dwarves to their knees. The atmosphere itself became suffocating, the bulky warriors gasping for air as they staggered. "If I want to kill you all, I will do it here, by myself. I don''t need my battalion for that."

    "You¡­" Hedol had snarled, but I ignored him.

    "Indulge me, your majesty. You wanted proof, and I''m trying to show it to you. Or¡­are you afraid of becoming aware that there are greater engineers and craftsmen than the highly revered dwarves of Moria?"

    I was so glad he fell for my bluff.

    "Fine. I will see what you have to show me."

    "Thank you."

    I had smiled. This whole time I had been casting the spell and conducting the ritual for another summoning. Hedol''s assault on me had sped up the ritual and shaved off several seconds from my summoning.

    The moment we emerged outside, with Hedol''s Terminator bodyguards zealously guarding their king from any possible attack, I summoned Matsukaze.

    Boom¡­!

    An explosion rocked the air and a Titan fell from the heavens, landing in front of us in a blue, shimmering dome-shield.

    "That''s¡­what the hell is that thing?!"

    One of the Terminator bodyguards had gasped. King Hedol was stunned, speechless for a few moments, but he managed to shake his head.

    "That''s a Golem."

    "That''s the word the people of Restia have for it, yes."

    "But it''s nothing like any Golem I''ve ever seen." Hedol was approaching Matsukaze, his eyes full of wonder. "That design¡­that thin, lightweight frame¡­I suspect it''s much more mobile than the clumsy, armored Golems of ancient times and divine craftsmanship."

    "It is," I confirmed. Hedol turned to me.

    "Where did you get this from?! I don''t believe you built it!"

    "I summoned it. I designed it. You''re right, I did not build it, not physically with my hands, anyway. But I know the theoretical concepts, and I designed it."

    I pushed past Hedol and climbed into Matsukaze. The dome-shield disappeared and the Titan reared up, casting a shadow over the frightened Terminator bodyguards. My men, who were used to seeing me pilot Matsukaze, merely grinned.

    "This is why a battle against me will be costly."

    My voice boomed out through the speakers built into Matsukaze''s frame. Hedol tensed, even as his men cowered.

    "I have access to technology that you can''t even imagine. I told you¡­I will be able to improve on the design of your Hellblade and make it viable¡­in the same way I designed this Titan."

    Matsukaze moved quickly, dashing across the barren valley. Drawing his katana, I unleashed an arc wave that smashed against the side of a mountain, sending an avalanche of rocks tumbling down the slope.

    Turning back to Hedol, I further demonstrated Matsukaze''s prowess by unslinging the Predator Gatling cannon and unleashing a hail of adamantium fury on another mountain. The dwarves stared at me, unable to believe their eyes.

    "You¡­just what are you?"

    "I''m a Major in his majesty Emperor Regis''s army." I turned to face him¡­or rather, Matsukaze did. "So what will it be?"

    Hedol considered my question for a moment, chewing on his cigar with such force the thing actually broke under his teeth. Spitting out the snapped cigarette, he fished out a new one and lit it up, inhaling the smoke.

    He then studied Matsukaze again, proceeding forward despite his Terminator bodyguards'' protests. Running his hands along the frame, he admired the intricate and sophisticated design, as well as the devastating array of weaponry mounted upon it.

    After a few moments, Hedol had finally made his decision. Looking up, his lips curled.

    "You¡­really think you can perfect the design of our super-heavy tank?" he had sneered. I had smiled in reply.

    "Can''t hurt to try. Why not give me a chance? You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Or are you afraid that I''ll put you to shame by succeeding where you failed?"

    "Nonsense!" Hedol bellowed furiously. "Fine then. I''ll give you a month. If you fail to perfect the design of the Hellblade and make it workable by then, I''ll immediately execute you and your men. Is that clear?"

    "Crystal clear, your majesty."

    "Hmph. Make sure you clean your necks and await the guillotine."

    Turning away, Hedol had made to leave in a huff while gesturing for his sister, Donorea, to follow him. However, I had called out to him.

    "Oh, your majesty. As my soldiers aren''t engineers, and you don''t want such secrets falling into the hands of outsiders, do you mind lending me a team of Morians craftsmen? I''ll teach them how to construct a workable super-heavy tank."

    Hedol had spun around and glowered at me. I had responded by raising my hands in a pacifiying manner.

    "Or would you prefer if I keep the secrets to myself and my men?"

    I did have several tech-priests accompanying my tank battalion. If Hedol refused my suggestion, they were my fall-back. But the adepts of Mars were a mysterious, enigmatic lot, and I didn''t know if I could trust the priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus¡­

    ¡­wrong universe. I meant the priesthood of Morten Mechanica.

    "Fine. Ledrey, you are to pick a team you think most suitable for this task and have them cooperate with the major. Make sure he doesn''t try anything funny and keep an eye on him at all times. Is that understood?"

    "Yes, your majesty."

    Ledrey had fallen to a knee and bowed his head in supplication.

    That same Ledrey was now in his office, calling an emergency meeting and selecting a team for me. He had told me and my men to wait, which was how we arrived to the present.

    "It''s the Major!" Geoffrey Gunnery assured Gio brightly. "Don''t worry! He''s bound to have a solution! Look, he even has a Golem in his possession! If he can build a Golem like that, then he can pretty much build anything!"

    I couldn''t help but feel guilty when I saw his shining face. What did I do to deserve such levels of loyalty?

    Furthermore, I didn''t actually build Matsukaze. I summoned him. I did not have the technical know-how of how to actually assemble him. The dwarves had requested that they take him apart, but I couldn''t keep him summoned forever.

    Trying to conceal my uncertainty, I masked my lack of confidence with an arrogant smirk and turned to the gigantic steel behemoth in the chamber behind us.

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    "Well¡­it''s true that the boss has never let us down before," Jurgen agreed as he folded his arms. "But this is a completely different task altogether. How is he going to pull this off? Like Lieutenant Vanni said, unless he has some engineering background we don''t know of¡­"

    "¡­I do. Well, not practical experience, but I do have theoretical knowledge of it¡­or rather, I have books on engineering that will help us counteract this problem."

    I already knew what book to pick. Reaching into the Library of Eden, I conjured a holographic eBook of engineering tank engines.

    "That''s¡­"

    "A book on how to build tank engines."

    "I¡­I''ve never seen such a book before!"

    Gunnery''s eyes were wide as he gawked at the shimmering holographic pages hovering in front of me.

    I smiled. "Well, yeah, because this library is limited only to me."

    "Eh?! You''re monopolizing it!? How unfair!"

    "Well¡­once the dwarves arrive, we''re going to start building this."

    Flipping through the book, I rapidly browsed through the pages until I found the one I was looking for. With a broad smile, I stopped at the section on a plasma reactor meant for super-heavy tanks. This was going to be tight¡­

    "Er¡­what''s this? I''ve never seen technology like this before. Where did you get this book from, boss?"

    Jurgen was staring at the pages, trying to decipher the text and illustrations.

    "It''s technology from the heavens," I replied. To be honest, I didn''t know either. It was neither technology that existed in present Restia nor technology that existed in my previous world. For all I knew, it could be technology from the Dark Age of Technology or the 41st Millennium, but there was no way such a book would find its way in my Library of Eden.

    Then I recalled the ancient weapons and technology in Alucard''s tomb. It might just be possible that this was very ancient technology.

    It was also entirely possible that this book came from the future. At that time, I didn''t think of it, but later I often wondered if it was precisely because I attempted to build and engineer a plasma reactor at that particular period of time that led to this book being written and published. Some sort of weird temporal paradox or causality.

    For now, it was more than enough that I had the theoretical means in my hands. The only concern was putting all this theory into practice and making the concept a reality. As far as I knew, we were the first people ever attempting to construct a plasma reactor of this scale¡­a generator efficient and powerful enough to move a super-heavy tank and supply its magical weapons at the same time. It was unprecedented.

    I was under no illusions the difficulty of the task we had ahead of us. That was why I requested a team of skilled dwarves to aid us.

    "I don''t understand a single word this book is saying," Gio complained after trying to read the text. "Too much technical jargon and complicated procedures¡­"

    "That''s why you''re a soldier and not an engineer," I replied. Truth be told, I had completely no clue what the text was saying either. All I could do was show this eBook to the dwarves and convince them to follow my instructions.

    Speaking of which, where were my assigned team? Ledrey was sure taking his time.

    I glanced impatiently at the office. We had a month to experiment and do this. Not only that, I would have to fight a war during that month. It was suddenly a blessing in disguise that we were posted to this remote garrison in the middle of nowhere. The enemy was unlikely to attack here, so we would be away from the worst of the fighting.

    My men would be irked at being robbed of the chance of achieving glory in combat and war, but if we succeeded in perfecting a practical and workable super-heavy tank, we would be able to turn the war on its head completely.

    I could almost imagine the expressions on my former classmates'' faces when a Hellblade emerged out of nowhere and obliterated entire regiments of their human armies. For the Emperor, indeed.

    "Major?"

    Jolting up at Ledrey''s voice, I eagerly turned to face him. He had stayed true to his word and assembled a tough-looking team of dwarves who wore various beards and mustaches, their messy overalls sporting different patterns and colors. The only similarities were the sombreros on their heads and the cigars sticking out of their mouths.

    "Ah, Ledrey."

    "I''ve picked the team. These men will be under your care for the next month."

    "So when do we begin?"

    The lead dwarf, a muscular, bald guy whose shiny scalp was hidden under his sombrero, asked.

    "Right away, if you guys don''t mind."

    "Of course not. Let''s not waste any time. So what will you have us do?"

    "I''ll be frank."

    Taking up a position in front of the team of rugged-looking dwarves, I bowed my head.

    "I have no practical experience in engineering, no technical expertise in building stuff, no education in assembling vehicles. So I will be deferring to you."

    "Are you saying you lied to his majesty?"

    A dwarf at the back, with a curly mustache and a guitar hanging from his back, demanded snidely.

    I smiled at that. "No, not at all."

    "Then why are you telling us this?" the leader asked, his voice calm and composed.

    "Because if we''re going to work together, I need to be honest. I need to let you guys know my weaknesses so that you can help me shore up on it."

    "That sounds like quite the crippling weakness," another dwarf remarked. "If you''re expecting us to do your work for you, you''re totally wrong, pup."

    "Oh, now there''s something that you misunderstand." I raised my hands good-naturedly, the smile still on my face. "I might not have practical experience or an engineering background, but what I do have is theoretical concepts and knowledge. I have blueprints and schematics that might interest you. If you follow my blueprints and execute my theory in reality, we might just be able to overcome this hurdle together and create the most powerful tank the world has ever seen."

    The dwarves glanced at each other, their eyes hooded and their expressions concealed beneath poker faces. Then the lead bald dwarf turned to me, resting his hammer on his shoulder.

    "Show us the blueprints."

    My grin widened. "I thought you would never ask."

    *

    "So what do you think? Will you be able to assemble the plasma reactor in a month?"

    "Yes."

    The leader of the dwarven team, the bald foreman named Belisarius, looked up and confirmed. He was actually grinning.

    "No, never mind a month. We''ll get you the plasma reactor in three days."

    "Whoa?!" I stared at him, completely stupefied. "Really?! That''s fast! How¡­?"

    "We already have the prototypes and primary components for this." Belisarius tried to tap the blue hologram, but his fingers went through the soft light. "Bringing the parts together and making a few modifications to fit this schematic is child''s play. I actually feel ashamed¡­the answer was so obvious, the solution was right in front of us, and we so-called master crasftmen didn''t even notice it! Ugh! I''m so grateful to you for bringing us this blueprint!"

    "Uh¡­okay. No problem."

    "Another thing."

    Belisarius turned to me before glancing over my shoulder.

    "Your Golem¡­I mean, Titan. Earlier, you were telling us that it''s powered by a similar plasma reactor, right? I had several of my men go through the schematics you gave us regarding your Titan, and as you said, even though the plasma reactor is small, it won''t be enough to power the Hellblade."

    Earlier, I had went through the Library of Eden and procured a copy of the blueprints for Matsukaze. Even though I had designed him with my imagination, I was surprised to find an actual manual detailing how to build him.

    It was clear that there was some temporal anomality at work here. I didn''t write it, and to my knowledge, nobody should know how to assemble Matsukaze. Yet there was a book written on how to build Titans, and provided a dizzying array of designs and schematics of Titans I had vaguely imagined but never concretely conceptualized.

    This was disturbing.

    "Yeah, I told you. But Matsukaze is half the size of your Hellblade, and much lighter, so he doesn''t need as much power. That said, the theoretical concept is still there. The plasma reactor is an efficient source of energy that works through mana fusion, a process that releases vast amounts of energy. If we can replicate that process in a working reactor, we can adjust and build a bigger plasma reactor that is suitable for the Hellblade that''s similar to a Titan''s reactor. That''s why I have this."

    I gestured toward the book I had shown Belisarius and his men. We had compared the schematics of the plasma reactor inside the super-heavy tank in the tank book with that of the titan book and found a lot of similarities.

    The size and scale might differ slightly, but the concept and mechanisms were largely the same. We could use that to our advantage.

    "Good. I already have a picture of how to build the reactors." Belisarius grinned and slapped me in the back. "Well done, Helsfortian! We''re so going to revolutionize Morian technology¡­and dare I say all of technology in Restia!"

    "I look forward to that."

    I wasn''t a Helsfortian, to be honest. I was only serving in the Helsfort army at Regis''s request, so I guess I could see why the dwarves classified me as one. Whatever. The truth was too complicated to explain, and they didn''t know about the existence of Earth.

    "Let''s get to work, men!" Belisarius bellowed at his team. He turned back to me and winked. "I''ll get the plasma reactor to you in three days, pup. Don''t you worry."

    "Yeah." I rolled up my sleeves. "I may not be as deft with my hands as you are at building stuff, but let me know how I can help and what I can do."

    "You''ve already done plenty, brat. You''ve already done plenty."

    *

    Despite Belisarius''s assurances, I couldn''t sit still and do nothing while the team of dwarves assigned to me welded, assembled and built. Fortunately, Belisarius found a few errands that even someone as ignorant of engineering like me could do, and I did whatever was asked of me.

    "Here are the parts!"

    I was like an errand boy, ferrying necessary components, catalouging whatever things the dwarves needed me to do, and sometimes helping out with the administrative work. The dwarves were so engrossed in their work that they barely paid any attention to what was happening in the outside world.

    I couldn''t help but smile as I watched them work. They truly were master craftsmen, their movements precise, their hammering disciplined, and their assembly coordinated. It was heartening to see them put together a massive piece of machinery.

    It was on the second day that everything almost fell apart.

    "We''re almost done, boy."

    Belisarius grinned as he lowered his goggles and dusted off his gloves to take a break. Retrieving a cigarette from his pocket, he lit it up and took a puff.

    "My boy, you''ve revolutionized Morian technology. What do you say? Why don''t you emigrate to Moria and join us? Together, we can build new things¡­lots of new weapons and machinery that will end this Hedas-forsaken war once and for all!"

    "Uh¡­I''ll just give you the schematics and blueprints to work on."

    We had already discussed a little on developing smaller Titans. With the current technology, the Morian dwarves were still unable to fully replicate the manufacturing process of Matsukaze, but we searched through the Titan book and found several smaller versions of armored suits that were more feasible for mass production.

    We had dubbed them Elementals.

    "Sure! Let me know whenever you fish out a new one!"

    "Yeah."

    I leaned back against the bench, relieved at the small break. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and ran through the errands that I was assigned¡­

    "Major!"

    I snapped back to full wakefulness and turned toward the direction of Jurgen''s voice. My aide was rushing down the stairs of the manufactorum, flustered and panicky.

    "What''s the matter, Jason?"

    "Bad news!" Jurgen was pale and perspiring as he waved a sheet of paper at me. "The humans! They''re finally here! The Emperor of Humanity and his armies are currently launching an assault on the hive city in Mount Aleron!"

    A cold chill ran down my spine when I realized that we were out of time.

 109 Chapter 109: Buying time

    "Damn it!" I cursed under my breath as Jurgen hurried over with the printed telegraph. I conjured my holographic screen and saw the electronically transmitted message, warning us about an attack on Moria. "We were so close! So close!"

    "We originally wasn''t going to finish this in time for the war anyway," Belisarius pointed out as he rested a hammer on his shoulder. "But since we''re so close to finishing, I say we do our best to complete the Hellblade and bring it out for a field test."

    "I wanted to do exactly just that." I paused as I ran a few calculations through my mind. "How long do you need to finish installing the new plasma reactor in the Hellblade?"

    "Hmm¡­" Belisarius considered for a moment. "Six more hours, at most? Five, if we work fast. Don''t worry, pup, we''ll get it done before the war is over."

    "I hope Moria hasn''t fallen by then." I took a deep breath. "Please. I''m counting on you."

    "Sure thing, pup." Adjusting the sombrero on his head, Belisarius turned to his team of dwarves and began bellowing. "All right, men! Looks like we won''t be sleeping tonight! Load up on your caffeine or whatever, because we won''t be stopping until we''re finished with the Hellblade!"

    "Ooo-rah!" the dwarves shouted. I rolled up my sleeves.

    "Let me know what I can help with¡­"

    "Major!"

    At Jurgen''s panicked voice, I noticed a new alert blinking at the top of my blue holographic screen. There was an update, new information flowing through the network. Feeling a sense of dread, I reached out and tapped the bell-shaped icon.

    It was Elia, making a video call.

    "Bad news, Major!" she shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by sporadic gunfire. "We''ve spotted the enemy here as well! Brigade size!"

    I swore under my breath, and nodded.

    "I''ll be there immediately." Sucking in a lungful of air, I turned to the dwarves. "Sorry, guys. I''ve a war to fight. I''ll buy you guys as much time as possible while you work on completing the Hellblade. I''ll be relying on you."

    "Sure thing, pup. Now go beat up those human trash."

    Without even turning back to face me, Belisarius threw out a word of encouragement. I couldn''t help but find it ironic, since I was a human once.

    "Let''s go," I told Jurgen as I headed toward the exit of the manufactorum. I was already casting a spell as I walked, weaving mana patterns invisibly in the air to get ready for a great summoning. Fueled by frustration and fury, I channeled those into power and gave them shape¡­a Titan that was wratch incarnate, or so I would like to say, but he was the usual Matsukaze.

    "Sir."

    "Major!"

    Elia looked up when she saw me dash over. I nodded at her.

    "Report, Captain."

    "Brigade-sized force approaching us. They''re within range and have opened fire on our positions. Lieutenant Burado and I have organized the infantry and placed them at the assigned firing positions that we agreed on a few days ago while Lieutenant Dressia has descended to bring his tanks out to crush them."

    "I''ll join Lieutenant Dressia." A ghost of a smile flitted over my lips. "I told you all that strategizing and planning will come in useful, wouldn''t it?"

    "I stand corrected, sir." Elia paused and then glanced at me. "But why are they attacking a remote outpost like this? Didn''t her highness say that it would be unlikely for the enemy to know about the existence of the secret factory and what they''re working on?"

    Shrugging, I peered out of a window and magnified the view of the mountainridge. My glasses whirred and clicked softly as it tracked onto targets and increased the details and quality. Sweeping my view over the cloaked soldiers, I tried to look for a familiar face.

    I found none.

    "Ha ha ha!"

    "What''s so funny, Major?"

    The straight-laced Elia frowned disapprovingly at me, but I merely shook my head.

    "There''s no Evelyn''s Chosen with them."

    "¡­so?"

    "So it means they don''t know anything about a secret weapon or project! Otherwise they would send one of their big guns to secure something as powerful and important as a super-heavy tank and the manufactorum producing it. Those men are only armed with muskets, bows and arrows, and swords. They''re not equipped to raid and steal a tank!"

    There was no sign of any anti-tank weapon such as missile launchers, lascannons or meltaguns. Wait, meltaguns didn''t exist in Restia. What the heck was I talking about? That said, I should task the dwarves with producing man-portable guns capable of unleashing a thermal blast of energy that could melt through even the thickest armor, especially at close range.

    It would revolutionize weaponry. That way, the moment humans began to manufacture their own tanks, we demons would have ways of fighting back even if we only have infantry¡­

    Uh¡­something''s wrong here¡­

    It then struck me that the demons in Restia had great magical power and could cast devastating spells to destroy tanks even without such gadgets.

    Never mind then. I''m too obsessed with wargaming right now.

    Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and focused my attention on the issue at hand. Glancing at the dumbfounded Elia, I continued.

    "Wouldn''t you think a secret weapon like a super-heavy tank would require the presence of at least one Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "¡­you''re right. As expected, you''ve humbled me with your intelligence and sharpness, Major."

    Elia was looking all overawed again. Girl, stop being impressed by simple logic. And despite me deducing that, I wasn''t completely sure I was right. I wasn''t some Mary Sue protagonist with omnipotent knowledge who could never be wrong. I had made more than my fair share of mistakes, such as talking to a necromancer ¨C which readers love to remind me.

    "All right. I''ll leave the barracks to you, Captain. You''re the last line of defense. I''ll be counting on you to hold this line."

    "We won''t let you down, sir!"

    "Jurgen, get the tank started. You''re in command of the Purity of Faith."

    "What will you do, sir?"

    Jurgen looked startled when I informed him I wouldn''t be joining him in my trust Malthas tank. I grinned.

    "Utter rampage."

    Then I jumped off the barracks and landed right in front of the gathering column of armored tanks at the foot of the outpost.

    "Sir?!"

    A confused voice sounded over the vox-bead in my ear. I tapped it to make sure my voice was going through.

    "Stay back, Lieutenant Dressia. Back me up whenever necessary and do not let a single soldier past your armored lines."

    "Yes, sir."

    The tanks were already unleashing bluish-white spears of superheated plasma and incinerating the approaching soldiers, but the enemy was numerous. Without care for their lives, they zealously dashed forward, screaming incoherently.

    "For the Emperor!"

    "For humanity!"

    "Death to demons!"

    Those who had guns fired their muskets, the short-ranged rounds ineffective against the armored hulls of the Malthas tanks. A volley of arrows were unleashed from further behind, the primitive projectiles clanging harmlessly against steel plates. Another boom and a whole line of archers and riflemen vanished in bluish fires.

    However, now that I had descended before them, a good number of enemy soldiers shifted their aim toward me.

    "Take him out!"

    "That arrogant fool¡­standing in front of his tanks like that¡­he''s asking to be shot!"

    "Aim for him!"

    I couldn''t help but smile. Despite appearing extremely frail and vulnerable, I had the greatest defense in the field ¨C more so than even the formidable spearhead of Malthas tanks. My Redwood jacket could endure not just arrow or bullets, but even the most devastating spells from Evelyn''s Chosen that could rip a tank apart in a millisecond.

    "Sir!"

    "Move out of the way!"

    "Stand down, guys," I told them firmly and leisurely glanced up as the hail of arrows descended upon me. At the same time, the riflemen fired a coordinated volley from their muskets, and the projectiles all streaked toward me.

    I disappeared under a fog of arrows and cloud of bullets. Dust billowed and stones flew, the number of projectiles so many that they punctured the ground all around me and kicked up dirt and soil from the countless impacts.

    "We did it!"

    "That must be the leader!"

    "Serve him right!"

    "Don''t you think your celebration is a little too premature?"

    The soldiers froze when they heard my voice. Stepping out, completely unscathed, I waved casually at the stunned enemy.

    "Well¡­it''s my turn."

    Matsukaze fell out of the sky and smashed into the ground in front of me, carving a crater into the earth. I smiled, savoring the shock and fear that rippled through the enemies'' ranks.

    "It''s time to kick some ass."

    *

    At the western border of Moria, along the outer wall, a sparse number of dwarven soldiers patrolled, sitting idly as they watched the ridge.

    Behind the distant ridge, a pair of humans watched from cover, keeping a low profile as they peered through binoculars.

    The headquarters of the Genevea invasion force were a large tent set up deep inside the mountains, hidden from view ¨C at least from the view of the dwarves in the hive cities. At present, they were watching Mount Aleron.

    "The scouts have reported in!"

    One of the heavily cloaked soldiers hurried back into the tent and saluted. Seated in one of the chairs, behind a huge table that had maps and scrolls strewn about it, the Genevean general grinned at the good news.

    "As expected. It was worth going through the trouble and pain of moving the entire force across the Rodian mountain range! While the bulk of the fighting is taking place at the main fronts in Verunhive and Mordia, we''ll swoop in on the relatively undefended flanks and take out the Morian dwarves in a pincer attack! If we pull this off, his majesty, Emperor Kobayashi, will certainly reward us greatly! We''ll be heroes!"

    Folding his arms, the Genevean general turned to grin at another figure inside the tent, his voice mocking.

    "What do you say now, Umezu-sama?"

    Umezu Shigeo stood there silently, his expression as impassive as ever. The Genevean general leered at him.

    "Maybe we won''t need the aid of the heroes, after all! If everything goes according to plan, we''ll be able to crush the dwarves with my army alone!"

    "Do as you wish," Umezu replied coldly, not at all bothered by the general''s disrespect. Even though he was a hero, he was aware of how several high-ranking soldiers in the military viewed him and his brethren.

    Stealing their glory¡­getting cheat powers when blessed by the goddess Evelyn without needing to work hard like any other soldier¡­na?ve and young¡­mere children given power they didn''t deserve.

    It was a less than flattering picture. But Umezu didn''t care. This wasn''t his world, after all. As long as he was still alive, and could enjoy a relatively luxurious life, he didn''t care what the people of this world thought of him.

    The royal families of the human kingdoms had rewarded the heroes with more than enough wealth to last him for the rest of his life several times over. In fact, he wouldn''t have bothered to come along had Kobayashi not convinced him and Kido Mayumi.

    "Thank you very much. I will have you indulge my request." Sweeping his hand through the scrolls and strategiums on his table, the general declared arrogantly. "Once my soldiers finish their preparations, we''ll launch the attack immediately. Please stand back and take it easy, oh Hero-sama. Your part in the war is done. Now allow us real soldiers to do the actual work."

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    *

    BOOM!

    "Your majesty!"

    King Hedol glanced up, surprised when a runner ran up to him.

    "What is it, Rhodes?"

    "The enemy¡­they''re assaulting from the West! They''ve broken through the outer wall and are heading toward the hive city in Mount Alveron! If this goes on¡­they''ll find their way into the city and catch our forces in a pincer!"

    "¡­what?!"

    "They must have moved through the Rodian mountain range," Regis concluded as he rose to block a devastating spell. The heroes were flinging all sorts of spells into the Demonic Alliance lines, igniting explosions that sent bodies of demons flying.

    In retaliation, the tanks of Moria and Helsfort answered, barking out a hellstorm of fire that decimated the human lines. Only the Evelyn''s Chosen remained intact, their defensive spells rendering them impervious to the devastating firepower.

    "Guh¡­Rhodes, take one battalion and a squad of Terminators and get them to defend Mount Aleron. Now!"

    "Yes, your majesty!"

    "Damn it¡­" Hedol heaved as he slammed his Thunder Hammer onto the ground. Lightning billowed and incinerated swathes of human knights and soldiers. Raising his gauntlet, he unleashed a withering hail of mass reactive shells from the mounted combi-bolter, turning another squad of knights into bloody pulps. "I thought they were going to assault Mordia and Verunhive, but they''re going after Alveron as well?!"

    "Hedol, if I may¡­"

    Regis deflected another spell from Evelyn''s Chosen and reversed it back into their ranks, blowing up another score of humans.

    "I think you should personally accompany your battalion and Terminators. I''ll be fine here."

    "Huh?! Why should I trust you?!"

    "Your majesty¡­" Rhodes spoke up uncertainly. "Reports are uncertain, but at least two Evelyn''s Chosen were spotted in the outer wall. Though they haven''t made any move to attack, I''m afraid a battalion and squad of Terminators wouldn''t be enough¡­"

    "Feth!" Hedol spat as he swung his Thunder Hammer around so hard a knight was crushed from the impact, his armor resembling that of a squashed can. "I''ll be there right away!" turning to Regis, he glowered. "Are you sure you''ll be able to defend against eight Evelyn''s Chosen by yourself?"

    "I''m not alone." Regis glanced up and smiled when he saw an airship descending right behind enemy lines. "It seems that Major Tomoyuki''s negotiation with the Iron Knights has paid off. We''ve reinforcements."

    "What?! Aren''t those¡­Evelyn''s Chosen too? Is this¡­infighting?"

    "I guess you can call it that." Regis smiled, his eyes twinkling in mirth. "It''s a bit more complicated than that, but they will help us."

    Hedol watched in disbelief as the Iron Knights clashed with the eight Evelyn''s Chosen in the distance, devastating spells and magic saturating the mountain range and incinerating nearby human soldiers who were caught in the crossfire.

    "I never thought I would see the day¡­"

    "Your majesty," Rhodes prodded.

    "Go," Regis instructed, all humor in his voice lost. "Leave this place to me. If Mount Alveron falls, then our defense of Verunhive and Mordia will be for naught."

    "Ugh¡­!" Hedol turned away. "Call in all reserved battalions. We shall meet the accursed humans at the inner wall of Mount Alveron. Alveron will not fall!"

    "Yes, your majesty!"

    "1st Company! Deathhammer! With me!"

    The elite Terminator troops of Moria''s 1st Company turned, their tactical dreadnaught armor shrugging off small-arms fire, blade and arrows without much effort. They mowed down a path through the bristling humans with their combi-weapons, assault cannons, plasma cannons and heavy flamers, all just to reach their king.

    "To Alveron!" Hedol bellowed. "It is time to kick these humans out of dwarven lands and show them the tenacity and superiority of Moria!"

 110 Chapter 110: Super-heavy

    "Fire!"

    The cannons in the fortified walls of Alveron opened up. King Hedol had marhsalled his forces in the inner wall of Alveron and was launching a devastating strike on the cluster of troops who had massed just outside the hive city.

    Explosions threw up dirt, soil and bodies, the broken corpses of soldiers raining down on their stunned comrades.

    "Great job!" Hedol hollered. "Now that''s a great shot! They''re pinned!"

    "They are indeed, your majesty," a Terminator bodyguard spoke up beside him. "We''ll soften them up for a while, and once their lines are broken and they''re strewn in panic, we''ll charge in and turn their retreat into a rout."

    "Excellent!" Hedol folded his arms, satisfied. "The humans will learn a bitter lesson today. If they dare attack Moria, they will be annihilated!"

    His smug triumph was obliterated seconds later, along with the inner wall of his fortress. Something massive slammed into the rockcrete walls and blew them apart, sending several dwarves tumbling helplessly into the ground.

    "Shells!? Where the¡­?!"

    Hedol looked around, stunned. Firepower of that magnitude could only come from two things. Either an Evelyn''s Chosen with god-granted magic, or¡­artillery.

    As if to answer his question, the rumbling treads of a tank drowned out the groans of buried dwarves. The menacing form of an armored tank rolled into the valley, its turret pointed straight at the gap it had just blown in the dwarves'' defenses.

    "That''s a tank! The humans have a tank too?! Did they loot one of ours?!"

    "No, your majesty. The structure¡­the shape¡­the design¡­it''s not a Malthas tank. It''s a tank built by the humans themselves?"

    Realizing the threat, the king turned to his men who were manning the cannons.

    "All cannons, aim at that tank! Fire at will!"

    The cannons barked in unison, hurling mass-reactive explosive shells at the tank. However, none of them left a scratch on its armor.

    "We need anti-tank weaponry¡­" Hedol realized in horror. "Lascannons! Plasma cannons! To the fore! Take down that tank!"

    His Terminator bodyguards stepped forward, wielding lascannons and plasma cannons. They fired a concentrated volley, which seared through the thick armor of the tank. The armored vehicle careened, and then exploded, unable to endure the intense heat and exotic energies.

    "Good! We took it out!"

    However, Hedol''s relief turned out to be short-lived.

    "My king!"

    Another shell whistled over, taking down another section of the fortress. As Hedol went down, the power field of his tactical dreadnaught armor protecting him from debris, he caught sight of a terrifying sight.

    An entire battalion of tanks were rolling forward, their turrets aimed at the fortress.

    *

    The Genevean general was chortling as he watched through his binoculars. At first, the battle had been in the dwarves'' favor. Clad in power armor and possessing incredible strength, they had mowed down his soldiers like nothing. Wielding boltguns, they turned human bodies into bloody pulps by firing mass-reactive shells that all but blew up the targets. Whatever muskets or blade or arrow his men wielded, none of them penetrated the power armor.

    And that was just the basic dwarf infantry. The elites were clad in even more formidable armor, which crackled with protective fields. The dwarves in power armor could still be taken out by concentrated firepower from coordinated volleys of muskets or magic spells. Even the vaunted ceramite armor was no match for spells and witchcraft.

    But the Terminator armor was on a whole different level.

    Fortunately, that all changed with the Mauler-pattern tanks. Commanding an entire battalion of tanks, the Genevean general had launched an assault with their battle cannons. Whole squads of power armored dwarves vanished in bloody mists and shattered shards of ceramite and metal, limbs and heads flying into the air. Even those elite bodyguards in Terminator armor were unable to withstand the sheer might of the Mauler tanks, blown apart by the massive shells or imploding inside the indomitable armor that was supposed to protect them.

    All this while, the two heroes merely hung back and watched, not lifting a finger.

    The general smirked, already entertaining thoughts of victory and promotion.

    Just wait¡­your majesty, Emperor Kobayashi. I''ll prove to you that we normal humans can still win a war even without these vaunted heroes. The standard infantry and soldiers are not rendered obsolete just yet.

    His chest swelling with pride, he stepped up and yelled another order to his Mauler tanks, who were lowering their turrets for a better angle.

    Another bombardment, and another section of the wall went down.

    *

    It was a massacre.

    A one-sided massacre.

    "¡­huff¡­"

    Inside the cockpit of Matsukaze, I glanced at the visual auspexes. The sophisticated array of sensors picked nothing up. No life-signs, nothing.

    I had routed the enemy and wiped out almost every single one of them. Not by myself, of course. The coordinated bombardment from Daniel''s Company T, as well as precise snipes from the snipers of Elia''s Company L and suppressive fire from Benjamin''s Company H, had lay waste to the majority of the enemy.

    I wasn''t ashamed to admit that I only accounted for a quarter of the kills. Maybe less. It didn''t matter, because I was taking the heat off my battalion by having the enemy concentrate fire only on my mecha.

    "Back to your positions."

    After issuing the order, I had Matsukaze stride back toward the manufactorum. Hopping out of the cockpit, I proceeded toward the chamber where Belisarius and his team were hard at work, welding and installing the plasma reactor in the Hellblade.

    "Heh heh heh! You''re just in time, pup!"

    Belisarius turned to me and lifted both his goggles and sombrero. It was good to see that he wasn''t smoking on the job.

    "Done?"

    "Almost. Just a few tweaks here and there to get the fething thing to fit."

    "Sure. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it."

    "Hah!" Belisarius chuckled. "This is all down to you, lad! You''re the one who revolutionized dwarven engineering! We''ll have statues of you all over Moria! You''re a hero! A legend! If it weren''t for you, we''ll be stuck in this age forever!"

    I highly doubted that, but before I could offer a rebuttal, there was a commotion outside the chamber.

    "Please wait, your highness! They are very busy in there¡­"

    "I''m afraid I cannot wait!"

    The familiar voice of Princess Donorea echoed outside the chamber. I exchanged a confused glance with Belisarius and we turned just in time to see Donorea barge into the chamber, flustered and panicky.

    "Major Tomoyuki!"

    "Yes, your highness?"

    "The invaders just broke through the second wall of Alveron, where my brother¡­where the king is! Please! Please help!"

    I felt a bead of perspiration roll down my face. This was a lot earlier than anticipated. I was hoping we would still have a couple more hours.

    Donorea hastily explained the on-goings of the war to us, and I nodded in understanding.

    The good news was that Emperor Regis and the Iron Knights were holding the bulk of Kobayashi''s main forces back at Verunhive and Mordia. The battle there had grounded to a stalemate, with neither side giving ground. Even though the arrival of the Iron Knights at the back of the human forces had briefly turned the tide of battle to the demons'' favor, Kobayashi had quickly rallied his men and provided stiff resistance. The fighting seemed as if it would continue for days, but they wouldn''t be able to offer reinforcements.

    But what interested me was¡­

    "So the humans have a battalion of tanks?"

    "Yes! My brother''s army has been forced to defend the city beyond the second wall! If this goes on¡­"

    The hive city would fall. She didn''t have to mention it out loud for me to understand.

    Still, there was something that nagged at me.

    "Um, if you don''t mind me asking, where are your tanks?"

    "Our¡­tanks?"

    I stared at her, annoyed. "Moria produces tanks, doesn''t it? This is where we get our tanks from. They''re all manufactured by Moria. Hell, right now we''re inside a factory that''s building a super-heavy tank. Where are all of them?"

    "Well¡­" Donorea looked a little hesitant. "Just before we learned that the humans were going to invade us, we¡­shipped out a hundred Malthas tanks."

    "On whose orders?! General Vance Stubbs?! Don''t you keep any tanks for yourself?! What is this, Dawn of War: Soulstorm?!"

    "Most of the tanks are positioned at Verunhive and Mordia, and they couldn''t be spared for the fighting. There''s no tunnel that links those cities to Alveron, and any tank that goes across the valley become easy targets for both Evelyn''s Chosen and the tank battalion in Alveron."

    This time it was Jurgen who reported to me, my aide having left his tank to accompany me back into the factory.

    "¡­oh." I was about to ask how he knew this, but I caught sight of the blue holographic data-slate he was holding. It appeared that the battle situations were all being recorded and reported there. Thanks to my rank, I had clearance to the current situation, but I had delegated the task of going through the details to my aide.

    "But unlike Mordia and Verunhive, Alveron has an underground tunnel connecting it to this outpost. If you use that passage¡­"

    "Understood." In other words, we were the only tank company that could reach Alveron without being blown apart on the way there. However¡­ "Even if we get there, we''ll be outnumbered. The enemy has a battalion of tanks. We only have a company."

    "But¡­"

    "Don''t worry. I''m not saying we won''t help." I turned to Belisarius. "How long more do you need?"

    The dwarf grunted. "You''re asking for the impossible, lad¡­but I like it!"

    *

    At the inner wall of Alveron, the massed hordes of human infantry clashed against the superhuman power armored figures of dwarves. The dwarves were holding their own against the ranks of humans, but several of them were falling to concentrated, coordinated fire of muskets. However, for every dwarf who succumbed to such overwhelming numbers, another ten soldiers lost their lives, blown apart by the mass reactive shells of boltguns, incinerated by heavy flamers and plasma cannons or crushed underneath crackling Thunder Hammers and power fists.

    Unfortunately, for every human soldier who fell, there were at least three more to take their place. To make matters worse, the tanks were lumbering forward, bloowing huge holes in the dwarves'' ranks and reducing the fortress to rubble.

    "Hold your ground!" Hedol thundered as he obliterated another two soldiers who tried to impale him with bayonets. Laughable, but brave. "If we falter here, they will have access to the city! We cannot allow them to reach the civilians!"

    "Give no quarter!" Captain Cyrus, the commander of the Morian 1st Company, the Deathhammer, shouted. "Today is the day we bathe ourselves in the blood of our foes! Glory for Moria! Long live King Hedol! Morten forever!"

    "Glory for Moria!"

    The elite Terminators echoed his cry. However, the two Terminators beside Cyrus vanished in a spray of blood, and five more were hurled into the air by a tremendous impact.

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    The tanks had arrived.

    "My king!" Cyrus shouted a warning. "The tanks are¡­"

    "Ngh!"

    More dwarves were thrown across the fortress, their armor cracked or shattered.

    "Uwaaaaah!"

    With a roar, Hedol bounded forward and swung his hammer. The power fields of his Thunder Hammer amplified his strength by two times and allowed him to smash a hole in the thick armor. The tank shuddered, and encouraged by his success, Hedol swung his hammer again. It took three strikes, but he managed to tear a hole through the hull. Grabbing the stunned gunner, he hauled him out and crushed his throat.

    Then, with a victorious howl, he smashed the driver into a bloody pulp with his hammer, wrecking the console and controls.

    "Do you not think we dwarves, who manufacture such tanks, would not know its weaknesses?!" he bellowed.

    The neighboring Mauler tank answered by blasting him at almost pointblank range. The shell slammed into Hedol''s body and detonated, sending him hurtling across the carnage and bowling into the wall so hard the reinforced structure crumbled from the impact.

    "Your majesty!"

    Cyrus rushed over, and was relieved to see that Hedol was still alive. His Terminator armor was dented and half-crumpled, but Hedol was miraculously still in one piece. He coughed out blood, and tried to stagger, only to collapse.

    "Stupid thing¡­broke¡­a few of¡­my ribs¡­" he choked out, blood dribbling from his lips as he raised a hand weakly and placed it on his chest.

    "If only we had a brigade of tanks¡­"

    "Don''t be an idiot. They''ll never make it from Verunhive and Mordia. The tanks here will shoot them apart when they try to traverse the valley! It''ll be suicide! Besides, we have anti-tank weapons! Lascannons! Missile launchers! Use them!"

    One of the tanks rumbled forward, its turret lowering to point at the hapless Hedol. Cyrus stepped forward to put himself between the rumbling tank and his liege.

    "Lascannon team! Take that tank out!"

    Above, a couple of Terminators wielding lascannons stepped forward, aiming their anti-tank weapons at the offending tank. Before they could fire, a battle cannon shell roared forward and struck them, obliterating them.

    The battalion of tanks were covering each other. There were other anti-tank teams scattered across the fortress, but before they could bring their lascannons, plasma cannons or missile launchers to bear, they were swamped by zealous infantry who were ordered to guard the tanks with their lives. Ruby beams of destruction seared wide, often colliding with human bodies instead of their intended armored targets.

    Cyrus closed his eyes as the closest tank leveled its turret at them, ready for death. Knowing that his faithful servant wouldn''t be able to completely shield him from the blast, Hedol braced himself for an ignoble death.

    BOOM!

    "?!"

    Cyrus and Hedol looked up, stunned, as the tank before them blossomed into flames. A massive rumbling drowned out the cries and gunfire in the battlefield and the earth itself shook as something titanic roared out of a tunnel.

    "What?!"

    It was the Baneblade¡­I mean Hellblade.

    A tank five to six times the size of a Malthas tank or a Mauler tank, with several times its firepower. Like a titanic behemoth, it bellowed as it ground the ground underneat to dust under its tremendous weight. Its massive turret leveled at another tank and barked, reducing the smaller Mauler tank into a flaming wreck.

    "That''s¡­that''s¡­the Hellblade?!"

    "How¡­how is that possible, my liege?!"

    Cyrus''s jaw dropped as he stared at the lumbering behemoth. It was moving with predatory grace as it attracted the attention of the tank battalion to it. Battle cannon shells slammed into its thick armor, but the Hellblade continued plowing through them, unaffected. Its adamantium tracks ground a third tank into scrap while the sponson lascannons seared through another tank, immobilizing it. The demolisher cannon mounted on the hull finished it off.

    "That Helsfortian did it," Hedol mumbled in disbelief. "He actually found a way to power the tank and move it!"

    Then the hatch opened and a single, lithe figure emerged.

    "Donorea?!"

    The Morian king was stunned to see his sister clambering from the super-heavy tank. Wielding a power spear, she deftly leaped off and charged into the massed ranks of infantry, impaling three of them with a single strike.

    "Warriors, the first princess is with you!" a dwarf commander shouted. "For Moria¡­dye your blades with the blood of our foes!"

    With a yell, the Morians plunged into the shell-shocked infantry with renewed vigor.

    "We''re not going to lose to the dwarves, are we?"

    This time, I was the one who shouted that. Emerging from the tunnel at the head of Company T, I stepped on the accelerator, hurtling Matsukaze forward into the fray. Swinging my titan''s katana, I cleaved through a tank and trampled past its two halves, stomping the crew into oblivion. Behind me, Daniel''s company of tanks unleashed a volley of bluish-white plasma. The superheated blobs of exotic energy were not exactly anti-tank weapons ¨C they were meant for elite, heavily armored infantry (Terminators and their equivalents). That said, they packed enough of a punch to melt armor and deal significant damage, especially when several tanks converged their plasma beams on a single target. Under Daniel''s coordination, the Malthas Executioner tanks left a dozen smoking wrecks in their wake, the armor melted into red-hot slag and their occupants roasted by the extreme temperatures, unable to escape.

    While I cut apart tanks, I couldn''t help but be amazed at how Donorea was sending human infantry flying or ripping them apart with brute force, her power spear crackling as it pierced armor and bone alike.

    "Holy¡­how strong is she?!"

    "You''ve let her gentle demeanor deceive you, Major!" Gio called out from behind. "She''s a dwarven princess through and through!"

    "¡­right."

    I glanced back when I heard Gio''s voice. Behind the armored phalanx of tanks, the convoy of Cerberus APCs were emerging from the tunnel. I slightly recalled what happened when Donorea came with her request.

    "We''re done!" Belisarius had yelled excitedly. I grinned broadly.

    "Just in time."

    "¡­you''re going to take the Hellblade out for a test drive, boss?" Jurgen asked, sharing the grin. I nodded, and then clapped my hands as I proceeded out into the chamber and back into the outpost. My commanders, who had gathered to assess the situation, looked up.

    "All right! Dan, you''re coming with me. Get your tanks ready ¨C we''re going for a drive. While at it, pick a cew. We''re going to need someone to drive the Hellblade."

    "I''ll do that," Jurgen volunteered. I nodded.

    "I''ll leave it to you and Gunnery. Pick whoever, you have my authorization."

    "Yes, boss."

    "So we''ll escort the super-heavy tank?" Daniel asked. I nodded. Elia raised her hand.

    "What about us? Do you want us to mount up?"

    "Good point. What''s the read on the enemy? How many of them are left? Any sign of other enemies in the vicinity?"

    "None¡­for now."

    I considered for a few moments, and then came to a decision.

    "Ben, you and Company H stay put. Defend the outpost and the factory. Do not let any enemy get near. I''m counting on you."

    "Yes, sir!"

    The reason why I decided to have Benjamin and Company H stay behind was because their heavy plasma weaponry were unwieldy and literally heavy. It would be difficult for them to pack up and move about.

    "Captain, pick a platoon to leave behind here, to support Ben''s heavy weapon squads. The rest of them are to follow us in the APCs."

    "Yes, sir!"

    And that was the disposition of the forces I brought along.

    "Brother!"

    After cutting a swathe through the enemy forces, the dwarven princess headed toward Hedol, who stared at her, baffled.

    "Donorea!"

    As I cleaved through a tank, I activated the speakers on Matsukaze and spoke to King Hedol.

    "Looks like we made it, your majesty."

    "You!" Hedol hollered, still mired in disbelief. "How did you power the Hellblade? Is it really running on just one engine? How many mana crystals do you need to feed that tank? How did you increase the efficiency?"

    "By using a plasma reactor," I replied flippantly. "The technical details are with your men. They''ll explain the building process to you better."

    "¡­"

    Hedol was at a loss for words. He watched as Matsukaze bound across the battlefield effortlessly to slice another tank in half.

    "One of these days, you''ve got to teach me how to build one of those Golems."

    "I already passed the schematics to Belisarius-san and his team," I informed him, unable to conceal a smirk in my voice. "In exchange for exclusive trade deals¡­in other words, once you finish the prototypes of the new armored Golems, you''ll be selling them to my regiment cheaply. Or Helsfort. You''ll still make quite the profit, though."

    Considering this world didn''t have patents and intellectual properties, there was no point trying to patent or monopolize the Titan designs. Not to mention I wasn''t greedy ¨C the only thing I was interested in was revenge, not wealth.

    "I''ve to admit, with your current technology, you still won''t be able to manufacture mass models of Titans. At least not yet. But we''ve compromised and designed more practical¡­Elementals. Again, Belisarius-san has all the details."

    "I''ll make sure to interrogate all of them later," Hedol vowed. But he looked at Matsukaze, impressed. "I never thought you would be capable of designing such amazing things! Just who in Restia are you?"

    "To be honest, your majesty King Hedol," I admitted. "All I did was design them. Then I summoned them with magic. Most of the technical details and know-how are recorded in books that were passed down to me."

    I was of course referring to the books in the Library of Eden. I still had no idea why Lyia''s library contained books with such details and knowledge, but it was truly a blessing. Perhaps these books came from the future?

    That would make the Library of Eden some sort of Akashic Record, wouldn''t it? A library that contained all the records of past, present and future. If I looked harder, wouldn''t I be able to find some way to return to Earth?

    Before that happened, though, I needed to take revenge on Kobayashi and kill him and all the other bullies. Only then could I worry about returning home.

    "Fire!"

    Jurgen was shouting something. The Hellblade lumbered forward, and with another deafening bellow, launched a second volley. Another tank exploded, ripped apart as the massive plasma beam engulfed it in destruction.

    The sponson lascannons fired again, slicing another Mauler tank neatly in half. The triple twin heavy bolters spat out mass reactive rounds at an incredible rate, reducing human infantry into plulp. Those that got too close were crushed by adamantium tracks.

    "Again!"

    The turret whirled around and the Hellblade roared once more. Another two tanks lit up, one of them having its top blown off and the other turned into a flaming husk of metal.

    Behind, Company T was advancing, spewing bluish-white plasma bolts of destruction. Ruby beams lanced from their hull lascannons, piercing through armor and dealing significant damage. Even as they were picked off by the Malthas tanks, the Mauler tanks continued to concentrate their fire on the Hellblade, but the mobile fortress was impervious to their huge shells.

    "Just what do we have to do to kill that thing?!"

    "Retreat! Retreat!"

    "Running away already?" Gunnery laughed as he pivoted the turret around. With another burst, he reduced another column of tanks into molten slag. With the combined efforts from Company T and the heavy weapon teams of Morian dwarves and Terminators, we routed and annihilated the tank battalion.

    Even though we were originally outnumbered three to one.

    "Yeah!"

    I had Matsukaze raise his katana and let out a victorious cry. All the men around me joined in, cheering at the unexpected triumph.

    "Major Tomoyuki!"

    I turned around and spotted Donorea approaching me.

    "The enemy tank battalion has been defeated!"

    I nodded and opened up the speakers to rouse my men and the Morian dwarves into a victorious cheer, raising their morale.

    "Now let''s deal with the remaining infantry!"

    "YEAH!"

    While we cheered, the enemies were rooted in disbelief, sputtering and muttering.

    "But¡­how?!" the Genevean general demanded, his knuckles white as he clutched his musket tightly. Perspiration poured down his body as he trembled violently, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. "We had a tank battalion¡­an entire tank battalion of over forty tanks! How did those demons destroy every single one of them?!"

    "What do we do now, sir?"

    "How would I know?! Our strategy depended completely on our armor, and now they''re all destroyed!"

    As the general raged, two shadowy figures stepped forward. Ignoring the disgruntled general, Umezu Shigeo focused his attention on the enemies before him. Behind him, Kido Mayumi waited patiently.

    "Mayumi-san. Their precious tanks have been destroyed. It''s our turn now."

    "Understood, Shigeo-kun."

    The two heroes had finally deigned to step into the battlefield.

 111 Chapter 111: Glory of Heroes

    With the momentum of the battle turned in our favor, I led the charge. Using Matsukaze, I raised the heavy katana and pointed it at the routed enemy.

    "Charge!"

    "Oo-rah!"

    The Space Marines¡­I mean dwarves let out a cry and raised their boltguns, power axes, thunder hammers and other heavy weapons. Clad in bristling power armor, they loped forward, the servos of their suits whining as they bounded across the bloodied terrain. The human infantry was scattered, broken apart by the armored charge.

    More were blown apart by the grinding advance of my Malthas tanks and their plasma weaponry, but it was the Hellblade that did most of the work, massacring dozens of soldiers with each blast of its main cannon and chewing infantry up with triple twin heavy bolters.

    "Our tank battalion has been destroyed, and we''ve suffered 90% casualties!" an aide shouted to the dumbfounded Genevean general. "Sir! What do we do?! Fall back?!"

    "No!"

    "Then what are your orders, sir? Fight to the last man?!"

    "Ugh¡­"

    The general gritted his teeth as he surveyed the battlefield, which had turned into a catastrophic disaster. His mind blank, he clenched his trembling fists, unable to think of a solution. Even though Kobayashi had charged him with securing victory over the blasted dwarves, he was on the verge of not merely suffering an utter defeat, but was staring total annihilation right in the face. In less than an hour, his men would be completely wiped out.

    "How disgraceful."

    Instead of Umezu Shigeo, a man in a white laboratory coat stepped up, pushing his glasses up his nose as he studied how the tides of the battle had changed. Flanked by several colossal bodyguards, clad in carapace armor and gas masks, he smirked confidently.

    "D¡­Doctor Cillantro!" the general gasped when he saw the newcomer. "W¡­wait! I can explain this! Just give me some time¡­"

    "You''re out of time, General." The scientist shook his head in mocking displeasure. "Oh my, oh my. I can''t believe they actually wiped out the entire tank battalion."

    "I apologize! I didn''t think they would possess a tank of that size and firepower! They actually destroyed your entire battalion of tanks in the blink of an eye!"

    "Doctor," one of the bodyguards spoke up, his voice muffled by his respirator mask. "It''s dangerous here. That super-heavy tank is too close¡­"

    As if to punctuate his remark, the Hellblade fired. The titanic shell arced over and slammed into the trench the infantry were taking cover in, wrecking the tempoprary HQ and causing men to cower. As the general and his command staff reeled from the blast, a gigantic debris ¨C a boulder that had been gouged out of the mountain from the sheer magnitude of the Hellblade''s firepower ¨C soared mercilessly toward them, ready to crush them.

    "Oh, Evelyn¡­" the general gasped as he helplessly watched his impending doom descend upon him and his officers.

    But it never reached them.

    The boulder was sliced neatly in half. The two halves of the boulder fell on either side of the sprawled general, sparing him and his men from a messy death.

    Standing in front of them was the single, lone figure of Umezu Shigeo, who had drawn both his swords. He turned his head slightly to glare at the hapless general.

    "H¡­Hero-sama¡­Umezu-sama!"

    Realizing that his life had just been saved, the general fell to his knees and prostrated himself before the hero, tears leaking out of his eyes as he forsook his pride in order to prolong his life.

    "P¡­please, Umezu-sama! Save us! Please save us! Please help us turn the tide of the battle! We need to secure a victory for his majesty Kobayashi-sama!"

    While the general blubbered, Cillantro merely brushed the dust off the shoulder of his lab coat, shielded from the debris by one of his heavily armored bodyguards. He couldn''t help but smirk at the pathetic display.

    Umezu, however, was unmoved.

    "Did you not tell me to stand back and take it easy, General?"

    His voice was dripping with acid. The general blanched.

    "I¡­I''m so very sorry, Hero-sama! Please, I beg of you¡­forgive my insolence! I swear, I''ll never be so arrogant in front of you again!"

    "Keep your empty promises," Umezu replied shortly, uninterested in the general''s blabbering. "I am only doing this because Kobayashi-kun asked me for a favor, and not because I want to help you or your men."

    Cold perspiration ran down the general''s face as he stared at Umezu''s cold expression. The hero had already turned his back on the shuddering soldier and was striding toward the tanks, fearless in the face of such titanic armor and immense firepower.

    "Mayumi-san?"

    "Let''s go¡­dear!"

    Dressed in scarlet robes, Kido Mayumi sauntered forward boldly, already casting spells with her slender, delicate-looking hands. Her long, red hair flowed in the wind, tied into pigtails so as not to get in the way of fighting.

    The two of them had been married in Restia, under the blessings of a priest from the Church of Evelyn. They had always been dating since they were in high school, back in our previous world, but clearly they had decided at some point of time to consummate their relationship by pledging themselves to each other.

    Not that I was interested¡­

    As the dwarves advanced under the cover of my tanks, I led from the front. King Hedol hurried forward in his Terminator armor to catch up with me.

    "Major Tomoyuki¡­" he growled. "Do not expect my gratitude."

    "Of course not, your majesty King Hedol," I replied smoothly, my voice traveling through the speakers built into Matsukaze''s hull. Even though he couldn''t see me, I smiled. "I apologize for interfering in your battle. I was just merely taking the chance to show off my work¡­I hope you remember our end of the deal."

    "Heh."

    Hedol smirked, and nodded good-naturedly. He probably still recalled about our deal ¨C that the first Hellblade would be mine. It didn''t matter to him. Belisarius and his team had the schematics and blueprints, and now they had the practical experience and technical know-how necessary to mass-produce the Hellblade-patterened super-heavy tanks. Before long, we would be fielding entire super-heavy companies of Hellblade tanks and their variants. I could see a Shadowblade variant, which would be a Titan-killer with its Volcano cannon¡­

    "Brother¡­"

    Donorea had advanced forward as well, lifting her spear as if to thrust it forward into the rearguard of the fleeing enemy.

    "Let''s go ahead!"

    A sweeping advance, huh? Now that the morale of our foes had broken and they were falling back, we could finish them off in one fell swoop.

    However¡­

    "No, Donorea."

    Hedol''s voice was firm. He turned his back on Donorea, even as he advanced forward with his Terminator bodyguards.

    "You are strong and skilled, but you will stay here."

    "What?!"

    Donorea protested, but Hedol shut her down mercilessly.

    "As your King, it is my duty to protect you. Even more so, because I am your brother. And this is not a place for you."

    "¡­"

    Donorea fell silent, even as she tightened the grip on her spear.

    "Um¡­" I began somewhat uncertainly. "Your majesty, if I may¡­"

    "No, you may not," Hedol cut in. "This is between a brother and a sister. An outsider like you has no say in the matter."

    Without looking back at the crestfallen Donorea, he continued resolutely.

    "And as your king, this is my command to you, my dear sister. You''re to stay here, out of harm''s way. The morale of our men will suffer a great blow if they were to see you fall. It is not just for your sake, but for the sake of my soldiers. I hope you understand and obey."

    "¡­I understand and obey."

    Despite her reluctance, Donorea consented. With that, Hedol raised his Thunder Hammer and let out a roar.

    "Now, venture forth, brave soldiers of Moria! Do not falter! Do not relent! Do not show mercy! We will crush every single fool who dared think themselves capable of conquering Moria! And we will have the head of the enemy''s commander!"

    "Oo-rah!"

    While the dwarves let out a single, unified cheer, Donorea alone remained silent and solemn, her eyes sad and worried.

    As she stared at the advancing phalanx of power armored dwarves, my tanks caught up. I heard Gio''s voice crackle over the vox.

    "Good thing we got the Hellblade here in time!" he remarked cheerfully. "Now the dwarves have rallied and are on the offensive. There''s no need for her highness Princess Donorea to fight. Isn''t that right, Major?"

    "Uh¡­you might be, except for one thing." I scanned the area with Matsukaze''s sensors, feeling uneasy. "Where are the two Evelyn''s Chosen who were supposed to be with this brigade? They have yet to show up and attack¡­"

    That was right. Even if we had destroyed the enemy tank battalion, the most powerful assets of the enemy weren''t the armored vehicles and the sheer firepower they brought along, but their heroes. Heroes who possessed enough strength to cut apart tanks with their swords alone, or obliterate vast spaces of terrain with terrifying magic spells.

    "Don''t let your guard down," I told my men. I was still unable to shake off the premonition that haunted me despite not detecting anything anomalous on my auspex. "Keep an eye out for Evelyn''s Chosen or other threats¡­"

    "What could be worse than a tank?" Daniel asked from his command tank. Then he corrected himself. "Well, Evelyn''s Chosen. But I don''t see them here. Where could they be? Did they retreat when they spotted you on the field, Major?"

    "Knowing them, they would be more likely to charge straight at me when they see me, rather than retreat."

    Gio snorted in laughter. "That much is true."

    "¡­wait!"

    I had finally detected something in my auspexes. To my horror, I saw sparks flying in front of us. The dwarves had stopped too, noticing the sparks and embers that flying around in front of them. Despite the sudden increase in temperature, their power armor or tactical dreadnaught armor protected them from the intense heat.

    For now.

    "Be careful! The enemy has flamers!"

    "They might be potent, but they don''t have much armor penetrating power¡­"

    One of the dwarves dismissed the warning, but that turned out to be his last words. Blood sprayed into the air as someone slashed through a trio of dwarves, his enchanted swords slicing through their ceramite armor as easily as if they were made of thin paper.

    "Enemy contact!"

    The dwarves backed away, no longer confident and assured in their thick, ceramite power armor. Umezu adopted an offensive stance with his twin enchanted blades and glared at them, beckoning them to attack.

    When they didn''t, he kicked off from his spot and slashed another power armored dwarf, cleaving him in half despite the latter''s hasty attempts to parry his blow with his axe. Before the top half could even hit the ground, Umezu was already flashing forward and cutting two other bellowing dwarves apart.

    His enchanted blades gleaming, he left a trail of carnage in his wake, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the fearless dwarves. They had faltered a little, blown apart by his rampage, but they remained cohesive and determined.

    "Don''t fall back! Fire!"

    "Take him out!"

    Sergeants shouted orders and a volley of boltgun fire streaked toward the calm Umezu. However, he merely twirled his enchanted blades and cut the mass reactive shells apart before they could reach him.

    "What the feth?!" Gio demanded from his APC, even as he tried to target the fleet-footed assassin with the Cerberus''s hull multi-laser.

    "It''s him¡­one of Evelyn''s Chosen." A grin spread across my face as I swung Matsukaze around to face him. "They''ve finally decided to come out and play, huh?"

    "That''s¡­an Evelyn''s Chosen?!" Donorea cried as she watched Umezu''s superhuman movements. Evidently this was the first time the cloistered princess had seen one of the heroes in the flesh.

    "Fall back! Don''t let him get close!"

    "Form a firing line!"

    Realizing that they were outmatched in close combat, the Brother-sergeants in each squad hastily yelled for their men to fall back, keeping a safe distance from the skillfull assassin. Umezu continued to plunge forward.

    "I have no grudge against you dwarves, but¡­for Kobayashi-kun''s ambitions, all of you must die."

    "The only one who will die here is you!" a Brother-Captain shouted. "Fire!"

    A line of power-armored Marines¡­I mean dwarves squeezed the trigger of their bulky boltguns, their weapons roaring as a stream of mass reactive shells erupted from their snout barrels. Even in the face of death, Umezu stood his ground and continued dashing forward.

    He didn''t slice through the barrage of projectiles this time. He didn''t need to.

    Raising her hands, Kido murmured something and cast fiery spells. Magic circles materialized above her palms, and in response to her will, fireballs appeared out of nowhere and slammed down against the hail of metallic projectiles, incinerating the bullets into ash before they could get near the charging Umezu.

    With their volley of concentrated fire burned away, there was nothing standing between the dwarves and Umezu. He cut a bloody swathe across one line of boltgunners with his twin blades, annihilating the entire squad.

    Beside him, the fiery form of Kido Mayumi descended gracefully, flames crackling and dancing around her.

    "¡­!"

    In the face of such bloodbath, even Hedol was forced to retreat. The king gnashed his teeth in fury at the presence of both heroes.

    "That''s another Evelyn''s Chosen!" Gio shouted.

    "Yeah. Umezu Shigeo and Kido Mayumi. It''s been a while."

    I sent an arc wave blasting toward them, but Kido countered it with an inferno. A pillar of fire rose and collided with the blue crescent of lightning, both spells negating each other. Umezu then raised his enchanted blades, getting ready to fight.

    But I wasn''t about to engage him in close combat, not even when I was in a Titan. The size of Matsukaze would be disadvantageous here. He would be more nimble and agile, ducking my Titan''s attacks while carving Matsukaze apart with his twin swords.

    No, it was best to keep my distance. Instead, I yelled at the stunned dwarves.

    "Fall back! All of you!"

    Switching to the vox, I transmitted a message to Jurgen.

    "Jason, Geoffrey, start shelling the two Evelyn''s Chosen with all the weapons on the Hellblade. Protect King Hedol at all costs!"

    "Roger that, boss!"

    "Heh! Will we get promoted if we kill the Evelyn''s Chosen?"

    "Shut your trap and fire, Gunnery! We haven''t killed nothing yet!"

    The Hellblade shuddered as it opened fire, its massive shells and ruby las-beams shrieking as they arced toward Umezu and Kido.

    However, Kido shielded both herself and her husband with a wall of flames, which detonated the shells and dispersed the las-beams before they reached them. Manipulating the roaring tornado of fire, she directed a surge of flames at the armored behemoth, scorching the armored hull. I could hear my men cry out inside as the super-heavy tank shuddered.

    "Whoa!"

    "Hot!"

    "Damn it! Engine''s overheating! The weapons have overheated! We can''t fire!''

    "The tank''s dead!"

    "Are you guys all right?!" I voxed. At the other side of the system, I heard Jurgen cough.

    "Yeah. It''s pretty hot in here, but the thick armor protected us. The engine and weapons have overheated, though. We won''t be shooting or moving for a while, until the tank cools down."

    I breathed a sigh of relief. At least my men were still alive. Tanks could be fixed, crews could be trained, but comrades couldn''t be replaced. Not by anybody.

    However, the appearance of the two heroes had swung the tide of the battle back in the humans'' battle. The surviving infantry were racing back, yelling zealously their faith and devotion to the Master of Mankind.

    "Men!" the general bellowed, his courage and impudence restored. "We have the initiative! The dwarves are in disarray! Now''s our time! Push them back toward the wall!"

    "Hah!"

    Hedol snarled when he heard that. Raising his Thunder Hammer, he charged toward Umezu, blue lightning crackling around his weapon.

    "You think we dwarves will obediently be shepherded away by the likes of you?! Dream on!"

    Clad in his Terminator armor, the hero of Moria swung his Thunder Hammer with all of his strength preparing to obliterate the calm and still Umezu. I clicked my tongue when I saw that he had ignored my instructions to fall back.

    The guy was really trying to beat the heroes by himself! He was stealing my prey!

    "Your majesty! Fall back! Allow me to fight Evelyn''s Chosen!"

    "NO! This is Moria, my domain! You''re just an outsider! I will defend my own home with my own hands!"

    With that, the armored king descended upon Umezu with the tremendous weight of his lightning-clad hammer, howling like a great wolf.

    Kido stepped in and cast another spell. A pillar of flames sprung up between Umezu and Hedol, discouraging the latter.

    "Brother!" Donorea shouted worriedly when she saw that he was about to plunge into the inferno of his own volition.

    However¡­

    "Your pathetic, cowardly spells will not stop me!"

    With a surge of determination, Hedol smashed through the pillar of flames with his Thunder Hammer, unleashing a gigantic web of lightning that scorched and cratered the ground surrounding his armored body.

    Umezu was forced to jump away before he got crushed by the tremendous head of the Thunder Hammer, even as Hedol''s strike broke through Kido''s protective wards and left a massive crater in the ground.

    "That hammer¡­"

    Landing away elegantly and twirling his twin blades, Umezu analyzed the situation and murmured to himself.

    "I can''t believe it actually penetrated Mayumi-san''s strongest flame barrier. It must be a legendary weapon indeed¡­made of mithril, I presume? It''s just too unfortunate¡­"

    He tightened his grip in his twin swords and I spotted intricate runes glowing mystically along the gleaming blades.

    "¡­this sword, forged by Nagano-san, is made of orichalcum¡­it is a noble phantasm¡­I mean heroic weapon that far surpasses the legendary treasures and weapons of any demon! Unless your weapon has been forged by Nishida-kun, which I doubt¡­"

    With a vicious strike, he lashed out at Hedol, who was barely able to parry his blade. Unfortunately the king of Moria was driven back, only his Terminator armor saving him from a messy death from the flashing twin blades.

    "Their resistance is weakening! Cannons!"

    "Not if I can help it. Daniel! Company T! Destroy the infantry!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Even without the Hellblade, it wasn''t as if we were helpless. I still had an entire company of Malthas tanks. They lanced out with plasma blasts, incinerating scores of infantry.

    ¡­or would have, if Kido didn''t stand before them and wreath them in flaming barriers. The superheated plasma met the inferno and merged, causing even more furious flames to crackle and roar toward the skies.

    "Oh, feth!"

    I swore under my breath. I completely forgot that there were two heroes.

    And I had just aided Kido Mayumi.

    Kido was making use of the plasma that I had just gifted her and wove them into a gigantic spell. A massive fireball floated above her.

    "Armageddon," she intoned.

    "Down! Evade!"

    My tanks dispersed, but Kido wasn''t aiming for them. Instead, she launched the enormous fireball straight at the wall and blew a gap in the fortress.

    Alveron had been breached.

    "¡­!"

    Seeing the inferno rage along the breach in the fortress wall, perspiration dripped down Hedol''s face as he faltered for a little.

    "The wall!"

    That hesitation was more than enough, especially for a hero like Umezu Shigeo.

    "What an idiot."

    With a sudden powerful strike, he cleaved through Hedol''s Tactical Dreadnaught armor, drawing a geyser of blood and causing the heavily wounded king to stagger. With his Terminator armor breached, Hedol was left vulnerable and amost unable to retaliate.

    "You''ll pay the price for being distracted in battle¡­especially against an opponent of my caliber. Or did you think my status of hero was unearned?"

    "Ugh¡­"

    Hedol collapsed helplessly, dropping his Thunder Hammer. He could only watch helplessly as Umezu lunged forward, his twin blades scything down to finish him off. Closing his eyes, he could only apologize.

    "I''m sorry, Moria¡­I''m sorry, my men¡­I''m sorry, my sister."

    The blow never landed.

    Clang!

    Umezu''s twin blades were parried by Donorea''s mithril spear. The dwarven princess twirled her spear in a move almost reminiscent of Lilith''s, and she drove the surprised Umezu back. Hedol looked up at her, stunned.

    "Donorea?!"

    Rage filled his voice as he clutched his grievous wounds.

    "I ordered you to stay back! Are you defying your brother and king?!"

    "I am!"

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    Donorea''s reply was certain and without hesitation. Hedol gazed up at her, dumbfounded by her defiance.

    "!!"

    "Brother¡­" perspiration dripped down her face as Donorea struggled against the superhuman skills of Umezu, but she held her ground determinedly, defending both herself and her brother. "You have taught me well. But now¡­it''s up to me. I have become independent. I can make my own decisions. And I choose to protect you¡­and Moria!"

    With a sudden surge of strength, she knocked Umezu back.

    "Donorea!"

    Hedol watched worriedly, unable to believe his eyes.

    "I care not if you''re male or female."

    Umezu pointed his blades at Donorea, his eyes narrowed.

    "But the moment you step onto the battlefield and attack me, I will kill you."

    "I expect nothing less."

    "Do you now? Fine." Umezu glanced back. "Mayumi-san!"

    His wife was rushing forward, magical circles glowing around her hands as she got ready to direct a barrage of fireballs at the new target.

    However¡­

    Boom!

    "Kyaaa!"

    Kido was sent hurtling backward as a gigantic katana slammed into the ground right in front of her. As expected of a hero ¨C she had godly reflexes. I had tried to crush her or slice her in half, but she had stopped and jumped back at the very last moment.

    "Ugh¡­"

    "Mayumi!"

    Umezu glared at me and swung his enchanted twin blades, ready to attack¡­

    "Don''t underestimate me!"

    ¡­only for Hedol to smash the ground where he was standing on a millisecond ago. Umezu cursed and countered, but Donorea interfered and parried the twin swords before they could cut her brother apart.

    While he was being distracted by the dwarven king and princess, I turned my attention to Kido, who was standing up and casting more fire spells.

    "Hey, Kido. Do you remember me?"

    Her eyes widened when she heard my voice out from the speakers of Matsukaze.

    "T¡­Tanaka-kun?! You''re still¡­alive?"

    "Yeah." Unseen in my cockpit, I grinned. "And I''m here to take my revenge on both you and Umezu."

 112 Chapter 112: Clash of Titans

    Kido Mayumi stared at me for a few moments before she shook her head. Raising her hand, which combusted into flames, she narrowed her eyes into a fiery glare.

    "I see you''ve joined the demons now."

    Unseen inside my cockpit, I shrugged.

    "If that''s what you want to believe."

    "¡­"

    Kido watched me for a second, her gaze never dropping, and then she sighed.

    "I''ll offer you a warning first. If you leave now, I''ll pretend I didn''t see you. I''m sure Shigeo-kun will say the same as well."

    I didn''t repy for a second. Now that I thought about it, neither Umezu nor Kido bullied me back in the previous world. I thought the rest of my former classmates were all on my hit list for revenge, but it seemed that I was mistaken.

    There were still a few here and there who didn''t bully me.

    "I''m sorry. The people here are my friends and allies. I cannot allow them to be hurt." I paused for a second, and then smirked. "But I''ll offer you the same warning. If you both leave now, I promise my men and I won''t pursue."

    "I''m afraid that''s not possible." Kido''s glare intensified. "We''ve been tasked with taking Moria, and we will conquer Mount Aleron today."

    "So you and Umezu have become Kobayashi''s lackeys?" my voice was dripping with scorn. "If he tells you to commit genocide, you''ll kill all these people?"

    "¡­if that''s what Kobayashi-kun dictates."

    There was an air of reluctance in her tone, but Kido had resolved herself. Seeing that I had no intention of pulling back, she reared her hand back.

    "I suppose there''s no point negotiating with you any longer."

    "Any longer and readers will fall asleep," I agreed. Kido raised an eyebrow, but she said nothing as she hurled the stream of flames at me.

    I moved the gear stick forward and Matsukaze lurched, swinging his katana to slice the flames in half. Then I unleashed another Arc Wave that she countered with a wall of flames. However, I was already barreling forward, Matsukaze swinging his katana down to cleave Kido in half.

    "Kuh!"

    Kido was forced to dive away before the katana could cut her into two. Rolling on the ground, she threw her hand up and fired off a massive fireball. The ion shield protecting Matsukaze crackled ass the flames engulfed us, but I pressed the pedal and we emerged from the raging inferno relatively unscathed. Breathing hard, I realized that if I was in Purity of Faith, the tank would have been roasted and completely destroyed.

    Good thing my ion shield gives me an invulnerable save against shooting attacks¡­

    Unfortunately, the battle was far from over. Kido was launching another stream of flames at me, forcing me back. I slashed through the flames with Matsukaze''s katana and advanced on her position, trying to crush her.

    "Ah!"

    Kido crashed heavily onto the ground. Despite being shielded by a halo of flames, the sheer impact of the blow sent her flying (no, not that kind of flying) into the valley and gouging a molten crater in the earth.

    "Koho!"

    Coughing, Kido staggered to her feet, wiping the blood from her mouth. Not intending to waste the opportunity, I rushed forward to finish her off.

    Unfortunately, Kido had finally finished casting her spell.

    "Ifrit!"

    "?!"

    A sudden explosion rocked Matsukaze, violently throwing me about the cockpit. I jerked against the restraints, my vision turning red as warning klaxons came on.

    "Warning¡­critical damage."

    "What?!"

    The ion shield didn''t protect me from that blast. Beleaguered, I raised my eyes to stare at the visual auspex. Unsurprisingly, I didn''t see what hit me. My surroundings were engulfed in a wall of ferocious flames, and all I could see for miles around were crackling orange and red embers. Stumbling backward, I fought the controls even as the mechanisms within my Titan overheated.

    Perspiration dripped down my face as I struggled to escape the inferno. My cockpit felt like a furnace desite the climate control system and internal temperature regulator that was supposed to cool it down.

    "Damn¡­"

    Exhaling in frustration, I finally managed to burst out of the flames, only to see a gigantic entity of fire slam into me.

    "Whoa!?"

    Matsukaze was hurled backward, stumbling over the grounds and toppling into a bunch of fleeing infantry. I lashed out with the katana wildly, but it only cut through fire. Despite the flickering flames restoring themselves, I managed to buy myself a little respite and quickly disengaged from combat. Straightening up, I watched as a demonic behemoth roared at me.

    "What the hell is that thing?!"

    It was a demon¡­a demon made entirely out of fire. Blazing wings stretched out from its back, casting orange-red light over the ground. Flaming claws curled out of its arms and legs, the latter digging into the ground and turning the earth molten. Golden eyes gleamed above a fiery maw whose teeth danced like liquid fire. Horns crested its head proudly, blazing indomitably as they created a halo of fire above the monstrosity.

    "Don''t think you''re the only one able to summon monsters," Kido said as she kept her distance, retreating from the flaming colossus. "This is Ifrit. He''s my strongest summon. Fire incarnate. Avatar of destruction. Immortal."

    I wasn''t sure what to make of that, so I activated Absolute Appraisal to check Kido''s stats and abilities.

    Name: Kido Mayumi

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Priestess of Fire/Hero

    Special Abilities: Divine Fire, Ifrit

    When I saw the unimaginable characteristics and abilities of Ifrit, which included Fiery Regeneration, Inferno Claws and Flickering Flames, I couldn''t help but feel a chill despite the heat.

    "You''ve gone and summoned quite the monster," I muttered as perspiration dripped down my face. Like Kido said, the thing seemed indestructible. It was pure elemental force, an embodiment of nature. I slashed at it as it charged at me, but my katana merely cut through fire. The Ifrit, on the other hand, smashed Matsukaze apart and sent him spinning into the ground. His ion shield crackled and flickered, revealing scorched patches on his hull.

    This isn''t good.

    I had no way of fighting such an elemental monster. Fortunately, I was already working on it, beginning on a second summoning spell. It would take me a little while to finish it, but I could speed up the process through combat.

    So I unleashed an arc wave that rippled across the screeching demon of fire, but as before, it reformed almost instantly. With a swing of its arm, it struck Matsukaze and sent him hurtling, fumes pouring out of his frame.

    The Ifrit really reminded me of my own Regeneration.

    "Warning. Critical damage. Core exposed."

    "Yeah, yeah¡­what the hell am I supposed to do against an enemy like that?"

    "Advise: fight magic with magic."

    "What do you think I''m doing?!" I snapped, and then caught myself. "Wait, what? Fight magic with magic?"

    Wasn''t that what I was doing right now? Unless summoning a Titan and using him to fight wasn''t counted as magic?

    "Summoning me might be magic, but my attacks are considered physical."

    Geez, thanks, Matsukaze. That explained a lot. Suppressing a sigh, I had Matsukaze rear back and prepare his katana in an offensive stance.

    The Ifrit came again. I slashed at it while charging the blade with arc energy. Infusing the controls with my mana, I infused the entirety of Matsukaze with magic. Enchanting his katana, I unleashed what I hoped was a magical attack.

    "RUOOOR!"

    This time, the Ifrit bellowed in pain even as I slashed through it. The flames fought to reform, but I saw blue arcs of lightning dance through its form, slowing its regeneration.

    It''s working!

    Buoyed by my success, I attacked again. The Ifrit parried my katana with its flaming claws, preventing the lightning from reaching the rest of its body. It swung its other claw from the other side, knocking Matsukaze off balance and leaving a huge scorch mark on the frame. While my Titan staggered, the Ifrit closed in and kicked him in the gut.

    "!"

    I fought the controls to force Matsukaze upright as he careened precariously. Ifrit seized the chance to finish off Matsukaze, but I discouraged it by slashing upward with another supercharged katana. The beast kept its distance, but I discharged an arc wave ¨C this time infused with my mana ¨C that struck it square in the face.

    "GRUOOOR!"

    Roaring in pain, the Ifrit stumbled backward. Not wasting the opportunity, I floored the pedal and had Matsukaze lunge forward. Thrusting the katana right into the creature''s chest, I managed to deliver what I hoped was a fatal wound.

    However, the Ifrit didn''t die from that. Instead, it grappled with me, wrapping its claws around Matsukaze''s frame and wrestling the Titan to the ground. At such close proximity, the flames licked and burned the frame.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" I yelled as I fell against my safety harness.

    I could literally feel the intense heat through my cockpit. My hands and exposed skin were beginning to blister from the extreme temperatures. Warning klaxons continued to buzz around me, but I focused on the enemy at hand. Kicking out, I sliced through the Ifrit with my katana, forcing the wounded creature away from me.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    Backing away with an accelerated dash, I put as much distance between Matsukaze and the Ifrit. Far from being discouraged, the Ifrit charged at me, its claws actually enlarging as it channeled huge gouts of flames into it. Not enthusiastic about facing it in close combat, I unleashed an enhanced form of arc wave that sent the behemoth staggering. However, it only bought me a few seconds ¨C the Ifrit was back on its feet and lunging at me again. I steeled myself for the next attack and infused the katana with as much mana as I could bear.

    "Sword Core online."

    "Finally!"

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    I hit the button and instantly the red lights in my cockpit disappeared, replaced by a light blue tinge.

    "Sword Core activated."

    A shudder went through the entire frame as Matsukaze was freshly energized. The damage was still done ¨C I could see the excruciating little amount of HP Matsukaze had left, represented by the blue bar above my holographic screen. Another hit or two, and Matsukaze would go into a Doomed state. That would be over for him.

    Before he went nuclear, however, I was going to do as much damage as I could to the Ifrit.

    "Orraaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    With a yell, I dashed forward. Swinging the blue, crackling katana, I cleaved through the surprised Ifrit just as it closed in to meet me in its charge. The colossus staggered, its flickering form cleanly cut in half.

    But I wasn''t done yet.

    With another determined shout, I twisted Matsukaze around to behead the Ifrit. Its horned head flew and disappeared, the flames dissipating as it hurtled through the air. The headless behemoth teetered, as if unable to believe that it had been decapitated, and I finished it off with a thrust to its heart. Dragging my blade through its broken body, I ripped it apart into smaller pieces. The blazing form of the Ifrit was reduced to little embers.

    Or so I thought, but an alarm sounded right at the side of my screen. I managed to spin Matsukaze around in time to avoid a torrent of fire from Kido. Evidently she still wasn''t down and out yet. She was raising her hand and blasting my Titan with her magical flamethrower. I managed to deflect some of the heat by blocking the flames with my katana, which created a faint crackling blue shield over the crippled Matsukaze.

    I can''t take any more damage than this¡­

    Letting out an exhalation, I was about to dash forward and stomp on Kido, but something massive struck me from behind. The klaxons blared in panic, bathing my cockpit in red again. While Matsukaze reeled from the tremendous impact, I spun him around to get a look at my assailant.

    Ifrit had been restorted.

    No way!

    Then I suddenly realized that the torrent of flames that Kido unleashed earlier wasn''t directed at me.

    It was targeting the Ifrit.

    "That''s quite the crazy familiar you have there," I muttered. Kido merely smiled cynically, but continued to heal her Ifrit with her flames until I stepped forward and severed the fiery stream with Matsukaze''s katana.

    "You also have quite the crazy mecha," she retorted.

    "There''s no way Matsukaze is as ridiculous as your near-immortal elemental that can heal by bathing in your flames!"

    Despite my complaints, I was already turning around to engage the Ifrit in combat. The colossal elemental seemed bigger than before, now towering over Matsukaze. Before I could slice it apart, it lashed out with a claw and sent Matsukaze hurtling backward.

    "Gah!"

    I was rocked by the tremendous impact, held back from slamming my head against the holographic screen by my safety restraints. Seatbelts really saved lives.

    "Ku¡­"

    I tried to right Matsukaze, but the Ifrit was on me before we even landed. It struck with a fiery claw, which I barely managed to parry with the katana. But before I could counterattack, the Ifrit thrust forward with its other claw in a mirror of what I did earlier and stabbed deeply into Matsukaze''s core. The blue shield crackled and failed as the fiery claws forcibly penetrated them and sank into the metallic hull, scorching the gleaming surface black.

    "Critical damage. Advise: eject."

    The bar had gone into the yellow and black stage. In other words, Matsukaze was doomed. The auto-eject system engaged and I was suddenly propelled high into the air. Below, Matsukaze glowed brightly before he went nuclear.

    "What?!"

    Kido was in the vicinity and so she was caught by the apocalyptic blast. She was sent hurling across the air, her body ravaged by the ferocious flames. The Ifrit was also buffeted by the enormous explosion, engulfed by a mushroom cloud that billowed upward ravenously, consuming everything within its path, be it human infantry unfortunate enough to get drawn into the battle or armored tanks nearby, two of which were flipped over.

    Sorry, guys, I apologized inwardly as I saw that several of them belonged to my battalion. But I didn''t have time to get out of the area to prevent friendly fire and collateral damage. I could only hope that the tanks protected the crews inside.

    Speaking of which¡­

    "Report!" I shouted into my vox bead. "Are you guys all right?"

    "Sir¡­no problem, sir."

    "We''re shaken, but none of us are heavily injured."

    "We do need some help, but thankfully that wasn''t too much damage. It''ll be difficult to get out of the tank, though."

    "I''ll get you guys some help later. Let me deal with Evelyn''s Chosen first."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "For now, stay in the tanks! It''s safer than being in the open."

    "Understood, sir!"

    None of the tank crews questioned my jugdement. From the voices on the other side of the vox, I could hear them bustling around and tending to minor injuries. Seemed like nothing major.

    I slowly descended from the skies, relieved that my men were all right. Nearby, I saw the Ifrit burst out of the flames, roaring defiantly. Kido was also getting to her feet, a little charred but otherwise unscathed.

    Well, they''re both fire-type users, so an explosion wouldn''t do much to them. Hell, I''m lucky the Ifrit wasn''t boosted by that explosion.

    If the Ifrit had consumed the flames from an explosion of that magnitude, there was no telling what sort of monster it would become.

    "That was impressive," Kido remarked, coughing. "But it seems that your gamble has failed. And with your mecha gone¡­" she narrowed her eyes, Ifrit stepping forward to tower over her for emphasis. "¡­you''ve lost."

    I pushed my glasses up my nose after I landed on my feet, smirking at Kido''s cold and calculated triumph.

    "A bit too premature to declare your victory, don''t you think?"

    Kido shrugged. "If you want to escape into delusions and deny reality, be my guest. But¡­" her voice sharpened. "¡­don''t blame me for not showing mercy."

    I laughed. "That should be my line!"

    "?!"

    A colossal shadow loomed over us, casting everyone into darkness. Surprised, Kido looked up, her jaw dropping as my undead ancient dragon dropped down from the clouds, unleashing a thunderous bellow.

    "W¡­what is that thing?!"

    Even the Ifrit seemed to waver at the magnificent sight of such a godly being. Ryuu merely gave the trembling demon of fire a condescending glare before opening his maw. Black flames crackled before blasting out and engulfing the Ifrit.

    "Aaaaaah!"

    Kido screamed as the entire place exploded. The Ifrit disintegrated, exiled into oblivion by Ryuu''s dark, destructive magic, and the tremendous shockwaves buffeted the infantry surrounding them. Most perished, while those who survived were thrown forcibly through the valley, suffering broken bones and horrible bruises.

    Caught near the epicenter of the explosion, Kido was hurled violently out of the valley, her body broken and grievously injured. Umezu quickly retreated from his battle against Hedol and Donorea, catching Kido before she could land.

    "Mayumi-san!"

    "¡­I¡­I''m sorry¡­Shigeo-kun¡­"

    Cursing under his breath, Umezu hastily withdrew with Kido in his arms. I didn''t chase after them. Instead, I glanced up at Ryuu and gently pushed mental instructions into the majestic zombie dragon''s mind.

    Ryuu obeyed, and a colossal magical circle materialized above him. Draconic Meteor. A devastating spell that when unleashed, would bombard an entire area into oblivion. Even the sturdiest fortress would be hard-pressed to endure such an attack.

    "That''s a dragon, isn''t it?"

    "Kill it."

    "For the Emperor!"

    "For Kobayashi-sama! For humanity!"

    Even when faced with their imminent destruction, the zealous, fanatical devouts of Kobayashi didn''t falter. Unlike Umezu and Kido, the human infantry had been indoctrinated, their sanity stripped away by Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition. Brainwashed to be utterly loyal to him, they had no qualms about giving up their lives for Kobayashi''s cause.

    "Kill the dragon!"

    "Slay it!"

    "For the Emperor!"

    Yelling, they charged forward, discharging their guns, firing a volley of arrows or casting magical spells.

    Yet none of them reached their target.

    Ryuu unleashed his Draconic Meteor on the teeming mass of human infantry below. In an instant, the surviving 10% of the original invading force was obliterated. The valley was reduced to a pockmarked crater, huge swathes of molten rock glowing red-hot.

    There wasn''t even a single trace of the enemy left.

    "Incredible¡­"

    Gio sounded shaken, his voice hissing from my vox-bead. Nearby, much more visible, Hedol stood, stunned.

    "That''s¡­"

    "¡­is this the power of the legendary Hero Slayer?"

    Beside Hedol, Donorea murmured in disbelief, unable to believe her eyes. Perspiration dripped down her flushed face.

    "What¡­h¡­how¡­?"

    Far away, the solitary figure of the Genevean general peeked out from under his cover, astonished by the scale of destruction visited upon his forces.

    "Ho ho!"

    Doctor Cillantro guffawed when he witnessed the devastated crater, more amused than terrified.

    "The Hero Slayer¡­a Chosen of the Gods, was it? Not by Evelyn, but by another god or goddess. I wonder which god chose him as his or her champion."

    Lyia¡­and probably her husband Chronos. Not that I was going to enlighten him.

    "Most impressive¡­I must admit¡­this is most impressive, indeed!"

    "Doctor," the general growled through gritted teeth. "While I appreciate your insights, this is not the time to be admiring our total annihilation! We''re losing here! Even our heroes have retreated¡­I have nothing that can take on that fucking monster of his!"

    "Oh, I know, I know." Cillantro dismissed the general flippantly. "Our defeat is certain. There''s no way to avoid losing this battle. We''re done here. There is no way we can invade the fortress city of Alveron now that we have lost all our infantry. It pains me to say this, but we will not be able to carry out Emperor Kobayashi''s orders to hold the city and attack Moria from within."

    "N¡­no way¡­"

    The general couldn''t help but tremble in fear when he thought of what Kobayashi would do when the Emperor of Humanity learned of his failure.

    "So let''s just inflict maximum damage! Scorched earth tactics, if I''m not mistaken. If we can''t have the city, then we can''t let them have it either."

    "?!"

    The general stared at Cillantro, shocked.

    "Damage? Scorched earth? Doctor Cillantro, what are you talking about?"

    "My chemical weapon, of course."

    Behind him, his Ogryn bodyguard wheeled a wagon of missiles. Each missile bore the toxic warning label.

    "I plan to pump the city full of poison and turn it into a ghost town. I''ve always wanted to try it out and see what the effects of my poison gas are on demons. On human subjects, it destroys their nervous system and utterly paralyzes them, before leading to a slow death as their heart stops, the signals from the brain cut off from the rest of the body. Even if they somehow survive, it does permanent damage. They''ll never be able to move for the rest of their lives. I wonder if it''s potent enough to inflict the same kind of damage on demons."

    An insane smirk curled across the scientist''s gleeful face.

    "A Chosen of the gods, armed with magic and elemental forces¡­against our newly developing science and technology¡­mystical superstition and tradition against cold logic and progress. What do you think, my dear general? Which will prevail here, in this ancient battlefield?"

 113 Chapter 113: Poison

    "Tomoyuki¡­!"

    In the distance, Donorea called out to me, even as my ancient dragon loomed over my vicinity and cast everything in shadow. I glanced up at Ryuu, who was still tightly bound to my will despite his ever persistent defiance, and then turned toward her.

    "With this, I''ve almost accomplished your request¡­" I muttered as I slowly pushed my glasses up my nose. "At least that''s what I want to say, but it seems the enemy still has one last trick up their filthy sleeves."

    Unfortunately, the dwarves were not heeding my words.

    "Amazing. So that''s the power of the Hero Slayer. I can''t believe he even managed to tame an ancient dragon¡­"

    Hedol was staring at me, astonished and overawed. He gulped, feeling a chill run down his spine. He had vastly underestimated me, and now he was surely racking his brains to remember if he had offended me. He realized that if I felt like it, I could easily crush the hive cities in Moria, or at least unleash devastating damage on his kingdom.

    This is why you should never be arrogant and condescending, especially to someone you hardly knew.

    "The enemy has been annihilated!" one of the dwarves shouted triumphantly as he raised his gauntlet into the air. "It''s a complete rout!"

    "We''ve won!" Rhodes shouted, leading his men to an uplifting cheer. The dwarves whooped and bumped fists, their morale soaring for the first time since the grueling siege had begun. "It''s our total victory!"

    "Don''t speak too soon, men!" Hedol warned. "It''s far from over!"

    The king had spotted Umezu Shigeo lunging straight at me. Fiery magical circles burst into life around him, enchanting his already magical blades. His intimidating figure seemed to emanate a blazing, demonic aura as he soared toward me. Behind, the wounded Kido Mayumi was stopping her bleeding with one hand and casting spells with the other to boost her husband''s combat capabilities. I could see a frightful, murderous flame dragon emerging from his twin blades.

    "Your ancient dragon might be impressive," Umezu growled defiantly as he closed in on me. "But no matter how powerful your familiar is, it won''t matter as long as I kill you, the summoner! I''ll make sure you die by my blade!"

    So before you start complaining in the comments about me choosing to fight in close combat instead of using my summoning spells or magic, I''m explaining to you the reason why I was forced into melee with such a skillful swordsman.

    Besides, for some reason readers mistook me to be a mage. I was a necromancer, not a mage. I couldn''t fire fireballs or whatever. The only ranged spells I had was Doombolt and Shadow Lunar Fang. I didn''t have any other spells. I was trying to use blood magic, summoning a blood appendage or a blood spear, but Kido waved her hand and vaporized the blood I had just summoned. Cursing, I parried a strike from Umezu and staggered backward.

    "Hmph. You might have fancy summons and powerful familiars, but you''re a mere mortal yourself. If I kill the summoner, then we''ll win!"

    "You''ve to kill me first," I snapped. Black mana flowed into my sword and I unleashed a gigantic arc of Shadow Lunar Fang at near pointblank range. Sensing the danger, Umezu quickly retreated. Flames crackled and wreathed his blades before he determinedly slashed my black, crescent-shaped attack into two, causing it to harmlessly dissipate.

    Barely a second after that, he sprang right at me, forcing me on the defensive as he slashed both his swords. I barely managed to block his deadly attacks, but the flames surrounding him flared up and scorched my flesh.

    "¡­kuh!"

    I winced and retreated, gingerly blowing over my burns. I wasn''t given any time to regenerate or heal them, for Umezu was instantly upon me again. Gritting my teeth, I took his attacks head-on and we exchanged several dozen blows that gouged huge chunks of rock and soil out of the earth. Explosions of dirt and fire sprouted out in our surrondings, peppering any unfortunate soldier close by and sending them hurtling backward.

    "Incredible! So this is a battle between the Chosen of the gods¡­"

    Hedol was amazed. Beside him, Donorea''s jaw dropped as she struggled to comprehend the current situation, perspiration dripping down her brow.

    "Impossible¡­his movements are different from before? Did that Evelyn''s Chosen become even more powerful? How¡­?"

    "There!"

    Hedol pointed at Kido, noticing how the wounded Priestess of Fire was maintaining her spells and buffing her husband.

    "That female Evelyn''s Chosen! She''s the source of that warrior''s power! That''s why the male Evelyn''s Chosen seems so much more powerful! She''s buffing him with strength enhancements and increasing his attack power!"

    While Kido was focused on casting her spells, a group of dwarves were creeping up from behind her, raising their storm bolters to focus on her.

    "Take aim! Fire! Take her out!"

    "?!"

    Kido turned around as the Terminators unleashed a volley of mass reactive shells on her position. However¡­

    A wall of flame leaped up and incinerated the bolts. A group of human soldiers rushed forward to defend Kido, holding their muskets tightly. Among them was a mage who was conjuring new spells and unleashing fireballs at the Terminator soldiers, but the flames had little effect on the revered, ancient armor.

    "Protect Hero-sama! She''s our only hope!"

    "Get behind us, our lady!"

    "We''ll protect you!"

    There were only a few hundred soldiers left, the tattered remnants of what used to be a brigade that was tens of thousands strong. The beleaguered survivors were forming thick ranks between themselves and the dwarves, while the majority were distracting and holding off the tanks. In the distance, Daniel''s tank company fired bolts of superheated plasma but the human infantry either cast barrier spells or scattered.

    "Please continue casting your magic, Hero-sama!" one of the human soldiers shouted to the stunned Kido. "And keep your lord husband fighting!"

    "I¡­I will¡­"

    Breathing heavily, Kido nodded her thanks, and then inhaled deeply before she continued maintaining the enchantment on Umezu.

    "Hah!" the Terminator-clad dwarves marched forward, pelting the human soldiers with bolts from their gauntlet-mounted storm bolters. "Filthy humans¡­I thought you were just trash, but it seems you do have the pride of warriors in your belly, after all!"

    Rhodes grinned as he took the head of his terminator guard to club a screaming human soldier, who was defiant to the last.

    "Now¡­I''ll admit that it''ll be an honor to fight the likes of you humans!"

    The tiny number of Terminators were then mobbed by a few dozen yelling human soldiers who were armed with nothing more than flashlights¡­cough, I mean lasguns¡­no, I mean muskets and bayonets.

    While the battle descended into its final stages as the remaining human survivors made their desperate last stand, a more sinister hand was at work in the distance.

    "Hmm, so we''re finally ready? Then let''s proceed."

    The ogryn bodyguard who was manning the multi-barrel launcher nodded, his blank and dull expression masked behind a rebreather and goggles. Cillantro grinned and rubbed his hands gleefully, in anticipation of what was to come.

    "I understand!"

    Seeing that he was done, the Genevean general snapped up sharply.

    "I''ll sound the retreat and we''ll¡­"

    "Don''t be stupid, general. There''s no point wasting time over such a meaningless activity."

    "Huh?"

    The general stared at Cillantro blankly, but the scientist continued with a grin.

    "We''ll be firing right now. Immediately. Yes, my dear general, I mean this very moment."

    "What?!" the general barked, outraged. "But my men?! The gas¡­!"

    "Are you a fool? I thought you were supposed to be more well-versed in military manners than me." Cillantro was scoffing. "If we retreat now, the dwarves will realize that something is amiss, and we''ll miss our chance. Besides¡­"

    The bespectacled scientist turned around and lowered his voice to a whisper as he placed a hand on the trembling general''s shoulder.

    "Think of the logistics! We don''t have enough vehicles or machinery or carriages to transport all of your men back to Legnica. They''ll end up being prisoners of the enemy. We''ll be forced to leave them behind, to the mercy of demons. It''s a fate worse than death, wouldn''t you agree? And besides, even if they do manage to escape from these demons, the majority of them are heavily injured or dying. Almost none of the remaining soldiers will be able to survive the journey back home. No, let''s be merciful, kind, benevolent general. Allow me to put an end to their pain and suffering, right here and right now!"

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    "¡­!!"

    The general gritted his teeth, wanting to argue, but he couldn''t muster up a response. He was reaching for his revolver now, ready to end this traitor''s life before he meted out the cruelest fate upon his men.

    "You¡­"

    Before he could even raise his weapon, one of Cillantro''s ogryn bodyguards stepped in between him and Cillantro, shielding his master. The brute glared at the shivering general silently, intimidating the despairing commander.

    Ignoring the pathetic display of the general, Cillantro pushed his glasses up his nose and smirked sinisterly.

    "You may fire."

    The multi-barreled launcher roared and several missiles burst out, arcing over the skies and smashing right into the grounds outside the broken fortress-wall of Mount Alveron. The dwarves all scattered and dispersed.

    "They''re shelling the battlefield! Take cover!"

    Under Rhodes''s instructions, the power armored figures of the dwarves leaped away, the servos of their mechanical suits whining under the strain.

    "They''re firing a supporting barrage?" Umezu growled, turning away momentarily when he was distracted by the explosion. "With our men all over the battlefield?! What the hell are they thinking?!"

    Gas erupted from the crater and billowed over the battlefield, shrouding it in a yellow, toxic fog.

    "What''s this?"

    "Some kind of¡­smoke?"

    "Certainly doesn''t look like any smoke I know of."

    "You would know, since you''re quite the chain smoker!"

    The dwarves stared at them dumbly, but the filters and environmental conditioners of their power armor prevented the gas from poisoning them. Only those with breaches in their armor were affected. Catching a slight whiff of the gas, they began coughing, their suits'' recyclers struggling to cope with the contaminants and purge their systems of the toxic gas.

    The human soldiers, however, weren''t as lucky.

    "Khhkk¡­! I can''t breathe¡­!"

    "What¡­?!"

    Paralyzed, they began falling all over the ground, their bodies locking up and their nervous system breaking down in the gas. One by one, the few surviving human infantry caught up in the gas collapsed, their hearts stopping and their mouths foaming.

    "What devilry is this now!?"

    Enraged, Hedol hollered at the catastrophic scene. However, the great king immediately recognized the danger for what it was.

    "All of you! Stay away from the smoke! Do not breathe it in! It''s poison!"

    The power armored forms of the dwarves lumbered out of the smoke, those protected carrying their fallen comrades out.

    "Well, our armor protected us from the worst of it," Rhodes reported, raising his cumbersome gauntlet to wipe at his Terminator armor. "But the humans weren''t so lucky. What was their commander thinking, unleashing such a weapon over his own men?"

    "I have no idea," Hedol growled bitterly. "I have no idea at all. I would like to say that I''ll be glad to let the enemy kill their own men, but even¡­even this evil is too much for me. Those human soldiers don''t deserve to be discarded like trash by their own commanders."

    That commander in question was currently peering through his binoculars and staring at the scene in dreaded amazement.

    "The effect is almost immediate¡­what a terrifying weapon!"

    "Of course!"

    Cillantro was laughing, his voice getting higher in pitch as he threw his arms up and crowed triumphantly.

    "Of course! This is¡­this is quite the amazing breakthrough! Ah¡­my masterpiece! I''ve perfected it at last! After countless failed experiments, I''ve finally created the perfect weapon! Deadly poison gas that kills upon inhalation!"

    I swallowed as I watched the gas billow out toward us, but it was still quite the safe distance away from us. My Absolute Appraisal flashed at the bottom of my lenses, signaling that it had some information for me.

    "¡­a gas similar to sarin?"

    After tapping the icon, my jaw dropped when I read the description.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!"

    "That''s sarin gas?" Umezu demanded, no longer interested in fighting me. He was staring at the scene of death and poison in horror.

    "Retreat!"

    Even as more of those toxic missiles bombarded the Alveron fortress, soldiers on both sides either succumbed from the deadly fog, or they staggered out of it, protected by their armor. I suddenly realized that this was quite the stupid move to make¡­this poison weapon of the enemy was killing more of their own men than the armored dwarves of Moria.

    "They''re killing everyone, even their own men¡­!" Umezu was spluttering in disbelief. "Have they gone insane?!"

    "Well, that''s the kind of man you''re following," I told him plainly. "It''s not as if you don''t know how Kobayashi is."

    Actually, this move probably had nothing to do with Kobayashi, but I wasn''t surprised that his devout followers would follow the same type of principles as their demented and delusional megalomaniac master.

    "!!"

    "Mayumi-san!"

    Perspiration dripping down his face, Umezu quickly proceeded toward Kido, who had fallen to the ground and gagged as her position was hit by the poison gas.

    "Shigeo¡­kun¡­please¡­don''t come¡­near¡­!"

    Gasping and coughing, Kido begged Umezu to stay away, even as she slowly succumbed to the gas. Despite her flames and her defensive enchantments, it seemed that even a hero was not immune to poison. In fact, her heroic constitution and fiery defenses were probably the only reason why she was still alive.

    Gritting his teeth, Umezu turned away from me. Ignoring me, he lunged toward Kido''s position, his blades swept aside.

    "We''re done!"

    He had clearly lost all intention to battle. His only desire at present was to save Kido. Nothing else mattered to him, not even killing me.

    "I don''t care if you want to strike me from behind! Do whatever you want!"

    I merely stood and watched as he ran off. Behind me, more of those missiles slammed into the ground and detonated, unelashing their deadly payload of almost sarin gas. And then I turned toward Ryuu and issued him a mental order.

    Ryuu glowered at me, but as always, the undead dragon was forced to obey me.

    Meanwhile, the dwarves were retreating back into Alveron.

    "Open the gates!" Rhodes shouted. "Retreat! Fall back into the city!"

    "No, wait!" Hedol howled when he realized something. "Don''t open the gates! That''s exactly what the enemy wants!"

    "Close the gates!" Donorea shouted, but it was too late. The gates were already in the process of opening and the dwarves were flooding inside, trying to seek refuge from the lethal bombardments being unleashed upon them.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Upon seeing the opened gates, Cillantro couldn''t help but guffaw.

    "Fortune must be smiling on me! Thank you, Evelyn! I''ll get to study the effects of the poison gas in an enclosed space! Scorched earth tactics indeed¡­see, general? I told you that I''ll be able to render their hive city uninhabitable. If we can''t have it, we certainly are not going to let the dwarves have their city either!"

    Turning to his ogryn bodyguards, he barked an order gleefully.

    "Fire! Right into the city itself!"

    "NOOO!"

    Donorea screamed when she saw the projectiles sailing toward the gates. Rhodes, realizing his mistake, immediately turned around and raised his storm bolter.

    "Man! Shoot down the projectiles! We can''t let any of them reach the city!"

    "Fire! Fire at will!"

    A stream of bolts blasted out of the Terminators and dwarves'' boltguns, but they missed the rapidly streaking missiles, which crashed toward the interior of Alveron City mercilessly.

    "Tomoyuki! Please! Help us!"

    Donorea begged. Beside her, Hedol watched helplessly as one of his hive cities was about to get razed to the ground and permeated with poison gas. Further away, Umezu was diving toward the coughing Kido, heedless of the poison gas that swirled around them. All around us, both dwarves and humans fought to escape the toxic fog that now spread over the battlefield.

    "I''m working on it!" I shouted back, and then glanced up at Ryuu. "Are you still not done yet, Ryuu?!"

    He was. A gigantic magic circle had materialized above the ancient dragon, a visual indication of his spell. A gigantic wall of black fire washed down between the city and the misssiles, obliterating the deadly projectiles before they could sail into the interior of the hive city.

    "That''s¡­" Hedol gasped in shock. "That¡­spell destroyed all the missiles!"

    "¡­"

    Her mouth open, Donorea gaped in surprise and amazement.

    That wasn''t all.

    While Umezu reached Kido, he helped her up and wrapped his hand around her protectively.

    "Hold on to me, Mayumi-san!"

    Around them, the gas thickened, threatening to engulf them¡­

    ¡­only for all the yellow fog to be sucked away. Surprised, Umezu spun around and watched as the toxic gas was all swallowed into a raging vortex¡­a dark tornado that greedily devoured all of the poison gas that permeated the battlefield.

    "Shigeo-kun¡­the smoke¡­it''s being sucked away!"

    Kido gasped as she stared at the dissipating yellow fog and the enormous tornado that now stalked the battlefield. Unable to believe his eyes, Umezu turned and watched me as I stood calmly in the middle of it all, directing my ancient dragon to clean up the mess.

    "Tch!"

    He clicked his tongue in frustration.

    "It sickens me¡­but I have no choice but to use the opening Tanaka gave us!"

    Kicking off the ground, Umezu swept Kido into his arms and leaped away. Not bothering with the fight any longer, he fled to relatively safety, priotizing the safety of his wife over everything else. I didn''t bother to pursue.

    Despite his displeasure, Umezu owed me. He knew that as well as I did. Unlike Kobayashi, Umezu was not an unreasonable, homicidal maniac. He was someone who would repay his debts. It would more useful for me to leave him and Kido indebted to me.

    Someday, I would definitely collect on that debt. This probably served as a form of revenge.

    "H¡­how is this possible?!"

    The general cowered before the raging tornado that split the battlefield in half and reached all the way to the heavens.

    "Hmm¡­I see. So he used wind magic to suck away all the gas in the battlefield and blow it away. By diffusing it into the atmosphere, he''s rendering the gas harmless¡­no, more than that. He''s breaking down the toxic gas at the molecular level in that crazy tornado of his."

    Adjusting his glasses, Cillantro sighed exaggeratedly.

    "It pains me to admit it, but victory today goes to the Hero Slayer after all."

    "Oh, not yet. Not until I''ve gotten you."

    "¡­huh?"

    Cillantro turned to stare at me, and felt a chill when he saw my grin. He narrowed his eyes, and it was clear that he was wondering, how is he able to see me from this distance?

    I tapped my glasses, but said nothing more. There was no point explaining too much for someone who was about to die.

    Before Cillantro could call upon his ogryn bodyguards to grab him and ferry him to safety, I had Ryuu unleashed the tornado on him.

    "W¡­what?!"

    "A¡­ah! No!"

    It wasn''t just him. The general too was caught in the raging whirlwind and torn apart. Cillantro tried to escape, but both him and his retinue of ogryn bodyguards were captured by the vortex and helplessly flung into the air.

    "This¡­what manner of magic is this!?"

    "One that will kill you."

    The last thing the screaming Cillantro saw was my smug expression before he was completely obliterated by the tornado. Along with him, the poor general and his command staff were ripped apart by the ferocious winds, the tremendous pressures turning their bodies into bloody shreds.

    And then¡­nothing. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the tornado disappeared.

    "Tomoyuki!"

    "Is everyone all right?" I asked tiredly. With my mana all spent on that last spell, I was unable to maintain my summons. Ryuu disappeared quietly, the gigantic ancient dragon vanishing from reality and allowing the sun to shine upon the outskirts of Alveron once more.

    "Thank you¡­it''s all thanks to you¡­!"

    "Not yet."

    As exhausted as I was, there was still one task left to do.

    "Daniel." I voxed my tank commander. "Get the tanks ready. Help those who are still inside the upside down tanks, and have the rest of me follow me. We''re moving out immediately."

    "Roger that, sir."

    I turned toward the Hellblade, which had just coughed and spluttered back to life. Despite being overheated earlier, it had finally cooled down enough to be restarted. It appeared that Jurgen and the crew had hastily repaired the super-heavy tank.

    Excellent.

    "Jurgen, let me into the Hellblade. You''ve fixed the engine and restarted it, haven''t you? Then let''s get going."

    "Where are we going, boss?"

    Jurgen''s voice crackled over the vox-bead. I smiled wearily as I strode toward the Hellblade.

    "To Verunhive and Mordia. We''re going to kick the rest of the human armies out of Moria¡­for good this time."

 114 Chapter 114: After the siege

    The next few hours went by in a blur. To sum it all up, I led my company of tanks in my Hellblade and charged across the valley to relieve the beleaguered forces at Verunhive, and then at Mordia. Well, I didn''t exactly charge across the valley. Knowing that we would be easy targets if we went straight through the valley, I ordered my battalion to take a detour around the mountains and come up on the enemy''s rear.

    As they were so preoccupied with sieging the two hive cities, the human forces were completely caught off guard when we showed up behind their lines. Immediately, we began a rout of the massed human infantry. Caught between two sides, they were crushed by my hammer of tanks against the anvil of Regis''s fortified forces. It was a pity I only had a single company of tanks, which numbered less than twenty, or we would have wiped them out.

    Unfortunately, the enemy numbered in the thousands. Even if we slew hundreds in the first salvo, there were still so many left. Despite that, Kobayashi must have realized that he had taken horrendous losses, for the human armies began retreating despite the soldiers'' fanatical devotion and zealous courage to fight to the last. I caught sight of him and his friends withdrawing away from the Iron Knights. Later, I learned that most of the Eight Guardians were severely wounded, but Aoyama quickly got to healing them.

    It had been a pretty one-sided fight. If not for the presence of Takeda Tetsuo, the Eight Guardians would have been crushed. To be fair, they were pretty strong and could hold their own against many of our other classmates such as Suzuki Shiro or Midorikawa Midori, but it was just that Kobayashi was on a completely different level.

    Only Takeda could fight on par with Kobayashi. And the two of them had apparently ended up in a stalemate. With my arriva tilting the balance in our favor, the humans were forced to retreat. Realizing that I had somehow managed to defeat Umezu Shigeo and Kido Mayumi, Kobayashi frantically made a decision.

    It was a good thing he called my bluff. To be honest, I was no longer in any condition to fight. I had expended all my mana in the fight against Umezu and Kido and failed to kill either of them. If they hadn''t fled, it would be difficult for me to say if I could still prevail over them. Never mind that, right now I had no mana left to cast any spells or summon anything. I couldn''t even call down my Titan. That was how bad I was then.

    Things were looking bleak for him. As much as I hated him, I had to admit that Kobayashi was no fool. He knew when to make a tactical withdrawal.

    That was why, just a couple of hours after my tanks and I blew up his lines, the scattered remains of the human armies fled into the mountains. I was too exhausted to give chase, and I knew our tanks were running low on fuel and ammunition ¨C well, mana crystals, anyway ¨C so I signaled to my men to stop the pursuit and return to the hive cities.

    "Great job."

    I emerged from the hatch in my tank and glanced down at Regis. He smiled broadly and reached up to clap me in the arm.

    "You saved us. We were in quite the pinch."

    Apparently Regis had been fighting three of the heroes. He didn''t seem too injured, but he was clearly exhausted. Just like me.

    "I''m sure you would manage somehow."

    "Maybe, but it''s a fact that you saved thousands of lives. We were barely able to hold out for much longer, until your tanks arrived." Regis glanced at the company of tanks rolling behind my Hellblade and smiled. "I knew it was the right decision to assign the 1,08th armored company to you. You''re the only commander who has made the most use of them."

    "Nah, I was just lucky."

    Not to mention, I played with a lot of tanks back in my previous world. I was a treadhead.

    Man, I miss wargaming. Gone are the days where I would plop down a bunch of Toughness 8, 12 Wounds Leman Russ tanks in front of my opponent and blow his Space Marines up. Funny how Imperial Guard always gets their asses kicked in the fluff, but they dominate the tabletop in actual games. At least they win a few times in the fluff.

    It was so great playing the underdogs.

    "Go get some rest." Regis stifled a yawn as he turned away, unaware of my thoughts. "You''ve earned it."

    "Thank you, your majesty."

    I was practically running on fumes now and it was a chore to even stand. Collapsing against my seat, I closed my hatch and nodded at Jurgen.

    "Take us in, Jason. We''re returning to base."

    *

    While my tanks and two-thirds of my mechanized infantry company headed to Alveron to reinforce Hedol''s position and defend the civilians from the horrors of Kobayashi''s fanatical, zealous humans, not much happened in the outpost. A few stragglers had tried to assault the outpost, but Burado managed to drive them back with sustained fire from his company''s heavy weapons. Without much to do, they were still alert and high on energy, so I had them standby and continue watching the valley for enemies in shifts while the rest of my battalion went to rest.

    The tank crews, in particular, had to retire for the day. After parking our tanks and leaving them to the dwarves to repair and maintain, my men and I headed to the barracks for a good night''s sleep. As much as I wanted to stay awake, my body just couldn''t handle it any longer.

    Before long, intelligence reports leaked back to my outpost, informing me that Kobayashi had returned to Legnica to lick his wounds and consolidate his armies. After throwing all of his men at the meatgrinder, he didn''t have many soldiers left. He was forced to recruit new batches of soldiers from across his empire to replace the countless warriors he sacrificed to invade Moria¡­only to achieve nothing in the end.

    Serves him right.

    "Ah, and his majesty King Hedol says he wants to see you."

    "Oh?"

    I glanced at my aide. Jurgen was leafing through the reports and invoices, parsing through the relevant documents and telling me whatever I needed to know. I suppressed a yawn and nodded, moving my eyes away from the other documents that were demanding my attention. The list of casualties, the costs of repairs, estimates, logistics, eetc.

    "Yeah, there''s a grand ceremony that will be held in the castle in a few days'' time. His majesty seems to want to thank all the allies for coming to his aid and helping him defend Moria from the human armies."

    "I bet he does," I grumbled. The best way to express his gratitude would be to leave me alone so that I could rest, and not force me to attend some stuffy, formal event where I had to stand up straight in an uncomfortable number one attire (parade uniform) and listen to people drone on for hours on end about how grateful they were.

    But I understood the politics behind it. If Hedol did nothing, then people would accuse him of being ungrateful, and that would reflect badly on Moria ¨C the image of the dwarves would be tarnished. As much as I disliked it, I couldn''t blame Hedol for going through with it. The least he could do was to display grandly how much he appreciated our assistance.

    Unfortunately I was too busy to care. At least that was what I thought, until the day itself came and Jurgen practically knocked my door down.

    "It''s time for you to go, boss!"

    "Go where?"

    "The ceremony, of course! You''re the guest of honor! What would you do if you don''t show up?!"

    "Stay in here."

    "Quit the jokes, boss. I''ve got your number one uniform ready. Get dressed ¨C we''re moving out in fifteen."

    As we were still in the remote outpost that was in some corner of Moria, I was going to need a ride. Thankfully my battalion wasn''t short on APCs.

    "You see, to them, you''re a hero."

    Jurgen was explaining as he drove the Hellblade¡­yeah, the Hellblade of all things, as my transport to the main castle in Mordia. We had begun to pain the Hellblade in the Magna 1,087th colors, along with our heraldry and mascot. The tech-priests had also christened it The Savior of Moria, which was a pretty apt name.

    "I''m not a hero."

    "That''s not what they think. And it''s a fact that you saved Alveron from falling to the enemy, and you also drove away Evelyn''s Chosen and the bulk of their forces!"

    "That was just luck. Emperor Regis himself also held back the tides of the enemy from invading Verunhive and Mordia. The Iron Knights also played a huge role. They''re much more of a hero than I ever would be."

    "Oh, they''re being celebrated as heroes, all right. The Iron Knights messed up a little, though. They were hurt pretty bad, especially those so-called Eight Guardians. But it wasn''t his Excellency Emperor Regis or Takeda Tetsuo who broke into the enemy''s rear, scattered them and destroyed a significant chunk of their army to force them to retreat. It was you. Not only did you turn the tides of the war, you also won a major victory at Alveron. Even his Excellency Emperor Regis attained victory over the Emperor of humanity after your arrival and reinforcements."

    "¡­right."

    Honestly, I doubted I did anything huge. They were making a huge fuss over nothing. I was no hero. If anything, I was a fraud with a ton of luck on my side.

    We reached the pearly gates of the castle of Mordia, only for Jurgen to park the tank outside. Two rows of honor guard stood up straight, their backs rimrod, as they saluted with their arms. Their rifles were polished to gleam in the underhive light, and they were dressed immaculately in parade uniforms, white trousers underneath red jackets with gold buttons and a fancy black cap. The dwarves weren''t very tall, but they had the massive presence.

    At Jurgen''s gesture, I got out of The Savior of Moria and proceeded toward the gates. Returning the salute to the guard there, I waited for him to confirm my identity with a spell, and then open the gates to allow me entry.

    "Thank you."

    "No, thank you, sir."

    It seemed that even the most common soldier had been told about I supposedly saved Moria from the evil clutches of Kobayashi Kenji. Damn it, stop spreading lies. I did absolutely nothing. Maybe I kicked Umezu and Kido around, but that was part of my revenge, not to save Moria or something!

    Suppressing the frustration, I proceeded to the main hall, where many high-ranking demon nobles and lord generals or militant commanders roamed. There was a feast taking place, and a table stretched from one far end to the other, its top piled with food and delicacies.

    Let it not be said that the dwarves were not excellent hosts. They really dug the concept of omotenashi.

    "Tomoyuki-kun."

    I was surprised when I heard the familiar voice. Turning around, I spotted Lilith Scarlet. She waved toward me and I hurried over.

    "Lilith-san. You were here too?"

    "Of course." The red-haired vampire queen folded her arms and smiled gently. "I''m part of the alliance, you know. I''m obligated to help. In fact, you should have known about it. We moved out together."

    "Oh, right."

    Lilith was dressed in a black evening gown that flowed all the way to her feet. A small, golden crest curled up on each of her shoulder pads, giving her a regal appearance, and the fabric of her dress clung to her curves tightly.

    I wasn''t sure where to look so I tried to think of something else.

    "How are you? I hope you didn''t get injured too badly."

    Lilith shrugged. "I''m a vampire. Even if I get hurt, I''ll just regenerate pretty quickly. As do you, right?"

    "¡­right."

    Lilith giggled as she watched me look around uneasily. "You really aren''t used to events such as this, are you?"

    "No, not really," I admitted. Lilith nodded.

    "That''s pretty clear. But stay sharp. Hedol-san probably wants to thank you personally."

    At her gesture, I glanced over and saw Hedol sitting on his throne, with Donorea standing next to him. He waited for a few more guests to arrive before he finally cleared his throat and swept his gaze over the room.

    By then, I was in the middle of eating, so I was forced to scarf down the rest of my food and quickly put my plate away.

    "Ladies and gentlemen¡­a moment, please."

    Everyone froze. The chatter that filled the hall prior died away, replaced by silence so absolute I could almost hear a pin drop.

    Hedol looked over every one of us, and then he bowed his head.

    "First, allow me to express my gratitude to every single one of you."

    There was polite applause, and I joined in, clapping my hands because everyone else was doing it. The bandwagon was a good place to hop into.

    "There are a few I would like to thank, especially. Not least of all is my staunch ally and close friend, his Excellency, Emperor Regis."

    Everyone cheered and clapped boisterously as they directed their gazes toward the dark-haired Demon Lord. Regis Gremory merely smiled and waved a little before he met Hedol''s eyes. He returned the bow politely.

    "Not at all. The whole of Morten is indebted to you¡­to Moria, for your technology, trade and support. It is only natural that we help you when you''re in trouble. That''s what friends are for, right?"

    "Indeed. And you''ve proven once again why Moria is one of the most loyal members of the Demonic Alliance."

    One of the other demon nobles shouted.

    "Yeah! Of course we''ll help you!"

    "We''ll crush the human enemies!"

    "Show them who is trash!"

    "Drive them out of our lands!"

    Hedol allowed the crowd to voice their fury and triumph before he raised a hand to silence them.

    "There is also someone I would like to thank." He glanced at me. I immediately lowered my head in deference. Hedol smiled wryly, and then continued. "You won a grueling battle against the enemy in defense of Moria, and you saved us from invasion. You protected Alveron and prevented the humans from capturing a vital city. I am aware that you''re already an Earl, a lord of the domain of Umbra, otherwise I would have granted you a title. But Major Tomoyuki Tanaka, please allow me to express my gratitude to you for saving my kingdom."

    "No¡­I didn''t do anything¡­" I began, but my voice was drowned out by furious applause and cheers. Ugh¡­like I said, they were making a huge fuss over nothing. I didn''t even do anything, to be honest. Everyone fought hard and well. I was just one of the many soldiers who participated in the war. Everyone put their life on the line. Why should I be recognized over that of my men, like Jurgen, or Benjamin, or Elia?

    "My men deserve credit too. All of the soldiers who fought in defense of Moria deserve credit. Every single one of them contributed greatly in protecting Moria."

    "Indeed. But it was you who defeated two Evelyn''s Chosen, and led your men to turn the tide against the enemy at Verunhive and Mordia." Hedol looked at me, his eyes both gentle and unyielding at the same time.

    "Oh, by the way¡­" Regis raised a hand to chime in. we all turned toward him and he grinned. "It''s no longer Major Tomoyuki. It''s Colonel Tomoyuki now."

    "¡­eh?"

    "You''re promoted."

    "What? But¡­"

    "Just enjoy it, Colonel," Regis told me, grinning boyishly. "This is your moment."

    "¡­yeah." Hedol scratched his head. "Congratulations are in order. And I would like to reward you, to recognize you for your efforts. It would be shameful for me to overlook the fact that you worked so hard to defend Moria and my people."

    "Yeah¡­and I''m sure there are a lot more people you would like to thank."

    "Yes, that''s right."

    However, before Hedol could move on, Donorea stepped down.

    "Congratulations, Colonel!"

    "Uh, no, nothing¡­I mean, thanks, your highness¡­"

    I glanced at Hedol, who was about to move on.

    "There are¡­"

    "One moment, Brother."

    Donorea cut him off with a gentle but firm smile.

    "Speaking of reward¡­Colonel Tanaka has earned one more reward! Did you forget?"

    She was literally sparkling as she reminded her brother.

    "He won the bet he made with you!"

    "I¡­I did not¡­forget!" Hedol spluttered. Turning to me, he continued. "As promised, The Savior of Moria is yours. We''ll begin mass production of the super-heavy Hellblades with the blueprints you have given us, and as agreed, Helsfort will receive a discount in trading for them. Furthermore, as you have won the bet, and defended Moria, you may make one request that is within my power to grant¡­"

    There was a hushed whisper across the crowd. Donorea was beaming at me brightly, waiting in anticipation. What the hell was she expecting me to request? Even behind me, Jason and my men were grinning, whispering under their breaths. Only Lilith looked solemn and unamused by this whole farce.

    "Uh, your majesty, King Hedol¡­as you know, I came here to solidify the alliance between Helsfort and Moria, as instructed by his Excellency, Emperor Regis." I glanced at Regis, who nodded affably.

    "¡­yes, I know. So?"

    "I request that you loan me a factory. And also the same team of builders that worked on the Hellblade with me."

    "?!"

    For some reason, everyone was surprised by my request. Like I said, what were you expecting? Riches and treasures? The hand of the first princess in marriage? Dudes, I was already engaged to the Vampire Queen of Haemorage! Obviously I couldn''t go around asking to marry some other woman. It would be disrespectful to her.

    "A¡­factory?" Hedol repeated. The guy was obviously slow or something.

    "Yeah, your majesty." I smiled sinisterly. "The Hellblade is just the beginning. I have discussed it with Belisarius-dono, and there are a lot of other things we want to build. All I request is that you continue supplying Belisarus-dono with the resources he needs to continue doing our work. We will definitely not disappoint you with the blueprints I have left behind."

    The Elemental armor, which was a mini-Titan. Bigger than even the tactical dreadnaught armor that Hedol''s elite soldiers wore, but smaller than the lightweight Matsukaze, it was pretty much an exosuit that packed the firepower of a tank but kept the mobility and speed of a bike.

    "¡­I see. I have heard the proposals from Belisarius..." he turned and glanced at the dwarf who was lurking at the back of the crowd. The bald team leader nodded, his expression veiled under his gigantic sombrero hat.

    "Yeah, I''m sure you have. I won''t ask for full ownership and patents over whatever technology and inventions we create, but that we share them equally¡­be it profits or products. What do you think, your majesty?"

    "Hmm¡­I won''t say I''m not interested, Colonel Tanaka¡­but are you sure that you want this as your request?"

    "Dead sure." Since I was an undead, of course that was the only way I could respond.

    "Then so be it!"

    Amidst thunderous roars of cheers and triumphant howling, Hedol raised his voice to declare the start of the cooperation between Helsfort and Moria.

    "From this day onward, Helsfort and Moria will be bound in both the future and prosperity! You''ll get the factory you crave!"

    Can you not be so dramatic?

    Even as I thought that, I couldn''t help but shake my head and retreat into obscurity so that Hedol could move on and thank the rest of the Demonic Alliance and all the soldiers who played a huge role in the defense of Moria.

    I didn''t know how long he droned on and on, but he eventually let us go, so I was pleased to rush into the buffet.

    "¡­can''t believe he interrupted my meal," I muttered as I dug in.

    "I''m afraid I will have to interrupt you again."

    "?!"

    I turned around, only to catch sight of Lilith sauntering toward me. She held out a hand, and I stared at her, baffled.

    "Can I have this dance?"

    "¡­huh? What dance?"

    Then suddenly I was aware of the music that was droning through the hall. Around the great hall, couples were dancing and waltzing around, swaying gently to the soft, soothing music. I realized what Lilith was asking me to do.

    "Um¡­I am terrible at dancing¡­"

    "That''s fine." Lilith took my hand and lured me to the floor. Spinning around, she placed her hands on my shoulders after putting mine on her waist. "This is an easy dance, so just follow my lead."

    "Uh¡­okay. I''ll do my best."

    I clumsily tried to fall in step with her, but my movements were totally out of sync. I had no clue how to dance, and I was completely tone-deaf, unable to follow any sort of rhythm or discern any pattern to the dance movements or the music.

    "He he¡­" Lilith giggled when she saw me struggle. "I can see that you''re not used to such events and places."

    "¡­yeah, from where I came from, I don''t bother attending such ceremonies. They''re like something from another world."

    Lilith probably saw the irony in that statement, for amusement flashed across her face. Smiling radiantly, she deftly changed the topic.

    "By the way, Tomoyuki-kun, what do you think of my dress?"

    "It looks really good. I think it suits you. When I first saw you, I was thinking that you look like a princess from Haemorage."

    "Ha ha, thanks for the flattery. Well, I am technically the queen of Haemorage, after all, so you''re not far off."

    "I''m not flattering you, though. I honestly think you look great. That dress looks really, really nice."

    "Ha ha, you pass then."

    Twirling around as she continued to hold my hand, Lilith then spun back into my embrace and softly brushed my neck with her hands. We continued to sway to the rhythm, but I was completely lost and unable to follow.

    It took a while, but I was finally released from the dance, and Lilith led me to the balcony for some fresh air.

    "That''s quite a nice view."

    Even though we were in a hive city, we could see the sun setting from the balcony. There was no one else around, just the two of us in the relatively small space that was exposed to the outside. Lilith leaned against the railing as she agreed with me.

    "Yes, indeed." She then turned to me and chuckled. "Your clumsy dance steps were amusing, Tomoyuki-kun."

    "I warned you¡­"

    "Yes, you did. Thank you, anyway¡­for accompanying me on that dance."

    We then fell back into silence, just simply enjoying each other''s company for the moment.

    "And thank you¡­for not¡­making a political request."

    "¡­I''m pretty sure my request was very political."

    "That''s not what I mean. You could have so easily get yourself set for life, becoming royalty in this kingdom. But you chose to honor our¡­agreement."

    I swear, what was it with politicians and nobles all thinking about using marriage to get ahead in life? You should marry the person you love. Period.

    "Speaking of which, Claire is here, you know. She came to help out in the war."

    "¡­huh?"

    "Even now, she''s probably watching us."

    "Where did that come from, all of a sudden?!"

    I spun around, stunned and confused. As I thought, there was someone looking at us through the glass window that stretched across the main hall.

    Claire. She really was watching us.

    "I''ll have to ask you for a favor¡­to keep up the pretense."

    "¡­pretense?"

    I wasn''t sure I knew what Lilith was talking about. Most likely it was the engagement. To fool Claire into thinking we were engaged for real.

    "What would you have me do?"

    "Kiss me."

    "¡­uh, what?"

    Lilith shrugged and smiled rather shyly.

    "Don''t worry. Feigning it is enough. As long as we put on a show and convince Claire that this isn''t an act, it should be enough."

    Well, this was an act, though.

    I sighed. "All right. Guess we don''t have a choice."

    Holding my breath, I slowly advanced forward, trying my best to imitate a kiss. However, as I slowly drew my face close to Lilith''s, she suddenly lurched forward and kissed me.

    "?!"

    I blinked, completely caught off guard. A few seconds passed before I finally staggered back, still unable to grasp the situation.

    "W¡­what?!"

    "That''s the first kiss I received from you."

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    Lilith seemed pretty pleased for some reason. I could only stare at her, my jaw hanging open and my cheeks flushed.

    "Um¡­no, well, that''s¡­"

    "I''ll have to go report to Claire now. I''ll see you later then."

    "¡­eh? Huh? What?"

    I watched as Lilith left the balcony, flustered by what had just transpired.

 115 Chapter 115: Departure

    I lost track of time, standing in the balcony and staring blankly at the sky after my talk with Lilith. Before I knew it, the skies had darkened and the sun was setting, turning the once-blue sky into a fiery orange.

    "Damn¡­best to head back as soon as possible."

    This formal ceremony thing didn''t sit well with me, and I couldn''t wait to get out of this formal number one uniform. Cringing against the touch of the starched material, I proceeded back toward the main hall, deciding to resume eating.

    Fortunately, it seemed that there was still an abundance of food, so I grabbed as much as I could and stuffed myself. I had my men join me, and allowed them to indulge themselves in the rich food. After living off rations for a while, my soldiers were only too grateful to dig into the feast. Elia was absent, probably dealing with politics and stuff, and Lilith was talking to Claire McAlterize. It seemed like they were having a serious discussion.

    Best not to disturb them.

    "This is really good, boss!"

    Jurgen mumbled as he chewed on a chicken thigh. Beside him, Gunnery nodded.

    "Delicious!"

    "And congrats is in order, Colonel!" Gio added, holding up a plate. Daniel nodded, having gathered the tank crews around to the buffet tables. Unlike the high-ranking nobles, my soldiers didn''t have connections or dance partners, so we grouped together and spent our time eating and talking all sorts of nonsense.

    "I can''t believe we defended Moria!"

    "Yeah¡­for a moment there, I thought we were in danger."

    "Hah! With the Colonel around, we''ll never lose! Not even to Evelyn''s Chosen!"

    "Hoo-rah!"

    At Marko''s shout, the vampire infantrymen let out a cheer. The veteran sergeant seized a chalice of wine from a waiter and downed it.

    "To a job well done!"

    "Hoo-rah!"

    While it normally would have been pretty awkward to have my men all cheering and shouting boisterously, the main hall was packed full of people. Our shouts were drowned out by the music, the noise and the bustle of nobles, soldiers and royalty. In fact, there was a legion of dwarves having a drinking game near the center of the main hall, their sombreros sliding off as they chugged down huge mugs of beer.

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    "You Helfortians and vampires fight well," Rhodes admitted as he swaddled over, along with his elite Terminator Company. It was a fresh change to see them out of their bulky Tactical Dreadnaught Armor, but even their unarmored forms seemed massive in comparison to us. Of course, they were shorter than us, but they were a lot broader.

    "You Morian dwarves fight like berserkers!" Marko laughed and raised his chalice to clink against their mugs. "It was a great honor to fight alongside you all!"

    "You weren''t there, though," Daniel pointed out. He wasn''t mistaken. Marko and the vampires were stationed at the outpost, at my orders, to defend against attacks coming from that direction. A good thing, too, for there were plenty of stragglers.

    "Nonetheless, you all had vital roles. Even the lowliest sentry guard contributed so much to the war effort."

    "Yes. That''s why I want to thank my men and show appreciation for what they have done for me." I nodded and gestured toward my soldiers, who let loose another cheer. "I would love to give them a long vacation. They''ve earned it."

    "As we all," Rhodes agreed affably as he slapped my shoulder so hard my knees buckled. "Hedas knows we want a break, but until we defeat the so-called Emperor of Humanity, I don''t think we''ll be able to rest easy."

    "Yeah¡­we''ve to stay on high alert and watch out for him."

    Knowing Kobayashi, there was no way he would stop at this.

    After being humiliated like this, he would definitely return to take his revenge or something. He''ll definitely not allow Moria or the demons to defy him. That''s the number one thing he hates the most ¨C people defying him.

    I had experienced his hatred first-hand for not going along with whatever he wanted. The moment someone rebelled or defied him, he would do everything within his power to crush the enemy. I was sure he would do that against the demons. Perhaps not Moria, but Morten as a whole¡­after returning to the kingdom of Legnica to lick his wounds, he would regroup, rebuild and organize a plan of vengeance for this humiliation.

    "Speaking of rewards, I was surprised you didn''t ask for our princess''s hand in marriage to strengthen the political alliance between Moria and Helsfort. You would be pretty much set for life too if you did that, you know?"

    Rhodes laughed raucously as he struck me in the back. Marko snickered at that.

    "Oh, you didn''t know, Dwarf-san? Our Colonel here is engaged to our queen. The vampire queen of Haemorage."

    "Ah¡­so you''re already taken." Rhodes sounded disappointed. "What a pity. But I''ve to say, her highness Queen Scarlet is quite the catch too. She''s almost on the same level as our first princess. I really admire you for staying loyal to her, though."

    "Uh¡­well, I don''t want to betray her trust, and I''m completely in love with her so there''s no room in my heart for any other woman. I''m going to stay true and utterly devoted to her, and I will never take a concubine or mistress."

    By this point I was just rambling stupidly, but it was partially the truth. I had no intention of ever indulging in a harem. This wasn''t the genre for it, and I always found it incredibly stupid that manga or light novel protagonists were surrounded by a posse of beautiful girls clamoring and competing for his affections. It just wasn''t realistic.

    To be frank, it was actally quite disturbing and gross. In real life, if the person you liked was already in a relationship with someone else, or was indecisive, any normal girl would move on. Life was harsh and practical like that. There would be no childhood friend clinging onto her first love for over ten years. She would meet new people and fall for other guys. Similarly, if a girl saw that you were already surrounded by girls, chances are she would move on because it would be incredibly stupid to get into catfights. Furthermore, if the guy was indecisive and wishy-washy enough that he refused to commit to any single relationship, the girl would most likely be turned off instead of doing her best to attract his attention.

    That was just ridiculous.

    "Hello? Colonel Tanaka? You listening?"

    "¡­huh? Ah, sorry. I was thinking about something."

    Rhodes chuckled. "You have a weak tolerance to alcohol or something? Come on, young man. The party''s only getting started. You still have lots to drink!"

    "I''ll pass." I held up my hands in surrender. "I need to stay sober, or my fianc¨¦e will kill me. I would rather stay on her good side."

    "Ha ha¡­how romantic." Rhodes shook her head. "But you''ve got to keep your woman in check, whelp. If my wife nags at me for drinking too much, I''ll put her right in her place."

    "I''m a firm advocate of gender equality," I replied with a shrug. "And besides, Lilith-san is a queen. She outranks me, and I''ll be the one put in my place if I ever get a bit delusonal about the power relations. Besides, I don''t really care about all this. I have a huge respect for her. If there''s something she doesn''t want me to do, then she has a good reason for it."

    "¡­right. Careful you don''t turn into a henpecked husband who''s led around by his wife like a dog!"

    "Her highness would never do that to the Colonel!" Gunnery shouted. I shook my head and gestured for him to stay back.

    "He''s just bantering," I whispered. Gunnery stared at me blankly.

    "¡­oh."

    To be honest, I didn''t care if Rhodes was serious or not. I had my own values and I was going to abide by them. At the same time, I wasn''t going to force those values on other people. That was also my code of conduct. Just because I believed in something didn''t mean everyone else had to believe in it as well.

    I wasn''t Kobayashi Kenji, after all. I would never impose my will on others.

    The drinking party broke up and we dispersed for the night, or so I thought. I met up with Lilith to check on her, but her Haemorage garrison was posted in a different part of Moria.

    "Don''t worry," she assured me. "I''m sure we''ll meet up again shortly. The Haemorage army will be returning to Haemorage tomorrow or the day after. But I''m going to set out and keep the enemy in check."

    "That sounds reassuring." I considered her words for a while. "I don''t know what my battalion will be doing. I guess I''ll have to wait for Emperor Regis''s orders. Knowing him, his Excellency probably promoted me to Colonel because he wants something from me."

    "As much as I want to tell you not to be paranoid, I''m afraid you''re right." Lilith sighed. "Don''t underestimate that man. Yes, he''s been good to you, but he has his own ulterior motives. You''re just a chess piece¡­a pawn. Lord Regis might be a decent demon, but he''s still the Demon Lord after all. It''ll be dangerous to trust him too deeply."

    "At least he hasn''t backstabbed me or tried to kill me like my former classmates did," I muttered. That alone put him high up in my books.

    "¡­not yet, anyway."

    With that ominous warning, Lilith leaned in and gave me a kiss on my cheek before she took her leave. I watched her go, and then returned to my battalion. It appeared that my men were getting really drunk or really high.

    Before I reached them, I suddenly turned around. Just as I suspected, Donorea was peering from behind a pillar, looking a little disappointed. When she caught sight of me, she blushed furiously, but mustered her courage to approach me.

    "Colonel Tomoyuki!"

    "Your highness." I bowed politely. Donorea giggled and waved my greeting away.

    "Oh, there''s no need for that."

    "No need for what?"

    "The formality." Donorea sighed. She turned to glance at the leaving Lilith. "So you''re already engaged to her highness Queen Scarlet, huh?"

    "Yeah. It sort of happened." Then realizing what Donorea might be driving at, I added, "And I''m entirely devoted to her."

    "I can see that." Donorea twiddled her fingers wistfully. "I''m kind of jealous of her. I mean¡­well, never mind. It''s nothing."

    I was smart enough not to inquire further. Some matters were best left alone. And I wasn''t insensitive to her feelings like some dense protagonist.

    Fortunately, this was reality. Donorea will certainly move on and find someone else. That was how life worked. No normal girl would pine for a guy forever, not unless he had some sort of protagonist power that drove them to be obsessed with him for plot reasons. Life changed, people changed, and the objects of their desire changed too.

    "Sorry."

    "No, why are you apologizing?" Donorea frantically waved her hands. "Please¡­don''t do that. You''re making me feel bad."

    "Ah, sorry¡­I mean¡­"

    "It''s fine." Donorea shook her head. "I''m just pleased to meet you like this. Make sure you take good care of her highness Queen Scarlet, all right?"

    I nodded. "I''ll do my best. I don''t deserve her, but I will do my best to protect her."

    "Oh, I''m sure you''ll suit each other very well." Donorea smiled brightly, even as her eyes glistened a bit. "I''ve seen her fight. She was defending the gates of Verunhive. She''s a powerful warrior¡­even more powerful and skilled than I am. You''re a very lucky man. And¡­her highness is also a very fortunate woman."

    "¡­"

    I merely nodded again, not sure what I had to say to that. The atmosphere was becoming a little awkward.

    "A¡­anyway! I''ll go check on my brother. It''ll be terrible if he drank too much again. It wouldn''t do for a king to pass out in the middle of a party that he''s hosting."

    "Sure. I''m sure his majesty King Hedol is fine, but he''ll be relying on you."

    "He relies on me too much." Donorea laughed. "In this kingdom, the women hold political power. My brother is at a disadvantage because he refuses to marry."

    "Oh?"

    That caught my attention. I wasn''t aware that King Hedol actively avoided marriage on his own volition. I had assumed that he had a queen, even though I hadn''t actually seen her. Evidently I was mistaken.

    As they said, never assume¡­

    "Yes. He''s waiting for me to get married first¡­uh, well, Brother dotes on me a lot. And he''s worried. There''s a lot of¡­men trying to take advantage of me because of my position and status. Brother has been so busy keeping them away that he neglected his own love life. I''ve been trying to tell him to stop and settle his affairs first, but he just wouldn''t listen."

    "So his majesty King Hedol is a siscon, huh?"

    "?"

    Donorea stared at me, puzzled.

    "Siscon¡­? What''s that?"

    "No, nothing. It just means he''s a really caring brother who loves his sister very much."

    "Ah¡­yes, then my brother is a siscon indeed." Donorea giggled proudly. Uh oh. I realized I had just made a very terrible mistake there and then.

    In future, siscon became a term used to describe doting and loving brothers, even if their love for their sisters was pure and normal and not creepy at all. And it all stemmed from me making up this stupid lie on this very day to escape an awkward situation. Instead of its original meaning, the term became widely used as a compliment.

    But that would be another story, and it wasn''t relevant right now.

    I bade Donorea farewell, and then proceeded back to my battalion, who were drinking, bantering and laughing boisterously.

    "Hey, sir! Come to join us?"

    "Have a cup, sir!"

    "You sure took your time, boss!"

    Despite myself, I smiled. Shaking my head, I declined the mug of beer and merely watched as my men enjoyed themselves. It would be good to allow them this night to get drunk and wild, for the next day we would surely be posted elsewhere in the battlefield.

    The war against Kobayashi and the human kingdoms were only just beginning, after all.

    *

    "Don''t worry, we''ll take care of your factory for you! Have a safe trip!"

    Two days later, Belisarius and the team of engineers from the manufactorum had gathered to send me and my men off.

    "It''s not my factory," I reminded them. "It''s yours¡­ours."

    Belisarius guffawed at that. "Sure thing, boss."

    "Well, thank you anyway." I raised my hand in a mock salute. "I''ll be counting on you to mass-produce those Hellbade tanks and their variants. Keep me posted on the progress of the Elemental suits too. And I''m sure we''ll be able to advace to Titan-class armor suits in the near future. Morian technology is always improving, after all."

    "Hah! You can count on that!"

    Belisarius clapped my arm in a friendly gesture. After I returned the appreciation, I turned to the other two people who had arrived to send me and my battalion off.

    "Your majesty King Hedol, and your hightness Princess Donora. Thank you for coming to see me off."

    "No, it''s nothing. We''re still grateful to you for saving Moria."

    "Nah, it''s not just me." I gestured to my battalion. We were all packed in our Malthas tanks and Cerberus APCs, getting ready to depart at a moment''s notice. "All of us contributed to the war effort. My battalion. His Excellency Emperor Regis and his armies. Lilith-san and her vampire soldiers. The whole Demon Alliance."

    "Yeah, yeah." Hedol cut in to have a word. "I''ve been going around thanking each and every one of them personally. Let your soldiers know I''m grateful to them too, and that they''re always welcome to Moria. Make sure you come back and visit sometime."

    "I hope so." I glanced at Belisarius, who grinned back. "I''ve plenty of stuff here that I need to do."

    "So I''ve heard." Hedol shook his head wryly. "I wish you luck on the frontlines. As much as Moria would love to assist, we probably won''t be able to move out much. But we''ll definitely supply the Demonic Alliance with war materiel, ammunition, vehicles, armor and tanks. The blueprints you''ve provided might change the war entirely."

    "I hope so. My only interest is whether it''ll save more lives."

    "Oh, I''m sure it will."

    "Thank you." I bowed to the royal siblings. "Then, I''ll take my leave now. I''ve a new assignment."

    Clambering into the new Hellblade tank, The Savior of Moria, I dropped into the commader''s seat. As I did so, the visual display flickered on and Captain Elia Kratz''s pretty face appeared on the screen. She saluted the moment she saw me online.

    "Colonel Tomoyuki!"

    "Hey, Elia. What''s up?"

    "I''ve received word from his Excellency Emperor Regis," Elia explained smartly. "He sent me a message. Cobalt level. It''s regarding our next assignment."

    "Already?!"

    Gio Vanni''s image popped up in the display screen next to Elia''s. Further down, in the gunner''s seat, Geoffrey Gunnery let out a loud groan.

    "Don''t we get a vacation first?"

    "Regarding that¡­.this is what his Excellency said. Rest is for fools. And we are to depart as we are, immediately. Sir!"

    "Yeah, I get that."

    With the war against the humans still raging on, we couldn''t afford to take a vacation. Not when the enemy was still raging at our doorstep and continuing to invade vast swathes of demon territory. We had to fight just to survive.

    "So where''s our next assignment?"

    "To the sea, sir."

    "I see. We''re going to the sea to see the sea?"

    "Not exactly, sir." I rolled my eyes when I saw that my joke was entirely lost on Elia. "We''re heading to the Trisseidon Sea, to be precise. Our destination is the Marrina Isles! Sir!"

    "Marrina¡­Isles?! Did you just say Merian Isles?!"

    Gio''s reaction was comical, to say the least. I glanced at him, only to see that he had turned so pale he was literally a ghost.

    "What''s the matter, Gio?"

    "You don''t know, boss?" Jurgen called out from the front. I glared at him.

    "If I did, I wouldn''t be asking, would I?"

    "Right¡­you''re a marebito, after all."

    "What the heck is a marebito?!" I shouted. Gunnery chuckled.

    "A person from another world. The sarge''s been reading too much manga. There''s one series he''s obsessed in at the moment because it involves the protagonist sucking ambrosia from the heroines'' breasts¡­"

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jurgen shouted frantically, cutting his gunner off. "That''s not the point! The point is that Marrina Isles is the home to the largest naval port in the world! The humans¡­all their battleships, cruisers and destroyers¡­they''re located in the Marrina Isles! It''s a naval fortress! No demon army would ever be able to invade it!"

    "At least it''s not a labyrinth."

    "Huh? Where did that come from?"

    "The same manga Jason''s reading," I replied, and then sighed as I returned my gaze to Elia. She was waiting as patiently as ever.

    "Yes. Our target is the Marrina Naval Base."

    "Is his Excellency trying to kill us or something?!" Gio complained. "There''s no way tanks and mechanized infantry can fight the largest naval fleet in Restia!"

    Evidently the Marrina Isles were in human-held territory. It was once ruled by the royal family of the Merian Empire¡­until Kobayashi executed him for siding with King Leric in petitioning to stop the war. Now it was under Kobayashi''s rule, but it was too remote for him to rule directly. He most likely had a vassal or another one of my former classmates stationed there.

    "We''ll be getting some inside help."

    "Oh?" Elia''s words caught my attention. "From who?"

    "Sir! Well, before we head to the Trisseidon Sea, we are to stop by Helsfort first. Apparently his Excellency Emperor Regis says you know why."

    "Ah¡­"

    I suddenly understood why. I recalled the conversation I had with Regis during the fancy ceremony two days ago.

    He had approached me regarding the prisoners-of-war, and the request that their highest-ranked commander had made. Apparently it had something to do with the home country of the Marrina Marine Corps, which was mediated through Major Kracauer, the highest-ranked commander among the prisoners.

    "¡­I was being sarcastic, but it seems that his Excellency Emperor Regis actually thought I was serious¡­no wonder he chose my battalion for this mission."

    I began regretting that quip I made when Regis approached me for advice.

    "Huh? Sir? What are you talking about?"

    "Do you really want to know?" I asked. Gio looked confused, but he nodded.

    "Uh¡­of course."

 116 Chapter 116: Prisoners of War

    This was right after the conversation with Donorea and when I was about to return to my men. Before I reached their party, a voice called out to me.

    "Colonel Tanaka, a moment, if you please."

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    Turning around, I found myself face to face with Regis''s regal figure.

    "Your majesty."

    Regis raised a hand to beckon for me to follow him. I obeyed and he took me to the same balcony where I was just accompanying Lilith.

    "I''m sorry to throw this onto you so soon after we won our last battle, but I''m afraid this can''t wait."

    "You''re giving me my next assignment already?" I asked wearily.

    Regis was taken aback, but he chuckled and shook his head.

    "Relax. I haven''t decided where to send you and your battalion yet."

    I groaned. "But you did already decide to send us on our next mission."

    "Sort of," Regis admitted. "But it shouldn''t be too much of a problem. You''ll be fine. I have faith in you and your men. You did extremely well this time¡­I can''t emphasize it enough. I''m really grateful to you for your timely reinforcements. Just a little push and Evelyn''s Chosen would have broken through the gates of Verunhive and Mordia. We were getting our asses handed to us. Your appearance turned the tide in our favor."

    "Nah¡­I didn''t do much. It was my men who did all the work."

    "You led them well¡­and you defeated two of Evelyn''s Chosen¡­something Queen Scarlet, the Iron Knights and I failed to do."

    Speaking of which, I didn''t see the Iron Knights. Takeda and his Eight Guardians left immediately after the war, probably to heal their wounds. They were hurt pretty badly, to the extent they couldn''t show up for the ceremony.

    "I failed to kill them, though."

    Neither Umezu Shigeo nor Kido Mayumi actually actively bullied me, so they weren''t high on my target list. As long as I put them in their places, they wouldn''t be showing up again to bother me. I had a feeling they were done with being Kobayashi''s lackeys, but I could be mistaken.

    "You didn''t have to," Regis assured me. "You were up against not one, but two Evelyn''s Chosen. And you were fighting by yourself."

    "Uh, well¡­"

    "Um, anyway, what did you call me here for?"

    I was certain it wasn''t to praise me.

    Regis rested his elbows on the railing and peered into the night, his expression grave and troubled. After a few seconds, he turned to me.

    "It''s about the prisoners."

    "¡­prisoners?"

    "Do you remember the prisoners you captured when you saved Haemorage?"

    "Ah¡­the Legnica 82nd Regiment and the 7th Battalion of the Marrina Marine Corps." I recalled them, all right. "And Major Kracauer. How are they doing?"

    "Well¡­they''re still all right. Physically anyway."

    I frowned. "What''s that supposed to mean? Aren''t we¡­uh, treating them well and in accordance to the Morten Convention peace treaty?"

    Regis stared at me blankly. "What Morten Convention peace treaty?"

    "Uh¡­you know, to treat all prisoners of war as humanly as possible?"

    "Oh, if it''s about that, yes. We''re treating them well. They''re quite the drain on our resources, though, especially in times of war, but I have given firm orders not to abuse them or deprive them of food and water."

    "That''s good. Thanks."

    "Why are you thanking me?"

    Good question. Why, indeed? Well, it didn''t matter. I scratched my head and exhaled before folding my arms.

    "Then, what about them?"

    Regis looked a little restless, placing his palms on the railing and staring off into the night. He swallowed.

    "We approached the human kingdoms¡­sent envoys of peace, asking them if they would like their prisoners back. For a truce. A few days of truce. Obviously it would be completely unreasonable to think we can end the war by using the prisoners as hostage, but a few days of nonviolence or noncombat would benefit both parties."

    "Let me guess¡­they refused?"

    "Not just that." Regis stared at me, his face grave and thunderous. "They tried to kill our envoys, and they even sent a message back."

    Raising his hand, he conjured a holographic screen. A blue-tinted 3D projection beamed into the space between us. I widened my eyes when I saw it take the shape of a miniature Kobayashi Kenji, dressed in long, flowing velvet fur coat, a crown and other sorts of royal, extravagant robes. He looked more like an emperor than even Regis himself.

    "Go ahead and kill all the prisoners," Kobayashi sneered, his lips curled upward in scorn. "I don''t care. They''re no use to me. It''s their fault for getting themselves captured. Besides, as my loyal followers, they should be honored to sacrifice their lives for me¡­for my Empire of Humanity."

    The holographic display then winked out. I gaped at the now empty space, scarcely able to believe what I had just heard.

    I knew Kobayashi was a bastard, but that was just¡­insane. The guy was really insane. He didn''t care about anybody. To him, his "loyal followers" were mere expendable pawns in a gamee, pieces he could use and then freely discard once they were of no use to him. Not only did he not care about their lives and welfare, he was going to squeeze every drop of usefulness out of them until they were dry, and then throw them away.

    "There you have it." Regis looked as if he wanted to plunge his fist into the hologram and rip Kobayashi''s throat out. "Even their own ruler has less concern for their lives and welfare than us, the enemy. So we''re stuck with two massive human regiments, having to feed and shelter them until the war is over or the reigning emperor is changed."

    "Oh, gosh¡­"

    I felt as if a headache was building inside my head. Massaging my temples, I also turned to stare at the night sky. This was just ridiculous.

    At the same time, I understood Regis''s concerns. Morten''s resources were already stretched because of war. Helsfort couldn''t afford to keep these soldiers as prisoners indefinitely. We had to either release them or kill them.

    The former was not an option because Regis himself didn''t want his soldiers back. The latter was just too drastic.

    "That''s not just the problem. They learned of it¡­my wardens, frustrated at the diversion of resources, uh¡­''accidentally'' let slip to them the news. Not just that. They also know that their previous kings and queens¡­the royal families of their respective nations¡­have been murdered and wiped out by the current Emperor of Humanity. And that the princesses of those royal families had been forcibly inducted into the Emperor''s harem."

    "In other words, they''re not taking the news too well."

    Regis nodded solemnly. "Even if we don''t kill them, it''s a matter of time before they descend into total despair. That said¡­it appears they''re desperate enough to defect to Morten and conquer back their kingdoms¡­fighting alongside demons if necessary."

    "That sounds like a plan," I joked. "Why don''t we recruit them into our army and use them to conquer their home kingdoms?"

    "Hmm¡­" Regis considered that for a few seconds, his finger on his chin. "That sounds like a brilliant idea, actually."

    "Ha ha ha¡­huh? It is? I was only joking."

    "No." Regis shook his head. "It does make perfect sense. But the logistics and administrative work will be a nightmare. I can''t see myself able to easily convince the government and military to release former enemies and then use them as allies."

    "Why not? I wouldn''t mind having them as allies."

    Regis chuckled. "You''re too optimistic, Colonel Tomoyuki."

    I shrugged. Perhaps it was because I was a human myself, so I felt some sort of kindred spirt with them. But I could see why any other demon commander would refuse to work with them. There was no way they would easily trust a former enemy that was trying so hard to kill them.

    That said, even the most oblivious demon commanders and nobles would have noticed that there was a huge disparity between the human forces now and the human armies back then. Before, the humans were fighting for their lives, aiming only for survival. But now, after they gained the upper hand and came under the rule of the so-called Emperor of Humanity, they had transformed into fanatical, zealous devotees to Kobayashi''s cause, happily throwing away their lives to commit the genocide of the demon races.

    Come to think of it, Major Kracauer and his regiment, as well as the Marinna Marine Corps were captured before Kobayashi rose to his current position of Emperor. They were most likely spared from all the brainwashing and indoctrination.

    "If possible, I would like to help them."

    Regis raised an eyebrow at that. "You would want to help humans?"

    "I was a human once," I reminded him. "But¡­well, just those guys in particular. I feel sorry for them. They''ve been abandoned by their emperor, they''ve been discarded by their kingdoms, and now they''re left to rot in here indefinitely. I''m trying to think of a way for them to be useful to us¡­at the same time, I don''t want to treat them like tools. I''m sure they would be frustrated at being imprisoned indefinitely as well. They''ll definitely want to do something when they hear about what''s going on at home. Nothing''s more frustrating than listening to how everything''s so screwed up in your kingdom, yet you''re stuck here, unable to do anything."

    "True enough," Regis admitted. "Even I feel sorry for them. And we can''t keep them forever. I''m reluctant to kill them off as well¡­because we''ll be doing the same thing as the enemy."

    "What should we do then?"

    "I''ll think about it." Regis clapped a hand on my shoulder. "This is something for me to worry about. Go get some rest¡­you and your men have earned it. Once I figure something out, I''ll call upon you. In any case, get ready to leave in two days'' time."

    "Understood. We''ll return to Helsfort two days later¡­in the morning."

    "Good." Regis smiled warmly and turned to return to the hall. "I''m counting on you, Colonel."

    *

    And it was thus my joke became reality.

    Within a few hours, we reached Helsfort well after midday. My battalion was diverted somewhere in the main camp to park their vehicles and unload their armaments, but a runner ran forward to fetch me. Apparently Regis wanted an audience.

    "Tomoyuki, you''re finally here."

    The dark-haired Demon Lord spun around to face me when I entered the hall. I saluted, and then bowed respectfully.

    "At your service, your excellency."

    "Good. I''ve been going through some administrative matters, and as I informed Captain Kratz, we can go ahead and begin the capture of Marrina Isles."

    "¡­uh¡­the one with the naval base, your majesty?"

    "That''s the one," Regis affirmed with a smile. "I know it''s an insurmountable task, but that''s exactly why I''m entrusting it to you. You''re the only one with the skills and intelligence to accomplish this mission."

    Regis was clearly overestimating my intelligence. Even the readers knew how stupid I was. They had been complaining in the comments how idiotic, how stupid and how retarded I was. Perhaps characters in fictional worlds had a much lower intelligence quotient than reality. Or maybe readers far divorced from the reality and being on the actual ground of making decisions and fighting found it easy to resort to armchair logic. "Why isn''t he summoning his zombies!?" because my enemies had spells that could wipe out my hordes of undead, duh. "Why is he fighting in close range melee combat when he''s supposed to be a mage?" because I''m not a fucking mage, and I have very few long-range spells, duh. Plus I had devoured Minamoto Kureha''s Sword Saint Ability. Did readers forget that or something? Of course I would make full use of Minamoto''s Sword Saint Ability because I had it. It was much better and more versatile than my two ranged spells. "Why didn''t he eat the dead soldiers?" because there''s way too many corpses and most of them didn''t offer any advantage to being eaten, duh.

    Whatever. I was stupid, readers believed I was stupid, so let''s just ignore the actual logic and my reasoning, and assume that I really was stupid. People thought I was retarded when I held back against Suzuki, but I had a good reason. For one thing, I wasn''t idiotic enough to show all my special abilities to the Eight Guardians of the Iron Knights in case I had to fight them later, and I was deliberately holding back so that I could watch them display their abilities and prepare a countermeasure when I inevitably fought them later.

    But no, readers insisted that I was stupid for holding back, for not summoning stuff immediately at the start of the fight (oi, summoning takes time. I took about three minutes or more to summon my Titan, Matsukaze. How long do you think I''ll need to summon my undead ancient dragon, which was like ten times more powerful? I was lucky I didn''t need thirty minutes to summon Ryuu!), and for "forgetting" my abilities. No, I was holding back for a reason, so that my potential rivals wouldn''t know all my trump cards and so that I could get a chance to see them fight.

    However, readers know much better than me, right? Since they''re obviously so much smarter than me, had infallible logic and strategies, and were geniuses at taking revenge. You know what, I should just stop going along with this story and let the readers dictate what happens. I had been receiving complains that the fights were dragging out too much, the story was dragging out too much, and even Dragomanpl had gotten tired of reading this long-ass story that just seemed to go on forever. Let''s just end this farce once and for all.

    "¡­Tomoyuki?"

    "Sorry. Please go ahead."

    I realized that Regis was waiting for me to finish ranting in my mind. He stared at me quizzically, and then continued.

    "I believe in you and your battalion. If anyone can pull off destroying the naval base, it''ll be you." Regis stared at me. "After our talk in Moria, I was thinking that you were right. Our next target should be the kingdoms of these prisoners that we have."

    "What about the prisoners?"

    "Ah¡­about that¡­I believe you should talk to them personally. They''ve been asking for something outrageous." Regis smiled cynically. "And you would be surprised¡­it has something to do with your suggestion the other night."

    "Which suggestion? You know I''m full of terrible suggestions."

    Regis''s cryptic smile widened. "You''ll see."

    A shield platoon of royal guards escorted us from the throne room to the dungeons in the castle. Unlike the usual, clich¨¦ dungeons made out of cold gray stone, the prison under the Helsfortian castle was bright and well renovated. There were clean facilities, proper lighting and amneities, and the prisoners were given their privacy and personal, albeit tiny, rooms.

    "You should meet the human leader," Regis told me before he opened the door to what seemed like an interrogation room. I glanced at him, puzzled, and then stepped inside.

    Major Kracauer was sitting inside, behind a table. He was dressed not in his Legnica corps uniform but the orange jumpsuit that was issued to all prisoners. I noticed that he wasn''t handcuffed or chained.

    They were allowing him some freedom.

    "Major Tanaka!"

    "It''s Colonel now," Regis told him. Kracauer''s eyes widened and he nodded.

    "Congratulations are in order, Colonel Tanaka."

    "Nah, don''t worry about it." I felt embarrassed over the formality. "Um, Major Kracauer, it''s been a while. How are you doing?"

    "Pretty well, considering the circumstances." Then the middle-aged veteran fell into a glum silence. "My men¡­and I heard about the news¡­about what happened to our kingdoms. Both Legnica and Marrina."

    "I''m sorry." I bowed my head. "I wasn''t able to stop Kobayashi from killing his majesty King Leric, nor was I able to save her highness Princess Merly."

    "No, no, no!" Kracauer waved his hands frantically. "It''s not your responsibility or obligation to do that! It''s just that¡­we¡­we couldn''t believe it."

    "Neither can I."

    Kracauer was squeezing his fingers so tightly that they whitened. He glared at the table, downcast and solemn. Gritting his teeth, he ground out every word.

    "I know we''re supposed to be grateful to Hero-sama¡­to Kobayashi-sama for defeating the Demon Lord and saving our kingdoms. But that man¡­has become a monster. He has committed atrocities, forced our kingdoms into a war we didn''t want, refused peace and rebuilding, and continued to sacrifice countless lives for some genocidal cause. And now he did something unforgivable. Not only did he murder my liege¡­the king I pledged eternal loyalty to¡­he had the gall to ursurp the throne, force her highness Princess Merly into marriage, and then proclaim himself Emperor of Humanity. Even if the rest of the world accepts it, I will not stand for it. Neither will my men. We cannot allow him to rule over Legnica like this!"

    "I understand." I leaned back in my chair and sighed. "But the only way to stop him is to defeat him and his armies¡­and bring him to justice."

    Preferably by killing him. I was so going to kill Kobayashi, no matter what. Screw bringing him to trial or making him answer for his crimes. I was going to nuke him into oblivion and scatter his ashes so that he would never exist in this universe ever again.

    Killing him was bringing him to justice. According to my sense of justice, of course.

    "Yes¡­and I would like to make a request."

    Kracauer raised his head determinedly and clenched his fingers tightly.

    "We can''t¡­just sit in here and wait. We''ve heard how he has thrown us away and told you to kill us. We''ve heard of all the unforgivable atrocities he pulled¡­how he killed every single human royal family and ursurped their thrones to rule over all the human kingdoms as the Emperor. And how he''s expending soldiers'' lives carelessly and recklessly just to pursue his goal of genocide. We can''t just do nothing. We want to stop him. We want to fight him. We want to reclaim our kingdoms and take back our homes from him. We want to liberate our people from his tyranny."

    I exhaled wearily. "I hate to break it to you, but that will be difficult. I''m not sure if your people even want to be liberated. They''ve been brainwashed and indoctrinated into Kobayashi''s fanatical slaves, zealously loyal to him."

    "We''ve heard. And we''ll find a way to break that spell." Kracauer looked at me, his eyes grave and imploring. "I hope¡­you have a way to destroy whatever foul enchantments he cast to bewitch our people."

    "I''m afraid I don''t¡­" I closed my eyes and considered briefly. "But perhaps Aoyama-kun or any of the Iron Knights will. I''ll have to approach them for help."

    Breaking spells and curses¡­that sounded more like Aoyama Aoi''s kind of thing. As a witch doctor, he was more familiar with curses and enchantments, and possibly how to break them. I would need to contact him and the Iron Knights later.

    "I''ll count on you for that. Also¡­I know this is unreasonable, but¡­we wish to fight too."

    "That''s what I told you," Regis muttered. I nodded.

    "Um, okay. I wouldn''t mind¡­in fact, it would be great if I had your help." I glanced at Regis, and then turned back to Kracauer. "If I recall, one of the regiments under our custody is the Marrina Marine Corps. Since our next target is the Marrina Isles, it would benefit us greatly to have some inside help. Do you think you can talk to their commander and get him to cooperate?"

    "Oh, we have already discussed this." Kracauer smiled grimly. "All of us are ready to defect over to the demonic side and help invade our kingdoms to reclaim our people, if necessary. I know it''s impossible, but we want to directly help in liberating our kingdoms from the so-called Emperor of Humanity. It doesn''t sit well with us to just do nothing and rely on other people to do all the fighting for us."

    I took a deep breath and tilted my head slightly to consider the option. I glanced at Regis, who seemed to be waiting for my response.

    The sly bastard was beaming.

    "If you''re willing to take the risk and trust these humans, then I''ll entrust them to you."

    "What? Really?"

    "Yeah." Regis confirmed with a nod. "I''ve to say, this is a highly unorthodox method, though. None of the other demon commanders are willing to trust humans. You''re probably the only one who would welcome them¡­that said, I don''t know about your men. You''ll have to persuade them to work alongside humans."

    "We''re aware that you can''t trust us, and we don''t blame you for it." Kracauer sounded weary and resigned. "You''re right to suspect us. I would do the same thing if our positions are reversed."

    "Oh, don''t worry about that. I''ve an idea about that."

    "You do?" Kracauer asked, astonished. Regis merely grinned wickedly.

    "As expected of Colonel Tomoyuki."

    "Well¡­so¡­you really can give me the human soldiers?"

    "I can." Regis drummed his fingers on the table. "I wrangled with the ministry of defense and threatened a few nobles, but in the end I managed to convince them that we don''t have the resources to maintain the prisoners'' welfare indefinitely, and that this is the best way to release them. If Kobayashi doesn''t want them back, then we''ll just use them to take back their kingdoms."

    He then turned to gaze at Kracauer.

    "As long as you remember this favor you owe us¡­and never bare your fangs at Morten again, then we have a deal."

    "Deal," Kracauer agreed immediately. There wasn''t even a moment''s hesitation in his answer. "Kobayashi is the greatest threat right now. We''ll never forgive him for corrupting the human kingdoms and taking power for himself."

    "There you have it." Regis returned to me. "You have the human regiments at your disposal. They''ll be incorporated into your battalion¡­but since you have one battalion-sized human force and one entire regiment ¨C your battalion will now become an actual brigade¡­no, a regiment-sized force. Complete this mission successfully, and I''ll make your regiment permanent."

    "We''ll be happy to pledge our forces to you if you help us liberate our kingdoms," Kracauer promised. "I''m not sure how much my word is worth, but¡­I''ll do my best to uphold this promise."

    "Sounds good to me." I turned to him. "Let the Marrina Marines know¡­our next mission is in the Marrina Isles. We''ll be taking the Marrina naval base."

    "¡­huh?"

    Kracauer''s jaw dropped at that. From the way he turned frightfully pale, I could tell what he thought of the chances of success for this mission.

    "Yeah. I was the one who assigned him this mission, especially since I anticipated that he''ll be making use of these guys."

    Regis looked proud of himself. Kracauer switched his gaze from me to the Demon Lord, his dignified composure completely lost.

    "That''s¡­that''s insane! The Marrina naval base is the most fortified and strongest naval positions in Restia! We''ll never be able to break them! We''ll get utterly destroyed by their armada of battleships and cruisers!"

    "And that''s why we need your insider knowledge." I offered a hand to the stunned Kracauer. Beside me, Regis chuckled. That cunning fox had already anticipated everything. Well, I would just have to play into his hands then. "If there''s anyone who knows how to conquer the naval base from the inside out, it''ll be the Marrina Marines."

    Kracauer closed his mouth and swallowed, thinking for a moment. And then he finally nodded, steeling his resolve.

    "I understand. I''ll talk to them."

    Then he smiled.

    "But if we pull this off¡­we''ll make history. You will make history, Colonel. That impregnable naval base has never fallen in all of Restia''s history, not even during humanity''s darkest ages. But if it''s you, then maybe¡­"

    His eyes flared in hope.

    "¡­we just might be able to reclaim our kingdoms from the Tyrant¡­"

 117 Chapter 117: Strategic Planning

    "Colonel Tanaka, this is the surviving senior officer of the 7th Marrina Marine Corps Battalion."

    Major Kracauer introduced me to a burly, muscular man dressed in the camouflaged marine uniform of the Marine Corps.

    "Lieutenant Charlie Bass," the man declared and shook my hand. "Commanding officer of Company L and the sole senior officer left for the 7th Battalion. As such, command falls to me. Not that I want it."

    "Most people wouldn''t want it," I replied. Bass grinned.

    "You''re right." He then turned serious. "The Major here informed me of your plans, and I''ve to say, that''s one hell of a ballsy move."

    "Are you against it?"

    "Hell, no!" Bass burst out laughing. "I love it! My men all do! We can''t express our gratitude enough! To think you''ll actually give us a chance to reclaim our homeland from that bastard so-called emperor! We would die for such a chance!"

    "I rather you don''t die. You''re more useful to me alive."

    Bass''s grin widened and he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

    "That statement alone makes you far better than any other officers I''ve served under."

    "¡­uh, it''s just common sense, though¡­"

    "You''ve no idea how often commanders are willing to expend soldiers'' lives just to achieve an objective," Kracauer muttered gloomily. "We''ve lost so many men that way¡­all just to achieve whatever Command wants."

    "I''m afraid it''s the kind of responsibility we''ve to live with."

    We turned to face Regis Gremory, who strolled casually into the room. He nodded at me.

    "The paperwork''s all done. I''ve twisted several arms and pushed this operation into going ahead. Of course, the responsibility lies solely in you. If you screw up, you''ve to suffer the consequences. And that includes any¡­uh, unforeseen circumstances."

    Regis didn''t need to say it out loud. I understood even without hearing it. If the humans betrayed me midway, then I would have to take the fall. This was my idea, after all.

    Despite the colossal risks, I decided to my faith in them. I wasn''t na?ve enough to completely trust the humans, though, so I had certain precautions in place.

    "All right, get ready. We''ll equip the humans with whatever equipment and vehicles we can spare, as a sign of our goodwill. The rest is up to you, Colonel."

    "Yes, your majesty!"

    I saluted and bowed my head slightly. Then I turned to Kracauer and Bass.

    "I''ll be counting on you guys. Once you''re done with preparations, meet me in the square. I''ll be talking to my own men."

    "Understood. I hope they don''t mind working alongside us."

    I smiled cryptically at Kracauer''s apprehensive statement.

    "I''ll talk to them about it."

    *

    "¡­sir?"

    "Colonel?"

    "What''s¡­going on?"

    As a furor ran through my battalion, I slowly raised my head.

    "First, allow me to apologize for putting you guys through this."

    "T¡­through what, Colonel?"

    Elia was staring at me, confused.

    "I''ve accepted a dangerous mission¡­"

    "That''s nothing new," Gio Vanni muttered, then fell silent when everyone else cast a glare in his direction.

    I cleared my throat and continued.

    "I''m afraid that this time, we''ll be working alongside humans."

    There was a gasp and a chorus of murmurs rippled through the crowd of soldiers. Most of them didn''t know how to react to these news. There was confusion, rage, bitterness, resentment or plain curiosity.

    "I know it''s not ideal," I spoke up. "But this is a chance to change history. As you all know, our next target is the naval harbor in the Marrina Isles. We''ll be trying to capture the naval base and its armada of battleships."

    "Uh huh¡­"

    "And for that, we need inside help. Help from the humans who live inside Marrina. That''s why we will be working alongside the 7th Marrina Marine Corps Battalion. Assisting them will be the Legnica 82nd regiment. That''s a lot of humans."

    "But¡­"

    "We can''t work with humans!"

    "Kill them!"

    I raised my hand to silence the protests.

    "Please do me a favor¡­endure all that hatred in your hearts. We''re not humans. We''re civilized people. We are much better than those murderous breeds. We do not resort to violence and petty crimes. So all I ask of you is tolerance, patience and good behavior. Can you do that?"

    Everyone stared at each other. At least there was no major objection¡­for now. So I decided to push further.

    "Let''s look at the bigger picture for now. If we succeed in this mission, we''ll be rewriting history. I''m sure it''s a small price to pay to have to endure the cooperation and presence of humans to capture the world''s most formidable and impregnable naval base¡­to invade a naval harbor that has never fallen in all of Restia''s history!"

    There was excitement now. It looked like I could appeal to them through this instead. All my soldiers seemed to be eagerly discussing on what sort of fame and prestige we would enjoy if we were to pull this off.

    "But what if they backstab us?!" a soldier shouted from the masses. A Helsfortian named Handry, if I remembered correctly.

    I smiled, already anticipating that.

    "Of course I''m not na?ve enough to think they will just go along with whatever we want. And that''s where you guys come in."

    "¡­?"

    As the soldiers stared at me, puzzled, I spread my arms and gestured to all of them.

    "I''ll be relying on you all to watch my back. If they show any signs of betrayal, report them to me. Don''t take action or matters into your own hands ¨C I don''t want you to jeopardize the mission. But if they try to shoot me, then stop them. Don''t kill them, but stop them. I doubt they will, though. They have as much to benefit from this mission as we do, if not more. And if we liberate Marrina, they might potentially join the Demonic Alliance, and we can gain a huge asset against the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity. Imagine using all of his own armada of battleships, cruisers and destroyers, as well as the soldiers who man them, against him! Would you not relish such irony?"

    "¡­yeah!"

    "But in the meantime, I''ll be trusting you guys to keep an eye on them, to make sure they don''t backstab me, don''t betray us. Of course, given how our customs, histories and cultures are different, it might be possible that we misunderstand them. So again, don''t take matters into your own hands. Report directly to me and I''ll deal with it accordingly."

    "Yes, sir!"

    This was my goal. I wasn''t going to force them into obediently working alongside the humans with an order. That wouldn''t work. There was way too much enmity for that. No, instead I had to give and take. Indulge them in their suspicions and made them feel as if I was depending on them for helping me. With this, I had cleverly manipulated them into cooperating with the humans while cautiously keeping an eye on them for me. This way, they would feel that they were needed, and would enthusiastically report to me without taking actions against the humans behind my back because they thought it necessary to prevent betrayal or something.

    "Just don''t make it too obvious. Don''t draw their suspicion by staring at them openly. I mean, it is common sense. If they catch you staring at them, of course they''ll be put on their guard. At least put on the appearance of trusting them and believing them, and they might open up to us. That will allow you to keep an eye on them without drawing suspicion and it''ll also motivate them to cooperate better with us. Think of the end goal."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Understood, sir!"

    "For the glory of Morten!"

    "For demons!"

    I smiled at the positive response.

    "Good. I''ll be counting on you. Remember, we''re going to need these humans to capture the Marrina Isles. Keep them close, and we might find out more about how the enemy works!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    With that settled, I sighed a breath of relief and moved on to explaining to them our details of the mission.

    *

    That evening, I introduced my commanders to the human commanders. Major Kracauer and Lieutenant Charlie Bass bowed humbly and shook hands with the demon officers, who were dignified and intelligent enough not to show any open hostility that would jeopardize our mission. They acted as I told them to, smiling in a friendly manner.

    "All right¡­so we''ve gathered here to plan a route to the Marrina Isles," I told my officers. "Obviously we can''t go by the sea."

    "Well, I mean, our tanks and APCs can''t travel in water anyway," Gio pointed out, wondering why I was stating the obvious. I shook my head.

    "Actually, our Cerberus APCs are amphibious. They can submerge underwater and travel by sea if necessary. I''m going to make use of that ability to capture the naval harbor, but how we''re going to do it exactly, I still have no idea."

    "We''ll need to get there and assess the situation," Bass agreed. "But the harbor should be as I remember it. If we strike at night, and then go by this coastal route, we''ll be able to use those amphibious vehicles to transport us directly to the battleships."

    "And what are we going to do once we get to the battleships?" Benjamin inquired, thinking deeply. I grinned.

    "Capture them."

    "EH?!"

    "I''m not kidding," I replied. Elia, Gio, Daniel and Benjamin''s reactions were hilarious, but I kept that to myself. "It''s a waste to destroy those battleships¡­especially if we can capture them and use them against our enemy. It''ll be easy to destroy them, but then we''ll face an insurmountable task sieging the human''s capital later. No, if we have all those battleships, we can easily sail up to the coast of Legnica and bombard the capital with tactical missiles, cruise missiles, gauss cannon batteries and railguns. We''ll be able to easily destroy whatever fortresses, defenses or armies they mass against us, gain naval superiority, and establish a beachhead for our invading forces, instead of going through the fortified outposts and gates they have facing the north and west. I know we''ll suffer heavy casualties in doing this, but we''ll be minimizing casualties in the long run and contributing greatly to the war effort."

    I glanced at Kracauer as I said this. He nodded at me.

    "We''ll help you with the liberation of Legnica. We can''t allow that self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity continue to rule over our kingdoms through tyranny and fear, and force us into an endless war of genocide."

    "How do we know¡­?" Elia began, and then shut up. I didn''t even need to glare at her. She remembered my advice. Clearing her throat, she changed her question. "How do we know we can capture these battleships?"

    "My men will bear the full responsibility," Bass replied. "We''ll infiltrate the battleships by sea and hijack the control rooms. We Marines have been trained for that."

    "Yeah," I agreed. "The Marine Corps specialize in amphibious assault and operations, and they are trained to seize or defend naval bases. They also develop tactics, techniques and equipment that are used by amphibious landing forces in coordination with the army and navy. They''re the elite infantry, the most well-trained human soldiers and the best of the best¡­for the humans, anyway."

    Bass was staring at me, amazed.

    "How did you know all that?!"

    We had the United States Marine Corps back in my world, and I devoured a lot of sci-fi military novels that were about Space Marines or the United States Colonial Marine Corps, so I was pretty well-versed in the mythology and history behind them. But obviously I couldn''t tell Bass that, so I smiled enigmatically.

    "Intelligence."

    "¡­oh. Well, in any case, Colonel Tanaka is right. We specialize in these sort of operations, so we''ll take responsibilities for it."

    "In any case, we can''t let them have all the fun, so I''m also assigning Company L and Company H to raid and capture the other battleships. Depending on the number of ships at the naval base, we might need to split up the infantry accordingly."

    "What do we do, sir?"

    Daniel raised his hand.

    "The tanks will be positioned in the forest." I placed my finger on the holographic map, which displayed a dense, thick forest beside the coast. "The isles are isolated from the mainland, which means it''ll take time for them to get reinforcements. Nonetheless, the moment they realize their battleships are getting captured and hijacked, they''ll be sending allied human forces to capture them back. This is where you guys come in."

    I trailed my finger and planted it on the coast that separated the mainland from the Isles, where the naval harbor was located.

    "The moment we confirm that all the battleships and destroyers are captured, the tanks will move out into the open and intercept any naval soldiers trying to get to the naval base. We''ll create a killing zone and choke up this point to prevent their reinforcements from getting across. Capture this jetty and defend it at all costs."

    There was a jetty with ferries that would transport soldiers from the mainland into the isles. Soldiers from Legnica or other kingdoms¡­unlike the Marines of Marrina, they probably wouldn''t be well-suited to attacking an armored spearhead of tanks.

    They would get crushed rather easily. Or so I hoped.

    Then again, I had a Hellblade with my company of tanks, so nothing short of a hero would be able to defeat them. The only threat the Marrina Isles could pose was the armada of battleships whose firepower could pulverize entire columns of tanks into smoking wrecks, which was why I was only going to move them out the moment we captured them.

    "You said it would be easy to destroy the battleships," Bass spoke up uncertainly. "What did you mean by that?"

    I smiled nastily. "I have an Ancient Dragon. All I need to do is summon him, get him to cast Draconic Meteor or an apocalypse-class spell, and I would be able to nuke not just the fleet of battleships but the entire naval harbor from existence."

    Bass and Kracauer glanced each other and swallowed apprehensively. They probably detected the warning laced into the undertone of my words. Backstab us, turn the cannons of their newly captured battleships on us, and I would wipe them out. There was no room for betrayal, for I would visit upon them vengeance a hundredfold.

    "If you''re that powerful, why haven''t you gone to destroy the fortress in Havia City yet?" Kracauer asked hesitantly. "You should be able to¡­"

    "Because of your heroes," I replied. "They have defenses against my spells. I might be able to destroy a huge chunk of the armies and fortresses, but there''s still at least ten surviving heroes in the capital. I''ll be outnumbered. Not to mention such a spell costs me lots of mana. The moment I use it, and the heroes survive, I''ll be vulnerable to a counterattack. They would utterly destroy me."

    "That makes sense," Bass agreed. Kracauer shuddered.

    "The heroes certainly have powers beyond our imagination. Just what sort of monsters are they?"

    "They are no heroes," Elia grumbled. I quickly raised a hand to placate them.

    "I''m referring to the Evelyn''s Chosen, of course."

    "No, they''re right," Bass growled. "Even though those so-called heroes helped us in the first phase of the war, they backstabbed us and betrayed us. Killed our kings and queens and ursurped the throne. Forcibly married all our princesses into a gigantic harem. Enslaved our population and turned them into obedient slaves. What sort of heroes do that?! They''re no heroes¡­they''re villains."

    "There''s still the Iron Knights, who are fighting on your side."

    "Oh, right." Kracauer nodded. "We appreciate what they''ve done for us. It''ll be an honor to fight alongside them again."

    "Speaking of which¡­"

    I opened up a holographic window. Aoyama Aoi''s face appeared on the screen.

    "Tanaka-kun," he addressed me. "It''s been a while."

    "How are you guys?" I asked. "I heard you were beaten pretty badly by Kobayashi and his cronies."

    Aoyama winced at that.

    "Pretty well, considering. I''ve healed everybody with my healing spells, so there shouldn''t be any issues." He narrowed his eyes. "Did you call us to¡­express your concern? If so, thank you."

    I could detect the sarcasm in his tone. He was more certain that I called them to gloat over them or something.

    "No, actually¡­I have a favor to ask."

    "¡­a favor?"

    "Yeah. You''re a Witch Doctor, right? You specialize in curses and all that."

    Aoyama nodded. "Yes. What about it? You need me to curse somebody?"

    "The direct opposite." I glanced at Bass and Kracauer, who were waiting patiently. "Can you remove curses? You know¡­Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition and how he uses it to enslave humans into becoming his zealous followers? How he brainwashes and indoctrintates them?"

    "¡­ah." Aoyama blinked and considered. "Now that you''ve mentioned it, it never occurred to me. I might be able to. Give me a few days and I''ll find out."

    I nodded. "Let me know if you figure something out."

    "Sure thing. I''ll get Hoshizaki-san to bring me over when I''m done, and I''ll lift the curse from whoever you need me to¡­"

    "Actually¡­I need you to lift it from an entire population."

    Aoyama grimaced. "That''s¡­quite the difficult task. But I''ll see what I can do. I''ll let you kow."

    "Thanks."

    The hologram winked off and I turned back to my commanders with a grin.

    "If Aoyama succeeds, we''ll be able to turn the population of Marrina Isles to our side. Not only will we liberate them from Kobayashi''s tyranny, we might be able to persuade us to help us save Legnica from Kobayashi once and for all."

    "¡­so how do we get to the Marrina Isles?"

    At Daniel''s question, I turned to Bass, who stepped forward to take over the holographic map.

    "We''ll be able to avoid major patrol routes and bastions by going through the forests. My men have been trained to march on foot to traverse such difficult terrain¡­"

    "No need for that. We have all-terrain APCs. They''ll be able to move through the forest."

    "Roger that." Bass nodded. "The forest should keep us out of visibility, and besides, there''s no settlements near the forest. Just a garrison from the kingdom of Heldor. They''ll be the first to respond and send reinforcements. But they''re too distant to notice a force moving through the forest¡­here."

    He traced his finger through the southern part of the forest. I studied it and nodded.

    "So we''re taking the long way, huh?"

    "We''ve no choice¡­the other routes will bring us through the Heldor garrison or place us right in the open where everyone can see us."

    "Great. Then we''ll do that. Good thing we have APCs. That will cut our traveling time by a lot."

    I sighed, scrutinizing the map. The route was not ideal, and I was certain we would end up being delayed a lot, but it was better than ebing caught before we could even commence the mission.

    "Upon reaching the coast, we''ll camp inside the forest here. Obviously you do not want to come out of the cover of the forest or the battleships will bombard us to oblivion."

    "Understood. Then we''ll set up camp in here and send scouts ahead to keep an eye on the naval harbor."

    I agreed with Bass''s assessment.

    "How are we supposed to move out to hijack the ships then?" Elia wanted to know.

    Bass scanned the map for a moment before he finally settled on a single location. He placed his finger on a small lagoon.

    "This is a mangrove swamp, surrounded by trees. Perfect for cover."

    "We can submerge our Cerberus APCs in there and then swim underwater all the way until the ships," I suggested. Bass nodded. I was getting excited, but then I suddenly remembered something. "Um, but won''t they be able to detect us on sonar?"

    Everyone stared at me.

    "Uh¡­what''s sonar, sir?"

    "Never mind." I shook my head. "I was thinking detection magic or something."

    "Detection magic¡­hmm¡­there would probably be mages on board, but I don''t think they will cast detection magic unless they need to, or unless they''re looking for something. Even if they did, they might mistake us for whales or sea monsters."

    Bass''s information was reassuring.

    "Even if they do, as long as we stay submerged, they probably would have no way of attacking us."

    "So they don''t have torpedoes?"

    Everyone stared at me again. I tried again.

    "Weapons that can shoot underwater."

    "They have harpoons, but I doubt they will be able to turn their guass cannon turrets downward or direct their missile launchers underwater."

    "That''s good." I nodded and looked at everyone determinedly. "Let''s go with that then."

    "Yes, sir!"

    *

    The next day, we gathered in the plaza, all prepared and loaded up. We had all our weapons and gear stored in the tanks and APCs ¨C and true to his word, Regis had procured a new convoy of Cerberus APCs to transport the human troops.

    Said human armies were standing in front of me right now. They were on either side of my core battalion, who stood straight at attention to impress upon the humans their superiority. I was glad to see that my men were taking my advice and not trying to make their suspicions too obvious. They were, as I told them to, doing their best to put on an appearance of trusting the humans, and not too blatantly doubting them.

    "All right. As you all know, we''ll be heading to the Marrina Isles to capture the Marrina naval base. I know it''s a daunting task, but that''s why we''ve the help of these human regiments beside us. I know you probably aren''t used to working together, and I won''t be unreasonable enough to ask you to trust each other or quell your hatred and resentment or whatever, but I''ll ask you to at least cooperate for this mission. This mission is far more important than any of our petty grievances. The fate of Morten, and for the humans, the fate of their home kingdoms, lies on our shoulders. Do not let your personal feelings get in the way of this mission!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Great. Then let''s load up!"

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    My men then turned away and began marching to their respective APCs, or in Daniel and his company''s case, their tanks. I watched over them for a few minutes, the brigade of over ten thousand men and demons moving across the plaza to the countless armored vehicles that awaited them. It reminded me of my time back on Earth when I was an Imperial Guard player. I was an armored company player who made use of a lot of tanks, and tried to cram my infantry into Valkyrie assault carriers and Chimera Armored Personnel Carriers, but the core of my army revolved around my Leman Russ tanks because they were my favorite units on the table. Tanks were the way to go. Oh, and the Shadowsword I had was the centerpiece of my army, a model around which I built my armored Brigade. Though it wasn''t so much an armored Brigade because it included a lot of infantry, surprisingly enough. I didn''t have a choice. If I wanted the Command Points, I had to include infantry for a Battalion or Brigade Detachment because a Spearhead Detachment only netted me one Command Point, and the Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachment gave no Command Benefits at all¡­

    "¡­sir?"

    "Oh, sorry. I was spacing out for a second."

    I shook my head when Jurgen called out to me, and quickly followed my aide to the Hellblade. The Savior of Moria was waiting for me, its engines humming thunderously at the center of the armored column.

    Man, we look more like Armageddon Steel Legion or one of the mechanized infantry regiments than an actual tank regiment like my homebrewed Draconian Armored Defenders. And I even modeled my army after the Cadian Regimental Doctrine¡­well, at least we have lots of plasma weapons, especially my tanks and heavy infantry.

    "So where are we going?"

    Jurgen was at the wheel, as usual. I stared at him.

    "Huh? Didn''t I tell you yesterday? We''re going to Marrina Isles."

    "Oh¡­right. By the forest route, right?"

    "That''s right."

    The drivers were briefed on the route shortly after the commanders'' meeting. They were still somewhat unsure, but we provided them with the route indicated on the holographic map.

    "This is going to take a while¡­"

    "A few days," I agreed. Just in time for Aoyama to appear with whatever spell or potion he needed to lift the Kingly Disposition effect from the Marrina masses. "Take your time. Be careful. Don''t be reckless."

    "Roger that, sir."

    Right before we moved out, though, I received a message over the vox.

    "Colonel Tomoyuki¡­a moment please."

    "¡­Lilith-san?!"

    My jaw dropped when I heard the familiar voice.

    "Yes." A holographic image of Lilith appeared on my pict-screen, showing that she was just outside The Savior of Moria. "I''ll be coming with you on this mission."

    "EH?!"

    Lilith giggled when she saw my stunned reaction. Placing a finger on her lips, she smiled mysteriously.

    "You didn''t think I''ll let you have all the fun of creating history to yourself, did you?"

 118 Chapter 118: Marrina Isles

    The Marrina Isles were beautiful.

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    I would have said that they resembled Haiwaii, except that I hadn''t been to Haiwaii before. Nonetheless, from afar, I could see an almost crescent-shaped island surrounded by islets, foamy waves and verdant vegetation.

    Along the inner curve of the island was the revered Marrina naval harbor. Dozens of battleships, cruisers and destroyers were docked within the protective embrace of the curved shore, their gauss cannon batteries and railguns pointed outward. Any invading fleet would be utterly devastated by the sheer bombardment the Marrina navy could bring to bear.

    "That''s quite the terrifying firepower," I remarked as I zoomed in onto the naval harbor with my glasses. Kracauer and the other officers stared at me, surprised. Unlike me, they had to rely on binoculars and visual equipment.

    "You can see from here?"

    "My glasses are enchanted with magic and modified," I explained, then returned to studying the naval fortress. "This is going to be tough. They don''t have submarines, right?"

    "What are submarines?" Lieutenant Charlie Bass asked, puzzled.

    "Vehicles that can travel underwater, fully submerged."

    "You mean like our Cerberus APCs?" Captain Elia Kratz asked. I rubbed my chin as I pondered over that.

    "¡­sort of, yeah."

    "I don''t believe Marrina has that sort of technology yet," Bass replied after a few seconds of contemplation. "In fact, this is the first time we''ve heard of these APCs. The closest we have are primitive versions of your tanks, but they rely on ballistic weaponry rather than magic or exotic energies."

    "Plasma," I corrected. Bass shrugged.

    "Yeah, that."

    "Well, that''s good. It means we don''t have to worry about getting sunk by hunter-killer submarines and torpedoes." I pushed my glasses up my nose as I considered our next option. "So here''s the plan. We''re going to move out in the evening, then board the respective ships, hijack them and seize control. Another team will be capturing the naval base itself, to make sure their artillery and cannons won''t be used against the captured ships."

    "Roger that."

    "So you''re proposing that we move out under the cover of night?" Bass asked. I nodded.

    "I''m following your suggestion, Lieutenant."

    "Where do we move out?" Kracauer asked as he glanced around. We were located at the edge of the forest, taking cover behind thick foliage and dense clusters of trees, but obviously a convoy of Cerberus APCs rolling out into the track would be far too visible. "I mean, you said something about a swamp."

    "I''ve sent scouts ahead to secure the area. They should be coming back anytime now."

    As always, Bass was on top of things. As expected of the Marines.

    We retreated back to the temporary base camp we had set up, next to the tanks whose engines were idling. Most of the soldiers were catching some sleep and getting as much rest as possible. I didn''t blame them. It would be a tough mission tonight, and I needed them at their best.

    "Do you really think this will work, Colonel?" Elia asked. I shrugged.

    "We''ll make it work."

    Everyone stared at me, but the demons in particular believed in me. Apparently I had shown them miracles again and again, so they had unjustifiable faith in me. Funnily enough, I had no memory whatsoever of performing a miracle in front of them.

    Well, whatever.

    As for the humans, this was the first step to reclaiming their home, and therefore they were determined to go through with this regardless of whether they believed in me or not. It was do or die for them, and they were prepared to sell their lives to liberate their homeland. Particularly the Marrina Marine Corps.

    "Anyway, get some rest, people. We have a tough night ahead."

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    Everyone saluted and then returned to their respective vehicles or tents. I returned to my Hellblade and climbed atop the cupola. It was a pity, but I would not be commanding this mighty super-heavy tank into battle tonight. I had left it to Jurgen, and command had fallen to Daniel. The Savior of Moria was a powerful symbol, one that would raise the spirits of soldiers when they see it lumbering into the battlefield to reinforce them. It wasn''t just a super-heavy tank that could turn the tide of battle. It was the very spirit and embodiment of Morten resolve itself.

    However, I planned to personally capture the flagship ¨C the Poseidon, which was the Summit-class battleship in the middle of the fleet. The biggest and most powerful battleship, it was bristling with gauss cannons and railguns, armed with tactical missile launchers and an array of rockets. As this was still early modern Restia, battleships continued to dominate the seas. The advent of aircraft carriers as capital ships still hadn''t arrived yet, nor had the submarines been invented to challenge these mighty leviathans of the ocean.

    "Sir!"

    A young man dressed in the camouflage uniform of the Marrinna Corps hurried over to me. I turned around to face him. At the same time, Bass appeared out of nowhere.

    "What is it, son?"

    "We found and secured the mangrove bay, sir!"

    He was one of the scouts, evidently. I nodded and following Bass''s lead, followed the scout to the swamp. As we suspected, there was nobody there. The scouts had taken up positions to guard the place and kept a lookout for wanderers from the isles, but so far there was nothing.

    "Good job, men."

    Bass was beaming. He turned to me proudly and saluted.

    "Area is secured, sir. Once it turns dark, we can get ready to move out."

    "Roger that." I nodded at him. "Excellent work, Lieutenant. Let''s inform the rest of the regiment and get ready for tonight."

    *

    "Are you sure you''ll be coming along?"

    "Why not?"

    While the rest of the soldiers were resting, I ended up approaching Lilith. She was by herself, sitting on a boulder that overlooked a clear stream that gently flowed toward the sea. The trees provided a good screen so that the sailors or Marines in the Marrina naval harbor wouldn''t spot a red-haired vampire relaxing by the river (not that they could see her from this distance). She didn''t mingle much with the soldiers, or perhaps they kept a respectful distance from her.

    Consequently, she was left alone, cutting a solitary figure by the riverbank.

    "Well¡­you haven''t fought along my regiment much, have you? Do you know how things work around here?"

    "I''ll learn," Lilith replied simply. I had nothing to say to that. It was true.

    "All right then. I''ll be counting on you. And good luck."

    "I hope we succeed." Lilith was smiling into the distance. She reached out and squeezed my hand. "If you really pull this off, we''ll be making history, you know?"

    "We''ll have to accomplish the mission first."

    To be honest, I hadn''t thought that far or what came after the mission. My focus was totally on capturing the ships, how to deal with the resistance we would face from navy ratings and the crews, and how to prevent the ships from firing on each other, wasting our efforts. Nothing more.

    "Yes, we do." Lilith glanced at me. "I have faith in you."

    "Uh, thanks."

    We both continued to stare at the river for a few more moments, watching the fish swim underneath the crystal-clear surface. It reminded me of the beaches in Okinawa. The waters there were so clean, and the scenery was so beautiful.

    How I missed my home¡­

    Splash!

    That sound caught my ear. Straightening up, I saw a huge splash right at the edge of the river, where it connected with the sea.

    That''s a little too big to be a fish¡­could it be a monster?

    I jumped to my feet and hurried after the source of the splash.

    "Tomoyuki-kun? What''s the matter?"

    "Just going to check that out."

    I gestured toward the source of the splash. Lilith looked at me curiously, but she knew better than to dismiss it. She picked up her spear and nodded.

    To be honest, I doubted it was anything big, but I appreciated the caution all the same. That said, I didn''t bother to draw my Blood Dragon Sword. Whatever it was, it didn''t have the confidence to approach me or Lilith. It could be a civilian from the main Marrina Isles, swimming to the shore or forest for fishing or exploration.

    We will find out.

    There was another splash and I caught sight of a young girl my age breaking out of the water. She elegantly swam toward shore and pulled herself out of the water. Dressed in what looked like a two-piece swimsuit, she picked up a towel that was hanging by the beach and dried herself in the beach before sitting on what looked like a wooden boat.

    I felt like banging my head over my stupidity.

    Well, of course she couldn''t have swam all the way from the Marrina Isles. She would have to get here by boat.

    I scanned her figure and noted that she had a small combat knife strapped to her left thigh. Beside her was a basket of clams and lobsters. Picking it up, she brought it over to the boat where several more baskets awaited.

    It seemed that she was done for the day. She wrapped the towel around her waist and put on her sandals before dragging the boat across the sand. It scraped loudly across the beach, but the simple wooden vessel wasn''t that heavy.

    Clearly the girl didn''t notice my presence or the presence of my soldiers. Glancing back, I saw that the tanks and APCs were invisible from this distance, hidden from view by the trees. However, the voices of my soldiers floated here and there occasionally.

    Despite the voices being audible, the girl didn''t break a sweat and continued with her task of pulling her boat to shore.

    What should I do?

    Before I could decide, there was movement from the trees, and a group of Marines burst out, aiming their rifles at her.

    "Hands up!"

    The girl stared at them coolly, but didn''t panic. Her eyes narrowed, but she neither did anything reckless nor drop to her knees to beg for her life. Instead, she slowly raised her hands.

    "I''ve a license," she announced calmly. "If you don''t believe me, you can search my boat. My ID and license are all there."

    "Guys, guys!" I shouted as I barreled into the beach. "Guns down! Leave her be!"

    The girl turned to watch me, a flicker of surprise in her eyes, but she said nothing. The Marines lowered their rifles and glanced at each other uncertainly.

    "But sir," the sergeant of the squad spoke up. "She knows we''re here. I''m not sure if we can just let her go like this."

    "What do you plan to do?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Silence her? Surely you''re not going to kill a civilian?"

    "No, of course not, sir. But the risk incurred by letting her go is too great. If she returns to the Marrina Isles and tell the people there, it''ll jeopardize our entire mission."

    I paused. The sergeant had a point. As much as I believed the girl wouldn''t do us no harm, I couldn''t risk the entire mission based on my personal feelings. Admittedly, I didn''t know the girl at all and couldn''t vouch for her.

    "I don''t know what mission you''re talking about, and honestly it''s none of my business. But if I say I won''t tell anyone, you wouldn''t believe me, right?"

    "It''s not that we don''t believe you, ma''am," one of the Marines spoke up nervously. "But our lives depend on this operation staying a secret¡­"

    "¡­fine. Then do whatever you want to me." resigned, the girl bared her throat. "Make it quick and painless. That''s all I ask."

    "Now, now. We''ve no intention of killing anyone." The sergeant raised both hands to placate her. He glanced at me for approval. "We''re just going to ask you to stay with us until the mission is over."

    That sounded like a plan.

    "Sure." The girl paused for a moment and stared at her catch. "But you''ll have to compensate me. I need to sell those, but if I''m held here for a day, they''ll lose their freshness and I won''t be able to sell them at the best price."

    "The military will buy those from you at the market rate," I spoke up. The Marines looked delighted. All we brought along were rations, so it would be a rare treat for my men to have fresh seafood for their meals before the mission. "I hope you don''t mind?"

    The girl actually smiled brilliantly at that. "We have a deal."

    Apparently the girl, Atlantea, was a fisherwoman who made a living by fishing lobsters, clams and fish from the sea. She would venture this far to the shore sometimes in search of mudcrabs, which were delicious when cooked with spices and egg. Those were the same crustaceans she was now selling to us.

    When we brought her back, we caused quite the furor, with the soldiers gaping at her. Bass quickly took charge and assigned a small detail to watch her. Before long, she integrated herself into the regiment by helping us cook the seafood. The soldiers took to her warmly, and she didn''t seem to resent being held here against her will.

    "That''s quite the catch you got," Lilith remarked as she rejoined the group. I shrugged.

    "Sergeant Hawke found her. He didn''t think it was worth the risk to let her go, so she stays with us until the mission is over. To prevent snitching and all that."

    Lilith nodded as she folded her arms. "Makes sense."

    I was about to rejoin the group and have a bite of seafood when I suddenly noticed a plume of smoke fuming from above. Atlantea noticed it too, and for the first time, she panicked.

    "That''s¡­!"

    "What''s going on?"

    "Sergeant Mkoll! Take your squad and check it out!" Bass barked, the first to react as always. I nodded and joined Sergeant Mkoll, a tall, lean man with a great aptitude of scouting.

    "I''ll join you."

    "Please take me with you!"

    Atlantea hurried forward, flanked by Sergeant Bros and his men, who were the security detail assigned to her.

    I exchanged glances with Bass, and he shrugged.

    "You seem to know something about this," I remarked. Atlantea swallowed and nodded somewhat apprehensively.

    "That''s the Seafort Village. The flames are coming from the Seafort Village!"

    I clicked my tongue. So the source of the smoke was a settlement near here after all. Thanks to Bass, we had avoided it by taking the long way, but I couldn''t in my conscience ignore the fire. Not when the nearest place that could assist them was the naval base that was so far away, separated by a body of water.

    "Captain Kratz, you''re in charge here. Lieutenant Bass, you''re with me. Grab a squad of Marines. We''ll need them. Hopefully the locals will think we''re from the naval base. Atlantea-san, you seem to be familiar with the land, so lead the way."

    "Gladly!"

    Bass barked a few instructions and selected a squad of Marines and we immediately ploughed after the sprinting Atlantea. Sergeant Bros''s squad followed along, because they were tasked to watch over her, and they would do that to their death.

    It took about thirty minutes to reach the village on foot, and to my surprise it wasn''t a normal inferno. Rather, the village was being plundered and raided by¡­

    "¡­Marrina soldiers?"

    Bass narrowed his eyes when he saw the uniform of the raiders. They were shooting the villagers and laughing hysterically. Several of the soldiers chased down screaming women and knocked them down before proceeding to **** them. Others indulged in slaughter, looting the wooden houses and setting them aflame. Those villagers who knelt to beg for mercy were shot immediately, and pools of their blood ran across the wooden piers that stretched across the beach.

    "¡­no¡­"

    Atlantea''s voice quivered.

    "Colonel, your orders?" Bass demanded, his voice stretched.

    "Kill them all," I replied without hesitation.

    The Marines took up position inside the forest and sniped the soldiers in the open. As their comrades fell about, jerked by bullets, the surviving soldiers quickly fled into the burning houses, only to run out again when they realized they had stupidly burned down their cover and risked being incinerated if they took shelter inside those houses. Forced to rely on makeshift barricades of logs, more of them were being mowed down by the precise volley of fire from the Marrina Marines.

    However, more were racing away and diving toward the beach, trying to make for the forest.

    I didn''t let them.

    The pools of blood that had spread underneath the victims began to stir. Closing my eyes, I coaxed them to life with my spells, raising the undead.

    "I''ll grant you vengeance," I whispered.

    The dead villagers rose, animated by necromantic magic, and they lunged at the soldiers. Within seconds, the murderers found themselves attacked by their former victims, eviscerated, torn apart or chewed by the relentless zombies.

    It wasn''t just the zombies.

    The pools of blood sprouted upward like geysers and transformed into blood ghouls. Moving at incredible speeds, they streaked across the village in a flash of crimson and pierced the screaming, fleeing Marrina soldiers. Many hardened killers were ripped apart in an instant, torn to pieces by the terrifying, near shapeless figures of the ghouls.

    "I don''t understand though," Bass murmured as he took another potshot. Another Marrina soldier screamed as he toppled over, a hole in his head. "Why are they killing the villagers and looting them? Since when did the Marrina military turn into a bunch of bandits?"

    "Ever since Seafort Village seceded from the Marrina Isles kingdom and refused to pay the tithe and taxes to the Emperor of Humanity." Atlantea''s voice was dripping with bitterness. "Since then, the heroes have been harassing us, threatening to destroy us if we refuse to pledge our loyalty to them and the Emperor."

    She glanced at the smoke rising from the burning wooden houses on the seaside village and shook her head sadly.

    "I didn''t think they would actually do it¡­until now."

    While in the midst of massacring the rest of the Marrina soldiers before they could escape and inform the main naval base of what had transpired in Seafort Village, I turned to Atlantea with a grin.

    "Good thing I''m an anti-hero, eh?"

 119 Chapter 119: Atlantea of the Marrina Isles

    It didn''t take long before we mopped up the rest of the soldiers. We left no survivors, and I assigned corpsmen and medics to take care of the wounded villagers while burning the corpses of the dead Marrina soldiers.

    With that done, I turned to Atlantea.

    "Earlier, you said something about Seafort Village seceding from the Marrina Isles and something about a tithe¡­do you mind elaborating more on that? I would like details."

    Atlantea nodded. During the massacre, she had been tending to the wounded children and even now she was looking after a young girl who was crying, bandaging the ten-year-old''s wounds. With her task done, she left it to the corpsmen and stood up.

    "It started a few weeks ago."

    Atlantea sagged as she recalled the events that had led up to today. Resting a hand on her forehead, she glanced wearily at the sky.

    "After the hero Kobayashi killed our king and queen during the all-human kingdom conference he held, he arrived here to stamp his authority and place his cronies in charge. As his goal is to conquer the demonic continent of Morten eventually, he immediately increased the recruitment rate of soldiers in the Marine Corps and navy. However, because a lot of the manpower was diverted to the military, the naval shipyards began to suffer from a lack of labor. Kobayashi attempted to solve this problem by conscripting laborers from the nearby villages on the mainland to serve as builders in the naval base. My father was forcibly taken last week by the Marrina navy to work in the shipyards."

    "My father too!"

    The girl who Atlantea was tending to cried out, her eyes red and teary.

    "They took my father to work in the shipyards. And Nii-san¡­my big brother was conscripted into the navy!"

    "¡­no wonder there''s so few males here."

    I looked around, but I saw that it was mostly women, the elderly and children. There wasn''t even a single man in the village.

    "They took all the male adults and youths away," Atlantea explained bitterly. "For the war effort. For working in the shipyard and docks. They claim it''s for the betterment of humanity¡­.at least the so-called emperor did, but all they''re doing is destroying our livelihoods, tearing apart families and emptying our villages. At this rate, we won''t be able to survive."

    "I want my father and brother back!" the girl wailed.

    "Were the men from this village and other villages among the soldiers?" I asked. Atlantea considered briefly and then shook her head.

    "I recognize none of them."

    "¡­huh. It does puzzle me why they would pillage and attack one of their own villages."

    "And this was all¡­"

    "Ordered by the heroes," Atlantea affirmed. "I heard it from Kobayashi himself. The emperor personally came here to reprimand us before he left for Morten. He left a warning, and said if we do not comply and swear fealty to him, he would see us destroyed."

    "What the f¡­"

    Kobayashi Kenji was sounding more and more like the most clich¨¦ and atrocious archvillain ever. Come on, even for a bastard like him, pulling this sort of villainous and tyrannical stunts was just too exaggerated. He wasn''t this extreme¡­

    Or maybe he was. He just didn''t have the power to flaunt his true nature on Earth. But with him becoming hero and now emperor, he was letting all the power go to his head. Even then, this was too absurd. The guy was becoming less of a real human being and more of the ultimate caricature of an archvillain who was doing evil things for the sake of being evil. There was no real motive, no logic or reasoning that drove his tyranny.

    He was evil because he was the antagonist. Period.

    Well, whatever the case, I still have to stop him.

    Sighing, I glanced at Atlantea.

    "We''ll see what we can do."

    "You¡­don''t seem to be with the emperor."

    Atlantea was studying the uniforms of the Marrina Marines under my command, a quizzical expression on her face.

    "No, we''re not. We''re¡­uh, a resistance movement."

    I wasn''t sure if telling her the truth was a good idea. If she knew that I had an army of demons at my command, she might flip out.

    Atlantea''s eyes widened when she heard that, though. She stared at me, a complicated expression flashing across her face.

    "Resistance movement¡­rebelling against the Emperor?"

    "¡­sort of, I guess?"

    "Please take me with you!"

    Her response was immediate. She bowed her head slightly and urgently implored me, but I could see a fierce look of determination in her eyes.

    "I need to save my father!"

    "We''ll save your father for you," I replied. Atlantea shook her head stubbornly.

    "I appreciate it, but I really want to be there¡­to help¡­to see my father and make sure he''s all right!"

    "Lady, you''re not a trained soldier. You''ll get in the way in our operations."

    Actually, I wasn''t a trained soldier either, but I did have plenty of experience fighting, so that didn''t count.

    "You don''t understand," Atlantea insisted. "You need me as a guide. I''ll lead your soldiers to where my father and the other men are being held."

    "Speaking of which, are they being held against their will? If I''m not mistaken, Kobayashi has the ability to brainwash and indoctrinate people into his fanatical, devotional followers. It''ll be difficult to rescue your father and those men if they don''t want to be saved."

    "As far as I know, no. Not all of us are affected." Atlantea paused to consider. "But now that you mention it, there certainly has been a huge difference between the ways people reacted to his rule. Some are extremely loyal to him for no reason, to the point of insanity or obsession. Like those soldiers that attacked us. Most of the people living in the Marrina Isles are affected by a compulsive need to prove their loyalty to the emperor. But us outlying villages aren''t affected by whatever compels the others to be so devoted to the emperor."

    So there were exceptions. I wasn''t sure if Atlantea was telling the truth or if she was making stuff up to convince us to rescue her father and the other villagers, but I decided to assume that it was the truth for now. If it wasn''t, then I would have to rely on Aoyama Aoi to come up with a counter-curse to lift the brainwashing effect off the citizens of the Marrina Isles.

    "I''ll be honest with you. Our primary objective is to raid the naval harbor and hijack all the battleships, destroyers and cruisers, bringing them under our control. We''ll only carry out rescue operations and liberate your father and the male villagers after we''ve gained control over the Marrina navy and their ships."

    "That''s fair enough." Atlantea didn''t look pleased, but she didn''t protest.

    "There''s no point freeing all the workers when the navy will just blow us to smithereens with their battleships," I explained. "Perhaps they won''t want to fire upon their own naval harbor, but I''m not taking that risk. Besides, they''ll send men and soldiers to quell the rebellion, so I want to take them out before freeing the laborers."

    "¡­I understand."

    Atlantea sounded reluctant, but she didn''t argue. She knew the fate of her father and the male villagers rested on our shoulders, and that my logic was incontrovertible. It would be folly to mount a rescue operation right under the nose of enemy-crewed battleships and a harbor that would be swarming with soldiers soon after an open rebellion.

    That''s what my tanks are for¡­but even my armor company wouldn''t be able to withstand the massive firepower from the battleships.

    Anyone who played Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance knew how outclassed land units were by naval units.

    "But¡­"

    Atlantea didn''t give up. She stared determinedly at me.

    "Please consider this. If you free my father and the other laborers, they will surely join you in the fight. They''ll help you fight against the soldiers stationed at the naval harbor. We can even cause a diversion. The sailors and crews from the ships will disembark and get into the naval harbor to try and quell the uprising. Your men can use that chance to capture the ships when they''re relatively empty."

    "¡­that''s a good idea."

    I hated to admit it, but Atlantea raised a very good point. Indeed, a diversion would allow our mission to go a lot smoother. If the sailors and crews really left their ships to deal with the rebellion of the workers, there wouldn''t be enough navy ratings or armsmen left to adequately protect the ships from boarding action. We would capture the ships much faster and more effectively, and then shell the hell out of the sailors who attempt to reboard the ships.

    "I''ll consider it."

    "Please do."

    Atlantea bowed her head, but her eyes remained fierce. There was a fire lit inside her blue pupils that couldn''t be extinguished by the sea.

    I would hate to be her enemy. Kobayashi was an idiot for antagonizing the natives and indulging in his tyrannical behavior.

    "Sir!"

    As if on cue, Lieutenant Bass raced upward and saluted. I turned to him.

    "What is it, Lieutenant?"

    "We found quite a few¡­things. You might want to look at this."

    Following the veteran Marine officer, I found myself staring at a few cruisers anchored next to the shore.

    "These are the boats we use for naval operations," Bass explained grimly. "Transport vessels. A full complement of them."

    I studied them for a moment, unable to believe my luck. A grin spread across my face.

    "Holy Hedas, so we already have a small fleet of enemy ships fall into our hands even before our operation begins."

    "Wait, so we''re not going to scuttle and destroy them?"

    Bass looked confused. I stared at him.

    "Why would you do that? Our objective is to capture as many enemy ships as possible to use them against the enemy eventually. Naval assets are among the most powerful forces a commander can have. Imagine an armada of battleships bombarding Legnica from the shore. Nothing they have will be able to stand up to the firepower of a fleet."

    "Yes, but¡­even so¡­"

    "No, wait." An idea popped into my head. I turned toward the naval harbor as I slowly turned the idea around in my mind. "I think I have an even better use for them¡­"

    "¡­huh?"

    Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

    I glanced back at Bass with a smile. "Do you think the Marrina navy will be able to tell you guys apart from the soldiers they just dispatched here? Or would they register you as missing?"

    A grin crept over Bass''s grizzled face when he caught onto my meaning. Glancing at his camouflage uniform and the Marrina Marine Corps badge, he nodded.

    "Hmm¡­we are wearing the same uniform after all¡­"

    *

    The sentry on duty at the naval harbor didn''t notice that the men aboard the cruisers dispatched earlier that day were completely different from the soldiers who left the Marrina Isles. He didn''t realize that out of the four cruisers that set sail earlier that day only one had returned. All he saw was the Marrina Marine Corps uniform and badge, Bass''s Lieutenant bars, and the small squad of twelve grim-faced Marines lining up in disciplined formations on deck, so he waved them in and allowed the single cruiser to dock.

    Bass glowered at the private, as if challenging him for wasting his time, so the sentry hurriedly let them pass. As the squad of Marines disembarked from the cruiser, they gently pushed a tied-up Atlantea ahead of them.

    "Only one girl, sir?" the sentry asked with a laugh, only to shut up when Bass glared at him.

    "How many were you expecting?"

    "¡­I dunno, sir. Maybe ten or twenty. Didn''t you guys go to the village to bring back the women?"

    "My boys got carried away and accidentally broke a bunch of them." Bass''s lip curled into a snarl. "I''m afraid there''s none left for you. Did you think we went all the way to Seafort Village to get a girl for you, son?"

    The sentry paled. "Sorry, sir. It''s just that¡­Major Lustful won''t be happy about this. He''s been trying to replenish the brothels. Didn''t he say to make an example of Seafort Village and forcibly extract five times their tithe to get more whores?"

    "I know what my orders are," Bass snapped, but inwardly he felt his gut curled. While he was away, kept as a prisoner-of-war in Morten, the navy was degenerating into a bunch of brutes. Raiding villages and abducting their women to serve as prostitutes for the soldiers? What depths of depravity had the navy fallen to?

    No¡­it wasn''t just the Marrina navy. It was the entire continent of humanity in general. As long as Kobayashi remained at the helm, the insanity would never stop. Innocent people would live in fear as overly zealous followers of Kobayashi dragged them into the open to enact unimaginable acts of cruelty, all in the name of their approving, tyrannical emperor.

    At this rate, Restia was doomed.

    "Move it, lady," Bass ordered Atlantea harshly, putting on a show of shoving her forward. As he did so, he leaned over and she quickly whispered into his ear.

    "Straight ahead, then turn right."

    Straightening himself, Bass then proceeded in the direction that Atlantea directed him toward, his men marching behind him in orderly steps. The sentry saluted and then turned back to stare at the cruiser. A couple of Marines had been left behind to crew it.

    "Damn, and I was going to indulge myself with one of those traitor bitches," he complained quietly to himself. "Nothing straightens them out better than fucking and pumping them full of it. Only then will they see the light of the Emperor!"

    The Emperor of Humanity, Kobayashi Kenji, had encouraged such acts, after all. Having taken a harem of princesses for himself, he would **** at least one every night, trying his best to impregnate them. He hadn''t succeeded yet, probably because¡­you know¡­

    However, his ideology had spread to his followers. Want something? Take it by force. Want a woman? **** her and own her. The same went for the opposite sex. If a woman wanted a man, she could **** him and force him to be hers, especially if she was a faithful follower of Kobayashi and the other party was treacherous trash who refused to see the light and pledge loyalty to the undying Emperor of Humanity.

    The ideology of Kobayashi had taken root in his followers, and their beliefs and actions mirrored his. No wonder the kingdoms of humans were rapidly falling apart, held together only through the sheer will and tyranny of Kobayashi Kenji.

    "The workers'' quarters are this way," Atlantea whispered, and Bass followed her. The Marines proceeded along the naval harbor, with few soldiers pausing to stare at them. Anyone who sent a glance in their direction were intimidated by their ferocious demeanor.

    The Marines were a different breed from regular naval armsmen, after all.

    "Are you sure we''re going the right way, lady?" Private Green asked, looking around the base surreptitiously. They were heading toward what looked like a shantytown dredged deep in squalor, without any semblance of being appropriate for living.

    Atlantea pursed her lips.

    "This is the horrors we free people have to face ever since the Emperor of Humanity took the throne."

    Edging across the worn-down wooden planks, the Marines found themselves in a filthy, broken-down place. There wasn''t even much shelter ¨C most of the structure was constructed from broken pieces of wood or scrap metal. It couldn''t even be called a building.

    The inhabitants were thin, straggly men on the verge of starving. Scars criss-crossed their bodies, visible under their torn rags.

    Despite conscripting these men as laborers to build ships and work in the shipyard, the Marrina Navy didn''t even bother to give them accommodations. They just sent the laborers to sleep in the open, and the workers had to build their own sleeping place and shelter in the vast, open space next to the naval base.

    "Throne¡­" Bass gasped. "What manner of atrocities is this¡­?"

    "Orders from above¡­from the emperor himself," Atlantea replied grimly. "Since we refuse to pedge our loyalty to him, we''re treated less than human. We''re worse than even slaves." She glanced around the pale, suffering men and her eyes widened. "Father!"

    *

    While Bass infiltrated the naval base with his squad of Marines, the rest of my regiment were packed into their Cerberus APCs.

    Those who weren''t had gotten into their tanks and were on standby at the edge of the forest. The moment we captured the ships, I would send them a message and they would mobilize and place themselves between the mainland harbor and any forces who attempted to reinforce the naval armada at Marrina Isles.

    "Ready?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Ready as ever, Colonel!"

    "Waiting on you, sir!"

    As each of my officers signed off, I took a deep breath and gave the order.

    "All right. Let''s proceed. Move out, everyone!"

    As one, the entire convoy of armored Cerberus APCs slowly and quietly slipped into the brown, opaque waters of the marsh and glided underwater toward the fleet of battleships, cruisers and destroyers docked at the Marrina naval base.

 120 Chapter 120: Going overboard with boarding

    Lieutenant Charlie Bass watched grimly as Atlantea tended to her deathly ill father.

    "Corpsman!" he hollered. Docden ran forward, carrying his first aid kit. He had been examining a few people at the front, but Atlantea''s father seemed to be in a worse condition than most of the laborers in the shantytown.

    "What did they do to you?" Atlantea wailed as she held her father tightly. The frail, old man looked up at her, dazed. It wasn''t almost as if he didn''t recognize is own daughter.

    "A¡­Atlantea?"

    "I''m here! I''m here! Father!"

    "¡­ah¡­I see. The angels have come for me." Atlantea''s father closed his eyes momentarily. "I''m finally in heaven."

    "You''re not dead, not until I say so!" Docden snapped as he injected the sick man with antibiotics. "You''ll live through this."

    "The soldiers beat him up when he refused to swear fealty to the Emperor," another laborer spoke up from nearby. Atlantea spun around.

    "What?"

    "We were all beaten up for refusing to prove our loyalty to his majesty."

    This time it was another man, a little older than her father. He spat, his voice tinged in sarcasm. Raising his arm, he showed the fresh scars from what looked like whips.

    "Those Emperor''s dogs¡­they enjoy meting out abuse on us. ''His majesty'' encouraged it, even said it was okay to execute anyone who refuses to swear loyalty to him on charges of treason. But the soldiers need us to build their ships, so¡­"

    "Wait, aren''t you soldiers too?!"

    A few of the laborers shrank away at the sight of Bass''s Marines. The Marine commander looked around and then slowly shook his head.

    "We¡­were. But now¡­I''m not sure what we are anymore."

    It pained Bass to admit it, but he didn''t want to associate himself and his men with the monsters that the Marrina military had turned into.

    "They are part of the resistance movement," Atlantea explained. "They''re here to liberate the Marrina Isles from the so-called Emperor."

    The sarcastic laborer laughed harshly. "Liberate the Marrina Isles? I appreciate it, mates, but you sure as hell ain''t gonna liberate us. At least not for long. If his majesty hears about the rebellion, he''ll send a large force of soldiers here to put it down. Not only you¡­but all of us will be slaughtered within a few days."

    "We''re Marines," one of Bass''s men said proudly. The laborer snorted.

    "Sure you are. But if there''s only the twelve of you, it doesn''t matter if you''re the legendary heroes themselves. You sure as hell ain''t gonna fight off a million soldiers."

    "There''s more than twelve of us. And by the time this day is done¡­we''ll have an entire armada on our side too."

    Bass shrugged. "Yet here we are. We showed up right under their noses and they let us in."

    The laborers gaped at him for a moment, and then one of them raised their hands.

    "Okay¡­so what do you want us to do?"

    "If you want us to fight¡­I''m afraid we can''t do much. As you can see, we''re pretty weak and sick. We''ll get massacred."

    "Even with you guys, there''s no way we can win against the soldiers stationed at this naval base."

    "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that." Bass waved his hand. "We''re not asking you to fight. Actually, we just need you to kick up a fuss. Create some commotion. Draw the attention of the soldiers. When they come running, just surrender."

    "They''ll kill us!" one of the workers snapped.

    "They''ll kill us either way," another laborer growled. He rose to his feet shakily and glared at Bass. "So I''m guessing your other men will be capturing the ships while we hold the attention of the soldiers? Is that your plan?"

    "Simply put, yes." Bass nodded. The laborer met his gaze evenly, and then he nodded after a few seconds.

    "What the hell. At the rate they''re pushing us, we''ll die eventually. I would much rather go out with a bang."

    "Hey, if you want to die, you can die alone!"

    "No one''s going to die." Bass raised his voice. "We''re going to melt away into the shadows and pick the naval bastrards off one by one. But before that, you just pretend that you''ve seen an intruder. Panic. Shout for help. Tell them that you saw an invading force land on beach. They probably won''t believe you¡­" he grinned. "But that''s what we''re here for."

    "With twelve men?" The sarcastic laborer stared at the Marine Lieutenant in disbelief. "You really plan on fighting the whole naval base with just twelve men?"

    "As I said, we''re not alone. Besides¡­" Bass''s grin grew wider. "We''re Marines. Each of us is worth a hundred men."

    Make ten men feel like a hundred. What was this, Star Wars: Rogue One?

    "So how do we do this?" the sarcastic laborer grumbled. "Start screaming at the top of our voices?"

    "¡­that''s a great idea, actually." The gruff laborer who was all for the plan nodded and smiled conspiratorially. "To be honest, I''ve been planning on getting back at those bastards for a long while now. Remember all the high explosives demolitions we''ve been using to tear apart wrecks to salvage scrap for new ships?"

    Everyone stared at him. His lips curled further up, revealing yellowing, rotting teeth.

    "I¡­took the liberty to store some of them in our little home. Pretty easy to do when they force us to build our own accommodations."

    *

    The shantytown went up in smoke, explosions rocking the fragile wooden structures and bringing them down in fire and ash. The dark night was momentarily lit up as flames seared across the skies, illuminating the beach. Shouts and yells of men echoed throughout the bay as the laborers limped and scrambled away from the spreading inferno.

    "HELP!"

    "We''re under attack!"

    "They''re shooting at us!"

    It didn''t take long for the Marrina Coast Guard and naval armsmen to rush out of the naval base to respond. Not only could they hear the thunderous explosions, they could see the flames from afar. For a moment, they thought they were being bombarded by an enemy fleet, but a quick assurance from the docked armada assured them that there was no such presence.

    Despite the absence of an enemy on water, there was no way they could ignore the flames and panicking laborers, so they dispatched a sizable force to the beach to quell the panic and shoot the screaming laborers if necessary.

    "Try not to kill too many of them," the commodore in charge of the base ordered the captain of the sortie. "Make an example of one or two if necessary, but we''re short on manpower, so if you end up slaughtering the lot of them, I''ll have your entire unit take their place in the shipyard."

    They were soldiers, not laborers, and breaking their backs to build ships was not their idea of a good job, so the captain had no intention of disobeying those orders. Barking to his squad, he had them fan out in an intimidating fashion, bearing rifles and muskets and aiming them at the frightened, fleeing laborers.

    "Stop running! The lot of you!" he yelled, brandishing his saber and firing his pistol into the air. That got their attention. The beleaguered shipyard workers turned to stare at him, their eyes bloodshot and their faces pale.

    "We''re under attack!" one of the laborers shouted.

    "I can see that!" the captain snapped, risking a glance at the flames. "From who?"

    "The Marines!"

    "Huh?"

    The captain couldn''t believe what he was hearing. The Marrina Marine Corps was the most prestigious and elite combat unit in the Marrina Isles. Why would they attack mere laborers?

    No, why were they turning against the Emperor of Humanity and launching an attack on the Marrina Isles themselves?

    They''re lying.

    That was the first thought that came to his mind. Then the captain shook his head when he realized something else.

    No¡­what if there are terrorists who disgused themselves as Marrina Marines? That makes sense.

    To his horror, he suddenly recalled that there was a cruiser that just returned with a squad of Marrina Marines.

    Whipping around, he yelled to his adjutant. "Contact¡­"

    He never finished his sentence. There was a crack, and then he fell to the floor, a tiny hole neatly punched through his head.

    His unit descended into panic.

    "Get to cover! Cover!"

    "The cap is down! The captain is down!"

    "Call for backup! Request backup immediately!"

    The captain''s adjutant was already on it, turning to his vox-pack and twisting the dials to contact HQ.

    "HQ, this is Arrow! We have¡­aaaargh!"

    His vox-pack exploded into shrapnel as a bullet round smashed into it, the metal pieces digging into his skin and sending him toppling over. Beside him, a Sergeant who was trying to rally his men was the next to fall, his head disappearing into a mist of blood, bone and flesh.

    "The sarge is down too!"

    "What are we going to do?!"

    Hidden in the sparsely clustered trees near the beach, Corporal Alexis shook his head before sighting his next target through the scope of his lasrifle.

    "Amateurs," he muttered before he sniped another NCO who had taken upon himself to take charge of the rapidly falling apart unit.

    *

    The diversion was a success. With the first sortie annihilated, the commodore mobilized all his men, believing that he was facing a battalion-sized force at the very least. Such was the panic that gripped the naval base that 90% naval armsmen were recalled off the ships and sent to reinforce the base. The enemy was here in the Marrina Isles and was assaulting the base. It needed to be defended and held at all costs.

    While the Marrina soldiers disembarked and flooded through the docks toward the base, an underwater fleet of Cerberus APCs slowly swam toward the ships, concealed from sight by the dark waters.

    "Lieutenant Bass has given us the go-ahead," I told the other commanders aboard the other APCs. As always, the officers were located aboard separate APCs so as to make sure the chain of command was not disrupted if the command Cerberus was taken out. Using the APC I was in as a mobile command vehicle, I was relaying orders to my men.

    "Roger that."

    "We''ll be relying on you Marines," I told Gunnery Sergeant Mkoll, who replied with an affirmative. I smiled, even though I knew they couldn''t see me. "You''ve the most experience with shipboarding operations, so you''ll lead."

    "You can count on us for that."

    I nodded and glanced at my auxpex. We were slowly drawing closer to the ships. Thumbing the vox, I checked on Bass''s status, but he seemed to be preoccupied with distracting the enemy. Thanks to his efforts, the main bulk of the enemy forces were being driven away from the ships and inland. Once we captured the battleships, it would be our victory. The Marrina navy would be forced to attempt to relinquish their ships at any costs, and we would simply bombard their naval base to smithereens, then descend ashore to wipe out the remaining forces.

    At least that was the plan.

    "We''re here, sir."

    The driver informed me. I nodded and watched the auspex as the Cerberus docked alongside the battleship. We patiently waited for all the other APCs to be in position before I finally gave the go-ahead.

    "Operation Overboard, begin!"

    At my command, the submerged Cerberus APCs began to gradally rise out of the water. The hatches at the back swung down and the soldiers within quickly swam out. Raising their harpoon guns, they fired the lines, which snagged onto the railings and gripped them firmly. With those done, the soldiers began scaling up the ship walls.

    Sergeant Hawke and his crew were among the first who climbed aboard the battleship. With a gesture of his hand, the Marine squad melted into the shadows, their camouflage uniforms allowing them to blend into the darkness. Gripping their rifles tightly, they moved silently and quickly, spreading out and pausing at positions of cover.

    Thanks to the diversion, the Marrina Marines were able to proceed smoothly, for the majority of the naval armsmen had disembarked to hunt down the tiny squad of Marines that Lieutenant Bass led ashore. The few who were still patrolling the ship were taken out in short order, with the Marines lunging from the shadows and silencing the unwary sentries with a knife to the throat. Not even a single gunshot was fired.

    At least for the ships that were boarded by Marines, anyway.

    Hawke proceeded through the bulkheads, pausing occasionally to motion his men forward. He knew they were the best of the best. They were Marines, for Evelyn''s sake. There was no human soldier in Restia that could rival them.

    A signal ¨C the scout in front, Bonin, signaled for the squad to stop. They stealthily took their positions at whatever cover they could find and ducked down, holding their breath. A second later, footsteps rang through the hull. A sentry walked in, his musket resting on his shoulder, as he whistled to himself.

    "Heh, got to pity the poor bastards who were sent to the shore," he called back to his companion, who emerged from the corridor a few seconds later. "I heard they''re having a hell of a time there."

    "An attack from an enemy battalion, that''s what I heard. They''re panicking out there. Captain Cook bought it."

    "Cook? You serious?"

    "Sure as sure, bud. Heard it from the horse''s mouth itself. Uri said the men are milling around in panic with the officers being shot down one at a time. The whole comns room is in an uproar now."

    "Wow." The first guy shook his head. "What the hell are we facing? Demons?"

    "Could be. They surely are using some unholy magic to take us out and hide in the shadows." The second guy sighed. "Sucks to be on shore duty now. Can''t imagine how they''re going to fight an entire battalion of demons."

    Hawke suppressed his laughter. If everything was going according to plan, there were only twelve Marines on the shore right now. Yet the enemy believed they were being assaulted by an entire battalion. A demonic one, no less. Well, under most circumstances, the Marrina Marines were more fearsome than even regular demonic infantry.

    "The Commodore''s raging and busting a nut, I heard. He''s trying to get info, but even now no one has seen the enemy."

    "You''ve got to be kidding¡­"

    The first guy exhaled and shook his head.

    "Well, good thing we''re stuck here on boat duty, or we would be sortying with the others and facing certain death. I would rather stick around on the ship and not worry about getting shot at. I really pity Shoal and the others."

    "Sure as sure." The second guy laughed. "We''re pretty lucky, aren''t we?"

    Hawke almost scoffed at that, but he resisted the urge not to chuckle. As the two sentries passed by his position, he caught the eye of the Marine opposite him ¨C tall, lanky Caff, and nodded. Like ghosts, the two Marines slipped out of the shadows and grabbed the sentries. Closing their hands over their mouths, they produced their combat knives and sliced their throats.

    Even as warm blood dribbled down his gloved hands, Hawke didn''t let go of his victim. Not until the poor man was still and cold did he finally carefully set down the corpse on the floor. Raising his head, he gestured for his company to move out.

    They continued down the corridor the two sentries came out of, pointing their hellguns and making sure the space was clear. There were a few times when they were forced to melt into shadows or blend into their surroundings as crewmen or armsmen emerged from round the corridor or from a room, but with the commotion going on ashore, none of them paid much attention to their surroundings.

    It was a gap that Hawke happily exploited. As an armsmen left the head, stretching his arms and stifling a yawn, Bonin grabbed him and cut his throat, clamping down his hand on the guy''s mouth to stop him from yelling. As they were in the narrow corridor, he didn''t stay still and instead dragged his victim back to his cover and waited until he was dead.

    Thanks to the scarce number of men left aboard the ship, there weren''t that many times that Hawke and his squad needed to stop, and not many targets they needed to take out. The rest of the journey was relatively smooth, with Hawke and his men stopping only twice to take out another three navymen. Within fifteen minutes, they found themselves in the bridge.

    Once they were outside the bridge, they knew there was no longer any point to being subtle. Kicking the door open, they unloaded las-shots into the stunned crew, taking them out before they could even raise an alert. Hawke was gratified to see that his men didn''t waste any shots, each las-beam hitting their targets with near pinpoint accuracy.

    "Grab the controls, then inform the Colonel that the ship designated Alpha One One Two is now ours."

    "Yes, sarge!"

    All across the fleet, similar reports began flooding in as Marines captured their ships with little difficulty. Some weren''t able to totally infiltrate the ships in secret, but they annihilated the foes, taking out the armsmen with rapid, control bursts of hot-shot lasfire. Leaving a silent trail of carnage to the bridge, these Marines were forced to blow the doors open to gain access to the crew who fortified themselves behind armored entrances. The fighting was fierce, but brief.

    As expected of the Marrina Marines.

    The Vampire infantry of Company H and the Helsfortians and dark elves of Company L were less experienced in such combat and were forced to open fire. Gunfire rang through the deck and they traded shots, but with the demons outnumbering the humans, the firefights lasted less than ten minutes. Major Kracauer and his Legnica infantry were less efficient at such close-quarters combat, but with their superior numbers, they managed to overwhelm the few naval crewmen left on board the ships and fight their way to the bridge.

    By the time the naval base was aware of what had happened, it was too late.

    "Come on!" the commodore was shouting into the vox, trying to figure out what had happened to the ships under his charge. Nothing but static hissed from the vox. Frustrated, he hurled the receiver against the metallic panel and vented his fury on his aides.

    "Call all the soldiers back!" he bellowed. "Immediately! Our ships are being boarded and taken! We''re going to seize them back!"

    "Y¡­yes, sir!"

    Back in the beach, a brigade-sized naval patrol was scrounging through the beach in an attempt to find the twelve Marines who had taken cover in the wilderness and continued taking potshots at the beleaguered brigade. More officers had fallen, taken out by Bass''s elite snipers, and the men were in turmoil. Upon receiving the Commodore''s orders, they gratefully turned tail and fled back toward the safety of the naval base.

    "That was close," Corporal Alexis muttered as he lowered his hot-shot lasrifle. He was perspiring profusely as he watched the hundreds-strong brigade close in on his and his fellow sniper''s positions. Despite their best attempts at sneaking around and hiding, they were getting dangerously close to being found by the bastards.

    Just a few minutes more, and the Marrina soldiers would be literally trampling over the grass where they were lying prone in.

    "We caught a luck break," Bass growled. "But this means the diversion is over. They must have noticed the Colonel and the others boarding the ships and capturing them."

    "Which means everything is going according to plan!"

    I wished I shared the same sense of optimism, but I heard trouble coming from one of the ships. One of Kracauer''s squads ¨C a rookie squad from the sound of it, had run into trouble aboard one of the ships. Calling up the tactical display, I saw that it was among the largest battleship in the armada, the one we designated as Alpha Zero Zero One.

    The probable flagship.

    "Sir."

    This time it was from a Marrina Marine squad, who was also onboard Alpha Zero Zero One. Having anticipated fierce resistance from what was likely the flagship of the fleet, I had dispatched both Legnica and Marines to take it, but¡­

    "What''s up, Sergeant Mkoll?"

    "We''re encountering trouble on Alpha Zero Zero One. Omega-level threat. I repeat, we''re facing an Omega-level threat. Request either immediate assistance, or for the captured battleships to sink Alpha Zero Zero One."

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    "Negative," I told him flatly. "You and your soldiers are still on that ship. I''m not blowing up until you guys are off the ship."

    "With the way things are going, none of us will be remaining on the ship soon enough¡­alive, anyway."

    I clicked my tongue. Omega-level threat meant that a hero was on board. One of my former classmates. Scratching my head, I took a deep breath and straightened up.

    "Mkoll, backup will be there immediately. Hang in there and do not engage the hero. I repeat, do not engage the hero. Wait for reinforcements."

    "With respect, sir, I''m not sure what kind of reinforcements will be able to eliminate the Omega-level threat."

    "Oh, the hero will be slain," I assured him as a cold smile spread across the face. "After all, I''m your backup. I''ll be personally boarding your ship in a few minutes."

 121 Chapter 121: The ship has sailed

    As soon as the Cerberus APC''s hatch opened, I kicked off the metallic plating and launched myself into the air. Like a bullet, I streaked above the sea and toward the massive battleship designated Alpha Zero Zero One. Right before I collided with the thick adamantium hull, I flipped my body in midair and landed on the deck.

    "Superhero landing!" I shouted.

    "¡­as stupid as always, aren''t you, Tanaka?"

    I glanced up when I recognized the sneering voice. Mizuno Umi was watching me with her arms folded, her pretty face screwed into a scowl. She glared at me, her long hair slightly rippling as waves of water spun around her.

    It didn''t take Absolute Appraisal to tell me that she was a water mage. Nonetheless, I activated it anyway.

    Name: Mizuno Umi

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Priestess of Water/Hero

    Special Abilities: Blessings of the Sea, Leviathan

    Leviathan? Was that some sort of familiar? Swallowing, I began to make preparations against that sort of threat.

    Fortunately, Mizuno Umi didn''t seem to think that I was worth using her special ability on. At least not yet. Raising a hand, she fired off several sharp water arcs in my direction. I merely stepped to the side and ducked them, but was aware of the sharp, crescent-shaped water blasts slicing through metal as if it was mere paper.

    "Oh wow." I pushed up my glasses to study the damage Mizuno''s spells did. The railings surrounding the deck had been shredded neatly. If I had allowed even one of those spells to hit me, I would be a bloody mess right now.

    Mizuno looked upset. "Why the hell did you dodge?!"

    I stared at her in disbelief. "Why wouldn''t I dodge? Were you expecting me to stand still and let you cut me apart?"

    "YES!!!!"

    Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we''ve another psychotic former classmate on the block again. Time to be a wet blanket and pour on the parade of this water priestess.

    "I won''t stop you from deluding yourself."

    "You''re just Tanaka! A weakling! A pathetic loser! Someone like you should just let us kill you! How did you come back to life even though Kobayashi-kun and the others killed you?! Just die for good already!"

    "Don''t wanna."

    I slightly shifted my head to the side to avoid another crescent-shaped water blast, which only infuriated Mizuno further.

    "I told you to stop dodging!"

    The girl was definitely an idiot.

    "I''m not gonna listen to you."

    "Then I''ll kill you!"

    I couldn''t help but roll my eyes at that. You were already trying to kill me, girl. Even if I listened to you, you would still try to kill me anyway. Whatever decision I chose would make no difference in Mizuno''s intended outcome.

    Fortunately, the feeling was mutual. Mizuno Umi was on my list of targets for revenge. Unlike Umezu Shigeo and Kido Mayumi, Mizuno was one of those former classmates who actively bullied and abused me.

    There could be no mercy shown to her.

    While I stood on the deck, Mizuuno launched several whirlpools at me. I merely stood still and held my ground firmly as the whirlpools spun toward me.

    Then I swung my hand and smacked the whirlpools. The raging torrents of water dissipated harmlessly as my hand smashed through them, turning them into fine sprays of tiny droplets that rained upon the deck.

    "W¡­what¡­impossible¡­"

    Mizuno was staring at me in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Like I said, I just rained on your parade, girl.

    "Is that it?"

    Mizuno was trembling in rage. Even more whirlpools materialized behind her, but she didn''t send them after me. Instead, she whirled around to yell at her subordinates.

    "All of you! What are you doing?! Attack!"

    Glancing around, I saw that there weren''t many men left. Most of the naval armsmen that were left onboard the ship had been slain by Mkoll and his Marines. However, there were also the bodies of Legnica soldiers lying in bloodied tatters on the ground, having been torn apart by Mizuno''s water spells. I was impressed to see an almost complete lack of Marine casualties, though.

    "Mkoll, where are you?"

    "Hiding in the shadows and taking out the reinforcements heading to your position." The vox-bead in my ear crackled to life as the scout sergeant reported to me. "Do you require our assistance? We can draw the hero''s attention away from you."

    "That will not be necessary. Just deny her reinforcements."

    Mizuno was literally frothing at the mouth when she saw that none of her men were arriving in time, having been felled by the Marines as they tried to rush up to the deck. Impatient, she unleashed her whirlpools at me, but I merely swatted them out of existence again.

    "How are you doing that?!" she shriekd. I shrugged and swung my hand to demonstrate.

    "Like this?"

    "Don''t screw with me!" Mizuno raged. I wasn''t, though. But she wasn''t going to listen to reason so I didn''t bother to convince her.

    Gritting her teeth, Mizuno conjured huge waves of water before shaping them into a pair of giant fists and hurling them at me. I responded by generating four blood appendages that curled around me defensively to parry the strike and then retaliated by lashing out with such speed that Mizuno wasn''t able to follow their movements.

    "!"

    Despite erecting her own barrier of water, the impact from the four blood appendages was so tremendous it hurled Mizuno back. She managed to flip her body in midair and land on both her feet. Throwing out her hand again, Mizuno tossed a watery spear at me, but I batted it away with my blood appendages.

    "What the hell are you?! What are those?!"

    Someone clearly did not read or watch Tokyo Ghoul or Tokyo Ghoul: Re.

    Instead of answering, I merely launched myself at Mizuno, stretching my elongated blood appendages and whacking her with full force. Mizuno crossed her arms defensively and created another wall of water, but I managed to crack the fluid shield apart with brute force, causing water to spray all over the deck.

    "Damn it!" Mizuno hissed. "Water Dragon!"

    A huge spiral of water pierced the heavens before descending to take the form of a watery, serpentine dragon. The water dragon roared before dashing at me. Even though I protected myself with my blood appendages, the water dragon shredded them apart and bit into me. I could feel the twelve barriers of my Redwood jacket resisting the deadly, sharp liquid teeth, but Mizuno''s powerful spell managed to break at least five layers before finally stopping. However, my jacket wasn''t able to prevent me from being hurtled across the air.

    "Kuh!"

    As I crashed back onto the deck, stunned, the water dragon reared up again and glared at me before lunging to devour my pitiful form.

    "Now, Matsukaze!" I shouted. Above, an explosion rocked the skies and a colossal mecha crashed down heavily on the deck, pulverizing the water dragon and crouching down inside a shimmering blue dome. The waves of water splashed about violently, but they immediately drew back and reformed into the ferocious water dragon.

    "What the hell is that?!"

    I didn''t answer Mizuno''s question. Dashing forward. I slid across the slippery deck and right under Matsukaze, who reacted by straightening up and grabbing hold of me. Putting me inside the cockpit, the holographic visual images lit up in a perfect replication of the external environment. Above and below, auspexes, readings and meters appeared in blue-tinted light, showing the condition of my Titan, the cooldown of his Titan Core and weapon ammunition counters.

    The water dragon didn''t hesitate. It dashed toward me again, but I drew my katana and sliced through it. Blue arcs of electricity ran through its watery, serpentine body in a flashy display of lightning and the water dragon roared before evaporating into a dense cloud of steam.

    "How¡­?!"

    Mizuno was gaping at me in disbelief, but I was already bounding toward her and swinging my katana. The broadsword cleaved through a huge chunk of the battleship, and Mizuno did well to react in time by conjuring aother water barrier. But the sheer force of the colossal weapon smashed her watery shield apart and slammed into her. Blood spurted into the air as Mizuno was hurled across the ship, crashing into the wall of the bridge and cracking the adamantium structure.

    "Hero-sama¡­"

    "I don''t believe it¡­"

    "Hero-sama was taken out in one hit¡­!"

    The surviving soldiers'' morale took a huge blow when they saw the apparent defeat of their revered hero. Already at their wits'' end from seeing their comrades dropped by Marine fire, they wree on the edge of losing it totally.

    "We¡­we can''t win!"

    "We''ve to surrender!"

    The soldier who shouted that last sentence suddenly staggered, his head disappearing into an explosion of blood. The headless body flopped a bit, as if unable to comprehend that it was dead, and then toppled over.

    "Nobody surrenders. Not until I say so."

    Snarling, Mizuno hauled herself out of the cratered dent of the adamantium wall, blood running down her face and body. She turned her glare on me, and her magical aura intensified ferociously, acting upon her rage.

    "I''ll kill you!"

    "You''ve been trying so far," I replied with a shrug. "How''s that working out for you?"

    Mizuno spluttered, but then turned to yell something into the bridge.

    "Contact the fleet! I want every single ship to fire upon this ship right now! Immediately!"

    "But Hero-sama, we''re still on The Emperor''s Glory¡­"

    The soldier who protested vanished in an explosion of blood. Mizuno glowered at the remaining naval crewmen, who shrank back in fear.

    "I just gave an order. The entire armada is to fire upon The Emperor''s Glory. Immediately. Is that understood?"

    "Y¡­yes, ma''am!"

    "And I won''t die. Not from something like this."

    The sneer on her face was evident. Even though she wouldn''t die because she was a hero capable of generating a water barrier, the same couldn''t be said for her men. And she didn''t care about her men. They were expendable. As long as she could kill me, it didn''t matter if she sacrificed her entire crew to do it.

    There was a moment of silence, and Mizuno turned upon the poor comnsman who was trying to hail the other ships on the bridge.

    "What''s taking so long, you incompetent trash?!"

    Honestly, you''re the most incompetent trash out of everyone here.

    "They¡­they''re not answering! None of them is responding!"

    "What!?"

    Mizuno roared and then stomped into the bridge. Snatching the comns from her quivering comns officer, she began to bellow in the vox.

    "This is Mizuno Umi, your Hero of the human kingdoms! Respond!"

    Nothing but static or silence.

    "Answer me, you useless fools! I want you to fire upon The Emperor''s Glory immediately! And I want it done now! Anybody who defies my orders will be executed on the spot!"

    Still nothing.

    "Can''t anyone hear me?!" Mizuno shrieked.

    "We can," I piped up, only to earn a glare from her.

    "I''ll shut that fucking mouth of yours!"

    "Go ahead and try." I pointed the Houkai-pattern triple barrel shotgun at her and squeezed the trigger. The leadwall slugs bounced about the inside of the bridge and decimated the crew stupid enough to remain inside, and only Mizuno survived by virtue of her water barrier. I noticed that she didn''t bother to shield her crew with her defensive spells.

    Seething, Mizuno jumped outside of the bridge and summoned another two water dragons. The twin serpents roared as they lunged at me, but I calmly holstered the shotgun and drew my katana. Annihilating the first one with an arc wave, I used sword block to parry the second one''s charge, but the impact drove my Titan back. Matsukaze''s metallic feet left twin scourges on the deck, a horrible screech that split the air and caused soldiers to drop.

    While I was occupied by her Water Dragon, Mizuno seized the change to jump out and grab a couple of soldiers before throwing them physically into the bridge.

    "You! And you!" she hollered. "Get the weapon controls! Aim every single gun on this ship at that mecha! Blow it to smithereens!"

    "Uh, ma''am, but that''s impossible¡­"

    The soldier who protested was cut into half. Mizuno seized a third, terrified soldier, and threw him into the bridge.

    "Do it," she ordered in a chilly tone. The two men could only nod dumbly.

    "At this rate, you won''t have any men left," I observed as I continued to hold off the water dragon that continued to bite at me.

    "That''s none of your business!"

    Actually, it was. It was great business, at that, especially since it was highly advantageous to me. I wouldn''t even have bothered to mention it if I thought Mizuno would take my "advice" seriously. She was way too insane to listen.

    To be honest, the two men in the bridge were the only survivors. The rest of the crew were either killed by Mkoll and his Marines, or executed by Mizuno herself. There was also the fact that the majority of the crew had been sent ashore to deal with the "enemy assault", otherwise it would have been a much more difficult victory.

    I finally blasted the water dragon apart with another arc wave and was boosting toward Mizuno, who blasted me with another whirlpool of water. I hacked it apart and was about to bear down on her when heavy ordance reduced the deck in front of me to smithereens, carving a massive crater in the adamantium.

    "!"

    Looking up, I understood. While the battleship wasn''t able to fire its broadside gauss turret cannons or rail cannons or cruise missiles, it had several short-ranged Gatling cannons and anti-air turrets that could rotate in position to fire upon an enemy that had boarded the ship. Unleashing a torrent of depleted uranium rounds in the direction of my Titan, the two crewmen devastated the prow of the ship with armor-piercing ammunition.

    Remembering that Mizuno had ordered the entire fleet to sink the flagship, I knew that she didn''t care if the ship was destroyed. But this wasn''t the time to worry about that. I wanted to take the ship intact if possible, but she was making it difficult for me. I couldn''t allow the flagship to fire upon the rest of fleet and ended up losing more than I gained.

    Phase Dash.

    Flooring the accelerator, I had Matsukaze temporarily disappeared into an alternate, quantum dimension, and then emerged into reality behind one fo the anti-air Gatling turrets. Swinging my katana, I sliced it at the base, sending the gun barrels toppling harmlessly onto the deck. Then I dashed away to cut apart its neighboring turret, which had swung over to fire at me. Dancing around the deck with a grace that only a Ronin?-class Titan was capable of, I decapitated the ship''s defenses, slicing and hacking the turrets into pieces.

    The tech-priests could fix the ship later, but for now this would have to do.

    "This is¡­impossible!"

    Reversing my grip on the katana, I suddenly spun around and boosted toward her, ignoring the deadly hail of fire that the panicking crewmen were unleashing on me. Maybe if I was lucky, I could get that fucking bitch caught in the fire as well. It would be highy ironic for her to get shot by her own battleship''s turrets.

    And well-deserved too.

    However, Mizuno deftly dodged the huge swing of Matsukaze''s katana and jumped away, widening the distance between us. Raising both her hands, she conjured a couple of new spells and got ready to launch water projectiles at me. At the same time, the turrets'' fire drew closer. Having stopped to attack, I was barely able to dodge¡­but fortunately the cooldown of Phase Dash had finished and I could escape to the quantum dimension momentarily¡­

    ¡­or so I thought, but the firing suddenly ceased.

    "That should take care of it, boss."

    "Mkoll?"

    The Marine sergeant had reported in, and from a glance at a holographic screen, I saw the corpses of the two crewmen slumped over the gun controls. The Marines weren''t going to let me hog all the fun.

    "Thanks!"

    I turned to a trembling Mizuno, who was livid and furious.

    "I don''t believe this! This just can''t be possible! You''re Tanaka, the weakling! The pathetic loser! There''s no way you can win against me! This is a nightmare! It has to be!"

    Then her vox-bead crackled into life. Smiling, Mizuno nodded.

    "Yes! Bring them back! Board the ships! I want every men back on the ships! Find out what''s going on, and execute the crews for disobeying a direct order from me! That includes you, Commodore. If you live through this, you''ll take responsibility for this gross incompetence."

    Matsukaze''s enhanced sensors picked up the commodore spluttering on the other side of the vox, but Mizuno paid him no attention.

    "Do it! Now!"

    Las-beams lit up from afar as navy crewmen and armsmen streamed in from the naval harbor and toward the ships, but before they could reach the jetty, the armada opened fire.

    "¡­what?!"

    Mizuno''s jaw dropped when she saw the pier reduced to a smoldering pyre as dozens of ordnance struck the naval base. Huge chunks of the naval personnel were incinerated, whole companies of navy soldiers decimated or wiped out from the single bombardment.

    "Wondering why none of the ships in the fleet is responding to your orders?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "That''s the reason."

    "You¡­when did you¡­?"

    "Long ago."

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    Then I dashed forward to slice her in half. Mizuno leaped back, blasting my Titan with water spells. But the water spears bounced off the light energy shield that encased Matsukaze. Though not as powerful as the dome-shield that protected him whenever he commenced Titanfall, the light energy shield served as extra health and an adequate buffer against damage.

    Mizuno rolled to her feet and launched triple water dragons this time. I used Phase Dash to avoid the first two and then destroyed the third one with an arc wave. Spinning around on the balls of Matsukaze''s feet, I then blocked the other two''s charges.

    "No way, no way, no way! This can''t be real! It can''t be real! It''s not real!"

    Mizuno was screaming.

    "I can''t be defeated by the likes of Tanaka! I can''t possibly be outsmarted by an idiot like him! He''s just a loser! A weakling! An idiot! There''s absolutely no way I can lose to a stupid, weak, pathetic loser like him!"

    Sometimes the delusions my former classmates buried themselves in were so ridiculous that they still couldn''t wake up despite being hit in the face by reality.

    The moment the cooldown for Arc Wave finished, I obliterated both water dragons at the same time and then turned to cut Mizuno down.

    But she had retreated to the top of the battleship, standing on the highest point of The Emperor''s Glory.

    "I can''t believe you forced me to use this!"

    With a yell, Mizuno unleashed a massive spell. The heavens churned, the seas roiled and waves splashed about, causing even the colossal battleships to be thrown about in the violent waters. For a moment, it seemed as if the ocean was being split apart.

    And then a gargantuan leviathan emerged from the abysmal depths, a sea monster of such epic proportions that it dwarfed even the largest battleship. The monster had to be at least three hundred meters in length.

    "Leviathan," Mizuno snarled as she commanded the newly materialized behemoth. "Destroy the entire armada. Don''t stop until everything has been devoured."

 122 Chapter 122: Let them figh

    The Leviathan surged forward, its immense bulk causing huge waves of water to wash over the ships, rocking them and sending several hapless Marrina navymen overboard.

    "Hey! Didn''t your parents teach you not to rock the boat?!" I yelled at Mizuno Umi, but she merely rolled her eyes and showed me the finger.

    "You''ll all die! And get eaten by my Leviathan! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

    "So we''ll all end up in the Belly of the Beast?"

    "Stop it! It''s not funny! I''ll kill you!"

    This had to be the fifth or sixth time she said that in a single hour, and she had already failed to kill me each time. I shook my head and sighed.

    Meanwhile, the Marrina Marines and demon soldiers that I dispatched to capture the ships were already ready. As one, the entire fleet opened fire on the speeding Leviathan. The sheer amount of firepower from at least twenty battleships, thirty-six destroyers and thirty cruisers was enough to level three cities. Even The Emperor''s Glory opened up, with Mkoll and his men taking over the controls of the remaining weapons on the enemy''s former flagship.

    Every weapon found its mark. Gauss rounds, railgun projectiles, missiles, plasma bolts, laser beams ¨C all of them slammed into the Leviathan with ship-killing force. The behemoth was so enormous that it was impossible to miss. I mean, a three-hundred meter long beast that was bigger than even most skyscrapers in my previous world was streaking toward us like a mobile fortress wall. Even if we wanted to aim elsewhere, we would still accidentally hit it.

    Explosions blossomed across the maw of the Leviathan, engulfing it in a raging inferno. Missiles struck and detonated, plasma seared huge patches of scales off the creature''s skin, and gauss projectiles buried themselves deep within its flesh. The Leviathan let out an earth-shattering roar, its voice so immense it shattered glass for miles around and caused my soldiers to fall over from the pseudo sonic assault.

    Nothing happened. The Leviathan was scarred and brusied from the sheer volume of firepower, but it was neither mortally wounded nor crippled. If anything, it was accelerating across the sea. It would be upon the fleet in less than a minute.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Mizuno was guffawing with that annoying laugher of hers. Bending over, she clutched her stomach and wiped tears off her eyes.

    "It''s useless! Nothing you can do will ever hurt my Leviathan! Destroy all of them! Annihilate the fleet! I would rather these ships get destroyed than fall into the hands of the enemy!"

    The Leviathan bellowed, as if signaling that it was complying with Mizuno''s orders.

    I merely sighed and shook my head, forgetting that Mizuno still couldn''t see me inside my Titan''s cockpit.

    The clouds broke apart and the zombie ancient dragon descended, howling in fury and bloodlust. Dozens of magic circles appeared around him and he unleashed Draconic Meteor Barrage. Fiery meteors materialized in the skies and rained down upon the Leviathan in a devastating hail, vaporizing large volumes of seawater into steam and carving bloody craters into the Leviathan''s body. The enormous sea serpent thrashed about, screeching in agony. The waters around the behemoth turned red as blood poured out of its mortal wounds in torrents.

    "What the hell?!"

    Mizuno was literally jumping up and down in rage and disbelief. Jabbing a finger at Ryuu in disbelief, she turned on me.

    "How is that possible!? What the hell is that thing?! How can a loser like you summon a dragon? This isn''t fair!"

    Yet it was fair if she summoned a 300-meter long sea Leviathan. I really didn''t understand the logic of these bullies.

    Gritting her teeth, Mizuno infused her Leviathan with magic. Rolling about in the waters and sending fresh waves rippling across the shore, the enormous Leviathan turned up and unleashed a single jet of highly pressurized water that streaked across the heavens like a spear. Ryuu dodged it, doing a cartwheel in the air, before he retaliated with a black beam of fire of his own. His attack scorched the Leviathan but other than marking its already scarred flesh, it didn''t leave¡­well, much of a mark.

    "That thing''s pretty sturdy," I muttered as I studied the Leviathan. Despite taking a bombardment from both my newly captured armada and Ryuu''s Draconic Meteor, it was still alive and kicking. Rearing up, it unleashed several more sprouts of highly pressurized water, forcing Ryuu to desperately evade in the air.

    The zombie ancient dragon whirled around and released a few torrents of black beams, which tore through the armored hide of the Leviathan. More of the behemoth''s blood leaked into the ocean, but it wasn''t even fazed.

    Ryuu dove downward and cast a second Draconic Meteor spell, raining hell on the Leviathan. The ocean turned into boiling steam as the meteors slammed into the Leviathan with apocalyptic fury, causing it to screech as it was driven back. The Leviathan spun about in the boiling water, its bulk sending scalding tidal waves crashing against the battleships and rocking them. Growling, the gargantuan sea serpent swam after the seemingly fleeing Ryuu. More torrents of highly pressurized water blasted out of its pores, piercing Ryuu''s wing.

    However, Ryuu had achieved his objective. By soaring in the opposite direction, he had led the Leviathan away from our recently captured fleet and toward much vaster waters. The behemoth churned about in the ocean, trying to chase down the wounded ancient dragon, who was getting lower with each flap of his wings. Fortunately, thanks to his zombie regenerative powers, the injury was closing up and he was gaining height once again.

    "Tanaka¡­this alpha predator of yours¡­do you really think he stands a chance?"

    Mizuno was sneering at me. I shrugged inside my cockpit.

    "The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around." I nodded sagely as I did my best impersonation of Ken Watanabe. "Let them fight."

    "What nonsense are you babbling?!" Mizuno shouted. Hey, you were the one who started it with the alpha predator line.

    The Leviathan fired several bursts of water at Ryuu again, gouging several holes in the ancient dragon''s wings and causing him to drop into the ocean like a rock. As Ryuu struggled in the sea, the Leviathan closed in on him, opening its wide maw to swallow him whole. Not that it was capable of swallowing a dragon of that size.

    But I was aware that Ryuu might really get killed if this went on. He was my trump card, the most powerful familiar I had on hand. There was no way I could let him die ¨C the moment Ryuu was defeated, it meant that I had no cards left to play. Well, there was still the nuclear option, but nuking the Leviathan when it was this close to us would be suicide. Furthermore, I didn''t want to expose my men to radiation and other deadly effects.

    Not to mention I would be damaging the environment. Whose bright idea was it to give me the ability to summon a freaking nuke?!

    "Ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Mizuno was laughing that annoying laughter of hers again, crowing triumphantly as she watched her Leviathan close in on my hapless ancient dragon.

    "Even your dragon is no match for my Leviathan! Die! Just die!"

    "There really is something wrong with you."

    I shook my head and then glanced up at Ryuu, who was trying to get away from the approaching Leviathan. Looked like I had no choice.

    "Thousand Astral Graves."

    A thousand and eight watery graves rose out of the ocean like tiny islands, seawater running off them and spilling back into the sea. Like a floating graveyard, the gigantic tombstones towered over even Ryuu, each of them resembling a monolith or some sort of monument in the middle of nowhere ¨C ancient structures that belonged to a long-dead civilization.

    "¡­what the hell is that?!"

    Mizuno was gaping at me. I wanted to gloat, but remembered that I would just fall into the same level as her irritating attitude of thinking she had already won before the match was over, so I said nothing and remained humble.

    Having seen how much of a fool Mizuno made herself out to be, I had no intention of making myself look stupid.

    Ryuu transformed and evolved under the 12 different buffs of the Thousand Astral Graves, his already immense bulk growing to enormous proportions to rival even Leviathan''s size. His wings and body healed, and his tail stretched out, lancing across the water. A black halo glimmered sinisterly around his behemoth body, and the sea began to churn and bubble as it was corrupted by the black energies. With a bellow, Ryuu spread his wings and took off into the skies, his brilliant form momentarily blotting out the moonlight and suffusing the surroundings with a terrifying aura.

    The ancient dragon had evolved into a dragon god.

    Ryuujin (yeah, might as well change his name now that he was a dragon god) raised a single arm and pointed a claw at the Leviathan.

    Barely anyone saw what had happened. The next thing I knew, hundreds of black beams materialized and tore through the Leviathan, ripping the screaming behemoth apart. The Leviathan thrashed about, but Ryuujin didn''t stop bombarding the dying behemoth until it was nothing but a floating corpse on the ocean, its body peforated and filled with holes.

    But incredibly, the Leviathan was still somehow alive. It weakly flopped about, rolling about in the boiling sea, and slowly crawled across the violent waves toward Ryuu. The ancient dragon god allowed the behemoth to gradually approach him, and then he grabbed up the flailing Leviathan with both claws and raised it toward his jaws.

    With a single movement, he nearly ripped the Leviathan''s gaping maw apart and released a single black torrent of fire down the sea serpent''s throat. The Leviathan''s head was torn away from the rest of its body, which was incinerated by the black, godly fires and reduced into nothing but smoldering ash that was swept away by the sea.

    "How¡­how is that possible?!"

    Mizuno inadvertently backed away when she saw the unexpected (for her) outcome. Stumbling back, she dropped to her butt and stared dumbly at the venerable ancient dragon god. Ryuujin slowly turned toward him, his dark eyes blazing under the shadows of the Thousand Astral Graves that surrounded him.

    That was enough. Using Ryuujin against Mizuno would be overkill. Never mind overkill, I might accidentally erase my own fleet and men if I had him attack Mizuno. That was how powerful he was right now.

    So I had him disappear for a bit, along with the watery gravestones that marked the boiling ocean like silent, deathly islands.

    "Sir¡­that was¡­"

    "I don''t have enough energy to maintain such a high-level summon and buff spell for so long," I replied tersely. Mkoll hesitated, but shook his head.

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    "No, I mean¡­what the hell was that spell and dragon? I heard you could summon such things, but this is the first time I''ve actually seen them¡­"

    "I hope you enjoyed the show!"

    "Um¡­no, that''s not what I mean."

    I wasn''t sure what he meant, unless he meant to sound impressed or something. Not that I cared. I had more important things to worry about. Instead, I turned toward the stunned Mizuno, who was blabbering in disbelief.

    Time to finish this battle once and for all.

    "It''s your turn now."

    As usual, I had no intention of gloating or wasting time making my opponents suffer like all villains and antagonists did and thus allowing them the time or opportunity to retaliate or escape, so I immediately dashed forward to obliterate Mizuno with my broadsword.

    Mizuno glanced at me, her eyes finally sparking in fury. Rising to her feet, she raised her fist and screamed.

    "Release the Kraken!"

    There was no answer.

    "I didn''t know you have a kraken," I muttered as I swung Matsukaze''s broadsword. Mizuno, to her credit, reacted pretty quickly and summoned a water naginata to parry the strike. However, a human hero such as herself couldn''t withstand the sheer force of a blow from a bloody Titan, and Matsukaze''s attack sent her flying across the ship.

    "Ugh!"

    Reducing another wall to rubble, Mizuno slumped down, but she refused to give in. gritting her teeth, she pulled herself up and leaned on her water naginata.

    "I don''t mean Kraken! I mean the Blooded Soldiers!"

    "What the hell are those?!"

    My question was answered almost immediately as heavily mutated soldiers leaped from the remains of the smoldering naval harbor and landed on The Emperor''s Glory. Each of them was a hulking beast, with tusks growing from their lower jaws, and their muscles bulging out in disproportionate portions that indicated a ridiculous amount of strength. Their eyes were blank, devoid of intelligence, and they were slavering ¨C obviously they had been mentally neutered into mindless berserkers who could only obey their commanders. Even though their human origins were visually obvious, they had mutated into something that was more beast than men. Aside from leather armor and metallic breastplates that hung over their oversized frames, they were armed with all sort of weird weapons like lightning claws (without the lightning) and mauls.

    But another question came to mind.

    "Where did they come from?"

    "Ha ha ha ha! These are soldiers who have comsumed vast amounts of artificial mermaid blood and evolved into the ultimate warriors! It doesn''t matter even if you''re a hero! They possess more than enough power to kill you!"

    "Uh¡­"

    I couldn''t help but feel a bead of perspiration drip down my face.

    "If they''re so powerful, why didn''t you use them from the very beginning? Why wait until all your soldiers are killed, why bother summoning your Leviathan first, and why wait until the very end before using these guys?"

    This honestly sounded to me like a random plot twist that some incompetent author threw in to prolong the battle pointlessly. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever. As much as Mizuno was insane, I didn''t know she was this much of an idiot.

    "What''s the point of holding them back until now?!"

    "Don''t ask stupid questions!"

    Were my questions stupid or was she the one with the idiotic line of reasoning?

    "Kill him!"

    As if to cover up her embarrassment for forgetting all about her secret weapon until the very end, Mizuno hastily ordered her experimental mutants forward.

    It was a one-sided massacre.

    I merely trampled on the berserk mutants and flattened them into bloody pulps, or cleaved them in half with my broadsword. As durable and powerful as they were, even they couldn''t survive being sliced into pieces by a gigantic katana or stomped to death by a several-tons Titan.

    "What¡­what?!"

    "I see." I was nodding in understanding after wiping the floor with the last of her Blooded Soldiers. "They''re experimental and just mere prototypes¡­not even perfected or conditioned properly for actual combat. No wonder you didn''t want to use them until absolutely necessary."

    Judging from how Mizuno was speechless, I was probably right. Or she was probably too dumbfounded by the sheer defeat of her Blooded Soldiers to be able to properly form a sentence or two. It didn''t matter.

    I wasn''t interested in her reasoning or the truth. With all the obstacles eliminated, I could finally get my revenge. Not wanting to bother with another plot twist in the form of another bunch of Blooded Soldiers or a second Leviathan, I accelerated my Titan forward and swung down my katana. Despite parrying the blow with her watery naginata, Mizuno was crushed onto the ground. With another swing, I obliterated her weapon and then punched her to the ground.

    Then I stomped on her with Matsukaze''s Titanic Feet, dishing out at least 12 Strength 8 AP -2 attacks that did D3 damage each. With the sheer volume of attacks, I managed to slay the enemy Warlord, reducing her to a bloody stain on the deck.

    For added security, I sliced her with Matsukaze''s katana, dishing out a flat 6 damage just to ensure she was dead.

    By the time I was done, there was nothing left of Mizuno but a pool of blood and squashed, tattered flesh. It was going to be a pain to wash all of that off the deck, but it was completely worth it. As an added measure, I used my vampire abilities to drain the blood away from the deck to ensure she could never be resurrected.

    "Sir! Are you all right?!"

    Looking through the visual display, I saw that Mkoll and his men were approaching. Additionally, I was receiving vox-hails from the rest of my soldiers and commanders.

    "Confirm kill," I informed them through the vox. "The Omega-level threat has been eliminated. The so-called hero is dead."

    There was a rousing cheer from all over the vox. Resisting the urge to smile, I flipped the channels and contacted Lieutenant Charlie Bass.

    "Lieutenant Bass, what''s your situation?"

    "We''re safe, thanks to you, sir." Bass quickly filled me in on what happened. Apparently all the naval soldiers were recalled back to the base to retake the ships, only to be shelled to obliteration by our captured fleet. Right now, the small squad of Marines were helping the laborers out. They had been malnourished, abused and ill-treated and were in need of medical help.

    Upon hearing that, I quickly contacted the corpsmen of the other companies and assigned them to look after the laborers. Just in time, Aoyama Aoi contacted me to let me know the counter-curse was done, so I asked him to come and help out with the medical treatment.

    With all that done, I jumped out of my Titan and surveyed the fleet. Mkoll stalked up to me and saluted.

    "All ships captured, sir."

    "Great job, everyone." I took a deep breath and finally allowed myself a small smile. "Rotate everyone in shifts and get them to rest. This is just the beginning."

    Mkoll shook his head. "Go get some rest, sir. You''re the one who did most of the work." He glanced at the pool of blood that used to be Mizuno Umi. "I still can hardly believe how you trounced a hero like that."

    "It was quite difficult," I admitted, remembering how Mizuno''s Leviathan gave me and Ryuu so much trouble. Fortunately, all that was done now and I could finally take a break. Grinning, I raised my fist toward the night sky. "And that''s another one crossed off my revenge list."

    Number of former classmates killed: 7. Number of bullies left to kill: 6.

    Their days were numbered.

 123 Chapter 123: Old friends

    After the battle, I went to help my corpsmen out with healing the laborers with my Regeneration magic, but because it cost me a lot of energy, I ended up burning myself out and ordered by Dorden to go to bed. Unable to protest, I collapsed on the groundsheet I used as a temporary bed outdoors when outfield and fell asleep immediately.

    The next thing I knew, my aide, Jurgen, was shaking me awake.

    "Sir, Lieutenant Dressia is on the line."

    I sat up groggily, still unsure what was going on. Stifling a yawn and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I nodded and accepted the vox receiver from Jurgen.

    "Tanaka here."

    "Colonel, it''s Dressia." Daniel''s voice crackled over the vox. I bit my lip to stop another yawn and forced out a question.

    "Hey, Daniel. How is it going? How are you guys holding up? Did the enemy send any reinforcements?"

    "Nope," Daniel replied warily. "But¡­someone else did. There''s someone here who says he knows you. He wants to speak to you."

    "Who?"

    "Um¡­he calls himself Alan. He''s a knight from Legnica."

    I was suddenly back to full wakefulness. "Patch him over. Thanks."

    "Uh¡­sure." Daniel sounded uncertain, but he obeyed. A minute or so later, Alan''s voice came through.

    "Tanaka-san, is that you?"

    "Nope, I''m Sato."

    "¡­"

    "Sorry. Yeah, it''s me. What''s up?"

    Igoring my bad attempt at a joke, Alan took a deep breath on the other side of the vox, and then issued a request.

    "Please¡­Tanaka-san. I need your help."

    *

    I returned to shore by way of a battleship named Titan''s Bane. Or so I intended.

    The majority of the armada had been left back at the Marrina Isles because we still needed manpower to pacify the population.

    Before I boarded Titan''s Bane, I heard a cry well up from my men. A shimmering gate appeared and Hoshizaki Kozue stepped out of it, followed by Aoyama Aoi.

    "I heard you need my help," Aoyama told me.

    "Yeah. There''s still a lot of wounded personnel in here, not to mention the indoctrinated." I watched him, but his expression was unreadable as always. "You told me you came up with a cure for Kobayashi''s brainwashing?"

    "Yeah." Aoyama nodded, a hint of pride in his eyes. "Give me a few days and I''ll lift the brainwashing effects from the entire population."

    "Good job." Hoshizaki was looking at the fleet, impressed. She turned to me with a smile. "I heard what you did, Tanaka-kun. That was amazing."

    "No, I did nothing." I waved her praise away. "It was all my men. My soldiers worked hard to capture the ships. They did everything."

    "You''re the one who defeated the Evelyn''s Chosen and her Leviathan, sir!" Sergeant Michael Marko bellowed from somewhere.

    I jumped out of my skin, utterly surprised when Mkoll suddenly spoke up behind me. That guy¡­I didn''t even sense his presence at all. How scary. When did he sneak up on me? The guy was literally a ghost.

    Maybe I should change my name to Ibram Gaunt¡­

    "Anyway, I''m counting on you." I turned back to Aoyama, pretending not to hear my subordinates. "I hope you can¡­uh, persuade them to stop resisting, at least."

    "I suspect they''ll be so furious with what Kobayashi did with them, their king and country that they will volunteer to join your army and your cause."

    "He''s not wrong, you know." Lieutenant Bass ventured, a group of Marines trailing him. "We''ve got plenty of volunteers from the former laborers. Now that they''ve been liberated, they''re just bursting with the desire for revenge. They want to get their hands on Kobayashi and wringe the life out of his neck. They can''t forgive him for enslaving them as laborers."

    "I don''t blame them."

    I sighed. Having heard the reports, I could only imagine the nightmarish hell the laborers were put through. Atlantea''s father was in pretty bad shape, but thanks to Dorden''s medical treatment, he would pull through. He was already shouting how he would love to get his hands on Kobayashi and explicitly detail what sort of revenge he would take.

    Sorry, old man, but I have dibs on Kobayashi. No one''s getting to him before I did, and the moment I''m done with him, there wouldn''t be anything left of that bastard for anyone to take revenge on. The guy was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

    "All right. I''ll be leaving the people of the Marrina Isles to you guys." I turned toward my soldiers. "Please cooperate with Aoyama and help him out. He''ll try to erase the indoctrination Kobayashi placed on them, but before then, they might resist. Try not to hurt anyone unless absolutely necessary, but I think you''ll have to restrain them as much as possible."

    My soldiers exchanged glances and I sighed.

    "Right, prioritize your lives. If restraining them proves too dangerous, then just¡­do whatever is necessary to put them down. But don''t be too trigger-happy. We''ll be needing these men for the final war against Kobayashi. Is that understood?"

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    With a satisfied nod, I proceeded up Traitor''s Bane and ordered the crew to sail toward the mainland shore. As I climbed to the deck, I wasn''t surprised to see Lilith Scarlet already waiting there for me, her long red hair fluttering in the wind. She turned toward me with a smile, resting against the railing and enjoying the salty air.

    "I heard you''re meeting an old friend?"

    I couldn''t help but smile. Word sure traveled fast. Lilith had her sources.

    "Yeah. You remember Alan?"

    "How could I forget?" Lilith giggled. "He''s one of the less¡­uh, useless people in your party when you went to fight the dragons."

    "I guess you could say that."

    Both of us didn''t voice out the fact that the most useless one was Alicia Clarence. Gosh, but that girl was annoying.

    "¡­I wonder what he wants to meet me for?"

    It had been a while since we last met, and Alan didn''t know about my relationship with the demons then. However, he contacted a demonic armor company and requested the son of Baron Dressia, a demon noble, to patch him over to me. Then he must have known about my connections with the demons¡­

    Lilith shrugged.

    "Who knows?"

    "I guess we''ll find out."

    We waited as the battleship sailed across the sea and toward the mainland shore. It had been a while since we had a quiet, peaceful journey like this, free of tension and conflict. Despite the titanic battle that occurred last night, the water was calm and tranquil. There were moments where I could catch glimpses of marine life darting across or swimming leisurely under the surface, algae lazily drifting up and flowing along with the breeze, and seagulls or other winged birds skimming across the water to catch a fish. Occasionally a whale or a sea monster would rear its head or body, large torrents of water rolling off its blubber and crashing back into the sea.

    Even in this era, they should already have cruise ships, right? Luxurious cruise ships for the wealthy and nobles.

    I wasn''t sure regarding the history of cruise ships, but if they hadn''t started an industry around that, I was pretty sure I could create one. Not that I would stick around for long. Once this whole thing with Kobayashi was over, I was going to ask Takeda Tetsuo to send me back to Earth.

    At that time I didn''t know his Plunder special ability had no effect on me.

    ¡­because of Adamantium Will¡­

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    Anyway, Lilith and I spent the journey enjoying the scenery and silence before the huge shore of the mainland came into view. I saw Company T''s tanks all parked around the beach, most of them turning their executioner plasma cannons and main turrets inland. They were probably still on a lookout for enemy reinforcements.

    At the center was a ring, where Daniel and his command squad surrounded a single human knight. I immediately recognized the handsome face and wavy blond hair.

    "Daniel! Guys! Alan!"

    I waved from the deck. Several of my soldiers caught sight of me and waved back before erupting to a cheer.

    "Three cheers for the Colonel!"

    "Congratulation!"

    "¡­huh?"

    I stared at them blankly, only for Lilith to sigh.

    "You won a major battle at Marrina Isles and captured their entire fleet. Not to mention you slew an Evelyn''s Chosen and her Leviathan. Of course they would be celebrating your¡­no, your regiment''s victory."

    "Oh."

    So that was what the fuss was all about.

    Feeling a little embarrassed, I waved at my men meekly before focusing my attention on Alan. He looked immensely relieved that I had finally arrived.

    "Tanaka-san!"

    "Hey, Alan. What''s up?"

    He looked grim, but waited for the ship to stop and anchor itself in shallow waters for me and my crew to alight. I patiently strode over to him with Lilith by my side, the both of us escorted by armed guardsmen.

    "Scarlet-san." Alan nodded respectfully to Lilith, who politely returned the greeting.

    "It''s been a while."

    "Indeed." Alan took a deep breath and turned to me. "Tanaka-san, I''ll get straight to the point. I hear you''re raising an army to fight against Kobayashi and his forces. Is that correct?"

    "It''s not wrong," I admitted. "But what about it?"

    Alan looked at me seriously.

    "Please allow me to join you."

    Well, that wasn''t unexpected. I always knew Alan was a decent sort of fellow who would never follow a tyrant like Kobayashi. How he escaped Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition and indoctrination, I wasn''t sure, but I used Absolute Appraisal to make sure and saw that his status was normal. He hadn''t been brainwashed.

    "I don''t mind."

    "Great!" Alan brightened. Then he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean¡­it''s not just me. There''s a group of us¡­resistance fighters. There are quite a few knight regiments who refused to accept how Kobayashi murdered the royal family and ursurped the throne for himself¡­and his tyranny. I represent one of them, and we would like to join you."

    "Resistance fighters?" I repeated. Now this was surprising.

    Alan nodded. "Yeah. We''re mostly rural regiments, though ¨C those regiments stationed at remote, rural outposts on the border. I''m a little ashamed to admit it, but we''re mostly ragtag bands of knights or disgraced Knightly Orders who were punished and sent far away as punishments for failure and such. We would really benefit from being part of a larger and more organized resistance movement."

    I finally understood why Alan and those knight regiments avoided the brainwashing effects of Kobayashi''s special ability. They weren''t in the capital when it happened. They were far away from the cities, isolated in the remote, rural borders of the human kingdoms. As powerful as Kobayashi was, his power was not omnipotent. He couldn''t extend his Kingly Disposition to enslave every single human on the kingdom.

    Come to think of it, it seemed that the Marrina Isles were the same thing. The people in the main city of the Marrina Isles had succumbed to his brainwashing effect, but the villages far away from the main isles and located remotely on the shores of the mainland, far from any major cities or large towns, were free from the indoctrination.

    Kobayashi''s influence couldn''t extend everywhere. Somehow I was pleased by that knowledge.

    "Um, I don''t mind, but just so you know, we''re not a mere resistance group or rebels." I glanced at my men and then returned my gaze to Alan. "I''m not sure if you already know, but we''re all demons here. It''s a full-on war. We''re waging a total war against Kobayashi and his armies ¨C it''s the demon domains of Morten against the human kingdoms under Kobayashi''s control. There are politics involved, and the war is taking place on a far greater scale than you can imagine. It won''t be as simple as granting you freedom after killing Kobayashi."

    "I understand. In other words, we''ve to negotiate with the demons, right?" Alan swallowed as he swept his gaze from Lilith to my men. "We''re prepared for that. And I''ll be asking you and her highness Queen Scarlet for assistance."

    So he knew who Lilith was. And he was already aware of my real identity. I wondered when he found out. After we went our separate ways following the rescue of Princess Merly from the dragons, or did he know about it all along?

    Honestly, it didn''t matter.

    "As long as you know."

    While I good-naturedly told Alan that, Lilith followed up.

    "It''s great that you''ve resolved yourself and all, and I''ll do my best to help you. But I''m still a little surprised that you would go this far¡­"

    Alan chewed on his lip and balled his hands into fists.

    "We''ve seen firsthand the results of Kobayashi''s tyranny. Entire villages decimated and destroyed because they couldn''t afford to pay taxes and tithes. Whole populations of towns dragged into slavery and labor to produce military equipment and weapons, or drafted into the military. The brainwashing. The atrocities. The¡­purges. He killed our king and queen. He imposed fear and insanity upon our friends and families! We¡­we''ll never forgive him!"

    "Speaking of friends¡­" I suddenly realized something. "Where''s Alicia-san and Sophia-san? Are they with you on this, or¡­?"

    Alan suddenly went cold at that. He turned pale and began to tremble.

    "Alicia¡­Alicia was killed."

    "¡­huh?"

    I couldn''t believe what I just heard. Blinking in disbelief, I stared at him.

    "Alicia-san¡­was killed?"

    Alan nodded. "She¡­and the Clarence family refused to submit. When his majesty King Hedol was killed, they were the first ones to take action and denounce him. Kobayashi then had them all executed and made an example of them¡­to silence the rest of the nobles into obedience."

    His hands were shaking violent as he stared at his fingers, tears welling up in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he held back a sob.

    "I saw¡­I saw the images. Of Alicia''s body hanging from the gallows. Not just her, her whole family. Their servants. The entire Clarence Household, from the patriarch to the lowliest servant, from the elderly to the youngest infant, all of them were strung up and quartered on public display for all to see. There was no mercy shown. Not a single one was spared. None of the noble houses dared to protest against Kobayashi after that."

    Holy Terra! I thought Kobayashi was insane, but this just had to take the cake. The guy used to be a high school student like me, albeit a terrible bully. But now he was a clich¨¦ villain right out of the most unoriginal stories about tyrants and demon lords.

    And I was supposed to be the demon here. What the hell?!

    To confirm Alan''s information (and also because I really, really wanted to see the sight of a dead Alicia hanging from the gallows by her neck), I switched on my smartphone and searched the news regarding the Clarence house''s demise.

    The images sickened me. As I watched Alicia''s corpse slowly sway, hung up by her neck, I felt sick. As annoying as she was, even she didn''t deserve such an end. Scanning through the images, I saw that Alan wasn''t exaggerating.

    The entire Clarence family was there, executed and hung like petty criminals, displayed on public for all to see. The news also came with an imperial edict from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity, declaring that treason was a crime punishable by death. Not just the death of the individual, but if anyone so much as think treason, he and his entire family, friends and perhaps even village would be arrested and executed immediately.

    What the fuck was this?! Kobayashi had really gone too far. That bastard had clearly gone over the edge.

    ¡­or not.

    "R¡­right. Anyway, Tanaka-san, I have some news for you. The knight regiment I joined is the Knights of Blood. The commander says he knows you, and tells me to send his regards."

    "Knights of Blood?

    For a moment, my thoughts were torn away from the ominous news of Kobayashi''s atrocities and jerked back into the present. The Knights of Blood indeed sounded familiar. In fact¡­

    "Captain Dante Infernius?!"

    Alan allowed himself a small smile. "So the Captain was right. He did know you."

    "We''ve met," I affirmed with a slight nod. "How is he doing?"

    At my question, Alan lost his smile and he turned glum. Gulping, he stared at his feet.

    "Captain Infernius''s regiment is under siege right now¡­in fact, that''s the real reason why I rushed here to find you. We need your help to save him and the Knights of Blood. Kobayashi has vowed to punish them for their treason and sent an overwhelming force to crush their garrison." He looked at me, imploring. "Please help us¡­we''re outnumbered, starved of resources and surrounded. At this rate¡­we won''t be able to last another week before the enemy finally breaks our defenses and wipe both us and our families out."

 124 Chapter 124: Goddesses

    Regis looked incredibly pleased when I informed him of Alan''s request. Folding his arms, he nodded in approval.

    "So you''ve accepted the request?"

    "Well¡­uh, not yet. That''s why I''m here¡­I was going to ask you for permission."

    "Ah."

    Regis nodded gratefully. The chain of command was there for a reason. I couldn''t just bypass my superiors and do whatever I wanted. The moment I did that, I would descend a slippery slope and end up being a military dictator like every other ambitious general in history. This wasn''t just because I didn''t trust myself to be incorruptible, but also to reassure Regis that I was still loyal to him and wouldn''t plot anything behind his back.

    "Well, you have it. I authorize a mission to help the human resistance and rebels." Regis was actually delighted with the news. "Any help we can get against Kobayashi would be very much appreciated, whether it''s from the humans themselves or otherwise."

    "Death to the False Emperor!" I hollered and saluted. Regis raised an eyebrow, and then chuckled.

    "Well, yeah. I guess."

    The guy obviously did not play Warhammer 40,000¡­or even if he did, he obviously did not pick Chaos as his main faction. Speaking of which, my main faction was Imperium (hence all my Malthas tanks and Hellblade), but I still knew the reference. I blame it on my fanboy affection for the tragic story of the Thousand Sons. All their Primarch wanted to do was warn his father of Horus''s treachery. Magnus did nothing wrong.

    Well, except that he inadvertently tore a hole in the Webway gate on Terra that the Emperor had been building, allowing Daemons to flood the castle and wreck the Golden Throne and important mechanisms of the Webway gate. Ouch.

    Anyway¡­

    "I''m counting on you, Colonel Tanaka. Oh, can you stay where you are for a day or two? I''m sending your battalion much needed reinforcements."

    "Much needed?" I repeated incredulously. "Uh, I''m grateful and I really appreciate it, but my men haven''t taken many losses, if any."

    "Oh, no." Regis laughed. "You''re a Colonel now. I''m assigning you an entire regiment ¨C at least seven tank companies and two infantry battalions to bolster your forces. Her highness Queen Scarlet has also assigned another two vampire companies to complete the current infantry company into a vampire battalion. You''re getting a full regiment."

    "Uh¡­thanks?"

    I wasn''t sure I knew how to feel about this. Regis smiled warmly.

    "It''s long overdue. You deserve to command your own regiment. I have complete faith in your abilities, and furthermore, the final battle is drawing near. I heard you captured the Marrina fleet and their armada is now in your hands. Excellent work."

    "I see." Regis nodded understandingly. "Once that is done, you''ll have a larger group of humans on your side¡­with enough people to crew the ships."

    "That''s right, your excellency. I can''t say we should fully trust them, but¡­"

    "Oh, don''t worry. I''ve already dispatched the Mereid Tribes to the Marrina Isles. They will be arriving soon to help keep an eye on the Marrina navymen and assist with crewing the ships."

    The Mereids were apparently aquatic type demons. They remained mostly humanoid, but they retained the ability to breathe and swim freely underwater. They were usually a very beautiful people or so I''ve heard.

    "Thank you, your excellency."

    Regis waved my thanks away.

    "Well, I''ll be counting on you then. Wait for your tanks and soldiers¡­they''re mostly fresh recruits just out of basic military camp, so they lack experience. I''ll be relying on you to whip them into shape and give them the experience they need."

    "There will be plenty of chances," I assured him. Already we would be heading out to a major battle to relieve Captain Dante Infernius and his beleaguered knights. I expected heavy fighting and at least significant casualties.

    Just like any battle, huh¡­

    "I also have one surprise in store for you." Regis was grinning broadly. I felt a chill at that, but said nothing. "Look forward to it, eh?"

    "Um, yes, your excellency."

    I was already so not looking forward to it.

    "All right, if nothing else, I''ll be off." Regis looked exhausted all of a sudden, as if abruptly reminded of all his emperor duties that he put off just to talk to me. "I''ve got a few reports to tend to, and the council wants my decision regarding the budget allocation of this war. Plus there are quite a few people who are pretty upset with the current state of affairs." He sighed. "If we could just win this war tomorrow, it would solve a lot of my headaches."

    "I''ll do my best, but that''s impossible."

    "That''s all I ask, Colonel. That''s all I ask." Regis waved and then switched off the holographic screen. I watched the blank picture fizzle out and then dismissed the hologram. Stifling a yawn, I ran through the rest of the administrative work for my regiment before finally heading to bed. Running a single battalion was hard enough, and now Regis had put me in command of an entire regiment.

    Oh, God-Emperor¡­this is going to be tough.

    I didn''t know how long I was asleep for, but the next thing I knew, a voice woke me up and I sat up groggily on the groundsheet I was using for my bed. Like my men, I was using a groundsheet to sleep on. Like hell I would abuse my officer''s authority and enjoy the comfort and luxury of a bed or cot while my soldiers slept on the ground with nothing between them and the cold, hard earth except a rough piece of fabric.

    "Hey."

    I blinked and glanced around, confused, before I put my glasses on.

    "Hurry up and come to the beach."

    ¡­the beach?

    I froze when I listened to the voice, but all that followed was silence. I felt a strange sense of unease as I waited, only to realize that I would only hear the rest if I followed the instructions and headed to the beach.

    That voice¡­it sounds familiar¡­I think I''ve heard it before.

    "¡­"

    A bead of perspiration rolling down my face, I considered for a few moments, and then decided to pull on my uniform over my admin attire. Sneaking out of my tent, I dismissed my sentries and strode toward the beach by myself.

    It was empty.

    "There''s no one here?"

    I would think there would be at least a patrol or sentry on the beach, but there was no sign of any life, human or demon. There wasn''t even an animal or crustacean on the beach, no crabs crawling sideways or fish flopping about. Or even starfishes.

    Something''s not right here.

    Just when I thought that, a gentle voice spoke up behind me.

    "So you''ve come."

    I turned around, only to see the familiar figure of Evelyn floating behind me.

    "Oh¡­"

    Under the moonlight, she was smiling arrogantly and looking down on me with a smug expression. As always, she was dressed in a revealing white dress, which showed a lot of skin for some reason. Fanservice, maybe.

    "Goddess Evelyn."

    I took a deep breath and faced her in a stalwart manner.

    "Are you the one who called me here?"

    Evelyn folded her arms proudly and nodded.

    "Yes, I am."

    I pushed my glasses up my nose as I watched her warily. There were dozens of thoughts that ran through my mind, first of which was¡­

    This woman¡­she''s the goddess who just stood by and did nothing but watch when Kobayashi and his flunkies threw me off the transportation spell.

    Granted, she was completely taken by surprise and was much too stunned by Kobayashi''s brazen attitude to react. But she was a goddess, for goddess''s sake. It wasn''t too much of a stretch for her to save me with her goddess powers or at least stop Kobayashi and the other bullies from trying to murder me.

    Before I could grumble, Evelyn stepped forward and lifted up my chin with a delicate, snow-white finger.

    "To be honest, you''ve surprised me. I''m impressed."

    "¡­uh, why? I didn''t do anything."

    Evelyn chuckled at that and shook her head.

    "Still as humble as always. You''ve grown up so much in such a short time."

    "Grown up?" I shrugged as I glanced down at myself. "Not really. I''m still the same size as I was when you summoned me here. Maybe I even lost a lot of weight. Rather than growing up, I bet I''m actually shrinking."

    "That''s not what I meant." Evelyn gazed at me, her eyes shining fervently. "To be honest, I initially thought you were useless trash¡­a weakling with no potential or talent. But¡­I was wrong."

    Her finger traced my jawline and she gently cupped my face with her hand, caressing my cheek almost lovingly.

    "You might be a little rough and raw now, but if I polish you thoroughly enough, you''ll be a priceless diamond, gleaming brighter than anyone else. You have the potential to be the greatest hero Restia has ever seen!"

    "Sorry, not interested."

    I immediately shot Evelyn down flatly. Her lip curled slightly, but she kept her emotions under control and continued that smiling fa?ade.

    "Don''t be too hasty. You know¡­I can consider sending you back to your original world once you''ve accomplished whatever I summoned you here for."

    "Really?"

    Takeda Tetsuo had the same ability, so it wasn''t weird that a goddess would have it. But if I could ask Takeda to send me back, why would I need the goddess to do so?

    "However¡­there is one condition."

    Evelyn held up a finger.

    I sighed. There always had to be a catch, didn''t it?

    "Become my follower."

    "Huh?!"

    Now that was unexpected. I raised an eyebrow and stared at Evelyn suspiciously.

    "I''m sorry, but right now I''m already the follower of the goddess of knowledge, Lyia. So I can''t just become any other god''s followers."

    "There''s no need to worry."

    Somehow, Evelyn''s figure turned sinister and ominous. I couldn''t help but feel a chill run down my spine when I saw her smirk. Raising her hands for dramatic effect, she offered what sounded like an outrageous solution.

    "If that''s the case, all you need to do is betray her."

    "Don''t wanna."

    "¡­what are you hesitating for?"

    "I''m not hesitating," I countered crossly. "I already said I don''t wanna. I don''t care what you have to offer me, I''m not betraying Lyia. My loyalty is my only redeeming feature. That, and my hardworking personality."

    "Oh, you give yourself far too little credit. I know how intelligent you are." Evelyn shook her head, and then continued to proudly spread her hands to boast. "I''m much more powerful and more beautiful than your Lyia. It''s obvious that I''m an excellent goddess. I can grant you much more power than Adamantium Will and the Library of Eden ever can!"

    "Not interested."

    What kind of bullshit was this? Was Evelyn stupid or something? I didn''t need any power she could grant me. Thanks to the Adamantium Will that Lyia bestowed upon me, I profited massively from being a zombie, and with the Devour special ability I attained slightly later, I was able to plunder and steal special abilities from her heroes. In other words, I didn''t need Evelyn to give me anything. I could just take any of her powers for myself by killing and devouring my former classmates. Well, to be accurate, I no longer possessed the Devour ability, but I could still somewhat steal my former classmates'' abilities by drinking their blood, and I already had at least four special abilities that I swiped from the heroes ¨C abilities that Evelyn had bestowed upon them.

    Basically, I didn''t need any powers Evelyn offered since I could just take them for myself without having to suffer the binding terms of a contract of loyalty. To be honest, even if I couldn''t steal the heroes'' abiltiies, I had no intention of changing my mind. Evelyn just stood by dumbly and watched as Kobayashi and the others tried to murder me right in front of her eyes. In contrast, Lyia reached out and offered me assistance when I needed it the most. It was a no-brainer who I would rather swear fealty to.

    Evelyn seemed to change her tack when she realized that I would not be swayed by power or ambition, for she switched her strategy.

    "Love, then. I can offer you any girl you want. Make her fall for you."

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    "Uh, I already have¡­"

    Lilith, or so I was about to say, but Evelyn interrupted me.

    "I can deliver you any girl you want, make her fall so deeply in love with you that she''ll devote her entire life to serving you and satisfying you¡­you can do whatever you want with her, including satisfying your lust with her body. Think about it." Evelyn glanced across the sea and toward the Marrina Isles. "Her name is Hoshizaki Kozue, isn''t it? That girl I summoned along with you, who seems to take a liking to you. All I need is give her a little push¡­"

    Hoshizaki Kozue? I mean, she was pretty cute and likeable, and she was friendly to everyone, including an outcast like me. But I wasn''t delusional enough to think she actually took a liking to me. Evelyn was obviously trying to sway me with lies and lure me into a honey trap. But this sort of temptation didn''t work on me.

    Especially since I had Adamantium Will.

    "No. sorry, but not interested. I already have someone I like, and I don''t need your assistance regarding that."

    "That vampire girl, huh?"

    A look of revulsion flickered in Evelyn''s eyes, but she concealed her disgust quickly and smiled sweetly.

    "If you''re worried about your current¡­condition, I possess the power to return you to being human. You no longer need to be an undead or a vampire. I''ll turn you back into a pure human being, free of any demonic taint."

    "I''m fine with the way I am."

    Evelyn swallowed, but suppressed her temper. "Then what is it you want?"

    Nothing, you bitch.

    Anyone with a quarter of a brain could see what the goddess was trying to do. The heroes she summoned had turned into insane, psychotic murderers who enslaved the very humans she summoned them to save. And I was going around kicking their asses and cleaning up her mess. After losing a lot of face, she figured the only way to preserve what little remained of her dignity was to persuade me to be her champion or hero, and then tell all the other gods and goddesses that everything was part of her divine plan.

    Of course, this was all conjecture. There was no telling what or how a goddess thought or how her thought processes worked. Not that it mattered.

    I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

    "I understand that there are many advantages in becoming your follower."

    "That''s right," Evelyn affirmed with a nod.

    "And you are offering me powers other than Adamantium Will or the Library of Eden."

    "I certainly am."

    I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Lady, I had already been stealing the abilities you bestowed upon your heroes even without you giving me anything. I didn''t need her to give me anything. On the other hand, I wondered if she knew what I had been doing all this time ¨C if she did, she didn''t seem to mind that I was slaughtering her chosen champions right and left. That made her all the more suspicious.

    "Furthermore, it''s every man''s dream to have the woman they love fall for them and reciprocate their affection."

    "Of course. So you understand, after all!"

    "Oh, I definitely comprehend everything." I took another deep breath. "And my answer is¡­"

    "Now, say it out loud!" Evelyn exclaimed animated, stretching out both hands as if to welcome me. "Betray Lyia! Become my follower!"

    What the fuck was with that dramatic gesture? Was she trying to act like a manga character or something?!

    Good thing I had already decided on my answer. I wanted nothing to do with this bitch goddess.

    "I refuse."

    "¡­what?"

    My answer stunned Evelyn so much that she was dumbfounded for a few seconds.

    "Dumb bitch," I scoffed. "You think you can deceive me so easily? Besides, it''s too late for me to become your follower."

    Shaking my head, I pointed my thumb down toward the ground.

    "And even if it''s not too late, I don''t care. I have no intention of ever being your follower. I''ll stay loyal and true to Lyia for eternity. She was the one who took me in and looked after me when you abandoned me. What makes you think I will simply abandon her to crawl to lick your feet? Fuck, no. I''m proud to be a follower of the goddess Lyia, and I''ll never pledge my loyalty to you."

    Raising my hand, I jerked my thumb across my throat.

    "Now, get lost, you old bitch."

    A vein popped in Evelyn''s temple when she heard that.

    "¡­did you just call me, a beautiful, great supreme goddess¡­an old bitch?"

    "Do you need me to repeat myself, old bitch? Or slutty hag? No, I wonder if whore-bitch would be a more appropriate¡­"

    I never finished my sentence. The sheer aura that Evelyn emanated threatened to overwhelm and crush me. Her once beautiful face had turned into a demonic visage reminiscent of a hanya mask of an onibaba from a Noh play. Well, of course that was entirely my imagination. It wasn''t as if she actually turned into a demon.

    "Die."

    I almost blacked out from that single utterance. As expected of a goddess, she was on a completely different level from anything else I had faced thus far.

    "Uh oh," I muttered. It seemed like I was going to be killed right here, right now. Damn it, just when I was so close to getting my revenge on Kobayashi¡­

    A gigantic fireball materialized in one of Evelyn''s hands, flaring as fiercely as the sun itself. Towering over her head in a gargantuan flaming projectile, Evelyn made as if she was about to throw it at me.

    "¡­and I won''t stop by just killing you."

    The enormous conflagration throbbed and blazed to her divine rage.

    "I''ll incinerate you over and over again. You won''t die just once but an infinite number of times for eternity, slowely burned to death countless times. I wonder, just how many deaths would you need to experience before your sanity snaps?"

    I gave her a surly look. "What makes you think I''m sane to begin with?"

    "Enough of your cheekiness!" Evelyn bellowed and hurled the fireball at me. "Now, disappear from my sight and suffer for eternity!"

    I gritted my teeth and drew my Blood Dragon Sword. Between my demonic weapon and my Redwood jacket, I was hoping that they would protect me from complete death, but I was under no illusions that the both of them combined could withstand a divine attack from a goddess herself. That said, I had no intention of meekly dying like this.

    I was going to fight to my last breath if necessary.

    Fortunately, the fireball never hit me. The massive conflagration was suddenly doused by a tsunami of seawater just before it reached within a meter of me. Steam billowed about me, scalding my skin, but I regenerated pretty quickly, my angry, reddening flesh healing in a matter of seconds.

    "Eh?"

    Lowering my Blood Dragon Sword, I watched in disbelief as three people stepped in front of me.

    "Just in time."

    One of them was the goddess Lyia, who I pledged my loyalty to. Beside her was a familiar-looking man, the guy I met in my dream. Chronos, the god of time and space, and also Lyia''s husband. Apparently I was also his follower because he and his wife were one.

    The third party, however, was a lady I didn''t recognize, but she was clad in a similarly exquisite and divine raiment that bespoke her status as a goddess. She turned to smile at me in a warm and friendly manner.

    Who is she?

    I couldn''t say I recognized the new goddess. I had never seen her before.

    Evelyn clicked her tongue in frustration and gnashed her teeth at the sudden interference.

    "Tch¡­"

    Swinging a hand, she snarled at Lyia.

    "Get out of my way, Lyia!" she shouted. "That trash there dares to insult me, a goddess. I won''t be satisfied until I punish him!"

    What the fuck? She was a goddess, right? How petty could she be?!

    "¡­this boy here is my and Chrono''s follower. I won''t let you do with him as you wish."

    Lyia threw out a hand to shield me. Chronos also stepped forward, smirking.

    "But if you wish to fight, then I''ll be happy to oblige, Evelyn."

    Evelyn eyed Chronos warily. Evidently she seemed to fear his power a little, for she withdrew slightly and her voice turned a little meek.

    "Don''t worry. I have no intention of killing him. I''ll just make him disappear."

    "Um, excuse me¡­"

    The new goddess raised her hand and spoke up good-naturedly.

    "If you break the treaty, I''ll report you to Father."

    "What¡­?"

    Evelyn stiffened at that and gulped.

    "Oi, don''t go spoiling people''s fun," Chronos complained. "Give me a reason to slap that old bitch about." Then he pretened to jolt up. "Whoops! I called her an old bitch too! Is Evelyn going to incinerate me for all eternity too?"

    He then grinned and the environment changed. I almost fell to my knees under the godly pressures that clashed upon the beach.

    "I would like to see you try."

    "Dear," Lyia chided him gently and placed a hand on his arm. "Don''t do that." straightening herself, she turned to glare at Evelyn. "Laying your hands on the follower of another god or goddess is a breach of the treaty. You know that. Even if it''s you, Father will definitely not forgive you for breaking the treaty if he hears about it."

    "¡­"

    Evelyn clutched her arm tightly as she glared at Lyia in sullen silence.

    Then she suddenly turned around.

    "I''ll let him go this time."

    However, she wasn''t done yet. Throwing a devious glare in my direction, she issued a chilling warning.

    "But don''t think this is over, though. Prepare yourself."

    With that, she disappeared from the beach, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

    I''m saved. Thanks to the goddess of knowledge, Lyia¡­as expected, she''s kind. Oh, and Chronos too¡­

    But Chronos was looking all eager and enthusiastic.

    "Exactly what I wish for! The one who should prepare yourself is you, though. I''m so gonna kick your ass so hard you''ll be screaming¡­"

    "Dear!"

    "Sorry."

    Chronos looked a little chastened when Lyia snapped at him. Meanwhile, the third goddess giggled at their antics.

    As for me¡­

    "Um¡­excuse me¡­"

    I bowed deeply when the three god and goddesses turned back to me.

    "Thank you very much for saving me."

    "Fu fu, you''re welcome."

    "Yeah, it''s only natural." Chronos nodded and added after Lyia''s response. Then he blinked and glanced at the third goddess.

    "Speaking of which, I should introduce you to her, Tomoyuki."

    "Ah! That''s right!"

    The third goddess clapped her hand and greeted me happily.

    "I''m the goddess of the sea, Mirriel!"

    Goddess of the sea?

    While I was trying to wrap my head around what had just happened, Mirriel continued in her usual lighthearted manner.

    "I''m here to thank you, Tomoyuki-san."

    "Huh? Thank me? For what?"

    I didn''t remember ever doing anything for Mirriel to thank me for. In fact, this was the first time I had ever met her.

    "First of all, for liberating Marrina Isles from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity." She bowed her head slightly. "The people of the Marrina Isles are my followers and are supposed to be under my protection. But because of the non-interference rule, I could do nothing but watch as they were enslaved by Kobayashi Kenji."

    "That bitch-goddess''s champion," Chronos added necessarily before Lyia silenced him with a glare.

    "Secondly, for eliminating the Leviathan of that hero¡­Mizuno Umi. The sheer presence and magical power it exuded was disrupting the sea."

    "Um¡­and my ancient dragon wasn''t?"

    "I won''t deny that he didn''t, but at least you don''t abuse your powers by summoning him every single time and setting him loose on every single thing."

    I could hardly imagine Mizuno doing that, but then again, most of my former classmates were insane. It wouldn''t be surprising for them to do stupid things.

    Mirriel clasped her hands eagerly. "I want to repay you somehow. So¡­"

    "If you ask me to throw something into the sea, I''m going to leave."

    Like hell I was going to rip off Shingan no Yuusha.

    "Why would I ask you to do that?" Mirriel looked at me disapprovingly. "I don''t want my sea to be polluted."

    Right. Back in my previous world, we had a serious environmental problem with people dumping their garbage into the sea. Mirriel was going to suffer the beginnings of that now that Restia was entering the Industrial Revolution.

    "It''s a manga he''s reading," Chronos whispered. Mirriel stared at him, confused, and he shook his head. "Never mind."

    "Well, anyway, all I can do is help your naval fleet." Mirriel looked at the Marrina naval armada in the distance. "As a reward, this is what I''ll give you¡­"

 125 Chapter 125: Regimental Standard

    After the meeting with the god and goddesses, I returned to my tent to sleep off the rest of the night. The reward from Mirriel wasn''t something I could carry along, and was instead granted to something else, so I left it to the rest of my army.

    What? You were expecting me to reveal it here? Fat chance. I''m going to keep all the existences beyond the fourth wall in suspense. If I was feeling particularly cruel I could just drop the story here or go on a super-long hiatus because there were plenty of readers who stopped following this story or were giving me 0.5 ratings for the past two months. I was literally losing 10 readers a day and getting a daily 0.5 rating (yes, apparently one person per day thought my story was 0.5 standard). I was losing the motivation to take revenge on Kobayashi because of that. Maybe I should just drop off and disappear from the Internet.

    Anyway, the next thing I knew, Jurgen was shaking me awake.

    "Time to get up, boss."

    I sat up groggily and glanced around. Thanks to that bitch Evelyn, I didn''t get enough sleep because I had to entertain her nonsense. Stifling a yawn, I nodded wearily.

    "All right, Jurgen. I''m up. I''ll be out in a few minutes."

    "Very good, sir," Jurgen replied in a phlegmatic tone. I stared at him.

    "Why are you talking like that?"

    "Because I''m named Jurgen, and I''m also your aide."

    "I''m not a Commissar, though?!"

    "You''re a Colonel-Commissar now."

    "I''m just a Colonel!"

    I gave up. Wait, didn''t this mean Jurgen actually read the Ciaphas Cain series too? That was awesome. I wondered how he managed to get his hand on that awesome bunch of novels. Then again, the Black Library existed in all realms.

    After Jurgen left the tent, I washed up and took a swig of Sacra. No, my mistake. It was the bitter tanna tea that Jurgen brewed for me. Apparently it was a popular beverage in the icy village of his hometown of Valhalla, the domain that Lieutenant Daniel Dressia''s father, Baron Dressia, ruled over. Come to think of it, the tankers of Company T seemed to love tanna.

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    "Atlantea-san? What are you doing here?"

    I was astonished to see a civilian in the midst. She cocked her head, and then bowed slightly.

    "My father and the rest of the male villagers have been safely escorted back to our village. Since we''ve arrived on shore, I thought I would drop by and properly express our thanks."

    "The people you should thank are my men¡­especially the soldiers on the Marrina Isles."

    As much as I wanted to point out that Company T and the armored squadron of tanks didn''t actually do anything to help with the naval battle, I didn''t want to embarrass my men or make them feel bad. My job as a commander was to keep morale up, but I knew they wouldn''t want credit for what they didn''t do anyway.

    "We have already thanked them." Atlantea smiled faintly. "I also heard that you received a blessing from our goddess, Mirriel-sama. Congratulations."

    So the news had spread pretty far by now. I rubbed my head, embarrassed and nodded.

    "I''m sure it''ll be a massive help in the final battle against Kobayashi." Raising my hand, I shouted to my men. "Death to the False Emperor!"

    "Death to the False Emperor!" they echoed similarly. Atlantea raised an eyebrow at that.

    "So you''re renegades and heretics now?"

    "No, we''re demons. We''ve been tainted by the Warp."

    Atlantea laughed softly. "The sad thing is that, even if that''s true, you''ll still be much better than the nightmarish tyrant who proclaims himself as the Emperor of Humanity."

    Unlike the noble Imperium, whose atrocities were committed for the sake of preserving humanity and saving the million worlds under human dominion from extinction and fates far worse than death, Kobayashi was ruling over the human kingdoms for his own selfish greed and ambition. He reveled in death and suffering for the fun of it, because he enjoyed torturing people, and not out of necessity.

    That made him a true evil.

    Ironically enough, Atlantea had a great point. This story was getting ridiculous when demons had to save humans from their own tyrannical emperor. What kind of fucking isekai story had demons saving humans from their emperor instead of actually¡­you know, doing demonic things like conquering the world or pillaging villages or raping women or murdering men or something? In this weird, absurd universe, the humans had turned into some evil genocidal brainwashed villains and the demons became the good guys fighting for survival and to liberate the few good humans left resisting the tyrannical rule of the Emperor of Humanity.

    The whole thing just boggled my mind.

    "I''m also here to thank you for slaying that so-called hero, Mizuno Umi, and for ridding the ocean of the menace that was her Leviathan."

    Again, it was completely ludicrous that the humans were actually celebrating the demise of their supposed heroes. Actually, it was presposterous that the heroes were actually abusing the humans that they were supposed to save from the demon lord, and were in fact treating them worse than the demons ever did.

    This was just so weird.

    "Um, okay. You''re welcome. I didn''t do much, though. Again, most of the credit goes to my men, who fought valiantly¡­"

    "Aw, give yourself some credit, boss!"

    Jurgen interrupted me.

    "We weren''t there! You''re the one who took out the Leviathan with that crazy dragon zombie of yours! And you''re the one who personally slew the Evelyn''s Chosen! Not us!"

    "Uh, right. Okay then."

    Not one to contradict my men, I decided to leave it at that. Satisfied, Atlantea bowed one last time.

    "I''m also here to assure you that when the time, the people of the Marrina Isles will take up arms and fight alongside you. Never again will we allow ourselves to be oppressed by the likes of so-called heroes. We will definitely repay this debt. When the time comes to strike at the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity, we will be there."

    "Okay. I''ll be counting on you. In fact, I already have your people manning the Marrina fleet and navy. You''ll certainly be a great help."

    Atlantea slammed a fist against her chest in some sort of Marrina salute and stood proudly.

    "We''ll be honored to fight alongside you, Colonel!"

    With that, she left the command tent. I glanced at my commanders and they all grinned.

    "Not bad, Colonel."

    "You''re doing great, sir."

    "Congrats, boss."

    "¡­what the hell are you guys trying to say?"

    I glared at them suspiciously, but they merely snickered. Well, if they thought this was going to be some sort of harem development, they were dead wrong. For one thing, I wasn''t going to suck ambrosia from the breasts of women to turn into a god-warrior or whatever Kai turned into. And for another, I probably wouldn''t see Atlantea again.

    Shaking my head, I decided to return to topic.

    "Anyway, what''s the news from Helsfort? How long till our reinforcements reach us?"

    "They''ll be here within the hour, boss," Jurgen told me.

    "Thanks." I adjusted my glasses and smiled to myself at the thought of an entire tank battalion under my command. I was finally able to play the armored army I always wanted to play in Warhammer 40,000. It did irk me that I wouldn''t be able to get many Command Points from using the Spearhead Detachment that comprised solely of Malthas tank squadrons and a single super-heavy auxiliary detachment containing the Hellblade, but I didn''t have any Stratagems to spend those Command Points on anyway. "Let''s make sure we''ll be there to greet them when they arrive."

    However, before that, I had an announcement to make. Before my officers could turn and leave the tent, I quickly gestured for them to remain seated.

    "Before that, I need to tell you guys something."

    "What is it, sir?"

    Daniel looked a little nervous while Jurgen seemed impatient.

    "Don''t tell me you secretly got married without inviting us to your wedding, boss."

    I glared at him. That joke wasn''t funny. Shaking my head, I moved on.

    "Ideally, I wanted to do this when everyone is here, but because of time restrictions and circumstances, I can''t. But I''ll just let you guys know. I''ve informed you yesterday about the reinforcements our battalion is receiving, right?"

    "That''s right, sir." Daniel nodded. Ever the serious and earnest officer. I knew I made the right choice.

    Beaming, I pointed at him.

    "You''re now Major Daniel Dressia."

    "Eh¡­what?"

    Daniel stared at me blankly.

    "I''ll have to make huge changes to the command structure, now that we''ve got additional reinforcements and companies. So you, Benjamin Burado and Elia Kratz will be promoted to majors. Jurgen, since you''re the commander of Savior of Moria, the only super-heavy tank in our company, you''re a Lieutenant. Sergeant Michael Marko will be 1st Warrant Officer Marko and he''ll be regimental sergeant major. I''m going to inform them of this through communication devices later, but that''s the gist of it. Since you guys are the senior commanders in this battalion, now that we''re expanding into a regiment, it''s only natural you''ll be promoted."

    "I¡­thank you, sir."

    Daniel was speechless. As for Jurgen, he had a sour expression on his face.

    "I don''t want to be no officer, boss."

    I shrugged. "Well, you don''t have a choice, Jurgen. Not unless you want to give up commanding the Savior of Moria."

    Jurgen''s expression told me that he hated that option more, so he shut up and stuck with it.

    "Anyway, I''ve notified his Excellency Emperor Regis, and he has given his approval. The promotions begin effectively today."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Okay, boss."

    One sounded enthusiastic and the other sounded sullen. Well, I couldn''t please everybody. My soldiers were just like readers. Some of them would utterly abhor the stuff that other readers loved, to the point they spammed 0.5 ratings.

    More importantly, it was time to move out. After dismissing my tank commanders, I went about notifying Elia, Benjamin and the others of their new ranks. I savored their shock before switching off my smartphone and returning to my current duties.

    The tank battalion will be here soon.

    As Jurgen said, the tanks showed up within the hour, kicking up a cloud of dust as they drove toward us. Their plasma generators coughed out fumes of superheated steam that shrouded the armored squadrons in wisps of cover that would confuse the heat-tracking sensors of any anti-tank missile launcher. Now that was a cool feature.

    "They''re here!"

    Daniel Dressia was pretty excited. He, along with Jurgen, was waiting with me at the edge of the tent. As the senior officer of Company T and my current second-in-command now that Captain Elia Kratz was overseeing the situation in the Marrina Isles and helping quell rebellions and dissenters while Aoyama went about his work of removing the brainwashing effects of Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition, he was obligated to welcome our fresh reinforcements.

    "Wow, that''s amazing."

    I let out a low whistle (or I attempted to whistle anyway, and failed miserably). Regis had kept his work. There were literally over a hundred Malthas tanks rolling toward us, making up the seven armored companies. Between the armored phalanx and rearguard was a small convoy of Cerberus APCs, which no doubt carried the soldiers of the two infantry battalions.

    There was also a gigantic transport vehicle that was neither a tank nor an APC but just as heavily armored. It was shaking and rumbling loudly in the middle of the convoy, escorted by both armor and mechanized infantry.

    That was most likely the surprise that Regis said he had in store for me. I wondered what it was. Well, I would find out soon. In the next hour or so, from the looks of it.

    The tanks crawled to a stop in front of us, and a tank commander popped up in his cupola.

    "Colonel Tanaka! 1,087th Magna Regiment, reporting for duty!"

    I nodded and noted the stripes on his uniform.

    "At ease, Captain. It''s been a long ride. Have your men all disembark and rest. I''ll get my tech-priest enginseer crews to tend to your vehicles."

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    "Oh, right. And introductions are in order. As you probably know, I''m Colonel Tomoyuki Tanaka, the current commanding officer of the 1,087th Magna Regiment. This is my senior officer, Major Daniel Dressia. My second-in-command, Major Elia Kratz, and other senior officer, Major Benjamin Burado, are currently overseeing the situation in the Marrina Isles, but when conditions permit, I''ll properly introduce you to them."

    "Yes, sir! Captain Oskar Wulfe, reporting for duty! Overall commander of the 7th tank companies assigned to your regiment, sir!"

    I smiled broadly. "Welcome, Captain Wulfe. Your men and you will be a very welcome addition to our uh¡­understaffed ranks."

    "It''s an honor to serve under you, Colonel."

    Wulfe bowed. And then he turned to thee huge armored transport in the center of the convoy and gestured for the crew to open.

    "Um, sir, under orders from his Excellency Emperor Regis himself, we are to give this to you."

    "What''s that?"

    I couldn''t help but stare expectantly at the transport, its hatches unfolding and slamming down to reveal the contents within. My jaw dropped when I swa what was inside.

    "That''s¡­!"

    It was a golem. Not just any golem, mind you. It was the Golem that was salvaged and brought back to Helsfort after I defeated Count Raum. It was the very Golem that Raum had piloted, now repaired and restored to its former glory.

    "His excellency did say that you''ll be pleased." Captain Wulfe grinned. "The tech-priests in the forges of Helsfort have finally repaired the Golem and it has been assigned to our regiment. The great Demon Lord said you''ll know how best to make use of it."

    "Praise the Emperor," I mumbled, still in awe. Well, the Golem still had some ways to go when compared to my Matsukaze MKIII, but it outclassed any other vehicle or walker that both the human and demon armies possessed.

    The Golem stepped off the transport gracefully, only to bend its knee and kneel to me. The cockpit open, and a masked pilot emerged. Bowing dramatically, he displayed an enigmatic smile.

    "It''s an honor, Colonel Tanaka." He raised his head. "Lieutenant Char Aznable, at your service. I received the privilege of being assigned as the pilot of this Golem."

    "Well met, Lieutenant." I returned the greeting with a nod. "I''ll be relying on you from now on."

    ¡­

    Wait, what? Did the guy just say his name was Char Aznable?

    Not only was he wearing a mask that concealed his eyes and half his face, he had long blond hair and a red uniform. That was just¡­

    "Um, do you mind taking off your mask?"

    "I''m afraid not." Char maintained that enigmatic smile. "The mask exists to lend me an air of mystery, and unmasking me would ruin all that."

    "No, but if I can''t even see your face, how am I supposed to trust you?"

    "¡­very well."

    Char removed his mask, revealing a handsome face underneath. He saluted again and waited a few seconds before putting his mask back on.

    "Forgive him, Colonel. Lieutenant Aznable is a little¡­eccentric."

    "As long as he doesn''t turn out to be the real villain," I muttered.

    "I beg your pardon?"

    "Nothing." I straightened my spine and cast my gaze over the men that had disembarked from their tanks. "All right, everyone. Rest up. Once repairs, refueling and maintenance have been done, we''ll be moving out tonight."

    "Where are we going?" one of the soldiers asked.

    "To Zaft, the border of Legnica."

    That was where the garrison of Captain Dante Infernius''s regiment was located.

    "We''ll be engaging a significant portion of enemy forces there in an armored battle to destroy them and to relieve our human allies. Then we''ll bring them along for the final battle. I know this might not sit well with all of you, but we have our orders. And¡­" I smiled. "We''re going to need every help we can get. I won''t ask you to trust the humans, but at least cooperate and work together with them until we defeat the so-called Emperor of Humanity."

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    Stepping back, I nodded to Jurgen, who came forward and planted the regimental standard of the 1,087th Magna Regiment into the ground. The banner unfurled and waved proudly in the beach air, fluttering gently in the wind and bearing our colors and crest.

    "Death to the False Emperor!" I bellowed, drawing my sword and pointing it to the heavens. Spurred on, my men ¨C both old and new ¨C echoed the shout.

    "DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!"

    I nodded and continued.

    "And for Holy Morten and the Emperor of Demonkind!"

 126 Chapter 126: Hammer and Anvil

    My tank regiment crested over the ridge and the Zaft garrison finally came into view, along with thousands of troops.

    It didn''t matter. I had over a hundred tanks. Each tank was easily worth a hundred infantry, especially when they didn''t have many anti-tank weapons. Furthermore, at the center of my army was the super-heavy Hellblade, which was impervious to all but the most powerful weapons or spells that the armies of Kobayashi could muster.

    "Fire at will!"

    Major Daniel Dressia barked an order, and as one, the moving Malthas Executioner tanks launched a devastating volley of plasma fire that carpeted the entire region with superheated energy. The milling infantry who were bunched up together to charge into Captain Dante Infernius''s garrison were incinerated in an instant.

    The survivors'' morale broke and they began to flee, only to be shot down by sponson plasma cannons that spewed out superheated blasts of bluish-white energies. The tanks continued to roll on, their turrets glowing red-hot from the earlier bombardment. As we waited for the plasma weapons to cool down, another infantry division flanked us and attacked from the right, howling ferociously as they swung their swords, spears and axes against the adamantium armor that protected the tanks.

    Kobayashi''s brainwashed zealots. Unlike the earlier infantry company we had just massacred, these human soldiers had been indoctrinated to give up their lives for the so-called Emperor of Humanity. Stripped of their fear, intellect or caution, they recklessly threw their bodies forward in hopes of overwhelming the armored regiment through sheer numbers.

    However¡­

    "Crush them!"

    Spending a Command Point, I voxed the Stratagem to my regiment. Sergeant Gunnery, my driver, floored the accelerator and the super-heavy Hellblade dashed forward, rolling over legions of desperate infantry and squashing them into bloody pulps. Behind us, the Malthas Executioner tanks followed suit, grinding the surrounding infantry into paste under their plasteel tracks. But none possessed the formidable might that the Adamantium Tracks of my Hellblade had, which simply flattened cavalry and footmen alike.

    As my tanks mercilessly crushed the infantry under their tracks, we drew closer to the garrison where more densely packs of infantry awaited. Dressia barked another order and the tanks unleashed a second catastrophic volley that reduced the grounds outside the garrison into a molten crater. The lightly armored infantry simply didn''t stand a chance, disintegrated instantly by the sheer heat. Despite their zealous devotion to Kobayashi, the remaining survivors broke apart and fled.

    "They''re here! The Hero Slayer and his army!"

    "Hang in there! We''re saved!"

    "For freedom!"

    I could hear their cheers even from this distance. Unfurling atop the highest tower, the regimental standard of the Knights of Blood was held up high and proudly, defiantly displaying their resistance. The knight holding up the regimental standard stubbornly stood his ground, refusing to move and only ducking as arrows from the invading army fired up at him. Despite the holes being torn into the fabric of the banner, the crucifix symbol of blood remained visible.

    The Knights of Blood would not fall. Not today, not ever.

    "Thank you!"

    I heard Alan vox me from inside the Cerberus APC he was traveling inside. He sounded almost as if he was weeping in joy.

    "Thank you, Tanaka-san. I can''t believe we made it."

    "Neither can I. but it''s not over yet."

    Even as my tanks rumbled forward like the lumbering behemoths that they were, I could see another cluster of infantry gathering for a counterattack.

    "What''s that?"

    Gunnery frowned when he spotted something in the middle of the rallying enemy infantry. I followed his gaze and consulted my auspex, which displayed a gargantuan creature in the command console''s pictscreen.

    "It looks like a robot," I muttered when the image got clearer.

    That was quite the understatement. It actually resembled a mechanical dragon. Raising its metallic head, its maw yawned before a gout of flames flowed out burning the valley before it. Several infantrymen unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity spontaneously combusted, but their comrades grimly and stoically held their ground. Kobayashi''s brainwashing had been so thorough that they didn''t care if their squardron mates died.

    The infanry marched forward, loosing arrows whenever they could. More of them drew their swords or lowered their spears in a last-ditch attempt to fight the onrushing tanks. This was the densest cluster of infantry and probably the main force. There was at least three thousand men standing between us and the garrison, reinforced by the presence of the mechanical dragon.

    "What do we do, sir?" Daniel asked nervously. We had been unleashing plasma blasts, but currently we were still a little out of range of the dragon robot. The fringes of the infantry had been scorched or decimated, but the main bulk was moving forward. With thousands of them dauntlessly marching forward, they would overwhelm us through sheer numbers alone.

    "There''s too many of them!"

    "There must be thousands of them¡­"

    "Do we have enough energy or ammo to burn through that many soldiers?"

    Unfortunately, my men sounded a little daunted by the formidable task ahead, and several of the tanks slowed down instead of meeting the encroaching infantry head-on. Recognizing the gap, I quickly raised myself up and into the cupola, opening the hatch and standing on top of my Hellblade.

    "Men of Morten!" I shouted. "We''re the Hammer of the Demonic Alliance! We will crush our foes, no matter how many they are! Give them a good taste of Hellsfort steel! We will show them what it means to oppose the demon race and invade Morten!"

    Using the tanks that was the hammer of the Demonic Alliance, I intended to crush them against the anvil of Captain Infernius''s garrison. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the enemy would find themselves cornered. Of course, I understood my men''s concerns. There really was literally thousands of enemy soldiers. The entire space between my tanks and Captain Infernius''s garrison was teeming with infantry.

    However, it didn''t matter. We would just have to kill and kill and keep killing until every single one of them was dead.

    I drew my Blood Dragon Sword and raised it high into the air, becoming a visual symbol that rallied and inspired my faltering men. Remembering what Regis told me, I considered that the majority of the soldiers and tankers under my command were inexperienced, green rookies fresh out of boot camp. This was their first major action, and probably their first real battle. It was only natural for them to hesitate and be afraid.

    But that was my job as their commander to inspire them, to rally them to victory, to motivate them to fight.

    "Slay every heretic you see! Use whatever weapons you have at your disposal! If your plasma cannons overheat, then crush them with the treads of your tanks! If your tanks stall and stop moving, get out of your tanks and shoot them with your lasguns! If you run out of ammo with your lasguns, fix bayonets and stab these filthy traitors who dare turn their backs on the light of the Emperor! If your bayonet grows blunt and dull, then use your fists and smash their faces in! You''re demons, for Restia''s sake! Show them what it means to be demons!"

    "Sir, yes, sir!"

    An instantaneous response from my men, their voices roaring as one both over the speakers and vox. Smiling, satisfied, I lowered my Blood Dragon Sword and pointed at the approaching infantry.

    "Forward, for the Emperor!" I bellowed.

    "For the Demon Lord!"

    Echoing my cry, my men rallied. Tanks slapped into high gear and rushed forward, superheated plasma spewing from turrets and sponsons. Hundreds of infantry were vaporized as they met the steel charge of my armored units, and more were crushed as they were chewed underfoot by the merciless tracks of my tanks.

    The mechanical dragon roared and stomped over, squashing hapless infantry that were too slow to get out of its way in time. Its tail whipped and lashed out, sending more men flying. Despite the friendly fire and damage it was wrecking upon its own forces, it was only a matter of time before the cybernetic dragon reached our forces.

    Having registered the threat, my tanks were turning their attention to the approaching mechanical dragon. Plasma and las-beams lashed out from the turrets and hull lascannons, but they were stopped by crackling, eldritch energy that formed a protective green barrier around the gargantuan robot dragon. Lassfield and St. Patrick, the two sponson gunners aboard the Hellblade, turned their attention away from murdering infantry with the sponson twin heavy bolters and turned their sponson lascannons on the dragon, only to achieve little effect.

    The shimmering custom forcefield surrounding the mechanical dragon had made it all but impervious to our heavy fire. Well, it made sense that the mechanical dragon would be well-protected, otherwise they wouldn''t bother spending all those resources and effort into assembling it. that said, it didn''t look very well assembled.

    "We should take that thing out first!" Jurgen shouted to me.

    "Of course we are." I waved my Blood Dragon Sword impatiently and gestured toward the mechanical dragon. The crude contraption was lumbering slowly toward our position, having identified The Savior of Moria as the primary threat. I didn''t know how the humans managed to rig up such a gargantuan machine, but it looked as if it was going to fall apart anytime soon. Most likely it was held together by random experimental tinkering and sheer faith on the part of Kobayashi''s zealots that it would work no matter how they built it.

    I wasn''t going to rely on it to fall apart on its own, though. I was leaving nothing to chance.

    Pointing my Blood Dragon Sword at the clunky contraption, which was swaying unsteadily on imbalanced legs, I yelled to Jurgen.

    "Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!"

    Jurgen muttered an expletive and something that would be considered insubordination if I was a petty, career-minded officer, but I didn''t care about such trivial matters.

    The mechanical dragon turned toward me and unleashed a gout of flames. It missed because the flamethrower was too short-ranged to reach The Savior of Moria. Instead, it only succeeded in combusting the friendly troops in front of it. Growling, the dragon switched to plasma bolts, several of which whizzed past me.

    "Get off the cupola and back into the tank, Colonel!" Jurgen hissed. "Don''t be an idiot! Don''t get yourself killed!"

    I bit back a retort (I was about to tell him, "don''t tell me what to do, Lieutenant!") and meekly obeyed. Maybe it was a better idea not to hit that thing with my sword. Sighing, I sagged back in my commander''s seat.

    "I''m going to have to summon Matsukaze to take out that thing."

    "Oh no, you don''t."

    Instead, Gunnery rolled his eyes and merely swung the turret around and aimed the main cannon (Hellblade siege cannon) at the mechanical dragon. A brilliant lance seared the distance between us and slammed into the mechanical dragon with full force. The custom forcefield that protected the mechanical dragon held at first, glowing brightly as the devastating torrent of energy drilled into it, but then finally spluttered and died.

    With its defenses breached, the mechanical dragon could do nothing as the bright, crimson lance tore through its body, leaving a molten trail in its mechanical innards. The massive machine shuddered, and then collapsed as the light died from its eyes. The surrounding infantry tried to evade, but a full score of them were crushed under its toppling mass.

    For good measure, the other tanks in my armored regiment fired their hull lascannons to make sure the mechanical dragon stayed down. Ruby las-beams ripped into the sprawled machine beast, gouging holes and sending molten shrapnel flying into nearby soldiers, causing them to scream and fall over from grievous wounds.

    The tide of battle had turned against the enemy. Suddenly, numbers no longer seemed to matter. Even though there were still thousands of infantry still on the battlefield, they were stunned and shellshocked at the sight of their main weapon being so easily vanquished by a single attack.

    And the Hellblade that delivered that single lethal attack was now rumbling toward them. Lassfield and St. Patrick opened up with their sponson twin heavy bolters, and Gunnery added the fire of the hull twin heavy bolters to the fullisade of mass-reactive shells. More soldiers were cut down, and the rest began to flee.

    The main cannon opened up again, and a molten crater was carved into the earth, along with the disintegration of dozens of men.

    This was quickly turning into a rout.

    "We have them! They''re running away!"

    "Kill them! Kill them all! Don''t let them escape!"

    "For the Demon Lord! For Morten!"

    Being the greenhorns they were, the rookie tankers were drunk on their victory and began to speed up to catch up with the soldiers who were breaking away.

    "Maintain formation discipline!" Daniel snapped. "Get back in line, all of you!"

    "It''s not over yet," I warned my men. "The enemy here might seem broken, but they''re still alive. Be careful of traps. They might be seeking to lure solitary tanks away from the regiment, isolate them and take them out one by one. I''m sure you would prefer to be alive to celebrate this victory, right?"

    There was a muted series of assent, but the tank commanders obediently pull their tanks back to surround The Savoir of Moria protectively. Their weapons continue to spit hot death, vaporizing more human infantry.

    "Sir, weird readings on the auspex," Jurgen reported as we grimly ground our way toward the garrison, slaying every living thing between us.

    "I see it too."

    Frowning, I called up a holographic screen and magnified the image. A new enemy was approaching us from the rear, their shiny golden limbs gleaming. They didn''t look like anything I had ever seen ¨C neither human nor demon.

    A chill ran down my back.

    "Engaging enemy!" shouted an overexcited tank commander from the rear. Morgan, was it? He had his Malthas Executioner tank turn around to blast the newcomers with a blast of plasma. One of them vanished, but its comrades unleashed a volley of antimatter bolts. The bombardment of blue spheres of crackling energy hammered the tank, crumpling the metal and ripping holes in the inches-thick adamantium armor.

    "What the hell is this!?"

    "Gratz is down!"

    "Aaaah!"

    Moments later, the tank erupted in a blossom of flame, unable to withstand the phase disruptor shots from the newly arrived quadrupedal walkers.

    "What the hell is that thing!?"

    I didn''t know either. At first glance, they looked like weird, hand-shaped spiders. A type of alien quadrupedal assault walker, the golden chassis in the middle was supported by four spidery legs and sported a phase disruptor cannon.

    "The 5th Lancer Dragoon Company is here!"

    "We''re saved!"

    "The Dragoons! They''ve come to rescue us!"

    "We can win this!"

    This time, the tables were turned on us instead. Over the ridge, countless quadrupedal walkers climbed through the messy metal, their golden legs gleaming under the sun and raining down phase disruptor shots down on us.

    "5th Lancer Dragoon Company?"

    Why did that sound familiar?

    Suddenly, an old memory surfaced, and I recalled who they were. Weren''t they Suzuki Shirou''s personal army, a company of lancer cavalry who nearly attacked Captain Infernius''s Knights of Blood and assaulted me just before I entered the Temple of Lyia?

    It felt really long ago, but they most likely possessed the same name. That said, I found it weird. Back then, I remembered that they were regular humans, normal spearmen mounted atop horses. None of them was piloting a quadrupedal walker or exotic machines such as these. They were wielding spears, not advanced phase disruptors that could fire antimatter bolts.

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    Were they really the same company, or did Suzuki change and reorganized the whole company from ground up?

    My men were already firing back, the tanks swiveling around with their main weapons and hull lascannons to face this new threat, but we had lost several more tanks to the Dragoons'' devastating bombardment.

    "Don''t falter!" I shouted. Turning the dial in the vox, I contacted Char Aznable. "Lieutenant, it''s your time to shine."

    From behind the Dragoons, a Golem stomped out and smashed the nearest one with his fist. Rearing up, the Golem let loose with its twin particle beams, ripping apart a couple of Dragoons. Gunnery added to the destruction by triggering the Hellblade siege cannon. A dozen golden walkers vanished in a blinding conflagration.

    They could be killed. I was relieved. They might pack serious firepower, but they weren''t durable.

    "Destroy them!" I yelled.

    That was when I noticed something. Swallowing nervously, I drew the holographic picture over with my finger and magnified it. There was something encased within the chassis of the golden Dragoons. A translucent orb. The cockpit or something?

    No. it was a chamber, or a sarcophagus. The body of a human male was being encased within the translucent sarcophagus, an emaciated, broken body of a formerly healthy man.

    To my complete shock, I recognized the features of the near-corpse. Despite the sunken, hollow eyes, withering flesh that stretched over cheekbones, and a deathly pallor, there was no mistaking the lead Dragoon as belonging to the Dragoon lancer who had formerly been Captain Monka.

    "Holy Restia¡­" I murmured in horror.

    As if aware that I had seen him, Monka twitched within his translucent sarcophagus and willed his Dragoon to stalk forward. Kept alive only by his willpower and the life-support system of the Dragoon chassis, the former captain''s gaunt lips curled into a snarl.

    "I have returned," the Dragoon declared.

 127 Chapter 127: Walkers versus Walkers

    Char Aznable''s Golem staggered as a barrage of Phase Disruptor''s antimatter bolts hammered into it, causing the venerable shields to crackle. Raking his twin particle beam cannons over the line of Dragoons, Aznable vaporized them even as his machine struggled to remain upright. Already I could see the adamantium, ceramite armor of the Golem beginning to crumple under the onslaught of antimatter bolts.

    It wouldn''t be long before the venerable Golem fell.

    "Fall back!" I shouted. "Aznable, fall back! Tanks of the 1,087th, provide supporting fire! Destroy those Dragoons!"

    The vast column of armored vehicles replied with a thundering roar of plasma fury, incinerating the golden walkers and leaving large swathes of molten craters and scorched earth in their wake. Fully half of the remaining Dragoons made use of their incredible mobility to reshuffle their lines and turned to face us, while the other half continued to harass the retreating Golem.

    That was it. I was going to call down my own Titan, but I knew that even Matsukaze and his resilient ion shields wouldn''t be able to withstand the sheer volume of firepower those shiny quadrupedal walkers could put out.

    "Sir! Incoming!"

    While the Dragoons pulled back to engage the approaching tanks, hordes of zealots swarmed around the Dragoons, selling their lives dearly to protect the much more valuable walkers. Using themselves as meatshields, the zealots howled with fanatical fury and charged toward the steel line of tanks, heedless of their lives.

    I had to admire their courage¡­or lack of fear. Perhaps it was stupidity, or perhaps it was the effects of Kobayashi''s brainwashing, but these men and women were charging armored behemoths with little more than gleaming twin blades or spears.

    "My life for Restia!"

    "I long for combat!"

    "Thus I serve!"

    "Honor guide me!"

    "For Kobayashi!"

    "En taro Kobayashi!"

    Even when protected within the armored confines of the super-heavy Savior of Moria, I could still hear the frenzied shrieks and heretical howls of the crazed humans. They tried to hack and slash the tanks with their weapons, but their assault proved ineffective before they were fatally yanked under our unyielding tracks and crushed into a bloody pulp underneath.

    But the sheer number of them¡­there was just too many. Even with our tremendous weight and firepower, we were finding ourselves bogged down by the enemy. Worse, the Dragoons were firing into the tanks, not caring about friendly fire and incinerating even more of their own comrades than we were with our plasma weapons. I saw a tank blow up, the heretics swarming over it screaming as they were immolated by both antimatter bolts and plasma fury of an exploding reactor.

    "Bloody hell," I muttered as I hauled myself out of the command console and into the cupola. There were a few heretics climbing over the tank, screaming obscenities as they slashed and hacked at the tank ineffectually. When they saw me emerge, they let out a cry of bloodlust and scrambled toward me. I drew my bolt pistol from its holster and took aim.

    The nearest heretic''s head exploded in a shower of blood and gray matter, his headless corpse flopping downward and against his comrades, who callously brushed his dead body aside in their haste to get to me. I took out another, blowing out his heart and lungs, then spun around to shoot a third pointblank in the face.

    Then the rest were upon me.

    "For the Emperor!" I shouted and drew my Blood Dragon Sword. Activating it by infusing my weapon with my mana, a shimmering power field crackled around the blade. I swung it, eviscerating three heretics in a single stroke, and then reversed my grip to disembowel another enemy who was deluded enough to think he could sneak up upon me.

    Spinning my Blood Dragon Sword, I took off the head of another heretic.

    "DIE!"

    A thickset human soldier bellowed at me as he rushed at me with a broadsword, but I ducked under his swing, which went wide, before I stabbed him in the gut. Planting a foot on his sternum, I kicked him off my tank before turning around to behead his comrade. As blood sprayed the air, I used my magic to gather the blood flowing from my enemies and use it against them. Crimson spears hovered in the air, growing in size as I infused them with the blood hanging suspended in the air or flowing along the hull of my tank in rivulets, and then peppered the encroaching human soldiers, spearing them where they stood and pinning their flopping bodies to the ground.

    My bolt pistol barked and another heretic dropped dead. Using my other hand, I swung my Blood Dragon Sword, discouraging another Kobayashi devotee from getting near. As he wisely retreated, he was then skewered by a blood spear that happened upon his path of escape. His comrades tried to shove past him, but they were also run through by a barrage of red spears that sprang from his blood, the leaking fluid shapeshifting and leaving his body like bullets.

    "I''m leaving the Savior of Moria to you, Lieutenant Jurgen," I told my aide, and then slammed the hatch of the cupola down, sealing it. Wading through the blood and dead, I cut my way through the massed cultists¡­I mean, humans, and advanced toward the Dragoons. Glancing at the heavens, I shouted, "now, Matsukaze!"

    An explosion resounded in the air and my Titan crashed down, leveling a huge cluster of human soldiers and flattening them under his weight and shimmering dome shield. Slicing my way through a hapless group of warriors who bowled into me, bellowing in impotent rage and zealous fury, I dashed toward Matsukaze.

    "Sir! Don''t be reckless!"

    "Don''t worry. The pilot is the true dominant force on the battlefield," I assured Daniel as I rushed past the mob of howling humans, skewering them with more blood spears from the fluids of my dead enemies and accumulating yet more ammunition for my formidable spells. On the battlefield, a vampire who could manipulate blood magic was near invincible, unless he faced a hero, or an army with long-ranged, overwhelming firepower.

    Which aptly described the Dragoons.

    The golden walkers were now moving up to target me with their Phase Disruptors, ignoring my tank squadrons for now. They must have identified me, or they wouldn''t be so desperately bombarding me. It wasn''t because I was the largest threat ¨C my tanks were vaporizing and shelling large numbers of them even as they threw everything they had my way. It was clear they held a vendetta against me. Or they recognized the blow they would deal to my men''s morale if they succeeded in taking me out, which would be worth the losses they took.

    It was unfortunate, but I wasn''t planning on dying at all.

    Diving past the fusillade of antimatter bolts, I managed to skid right into the shimmering, protective dome-shield of my Titan. Matsukaze rose to his feet and seized me just before I could accidentally skid out of the dome-shield, and put me into his cockpit. Holographic images flickered to life inside, illuminating the darkened chamber.

    "Holy Morten¡­" I muttered when I glanced at the minimap in one of the holographic screen. It was just flooded with red icons that marked the enemies'' location. There had to be literally thousands of them. Even though we had killed so many¡­

    My men are right. We''ll run out of power and ammunition before we can wipe out the entire enemy army!

    Gritting my teeth, I had Matsukaze rear up, drew his broadsword and trampled dozens of soldiers underneath his feet as I dashed forward. Swinging the katana, I cleaved scores of human soldiers into pieces and then conjured spells with their blood to deliver a barrage of crimson spears into their tightly packed ranks. Evading the Phase Disruptors of the Dragoons, I dodged their relentless barrage and closed in on them.

    Still too far¡­

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    I swung the katana and unleashed an arc wave that pulverized both human soldiers and sent two Dragoons scattering. Recognizing the threat my Titan posed, zealots began to swarm between me and my mechanized targets, trying to tarpit my Knight and lock him in combat. They were bubble-wrapping the Dragoons and selling their lives as meatshields so that the more powerful walkers could fire at vital targets unimpeded.

    "My life for Restia!"

    "For Kobayashi!"

    "En taro Kobayashi!"

    Howling stubbornly, the devout zealots hammered and scratched at my Titan, but were unable to break past the glimmering, stalwart shields that enveloped him. I merely flattened them under my mecha''s Titanic Feet like roadkill, leaving a bloody trail in my wake.

    But there were still so many of them, and they were literally pushing back my tanks with sheer numbers.

    Just before we were about to be overrun, my vox burst to life.

    "Colonel Tanaka! This is the 1st Morian Heavy Mechanized Infantry. We''re here to reinforce you!"

    "¡­huh?"

    I watched dumbly as my auspexes registered multiple newcomers appearing within range. Descending from above like angels of death, dwarves clad in mechanical armor comparable to my mecha but half the size crashed down into the midst of the human infantry, trampling them underfoot with the sheer impact.

    The Elementals. King Hedol and Belisarius had kept their word and constructed these mini-Titans in time. The miniature mechas were now streaming into the battlefield, using their sheer bulk to flatten and hammer hapless human soldiers into oblivion. As the zealots attempted to swarm over the Elemental wearing dwarves and drag them down under the sheer volume of attacks, the Elementals closed ranks and formed an impenetrable wall of steel.

    Raising their gauntlets, they unleashed blazing gouts of promethium, dousing the screaming human soldiers with flame and setting them alight. Immolated, the human warriors flailed and crashed about, slowing being reduced into ashes and cinders. Now, their numbers worked against them, the flames spreading rapidly like wildfire and surging across the soldiers. Pressed in against each other, the vast majority were unable to escape the hellfire and were incinerated by the funnel-shaped inferno that billowed throughout their tightly clustered ranks. Even as they fought to escape, they only succeeded in getting in the way of each other.

    The armored suits of Elementals formed an unbreakable line and marched onward, still spewing hot, fiery death from their gauntlets and incinerating the fleeing human soldiers. No longer hindered by the mass of bodies that pressed against them, my tanks surged forward again, unimpeded. Adding to the artificial inferno that the Elementals generated, they unleashed a barrage of plasma that disintegrated both infantry and walkers alike.

    The Dragoons no longer concentrated their fury on them. Facing imminent annihilation now that their infantry meatshields were obliterated, they turned their Phase Disruptors on the newly arrived Elementals.

    Unlike my larger Titan, the Elementals did not possess impenetrable armor or glimmering shields of pure force. Though nigh unvulnerable to mere blade, sword and spear, they were still susceptible to the antimatter bolts and heavy weaponry. A trio of them vanished, parts of their vaunted ceramite armor simply ceasing to exist.

    However, my tanks retaliated with a barrage of plasma, disintegrating scores of the dwindling golden wallkers. Without their hordes of infantry to protect them, even the formidable Dragoons were not able to withstand the fury of my Malthas Executioner tanks.

    And there was still the venerable Hellblade Savior of Moria backing them up with enormous firepower and chewing through their numbers with apocalyptic fury. Grinding hapless infantry underneath its adamantium tracks, it unleashed a thunderous roar as it vaporized another score of Dragoons and soldiers with its main cannon.

    I couldn''t let them have all the fun. Flooring the accelerator, I plunged into the lines of Dragoons and crushed them with Titanic Feet as well as cleaved them apart with Matsukaze''s katana. Whirling around, I unleashed a crackling arc wave that stunned the mechanical wallkers. While the electric field immobilized them and blurred their sight, I seized the opportunity to trample them with my Titanic Feet or cut them apart.

    "For Kobayashi!"

    Montka shuffled forward in his lead Dragoon, his thin, emaciated body still encased within a cracked chassis. I snuffed him out with a single stab, the katana piercing the sarcophagus and obliterating his body in one blow. Yanking out my katana, I kicked the ruined walker away and turned to face the remaining ones.

    There weren''t many left.

    While I advanced upon the final few Dragoons, I noted the broken, wasted corpses hanging out of wrecked chassis and ruptured sarcophagi. Inwardly, I wondered if I had actually saved those crippled warriors by liberating them from the eternal torment of having their ruined bodies imprisoned within a war machine instead of being granted a blissful death. Their loyalty to their False Emperor was certainly commendable, but I couldn''t tell if it was truly loyalty from their hearts, or false fealty forged by the effects of Kobayashi''s brainwashing.

    A ragged cheer rose from the garrison. Captain Dante Infernius''s knights had repelled the invaders there as well, and they were just in time to see us routing the army. There was still quite a lot of infantry left, but the Dragoons had been decimated. Now that I had taken out their commander¡­

    "!"

    A klaxon flashed, bathing my cockpit in red light. Swerving away, I managed to evade a lightning dragon that attempted to chew through my Titan. A second lightning dragon struck my swaying Matsukaze, but I slammed my foot down on the pedal and disappeared into the quantum dimension with phase dash.

    That attack¡­!

    I recognized that attack from anywhere. Straightening up my mecha as I emerged back into reality, I caught sight of Suzuki Shirou. He was standing in front of a new row of gleaming Dragoons, his hands on his hips.

    There was something about his posture that bothered me, but I couldn''t put my finger on it. Not until I realized something was missing.

    Where is his spear?

    As if on cue, something struck Matsukaze. A golden spear, wreathed in destructive lightning, drilled through the protective shields that embraced Matsukaze aand gouged a huge hole in the Titan. Crashing to a knee, Matsukaze trembled from the catastrophic damage.

    "Critical damage. Advise: eject."

    "What the fuck?!"

    In just one attack, Suzuki had reduced the health of Matsukaze from nearly full to a doomed state, the once blue bars now rendered a deadly yellow and black.

    Suzuki smirked as he retrieved his spear, but he wasn''t done yet. He pointed it at my damaged Titan and unleashed a devastating bolt of lightning that tore through the ruined chassis, further sealing its death.

    I ejected from Matsukaze before the next lightning bolt obliterated him. As I hung suspended in the air, Suzuki launched himself at me. Rearing his arm back, he thrust his spear to stab me in the heart. I drew my Blood Dragon Sword to deflect it, but he swung his spear around and struck me with such force that despite parrying it, I was flung across the air and sent crashing back down to earth. An explosion of soil and dirt engulfed me as I slammed into the ground, boring a slight crater from the tremendous impact.

    If it weren''t for my Redwood jacket, that landing would have shattered the bones in my body. As it was, I was only slightly bruised.

    That said, even if he broke all my bones in that attack, I would simply have regenerated from that injury.

    I didn''t want to rely on Regeneration too much, though. While I was busily regenerating and healing my injuries, Suzuki would surely seize the chance to attack me and finish me off. I wasn''t the type to take such insurmountable risks.

    "Huff¡­"

    Coughing, I staggered to my feet and wiped the trickle of blood from my mouth. Holding my Blood Dragon Sword in both hands, I glanced up and watched the strolling Suzuki, who casually twirled his spear as he grinned.

    "As expected of Tanaka. You survived my first few attacks."

    "What, are you resorting to sneak attacks now?" I grumbled. Suzuki sniggered.

    "Well, attacking you head-on is boring. This is the third time we''re fighting. You probably already know how to counter my strikes by now."

    I sighed. "You give me far too much credit."

    "Not at all." Suzuki''s smirk grew. "You''re the only one worth fighting in this godforsaken world. Other than Kobayashi himself, I mean. None of the other heroes or even any of the demons pose much of a challenge. Other than the strongest nine Demon Lords, I mean. But¡­" he glanced in the direction of Lilith Scarlet. "I''ve a feeling I''ll have to get through you first if I want to fight them."

    "You''re not mistaken."

    "Then let''s settle this as quickly as possible!"

    With a gleeful cry, Suzuki launched himself at me. I could barely deflect his spear thrusts and slashes in time. Forced onto the defensive, I parried, defended and blocked desperately, doing my best to avoid the lethal strikes that Suzuki was delivering with perfect precision. Lightning billowed out from him, occasionally scorching my flesh or paralyzing my limbs, but I resisted the destructive electricity as much as I could.

    Fortunately, my Adaptive Mutation was kicking in and allowing me to be a bit more resistant to lightning, so as time went on, Suzuki''s magic became less and less effective. Even so, I wasn''t ever going to be completely immune to it.

    I didn''t have to be. It was enough to be able to exchange several hundred blows with him. We clashed and fought, our blades colliding and sending sparks flying across the battlefield. The impacts from our exchange were so tremendous that it actually split the earth and shattered the ground. Lightning and darkness flickered and flashed across us and we furiously engaged each other in vicious combat, striking and slashing and parrying. I attempted to bombard Suzuki with blood spears that I accumulated from the life-fluids of the dead lying in the battlefield, making use of all the blood that had been spilled here, but those spears vaporized when they came within meters of Suzuki''s intense lightning. In retaliation, Suzuki tried to electrocute me with webs of lightning, but my Redwood jacket held those currents at bay, and those that trickled past its twelve layers of protection simply fizzled out thanks to my Adaptative Mutation special ability.

    In the distance, I could see the indomitable wall of tanks and Elementals clashing against the formidable line of Dragoons. Even Aznable''s Golem had rejoined the fray, unleashing blasts of particle beams and tearing apart the Dragoons. The humans were taking horrendous casualties, but for every dozen Dragoons or hundred infantry decimated, I was losing a valuable tank or a squad of Elementals. The enemy had numbers. We didn''t.

    We would never win in a war of attrition.

    "Not paying attention, are you?!"

    Growling, Suzuki hammered me with a swing that sent me skidding backward. Lightning scattered and danced around me, probing my defenses for a way in before dissipating harmlessly. Panting, I raised my Blood Dragon Sword.

    "We can''t have that," Suzuki sneered as he pointed his spear at me. "Your opponent is me. Stop worrying about your subordinates. If you want to save them, you can only do so after you''ve defeated me in combat."

    His grin widened.

    "But that''s assuming you can beat me, of course."

    I didn''t rise to the bait. There was little point in falling for cheap provocations. Instead, I calmed myself with a deep breath and readjusted my stance.

    Suzuki looked a little annoyed that I wasn''t entertaining him, so he unleashed a bolt of lightning instead. I slashed it with my Blood Dragon Sword, destroying it, but it turned out to be a feint. Suzuki was diving upon me, his spear glowing with destructive electricity.

    "Lightning Dragon!" he shouted gleefully.

    Several lightning dragons materialized and crashed down upon my position. I tried to duck, but there were too many of them. Gritting my teeth, I called upon summons of my own.

    "Guys! I''m leaving these to you!"

    A dozen zombie dragons emerged into reality and roared. Black flames spewed from their jaws and consumed the lightning dragons. The golden serpentine behemoths leaped back, growling, and engaged this new threat. The two hordes of dragons slammed into each other, grappling, slashing and biting. They fought, tearing gouges across the battlefield and unleashing devastating energies of lightning and death across the ruined landscape.

    "Ha ha ha ha! As expected of Tanaka! You''re truly the best!"

    Suzuki was actually delighted by the appearance of my zombie dragons. Guffawing, he hurled himself at me once more, his spear wreathed in lightning.

    "Come! Let us slaughter each other to our hearts'' content! One way or another, we''re going to settle our duel today!"

    A gigantic pillar of lightning descended from the heavens and crashed down on me. I clenched my teeth and gripped the hilt of my Blood Dragon Sword tightly before swinging it and unleashing a massive Shadow Lunar Fang. The black, crescent-shaped energy collided with the colossal beam of lightning and exploded in a mixture of golden and black flames.

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    "Oh, come on. You can''t be tired only after twenty minutes of combat, right? We still have several hours ahead of us!"

    I spun around just in time to parry his spear. But Suzuki deftly ducked under my counterattack and kicked me in the midriff, sending me flying.

    Spluttering as blood dripped from my mouth, I stabbed the ground with my Blood Dragon Sword and skidded to a stop. I took a deep breath and shakily stood up, raising my weapon and pointing it at him.

    "You''re right," I murmured as I wiped the trickle of blood from my mouth. "It''s time to finish this."

    "Indeed!" Suzuki whooped as he thrust his spear forward, releasing a titanic beam of lightning. I closed my eyes briefly before I cleaved his spell apart with my Blood Dragon Sword and then retaliated with a rain of blood spears.

    Chortling, Suzuki jumped back and swung his spear, emanating an arc wave of lightning that disintegrated the blood projectiles.

    "More! More!" he shouted.

    "Boss!" Nishida Kensuke yelled from a distance, trying to stay within safety as enormous machines of war clashed between him and Suzuki. The demonic swordsmith had followed his leader to the battlefield, but clearly didn''t have any intention to fight. "Be careful! That Blood Dragon Sword isn''t any normal weapon!"

    "Tell me something I don''t know," Suzuki snarled. "And who cares? If you''re the one who made it and Tanaka''s the one who''s wielding it, then all the more this is a battle I must indulge myself in! Stop nagging!"

    "Yes, boss. But be careful. There''s more to the Blood Dragon Sword than what meets the eye. If Tanaka has truly mastered it¡­"

    "Oh?" Suzuki raised an eyebrow. "You mean Tanaka can get even more powerful than right now? Then should we postpone this duel and wait for him to master his sword?"

    I snorted. "There''s no need for that."

    Suzuki grinned deviously, his eyes flickering to my Blood Dragon Sword. "Heh¡­you sound like you''ve already mastered it."

    "Indeed I have."

    Raising my Blood Dragon Sword in my right hand and holding it parallel to the ground, I infused it with all of my mana. The steel blade turned crimson, throbbing in a terrifying manner as massive amounts of mana swirled around it. The battlefield became saturated with blood in an instant, a red mist permeating my surroundings.

    Taking a deep breath, I uttered a single incantation to release the true form of my treasure weapon.

    "Bankai."

 128 Chapter 128: Blood-soaked Battlefield

    "Bankai."

    My Blood Dragon Sword glowed brightly as crimson mana billowed about me. All around us, the blood throughout the battlefield flowed toward my blade in torrents, violent swirls of blood that were as several meters thick and as long as tornadoes. The blade itself had turned crimson, absorbing the blood that flowed through its length and pulsed ominously.

    And then all the blood exploded outward to engulf us in a shadowy abyss.

    "Zetsumetsu Ketsuryuu (Total Annihilation Blood Dragon)."

    "W¡­what the fuck is this?!" Suzuki screamed before he vanished in a shower of blood. A golden burst of energy blossomed as he repelled the blood, forming a protective sphere around him. However, hundreds of tons of blood crushed down on him like an ocean, trapping and immobilizing him underneath tremendous pressure.

    I didn''t answer, instead choosing to obliterate his barrier. Suzuki vanished under the crushing surge of blood, his body vanishing in a sea of red.

    "Gaaaah!"

    With a yell, Suzuki vaporized the blood with superheated lightning, which was slowly turning into plasma. His eyes glowing ferociously, he spun his spear about and blasted the blood back. Panting, he leaned on his spear and glared at me.

    "Did you say¡­Bankai?"

    "Yup."

    Suzuki shook his head, smiling wryly. "So you''re ripping off Bleach now, huh? Are you an idiot? That manga series ended years ago. You''re out of date!"

    "Does it matter?" I shrugged. "I just copy whatever sounds and looks cool."

    "Hah! Indeed it doesn''t matter. You''ll end up dead either way!"

    Laughing, Suzuki rose to his feet and sprang at me. Sparks scattered as our weapons collided, and we ferociously exchanged a few dozen blows. Blood and lightning clashed, the former vaporizing and the latter fizzling out as intense spells saturated the air.

    Suzuki thrust his spear at my face, but I slightly tilted my head to the left to avoid it before countering with a slash. Suzuki parried my riposte before twisting his spear back, but I ducked under the returning weapon. He smashed a knee into my midriff, but I countered with an elbow, blocking the blow before attempting to eviscerate him with a return slash of my sword. Suzuki managed to block with the shaft of his lightning-clad spear before unleashing a web of electricity to stun me. In retaliation, I crushed him under several tendrils of blood.

    "Aaaah!"

    Smoke hissed into the air as droplets of blood got past Suzuki''s lightning and landed on his skin. He staggered back and flicked the blood away, cursing. His skin was blackened and melting away where the blood had come into contact.

    "...that''s some nasty stuff."

    "Wait till you actually get the proper dosage."

    Then I struck him not with my sword but with a torrent of blood.

    "Gaaaah!"

    Suzuki staggered and rolled away, his body fuming from where his arm and shoulder had been doused by the blood. He glanced at his wound and his eyes widened in horror when he saw that the skin had been eaten away, leaving shiny bone.

    "This¡­this blood is acid?!"

    "It does have corrosive effects, yes," I admitted as I stepped through the sea of blood, flicking my Blood Dragon Sword casually. "My Bankai is a double-edged sword. Not just literally. If I weren''t wearing my Redwood jacket, even I would have succumbed to this corrosive sea of blood."

    Only my Regenerative powers would have kept me alive, but I wasn''t such a glutton for punishment that I would willingly bear the pain.

    "Ku ku ku¡­ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Instead of falling into despair, Suzuki Shirou burst out laughing. He was delighted by the turn of events. The lightning wreathing both his body and his spear intensified and he lunged at me, his spear hurtling forward in a lethal strike.

    "Good! This is the best! The best! Come on, keep fighting! Don''t stop! Let us fight to our hearts'' content in the ultimate deathmatch!"

    I deftly deflected his thrust with my sword and then kicked him, but he skillfully spun his body around to evade my foot and then twisted in midair to reply with a kick of his own. I was forced to block his foot with my forearm, and then we separated in a shower of sparks as our weapons clashed viciously. Blood and lightning sizzled and fizzled all around us, spraying droplets of corrosive red fluid everywhere in the battlefield.

    Not done yet, I raised my left hand and called forth a barrage of corrosive blood spears, unleashing the rain of projectiles on Suzuki. The crazed battle maniac guffawed eagerly as he met the attack with a titanic blast of lightning, disintegrating my spell in a single burst of golden mana. Then he charged at me again after loosing a huge bolt of lightning.

    I merely raised my left hand and knocked the lightning bolt away before parrying his spear with the sword in my right hand. Grabbing the hilt with both hands, I focused on steadying my defense, even as Suzuki closed in with a grin.

    "More! More! I knew you wouldn''t let me down!"

    With a chuckle, he slashed at me, but I managed to meet him blow by blow. Steeling my resolve, I firmly stood my ground and repelled every single attack he threw at me. Suzuki intensified his assault, his thrusts and slashes growing faster as time went past.

    This guy¡­

    "Ha ha ha ha! Take this! Thousand Divine Lightning Spears!"

    Throwing up a hand, Suzuki summoned his thousand thunder spears and hurled them at me. With just a thought, I flicked my left hand and conjured an equal number of blood spears from the red sea that swirled around us. The projectiles met in midair, colliding in tremendous explosions that rocked the heavens with ethereal fireworks.

    "It''s not over yet!"

    Suzuki had withdrew to put as much distance between us as possible. Stretching his arm back, he threw his spear at me. Golden mana whirled around the spear as it streaked through the space between us, disappearing into a blur.

    "God-slaying Strike!"

    I smiled. Suzuki Shirou wasn''t the only one with the God-slaying Strike technique. Pulling my right arm back, I tossed my Blood Dragon Sword, which sped toward Suzuki''s spear like a bullet. Or to be more precise, a ballistic missile designed to shoot down other missiles.

    The two treasure weapons collided and exploded with apocalyptic fury, erasing the landscape between us and leaving a massive, smoldering crater that stretched a hundred meters in diameter. Steam rose from the red-hot molten earth, obscuring our vision.

    Since the techniques were identical ¨C after all, I stole it from Suzuki by drinking his blood ¨C their power were equal. God-slaying Strike grew in power according to how many people had died on the battlefield, so both our techniques increased at the same rate and power because we were in the same battlefield.

    On the other hand, if I didn''t use God-slaying Strike, I would have been pulverized to nothing.

    "Heh¡­ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

    Suzuki roared in delightful laughter. I grimly steeled myself and gathered whatever blood I had left to form a corrosive tsunami. Despite the catastrophic destruction, we were still encased within the dark abyss of blood that I had constructed earlier.

    However, Suzuki didn''t seem to care. He was snickering to himself, looking very pleased with the outcome.

    "Yeah¡­it has to be like this! Otherwise it''s not worth fighting you! Of course you would devise a way to counter my God-slaying Strike! You truly are the best opponent ever!"

    "Thanks for that," I acknowledged. Unlike Suzuki, I wasn''t that enthusiastic about fighting a worthy opponent. I was not a battle maniac who lusted for battle. Rather, I was just a guy who wanted revenge on the bullies who abused me in the past. I didn''t care what sort of methods or measures I had to resort to.

    I was going to kill them as quickly and thoroughly as possible. I didn''t even care if they didn''t suffer. I wasn''t going to give them even half a chance of escaping while I gloated over their seemingly imminent demise like all villains did. There was no hell I would fall for such a clich¨¦ trap. No, I wasn''t going to allow them to live even a second longer than they had to.

    Suzuki didn''t seem to care. Grinning wildly, he twirled his spear before launching himself at me.

    I met his strike resolutely, holding my ground. The earth beneath my feet shattered, but I dug in and halted Suzuki''s momentum squarely. Suzuki grinned as he applied more force, but I countered it before retaliating with a palm to his chest.

    "Whoa!"

    Suzuki cried out, amused, as he did a backflip and avoided by blow. He retaliated with a swing of his spear, but I ducked under the long, unwieldy weapon and countered with a riposte that he parried with the blunt end of his spear. The two of us traded another dozens of blows that reduced the surroundings to rubble before springing apart in a shower of sparks.

    "A few hundred blows¡­no¡­we''ve exchanged over a thousand blows and you''re still alive!" Suzuki hooted. "You''ve exceeded my wildest expectations! Woohoo!"

    "Nobody expects the Inquisition."

    Nobody expected me to do the things I did, not even the readers. That was why there was so much whining. I got bashed because readers thought I was stupid for holding back against Suzuki during our second fight. They demanded that I summoned my ancient dragon zombie ¨C which I was, I just needed some time to complete the summoning ritual the same way I needed time to summon Matsukaze, but some readers were too impatient to wait for that and demanded immediate gratification and summons which would potentially break the story but they didn''t care because they only wanted overpowered. Then there were those who complained that I let Suzuki live and held back against him without using everything I had, and how I was stupid and dumb to do that.

    Never mind that it was all part of an elaborate ploy on my part to consume a bit of Suzuki''s blood to steal at least one of his techniques, and I kept him alive so that he could distract the Iron Knights while I went and did my own thing. Furthermore, I was fighting in front of the Eight Guardians, so it would be even more foolish of me to reveal every single trick I had and display my full strength in front of them. I had already anticipated the possibility that I might inevitably clash with them because we wouldn''t agree on something, and therefore held back from stupidly showing them everything I knew. But no, certain readers didn''t care and continued to bash me for being "stupid" and illogical, and then slapped the story with 0.5 ratings or stopped following it.

    Their loss.

    In any case, I had used Suzuki for whatever I needed, so there was no longer any reason to keep him alive. I was going to finish this once and for all.

    "Aaargh!"

    With a roar, Suzuki charged forward again, thrusting his spear at my heart. Lightning sparks danced around the tip, wreathing it in destructive force. I parried the strike and then retaliated with a slash, but he deflected it before kicking me. I caught his foot with my hand and yanked, but he managed to flip himself in midair and respond with a kick from his other leg. I released his other foot and ducked before slamming my elbow into his face, only for him to dodge and spin away.

    Our blades met again, kissing in a vicious hiss and a rain of sparks. Blood slammed against lightning, the two spells raging and battering each other relentlessly. I relaxed my grip a little to allow Suzuki to push in, and then suddenly surged forward with a powerful strike that almost knocked his spear out of his hands.

    Almost, but not completely.

    "Hah!"

    Suzuki chortled as he withdrew for a second, then he lunged at me again. More Divine Lightning Spears descended upon my position, but I raised a wall of corrosive blood to form a dark barrier that dissolved the lightning.

    Iron was such a great conductor of electricity, though not as good as copper. And blood was made from iron, particularly the haemogoblin component. I could feel the blood barrier becoming magnetized by the electricity that coursed through it, and I decided to make use of it. Bending the wall of blood to my will, I dispersed it into thousands of bullet-sized projectiles, and then used the electromagnetic effects to fire off makeshift railgun projectiles.

    "!"

    Despite his indomitable lightning aura, Suzuki''s defenses were finally penetrated by the countless railgun blood pellets. He swore as the railgun projectiles pierced his skin in numerous spaces, sending up geysers of blood.

    "You¡­!"

    Suzuki snarled and then slashed at me in blind fury. This time, his speed was so fast that I was unable to evade or block it, and his spear actually smashed through my twelve barriers and sliced off my skin.

    "Kuh!"

    We staggered away from each other, but I seized the chance while his Lightning Aura was down to douse him with a tsunami of blood. Suzuki screamed as he tried to shield himself with his arms and spear, but his entire right arm was turn into smoking bone, the flesh literally melting off as the acidic blood devoured it and stripped every bit of skin and muscle off. Even the sleeve of his hero costume was not spared, the fabric eaten away into nothing.

    But I didn''t emerge from the encounter unscathed. Right after Suzuki shattered my Redwood jacket''s barriers, I was just as vulnerable to the corrosive blood as he was. My face briefly turned into a skull and my hands reduced to white bone as much of the corrosive blood splashed over me. However, despite the tremendous pain, I didn''t care. My Regeneration was already kicking in, regrowing my burned flesh and restoring me to full health.

    Suzuki''s lip curled when he saw that. Despite his wounded arm, he tightly gripped his spear with skeletal fingers and launched a lightning bolt at me. I countered with a Shadow Lunar Fang and the black and golden energies exploded upon colliding.

    We continued to assail each other with our spells. Blood and lightning clashed and exploded around us, but our weapons continued to whirl and clash in indescribable fury. Suzuki''s experience and greater skill with a spear was beginning to show, for he was leaving traces of scars and wounds on my flesh.

    Fortunately, I had Regeneration, which allowed me to quickly heal from those superficial wounds almost immediately.

    "What a cheating ability," Suzuki sneered when he saw my injuries close up and disappear in seconds. "What are you, an immortal?"

    "I don''t want to hear that from a guy who possesses a thousand different special abilities," I retorted fiercely. Suzuki laughed and thrust his spear forward again.

    "Thousand Divine Lightning Spears!"

    That again? I almost shook my head and conjured my blood barrier before repeating the railgun trick with the electromagnetized haemogoblin.

    Unfortunately, Suzuki seemed to have anticipated that. He disappeared into a golden flash, dodging every single pellet with ease.

    "Lightning Flash Speed!"

    Suzuki laughed as he weaved around me, evading the railgun blood pellets effortlessly and launching attacks from multiple directions at blinding speed. It took me everything I had to parry and deflect his strikes, and that was depending on sheer luck and reflexes. Even then, I felt a hundred scratches ripping across me as Suzuki breached my defenses over and over again to cut me with his astonishing speed.

    Death by a hundred cuts. That was his strategy.

    In contrast, I was unable to land even a single counterattack on him. He was too fast, easily avoiding any riposte or retaliation. I almost felt as if he was toying with me.

    Why didn''t he use this special ability earlier? I wondered.

    There was one possibility that his Thousand Killer Asura wasn''t as godlike as it sounded, and was subject to limitations. He probably couldn''t use all one thousand of his special abilities simultaneously. Maybe up to three or four special abilities at any one time? It would be easier if I thought of him as a gun. He might possess up to a thousand different special-issue ammunition, but he couldn''t fire all one thousand types of rounds at the same time. Maybe two, or three. Four, at most. Furthermore, if he attempted to spit out all those spells one after another at a terrifying rate, there was a chance that he would burn out just like a gun and overheat himself, causing irreversible damage.

    According to my Absolute Appraisal, anyway.

    "Ha ha ha ha!"

    I staggered forward after Suzuki slashed my back, wincing as the wound began to close up.

    At least I had my Regeneration special ability or the battle would have already been decided long ago.

    Gritting my teeth, I summoned a horde of Blood Ghouls from the sea of blood. The countless Blood Ghouls began to rise from the red ocean and swarmed over Suzuki. Despite his blinding speed, he was surrounded and mobbed by the innumerable Blood Ghouls. While they didn''t number in the thousands like the human soldiers, there were at least a hundred or so. More than enough to surround and capture Suzuki.

    Realizing that he would have a difficult time evading, Suzuki switched his strategy. Dropping down to his knees, he slammed the tip of his spear into the ground.

    "Lightning Nova!"

    A golden circle of superheated electricity emanated and blasted out from his spear, expanding voraciously and incinerating my Blood Ghouls in a flash, decimating the horde in an instant. This was why I didn''t want to summon them. I just knew Suzuki had an area of effect spell that would perfectly counter anything I summoned.

    But I had no choice. If I didn''t summon any zombies or Blood Ghouls, readers would complain and bash me for "not using my special abilities." Never mind I had already taken the scenario into account and knew my opponents had the techniques to counter hordes or familiars. Furthermore, if I summoned my ancient dragon zombie, Suzuki could slay him near-instantly with his God-slaying Strike. Additionally, he was too small for Ryuu to attack, and the Draconic Meteor spell, while powerful, would be masterfully evaded by the super-fast Suzuki.

    In other words, Suzuki would shoot down anything I summoned. Not that readers cared. They would complain and bash me for not even "trying". Well, I just did, but they would just find something else to whine about.

    "Not bad! But it''s still not enough!"

    Suzuki whirled around, spinning his spear before unleashing a devastating torrent of lightning. I took a deep breath and swung my sword to release my own deadly wave of black energy.

    "Divine Lightning Blast!"

    "Lunar Shadow Fang!"

    The two colossal attacks collided and erupted in a supernova-like explosion that consumed the ground before us like a miniature exploding sun, reducing everything within that space into a smoldering, molten crater.

    "Lunar Shadow Fang?" Suzuki scoffed. "Don''t kid yourself. Since you''re already ripping off Bleach, you might as well call that spell Getsuga Tenshou!"

    "To be honest, I think the primary reason why they''re dropping this trash of a story is because of your excessive fourth-wall breaking, which breaks immersion a lot. And that you''re dragging this fight out too much."

    I raised an eyebrow at that. "If you know the fight is being dragged on for too long, then why don''t you let me defeat you already?"

    "Are you joking? And lose out on all the fun? Besides, even if I wasn''t having so much fun fighting you, I wouldn''t be suicidal enough to make this easy for you. You think your opponent will just roll over and let you stomp all over them just because you''re the protagonist?"

    "That''s what a lot of readers want," I replied wearily. "They''re obsessed with overpowered protagonists and any main character who isn''t able to curbstomp the opponent in two or three moves is considered weak and the story will be written off as trash."

    "So why the fuck are you pandering to such unreasonable readers? Fuck them. Just do your own thing. Like me! I''m going to do whatever I want, I don''t give a shit about what Kobayashi or anyone else thinks!"

    With a hoot, Suzuki lunged at me again. This time, I wasn''t able to dodge in time. Despite raising my sword, I could only barely deflect Suzuki''s spear from piercing my heart. Instead, Suzuki''s weapon lodged itself deep into my lung, splintering my ribs and tearing the soft tissue underneath. I immediately choked and gurgled, blood rising from my chest up my neck and spilling from my mouth.

    "Oh¡­so you''ve finally run out of steam?"

    Suzuki chuckled, but I merely grabbed his arm with my left hand and smiled.

    "I''ve got you now."

    "Oh? So what?"

    I didn''t reply. I didn''t have to. It meant that he couldn''t use his Lightning Flash Speed to escape my attacks this time. I just slashed him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

    "Hah! You can''t penetrate my Lightning Aura!"

    A fierce explosive aura of electricity crackled around Suzuki, enveloping him in a protective field. The golden energy stopped my blade right before it could bite into his shoulder, preventing him from being bisected.

    "I told you so!"

    "Shadow Lunar Fang!"

    I fired off a Shadow Lunar Fang at pointblank range, the dark energy ripping apart the Lightning Aura and allowing the blade to sink deeper. Even then, I only just managed to cut into his collarbone before my sword stopped.

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    Superficial. The wound was too superficial. It wasn''t enough to subdue or defeat Suzuki Shirou.

    "Not bad," Suzuki chuckled as he tried to shrug off my Blood Dragon Sword. "A neat strategy, to blow away my Lightning Aura and strip me of my defenses. Unfortunately, it still isn''t enough."

    I smiled. "Really? Do you really think so?"

    Suzuki blinked, falling into stunned silence when he found himself being swallowed by a dark shadow. Looking up, his jaw dropped as a colossal tsunami of corrosive blood rose and towered over us. With his Lightning Aura gone, and me restraining him by grabbing his arm, there was no way he could escape or protect himself from my attack.

    "No¡­no! NOOOOOO!"

    Screaming and flailing, Suzuki struggled futilely against my grasp for a few seconds before the both of us were engulfed by the titanic tsunami of corrosive blood.

 129 Chapter 129: Bloodbath

    It was a bloodbath. As in, literally.

    Suzuki Shirou and I were bathed in blood. And not just any blood ¨C highly corrosive blood that melted us down to our skeletons. For some reason, our clothes were unaffected. Maybe the corrosive blood only affected living things or organic material. I didn''t know. Only Kubo Taito Sensei knew ¨C he was the one who made Unohana Retsu''s Bankai that way, after all. Up till now, not many fans still understood what Unohana''s Bankai actually did.

    ¡­so why was I ripping her off anyway?

    Actually, now that I thought about it, that wasn''t true. Zaraki Kenpachi''s sleeves were shown to have been corroded away by the blood. So the blood probably was acidic and did affect clothes too. Watching carefully, I saw that Suzuki''s sleeves had been burned away, mercilessly eaten by the ravenous blood.

    "Can you stop digressing to Bleach and finish this battle already?!" Suzuki yelled when he noticed me musing to myself.

    "Oh, sorry. Then die."

    The voracious blood acid engulfed and utterly obliterated Suzuki before he could protest or shout defiantly, chewing away at his skeleton and consuming him completely. After half a minute, there was nothing left of him but a smoking puddle of half-melted bones and sizzling fabric. All the flesh and internal organs had been destroyed.

    "Hah¡­hah¡­"

    Panting, I rested on my Blood Dragon Sword while waiting for my wounds to heal. My Regeneration kicked in and restored my lost skin. I watched in awe as muscle and nerves regenerated over bone, bundling and weaving together, before returning to normal. My face must have been restored from the terrifying skull it had been earlier. I knew because that was exactly what Suzuki''s face looked like when he was struck by the acidic blood.

    Nothing but a grinning, hollow skull.

    And now he was worse than even that.

    "Huff¡­"

    I wiped the blood from my mouth and dismissed the Blood Abyss that my Bankai had created over us. The sea of blood remained, however, for it still served a purpose.

    "The hero¡­the hero has been defeated?!"

    "How is that possible!?"

    "Suzuki-sama is among the strongest of heroes! He''s supposed to have a thousand abilities! How did he die?!"

    "No way!"

    The dismayed cries of the human soldiers echoed throughout the battlefield. Dragoons and infantry alike were reeling from the loss of their talismanic commander. However, the zealots'' fanatical devotion to Kobayashi Kenji kicked in and they fought harder than ever, determined to bring this battle down to the last man if necessary.

    "Yare yare."

    The sad thing was that this probably wasn''t even their will. It was Kobayashi''s will, indoctrinated into them against their wills.

    Fortunately, I already had a measure in place for this. It was also the reason why I didn''t completely dismiss my Bankai.

    With a groan, thousands of Blood Ghouls dragged themselves out of the sea of blood and staggered toward the humans. It wasn''t just from the red sea. Pools of blood that had spilled from corpses and were splattered across the battlefield, leaking from bodies both living and dead, contributed to spawning these things. The more blood was spilled, the more Blood Ghoouls I cold summon. Even blood dripping from the ruined bodies entombed within the chassis of the Dragoons flowed toward the sea of life, giving life or un-life to these foul creatures that were not truly living. Moaning, the horde of Blood Ghouls shambled toward the humans.

    Yet the human soldiers remained grimly stoic. They met the charge of the Blood Ghouls with superhuman resolve and undying faith in their False Emperor, hacking and slashing at the foul creatures with swords, axes and spears. Despite the ferocious attacks, the Blood Ghouls merely reformed and regenerated, their physical shapes only momentarily disrupted. Several mages put a permanent end to the Blood Ghouls with powerful magic spells, but those overly reliant on physical attacks (that was the majority) were completely helpless against the Blood Ghouls.

    Even the Dragoons were unable to fully decimate the approaching Blood Ghouls, despite their phase disruptors having some effect and succeeding in vaporizing a significant number of them. I watched as a blue antimatter bolt disintegrated a Blood Ghoul, erasing its fluid body away into nothingness. However, with their slow rate of fire and the innumerable of Blood Ghouls rising from the ground, it was like throwing pebbles into a tsunami to stop it. And when they turned their attention toward the new threat, they were ripped apart by a bombardment of plasma blasts from my Malthas Executioner tanks.

    Even so, the tide of humans would not stop. Marching on stoically, they clashed with the Blood Ghouls ineffectually. Most died in the first wave. More died in the next, unable to compete with the vicious Blood Ghouls in close combat. The Blood Ghouls transformed their limbs into blades, swords or knives, stabbing or lopping off arms and weapons, or beheading their enemies in swift, precise strokes. All the while they healed from any dangerous wounds the humans dealt them.

    Worse. The more humans they killed, the larger the army of Blood Ghouls grew, and the smaller the remaining forces of humans were left. At this rate, the human army would be completely wiped out within the hour.

    It was a complete bloodbath.

    Only Nishida Kensuke did nothing. Stunned by the death of his boss, he dropped to his knees and gaped at the unbelievable sight. He had essentially surrendered and no longer possessed the will to fight.

    I paid him no attention. Nishida was not worth paying any attention to.

    In less than sixty minutes, the enemy army was all but annihilated.

    *

    "Thank you, Colonel Tanaka!"

    Captain Dante Infernius saluted sharply when he spotted me heading toward the gates of his garrison. I returned the salute and nodded.

    "Good to see that you and your men are safe, Captain Infernius."

    Dante laughed softly. "It''s all thanks to you and your men, Colonel. You saved us. If you hadn''t arrived when you did, I fear we would have only lasted for another ten minutes before my garrison fell into enemy hands."

    I wasn''t sure about that, but I didn''t know too much about siege battles so I refrained from saying anything to make myself look stupid. Not that I already didn''t look stupid. Just look at the number of readers who all thought I was an idiot. It was nearly hundred percent.

    "Good thing Alan made it in time, or we would have been annihilated."

    "Yeah, Alan did great."

    I turned and nodded at Alan, who hesitantly stepped forward and bowed to his leader.

    "Sir."

    "Good work, Alan. You really saved us there."

    Following behind us was a line of tanks, which rolled into the garrison. Already the Tech-priests Enginseer of the Adeptus Mechanicus¡­I mean, of Morian training, were already tending to the wounded machines of war, chanting binaric hymns and raising incense. Rubbing holy oils over the tanks, they sang to soothe the agitated machine spirits, pacifying them so that they might restore themselves to perfect condition.

    I waved away the incense smoke even as Major Daniel Dressia strolled over to me, with a hero in tow. Not just any hero, but one in chains.

    "What do we do with this person, sir?"

    "Hmm?"

    I glanced at Daniel and his entourage of armor infantry who were guarding the prisoner closely. Their muskets were all pointed in the crouching young man''s direction, the soldiers ready to squeeze the triggers and unleash a lethal hail of bullets on the prisoner if he so much as twitched.

    Nishida Kensuke looked up at me pitifully.

    "Please, Tanaka-kun," he begged. "Don''t kill me. I never meant to do any of those things to you. It''s just that¡­Kobayashi forced us to. And you know how the boss is. He was just picking on you out of respect. He didn''t mean any harm!"

    "Uh huh," I replied absent-mindedly. I held no grudge against him or Suzuki. As I said before, Suzuki''s group mostly stood off and did their own thing, and even Kobayashi rarely bothered them or gave them orders. No one would be stupid enough to attempt to command a delinquent like Suzuki around, not even Kobayashi.

    "Please! I''m so sorry! Just¡­just spare my life! I''ll work under you! I''ll pledge my loyalty to you! You''ll be my new boss! I swear I won''t betray you! I''ll forge you whatever demonic weapons you want! Jut don''t kill me!"

    "Don''t worry, I have no intention of killing you," I assured him. I was getting sick of listening to his pleas, so I shut him up with that declaration. Nishida immediately looked pretty relieved. I continued, "and you don''t have to do all that either. I don''t need you to serve me and I''m not some delinquent boss. Just don''t get in my way, that''s all I ask."

    "Yes, Tanaka-kun!"

    Nishida pressed his forehead to the floor. Dude, just how little pride did you have? And I already said there''s no need for that.

    "I know it''s shameless of me to ask this of you, but¡­please! I have a request!"

    Now that caught my attention. I turned to stare at him, causing Nishida to squirm under my gaze.

    "What request do you have?"

    "Please keep me by your side!"

    What the fuck?! Did the bastard just propose to me?

    "Sorry, dude," I growled and shook my head. "But I''m not gay. I''m straight. I''m not sure what kind of relationship you had with Suzuki, but don''t think you can just get another guy to replace him. I prefer girls."

    Nishida turned red. "No! That''s not what I mean!" he howled. "I don''t mean that! And the boss and I don''t have that kind of relationship!"

    "Okay. Then what do you mean?"

    "Please!" Nishida implored. "Just take me with you wherever you go! I can''t go back to Legnica¡­I can''t go back to the rest! Kobayashi, Yamada, Ishida¡­they''ll all skin me alive! Without the boss''s protection, I''m doomed! They''ll kill me!"

    "Why would they kill you?"

    I frowned at that. That made no sense whatsoever. Even if Suzuki was dead, Nishida was still of great use to Kobayashi and the others. With Nagano Nanaka defecting to the Iron Knights, Kobayashi''s gang was in great need of a swordsmith. Nishida was their only source of weapons. If they killed him, they would be essentially cutting off their arms.

    "I don''t mean it literally. More like they''ll imprison me, enslave me and force me to do their bidding. Kobayashi the bastard already tried to do that, but the boss saved me. Now that the boss is dead, there''s nothing stopping from Kobayashi to trap me inside his castle and force me to produce an endless supply of demonic weapons!"

    The poor guy was actually weeping.

    "Kobayashi, that scoundrel, he doesn''t think of us as humans! Only as tools! He only treats the girls well¡­and those two right-hand men of his! The rest of us are just tools, puppets for him to manipulate! He doesn''t care about my well-being! He only wants to turn me into a servitor that manufactures demonic weapons for his entire army! He''ll trap me into a machine, lobotomize me and turn me into a servitor to ''maximize efficiency and productivity'' ¨C his words! The only reason why he didn''t do that to Nagano-san was because she''s a girl and she''s more beautiful and useful to him as a human girl than a servitor!"

    In other words, Kobayashi wasn''t satisfied with merely having a harem of princesses. He planned on adding all the girls in class to his harem eventually.

    What a sick bastard¡­

    But there was still something nagging at me, even as I watched Nishida quietly.

    How do I know this isn''t a trap?

    For all I knew, Nishida could be trying to worm his way into my inner circle, to act as a spy for Kobayashi and feed him information. It might be fatal to keep him nearby, for he would look for an opportunity to stab me in the back while my guard was down.

    Well, Absolute Appraisal says he isn''t lying, though.

    I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Of course, I wasn''t na?ve enough to completely trust him, so I made sure to entrust my back to people I could actually believe. As they said, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Better that Nishida was in a place where I could easily keep watch over him than sneakily concocting some sinister scheme out of sight.

    I glanced at Daniel and nodded.

    "Let him up and take off his restraints."

    "Sir."

    Daniel didn''t look like he agreed, so I stepped up and whispered into his ear.

    "Pick a few guards ¨C people you trust deeply ¨C and have them watch over him. If he tries anything funny, inform me right away. Monitor closely whoever he contacts and communicates with. If he is a spy, I want to know."

    Daniel nodded without a hint of protest this time. "Yes, sir!"

    Stepping back, I turned back toward Nishida, who was rubbing his hands after the guards took off his shackles. He wasn''t stupid enough to leap at me or anything after retrieving his freedom, but then again if his purpose was to be a spy, there was no way he would do anything as bold and reckless as attacking me immediately.

    "Thank you!"

    Despite being released from his chains, Nishida prostrated himself gratefully before me.

    "You won''t regret this! I swear! I''ll definitely repay you!"

    "Yeah, yeah. I''m looking forward to it."

    I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes, and turned back to Dante Infernius.

    "Captain, we''ll have to borrow your facilities for a bit. We need to repair, refuel and resupply our vehicles."

    "Please! Let us know if you need anything else! You saved our lives and defeated the tyrant''s armies. This is the least we can do."

    "Uh, right. Sure."

    "Ah!" Dante brightened up. "I''ll get my men to lead your soldiers to the barracks. After such an intense battle, I''m sure you''ll need a lot of rest. We''ll allocate you the best rooms in the garrison, so help yourself to them."

    "No need for that. We''ll appreciate it as long as there''s a bed."

    It was so uncomfortable sleeping upright in the tank, so I knew my men would undoubtedly be happy with having a soft bed to rest in after such a long, arduous journey.

    "Um¡­"

    Nishida raised a hand. Everyone turned to look at him. He cleared his throat nervously.

    "If you don''t mind¡­do you have an armory or a forge in this garrison?"

    "We do¡­" Dante said hesitantly. "What about it?"

    "If you don''t mind, I can repair and maintain everyone''s weapons. After such a fierce battle, I''m sure everyone''s weapons will be in quite the state of disrepair. In addition, I can start producing several demoinc weapons for you to use."

    "Demonic weapons?"

    "Ah¡­! It''s just a manner of speaking. You don''t have to use them if you don''t want to. But¡­" he turned to stare at me hopefully. "For the demons, they will be powerful assets. I won''t be able to produce that many, but I hope to forge at least a dozen or so¡­for the officers, if nothing else."

    I exchanged a glance with Daniel, and then offered my consent.

    "Sure. We''ll be posting guards to watch you."

    "Ah¡­I see. I understand. Of course it would be too much to ask for you to trust me, especially since I was part of the group that attacked this garrison after all¡­"

    The Demonic Swordsmith looked a bit downcast, but he nodded understandingly and steeled his resolve.

    "I won''t let you down. I swear."

    "Yeah, yeah. I''ll see you later then."

    I watched Nishida leave. To be honest, I could understand what he was trying to do. Nishida wasn''t that kind enough to have a change of heart and swear loyalty to me. He was a crafty, sneaky guy who prioritized his life over anything else. He was presently sucking up to me because I was his best choice of survival. Going back to Kobayashi without Suzuki''s protection would be suicide¡­assuming he was telling the truth, of course.

    As Nishida didn''t possess great combat skills, he needed to rely on somebody to protect me. Right now, I seemed like the most ideal candidate. While I was skeptical about Nishida''s claims, it wouldn''t surprise me if Kobayashi really intended on transforming Nishida into a servitor for the sake of mass-producing demonic weapons. That sounded typical of the insane, megalomaniac bully who viewed everyone else as tools.

    I still remembered how he callously sacrificed Samejima Hiroki just so he could defeat the previous Demon Lord.

    "Will there be anything else, Colonel? You should rest¡­"

    I shook my head and cut off Dante before he could continue.

    "Before that, do you mind if I call a short meeting with your commanders?"

    "Hmm? I don''t mind, but¡­"

    "Yeah, it won''t take long."

    Dante Infernius indulged me and brought us to a strategy room. Once everyone got seated, I wasted no time and proceeded to the next phase of my plan.

    "I''ll get straight to the point." I swept my gaze over Dante, Alan and the commanders of the Knights of Blood. "I want your aid. I wish to enlist the Knights of Blood and get them to assist me and my regiment to assault Havia in a few days'' time. We already have an armada ready, captured from the Marrina Isles. Even now, the rest of my regiment is preparing to launch the naval fleet toward Legnica and get within bombardment range of the capital."

    "You¡­what?"

    "Ah¡­! I heard of it! The demons'' victory at the Marrina Isles!"

    "Don''t tell me¡­that''s you?"

    "My regiment," I corrected as a hushed whisper swept across the briefing room. The knights were all looking at each other, astonished.

    "If I may."

    This time, it was a dwarf who cut in. Captain Ben Grimm, the commander of the Elemental Forces from Moria, raised his stocky hand to call my attention.

    "Colonel, as you already know, the 1st Elemental Armored Infantry Company has been assigned to your regiment, as a mark of friendship between Moria and Helsfort."

    "Yeah, but you guys took on heavy losses during this battle."

    Grimm shook his head. "We''re still at 70% fighting capability, and we''re scheduled to get reinforcements in a few days'' time. It won''t be a problem. All I ask is that you don''t forget to include me and my men in that plan."

    I met his gaze squarely. "I have no intention of doing so, Captain. I''ll definitely honor the trust and faith that his majesty King Hedol has shown in me by including your Elemental Company in the assault plans. As far as I am concerned, you''re already a part of my regiment."

    Grimm grinned. "Thank you, sir. It''s a massive honor to hear those words personally from you."

    I shook my head. "The honor''s all mine, Captain. If it weren''t for you and your Elementals, my tank regiment would have been overrun. Only your timely arrival kept us from being routed by the enemy. It was my fault. I underestimated the enemy."

    A sharp pain struck my heart as I said that. It was true. I had underestimated the enemy and rushed in, thinking my tanks and their superior armor and overwhelming firepower would be more than enough to massacre the enemy. Yet we were completely taken surprise by the sheer numbers that the human army threw at us. If the Elementals didn''t reinforce us when they did, we would have been slaughtered by the endless tides of human soldiers, infantry and cyborg Dragoon walkers.

    Unfortunately, I wasn''t a Grand Strategist or Tactical Genius who could perfectly predict and counter every strategy my enemies came up with. I was only human. I was prone to making mistakes and miscalculations as any normal human would do. In an ideal world full of Mary Sue protagonists or overpowered main characters, everything would go according to plan (keikaku doori!) while I had everything dancing in the palm of my hand because I saw through everything.

    But I wasn''t a genius. I was only human. I was mortal and mediocre.

    If people wanted to read about overpowered protagonists who curbstomped their opponents in one or two moves, or outsmarting everyone in the universe with their sheer tactical brilliance, they could go somewhere else.

    "What about you?"

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    Now that I had cleared Ben Grimm''s concerns over his Elementals being left out, I turned to Dante Infernius and his knights.

    "Are you in?"

    "We''ll join your regiment," Dante replied immediately. He turned to the rest of the commanders after a second. "If no one objects, of course."

    "No objection here."

    "I''ll be happy to."

    "It''ll be much better than sitting around in this garrison, just waiting to be attacked."

    "Yeah, it''s time to bring the fight to the enemy!"

    While the other knights voiced their approval, Alan stood up.

    "I''m honored to fight under you, Tanaka-san! In fact, I would have gladly left the Knights of Blood to join you!"

    "Um¡­maybe it''s not a good idea to say that in front of the commanders of the Knights of Blood¡­" I muttered. Alan blinked before realizing his stupidity.

    "No offense meant, of course."

    "None taken," Dante replied pointedly. "You were the one who showed a lot of faith in Tanaka-san and brought him here, after all. No one would hold it against you if you chose to follow him instead of us. If I recall, you were even in the same party?"

    "Yup." I nodded. "We went to slay dragons together. And now, I''ll be happy to fight alongside the Knights of Blood to reclaim Legnica from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity." Drawing my sword, I raised it high to the air. "Death to the False Emperor!"

    "Death to the False Emperor!" the Knights of Blood echoed.

    With this, the ranks of my regiment swelled yet again.

 130 Chapter 130: General Meeting

    With my army bolstered by new regiments, both from the Morian dwarves'' Elemental company and the turncoat Order of the Knights of Blood from the human kingdom, Legnica, we marched out to meet the rest of th 1,087th Magna Regiment.

    From what Major Elia Kratz informed me, the Mereids of the Poseidon Kingdom had arrived and taken control of the naval fleet alongside the reformed and "normal" Marrina navy. They were sailing alongside the infantry brigades of my regiment to meet up with me along the shore near Helsreach before we sailed to the East Coast of Legnica.

    The tanks surged ahead, with the smaller Malthas Executioner tanks escorting the titanic Hellsblade in the center. All around the tanks were the rugged but no less armored Cerberus APCs bearing scores of infantry from both the human and demonic armies.

    "We''re almost there, boss."

    Lieutenant Jason Jurgen called out to me as the Savior of Moria ran over a bump, flattening logs and crushing grass underneath its adamantium tracks. He was right. From the holographic pict-screen onboard the command console of my tank, I could see the beach. Floating on the waters were the gargantuan vessels of the Marrina navy.

    Once we were within range, I contacted Elia and Major Benjamin Burado.

    "Hey, guys! We''re here!"

    "We see you! We''ll be getting the cruisers to shore so that you can load the tanks up on them."

    We did not plan on driving the tanks all the way to Legnica. Instead, we were going to load them up on the ships. The cruisers held vast transport bays where they could hold the tanks and ferry them across the continent. It would save power and be faster, especially since the Malthas tanks consumed excessive fuel to move at a snail''s pace. At a steady crawl of 20 kilometers per hour, it would take us forever to reach Legnica.

    Then again¡­the battleships only moved at 14 knots, or 26 kilometers per hour. We could push them to travel at 35 knots or 65 kilometers per hour for a maximum of four hours if necessary, which would be dangerous if we tried that for tanks. So instead, we thought it would be more prudent and safer to transport the tanks over the sea than make the trek over land. Besides, we also needed to preserve as much power as possible.

    The cruisers arriving ashore had the aft facing inland. Hatches swung open and slammed down onto the beach, sending up damp sand in clogged sprays. Ignoring the sand and dust, the tanks plowed straight into the bowels of the heavy cruisers and parked in their designated positions.

    The Savior of Moria was so large that it took up almost an entire bay in one of the cruisers, a heavy cruiser named Takao. Only two other Malthas tanks were able to follow it into the cargo bay because of how much space the super-heavy Hellblade took up.

    "Finally!"

    Stretching himself, Geoffrey Gunnery happily leaped out of the cramped confines of the Savior of Moria.

    "That was quite the long ride," Jurgen agreed as he staggered out of the tank, creaking his neck and shoulders.

    "Go get some rest, guys," I ordered them. Then I proceeded toward the bridge to pay my respects to the captain of the ship. It took me quite a while to navigate the steel, labyrinth corridors of the ship, but after a few directions from helpful crewmen, I found the bridge.

    "Sorry, please excuse my intrusion."

    The moment I stumbled into the bridge awkwardly, the highest-ranking officer stood up from his command throne. Dressed in an immaculate white uniform with golden braids and buttons, his epaulets indicated his rank.

    Bowing in a dignified manner, he introduced himself.

    "Captain Gunzou Chihaya. I am the commander of this ship."

    "Well met, Captain Gunzou. Colonel Tanaka Tomoyuki, the CO of 1,087th Magna."

    "It''s an honor." Gunzou lowered his head slightly. "I''ve heard a lot about you."

    "Not all of it good, I bet," I muttered.

    "Excuse me?"

    "Nothing." I shook my head frantically. "It''s a great honor to meet you too."

    "Ah." Gunzou nodded, and then consulted his bridge. "Um, you''re scheduled to meet his Excellency Emperor Regis aboard the Poseidon in an hour. He would like to personally listen to your briefing and reports regarding the situation around the Knights of Blood."

    "Emperor Regis is here?!"

    My jaw dropped when I heard the news. Gunzou nodded fervently.

    "Yes. The Demon Lord himself has personally decided to lead this battle. It''s not just him. Demon Lord Generals and Lord Militant Commanders from all over Morten have assembled. We are viewing this as the final battle and are staking everything on this."

    "Uh, okay."

    And just when I thought the pressure wasn''t going to get heavier¡­

    "I''ve prepared a shuttle for you, so you may depart whenever you''re ready."

    "All right." I sighed. "Let''s get this done and over with."

    *

    I met up with Lilith shortly after I arrived aboard the flagship of the Marrina Fleet, the Poseidon. Formerly the Emperor''s Glory, we renamed it because we didn''t want anything associated with the bastard Kobayashi Kenji. Still, it would be sweet irony to bombard the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity with his own flagship that he arrogantly named after himself.

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    "They''re calling a general meeting," Lilith Scarlet informed me. "All of us generals have been summoned by the Demon Lord himself."

    Ah, right. Lilith was a general, the commander-and-chief of the Haemorage military. What was the formal designation, Lord General?

    "Yeah," Lilith agreed, as if she had read my mind. "All the Lord Generals have been called. Not just normal generals, but Lord Generals. The highest-ranking military commanders across the continent, barring the seven others."

    The seven others were referring to the absenties of the Nine Strongest Demon Nobles in Morten. Evidently they had chosen to eschew this final battle. That was fine by me. Less monsters participating in this battle meant more glory for me, and a higher chance that I could personally fight and kill Kobayashi with my very own hands.

    "So why are they summoning a mere Colonel like me?" I asked apprehensively.

    Lilith giggled. "You''ll see when we get there."

    And just like that, we arrived. Lilith stopped in front of the huge metal doors and I automatically opened them for her. She smiled mischievously.

    "You''re such a gentleman, aren''t you?"

    "Uh¡­no, not really."

    Lilith chuckled and sauntered in before gesturing for me to follow. I obeyed and almost fell over at the sight of no less than four Lord Generals sitting around Emperor Regis Gremory.

    Lord General Priscilla Paimon. Lord General Macharius Marbas. Lord General Brent Barbatos. Lord General Vincent van Bellial. And then we had Lord General Lilith Scarlet.

    Outranking these top-ranked commanders of the Morten military was the Demon Lord and Lord Militant Commander Regis Gremory himself, calmly seated at the center of the table. He smiled broadly when he saw me.

    "Ah, our good Colonel Tanaka. You''ve finally managed to return to us."

    "Your Excellency." I bowed politely.

    "Now, now. Dispense with the formalities. You''ve come a long way and fought two successive campaigns. Both of which you achieved victory. You''re among equals now."

    "¡­huh?"

    I wasn''t sure if Regis was mocking me or being serious. I was a mere Colonel. The people in front of me were Lord Generals. They outranked me by a fucking ton. There was no way I could be an equal to any of them.

    "From the preliminary reports you submitted, I see you''ve also managed to garner the assistance of several human regiments. The 82nd Legnica Regiment. The 7th Battalion of the Marrina Marine Corps. The entire fleet of the Marrina Navy. The Knights of Blood."

    "They all have a great reason to help me," I replied honestly. "We have a mutual enemy. it didn''t take much convincing, and we have to continue to compromise and cooperate with mutual respect."

    Regis chortled. "Still so modest, I see."

    "Just stating the truth."

    "Well, you''ve received fresh reinforcements from me. An entire tank regiment, several infantry regiments, and even an Elemental Company from Moria. I have discussed with the others, and we think you need a corresponding rank for your current responsibilities. A colonel doesn''t normally command multiple regiments, after all."

    "Uh, yeah."

    Then don''t give me multiple regiments to command!

    That was my thought, but I couldn''t voice it out. I wasn''t that tactless or foolish.

    Still, I wasn''t very enthusiastic about commanding multiple regiments. I wasn''t a trained soldier. I couldn''t handle the responsibility and shouldering so many lives upon my narrow, skinny shoulders. It was already difficult for me to manage and lead my regiment, and now I had to lead an entire battlegroup consisting of regiments from both human and demon armies.

    This was so going to be a pain.

    "Therefore, from today forward, you''re hereby promoted to the rank of Lord General. In front of these five witnesses, Lord General Scarlet, Lord General Paimon, Lord General Barbatos, Lord General Marbas and Lord General Bellial, I confer you upon the venerable rank of Lord General and appoint you commander of the combined regiments you currently lead. I will be assigning you more regiments, especially those from Moria, in the coming days, but you will serve as the spearhead and lead the fight directly to Legnica. You will have overall command, especially in the Legnica sector."

    "I will be assisting you," Lilith added brightly. "So don''t hesitate to rely on me."

    "Heh¡­so a husband-and-wife command staff?" Lord General Paimon murmured sarcastically. "I have high expectations of you two."

    "If you don''t mind me asking, wouldn''t the other Lord Generals be more suited for this task?" I raised my hand nervously. "I mean, I appreciate the honor of being allowed to lead the attack against Kobayashi and Legnica, and I express my gratitude for the amount of faith and confidence you show in me, but¡­aren''t the Lord Generals a lot more experienced, wiser and smarter than me?"

    "You underestimate yourself too much, Lord General Tanaka." Regis was grinning wryly. "And even if that''s true, it doesn''t matter. You were the one who captured the Marrina navy and their ships. You were the one who negotiated the alliance and incorporated the human regiments into your army. The human soldiers will not take orders or listen to any demon other than you. You''re the only one who has earned their trust. Since they''ll definitely want to participate in the battle to reclaim their homeland, you''re probably the only commander suitable to lead them alongside your assigned regiments."

    "Uh¡­okay."

    I had to admit that was true. It wasn''t difficult to figure out that the humans would be less trusting and more suspicious of the other demonic commanders. I had earned their trust by fighting alongside them, so technically, I would be easier to cooperate with. In contrast, the humans had clashed against the other demon nobles and commanders, so they wouldn''t be too happy with following the orders of their previous enemies.

    "Besides, we''re engaged in battles across other sectors."

    It was Marbas who spoke up this time. The elderly general raised his white-haired head and stared at me seriously.

    "We''re launching a multi-pronged attack across the entire continent, invading multiple human kingdoms simultaneously to tightly stretch their forces. We aim to finish off any semblance of the old human regime once and for all."

    "Don''t worry," Regis assured me. "I have no intention of allowing any demon noble to lay claim to ruling the human kingdoms. It is my goal to exterminate Kobayashi and the rest of Evelyn''s Chosen, and then establish a lasting peace with the new regime. The industrial revolution has opened up new alternative pathways, and I aim to create a global network of trade and technological progress while pursuing peace and bettering the lives and societies of all sentient species across Restia."

    That sounded highly idealistic, and I doubted that Regis would truly be able to achieve that. But it was certainly a dream worth working toward. Best of all, it involved Kobayashi''s death and total demise, so there was no way I could say no to it.

    "Oh, and you''re still in contact with the Iron Knights, right? Will they be helping us out in this final battle?"

    "They will. Hoshizaki-san and Aoyama-kun gave their word."

    I had spoken to the two briefly before I left the Marrina Isles, and contacted them by smartphone while on the way to the rest of the fleet. They had assured me that Takeda Tetsuo planned on participating in this final battle. They would meet me around the shores of Legnica.

    "Speaking of the Iron Knights, I have also enlisted the help of Nishida Kensuke."

    He was currently under watch by heavily armed guards, but to be honest, a hero like Nishida would be able to overpower normal demons in Restia and escaped if he wanted to. Nonetheless, I wanted to assure my men that he wouldn''t be trying anything funny. Moreover, I also needed to keep an eye on him to ensure he wasn''t a mole or secretly communicating with Kobayashi and the others.

    On the other hand, his skills were admittedly invaluable, and he had designed power swords and other demonic weapons for the officers in my regiment that possessed potent magic. If we defeated Kobayashi, I would most likely just let him go. I wasn''t na?ve enough to assume that he was being genuine and sincere, but at the very least he was doing his best to give me a reason to keep him alive and well-treated.

    Unlike Kobayashi, apparently.

    "He''s onboard the Tenacious Survivor, and I have several armed Marine guards escorting him, so we shouldn''t have to worry about him."

    "That''s good. Keep me posted, if anything happens."

    Regis nodded. Lilith giggled.

    "I wouldn''t worry about that Evelyn''s Chosen if I were you. He doesn''t seem the type to backstab other people."

    It wasn''t that I didn''t trust Lilith, but I had used Absolute Appraisal to confirm that for myself. Still, Nishida had the potential to change his mind anytime he wanted, so it was best to be careful.

    "We will be parting ways shortly after this, sadly enough. We have our own armies to command." Regis looked a little sad at that, but he reached out to offer his hand. "I trust you to achieve victory at Legnica, though. The Marrina navy and the 1st Mereid Poseidon Fleet will be under your command. Use them as you will ¨C they''re officially one of your regiments."

    This guy was taking the Lord General thing too far. Besides, wasn''t the Imperial Navy a completely separate entity from the Imperial Guard? Weren''t they afraid of some great Heresy where one man held too much power as the Warmaster and revolted against the Emperor? Granted, I wasn''t granted a fancy title like Warmaster and I had no intention of rebelling (honestly, it was too much trouble), but this was causing alarm bells to ring in my head.

    However, I merely saluted and said, "yes, sir!"

    "Good. If there''s nothing else, then everyone is dismissed. Let''s go. We have a war to win."

    Without any fanfare or other dramatic stuff, the pinnacle of the command staff of Morten dissolved and the Lord Generals took their shuttles back to their ships, which would ferry them to whatever sector or warzone they were responsible for.

    "So how do you plan on sieging Havia or Legnica?" Lilith asked me once we were left alone. Not just the two of us ¨C I had called for a strategy meeting aboard the flagship and was awaiting the rest of my commanders.

    "We have battleships with gauss cannon batteries, railguns, cruise missiles and tactical missiles. We can bombard the capital from shore and reduce it to a smoking wreck."

    Lilith frowned. "Then why go through all that trouble to stop the Iron Knights from nuking the capital if you''re going to destroy it anyway? How is that better than nuking Havia?"

    "Oh, I''m not going to nuke Havia," I assured her. "Or destroy it. I''m just saying we have the capaibility to do so."

    "¡­huh?"

    I grinned at her. "The important thing is that Kobayashi knows that we have the capability too. So what do you think he''ll do when he sees the fleet of captured battleships arriving on the shore of his favorite kingdom?"

    "He''ll quickly launch an attack to destroy the fleet. Throw everything at us to stop us from bombarding his capital¡­"

    "Exactly." I nodded. Lilith stared at me, still confused.

    "But that means¡­"

    "I''ve no intention of leveling the city or attacking civilians. But Kobayashi doesn''t know that. And I want to keep it that way."

    "Oh!" Lilith finally understood. My grin widened.

    "That''s right. The whole thing is a show to lure Kobayashi into the open. We''ll be engaging his army on the beach. We''re not going to drag civilians into the whole mess. Once we wipe out the human armies and slay Kobayashi, we''ll proceed inland to liberate the human civilians. Aoyama-kun assured me that his cure is working."

    "That''s great. So they''re coming as well?"

    "Yeah, Nagano-san has fixed her airship. They''ll be arriving from another direction. I plan to link up with them and coordinate an attack from two areas so as to split up Kobayashi''s forces."

    If I wasn''t mistaken, Kobayashi Kenji still had Yamada Yuji, Ishida Ryuuji, Yoshida Yume, Midorikawa Midori and Igarashi Hana under his command. Six heroes posed a formidable threat. I would need Takeda Tetsuo and his Eight Guardians to help me deal with them. There was no way I could fight six heroes by myself, even with Lilith''s help.

    And people wondered why I kept the Iron Knights alive, going so far as to throw 0.5 ratings just because I didn''t kill them. Or unfollow the story. Well, whatever. They weren''t the ones taking revenge or planning this out, so that was their problem. If they didn''t like what I schemed, they could go read some other edgier story about murderous edgelords massacring everyone in the entire world for even looking at them wrong.

    Unfortunatey, this wasn''t that kind of story. Far from it. I had to be practical and realistic, and I had no reason to go around killing people for nothing. Kobayashi, yes, becacuse he tried to murder me and he bullied me in the previous world. But the Iron Knights? What did they do to me exactly?

    "That''s good to hear."

    Lilith couldn''t hear any of my thoughts, which was a good thing because she would probably think I was insane otherwise. Well, I was crazy. I just acted like a normal person. No, wait, I doubted I acted like a normal person.

    Whatever. It didn''t matter.

    "Yeah, so that''s what I''ve planned now. For things to be more concrete, well¡­that''s what my command staff is for."

    As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. As it opened, Major Elia Kratz, Major Daniel Dressia, Major Benjamin Burado, Warrant Officer Michael Marko, Captain Oskar Wulfe, Captain Ben Grimm, Major Siegfried Kracauer, Lieutenant Charlie Bass, Captain Dante Infernius, Lieutenant Jason Jurgen, Rear Admiral Rudolf Anderson and even Alan Nixon all arrived.

    "Great, you''re all here." I grinned and laced my fingers together after gesturing for them to take their seats. "Now let''s begin. As you know, we''re planning on retaking Legnica and liberating its populace from the tyrannical self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity¡­"

 131 Chapter 131: Tidings of War

    A hooded astrologer with a telepathica stave slowly made his way through the dark corridor, silvery moonlight streaming in from massive windows.

    While I was contemplating quietly in the admiral''s quarters aboard the flagship, Poseidon, the doors to my chamber slid open. The astrologer looked upon my silhouette reverently, his free hand placed on his chest respectfully.

    Without turning to face him, I coolly issued a question with my hands folded behind my back.

    "What can possibly justify interrupting me, Gandalfus?"

    "Lord General," Gandalfus wheezed as he leaned upon his stave. "The guiding light of Lyia shines once more. The hurricane storm¡­it is gone. Reinforcements are being dispatched from the continent of Morten."

    As he declared, dozens of battleships, cruisers and destroyers slid past the Poseidon, gliding thunderously upon the churning waters and sending white sprays of foam and sea high into the air. The hurricane that had threatened to engulf us en route to our destination in Legnica had left traces of destruction in its wake, with debris floating scattered upon the sea. Fortunately, the fog and thick rain that had accompanied the voracious hurricane had dissipated, and the full might of my naval armada was sailing into clear visibility.

    "Tremble before the majesty of the Demon Lord, for we all walk in his immortal shadow!"

    I was tempted to tell him that this wasn''t the Gothic Sector, and we weren''t in space, but that would spoil the moment. Instead, I nodded sagely.

    "To Legnica, full speed ahead. Let us bring an end to this."

    Final Arc: The Demonic Alliance Resurgent

    *

    "Lord General! Enemy fleet approaching!"

    "Destroy them."

    In response to my order, which was transmitted throughout the vox-clarion system, my fleet fired in unison. Torpedoes, tactical missiles, plasma bolts, gauss rounds and railgun projectiles streaked from innumerable cannons and launchers and slammed into the pathetic flotilla of boats that Kobayashi Kenji dared to call a fleet. Fireballs blossomed upon the water, engulfing immense ships that stretched over a hundred meters, sizes that rivaled my titanic battleships. Made of wood, these ships were instantly incinerated and charred into blackened effigies, their crews and naval armsmen screaming before they were rendered into ash.

    Such primitive ships and weapons would never be able to best my advanced armada.

    "Again!"

    Another volley of fire thundered, and the remaining ships were obliterated. The decimated fleet tried to turn tail and flee, but more torpedoes slammed into their still-turning bodies and burst them into explosions of splinters. Broken bodies and wooden debris were hurled high into the air, lighting the night sky with their immolating bodies.

    The sun drifted lazily over the horizon, spreading its warm rays across the sea and illuminating the sheer scale of destruction that we had visited upon Kobayashi''s attempts at trying to stall us. Unfortunately, despite sacrificing their lives, this fleet wasn''t able to buy even a second for its master. We plunged onward, our speed and trajectory unchanged, and ploughed through the floating debris from both the hurricane and the pathetic fleet of ships that had recklessly sailed out to challenge us.

    None could stop us.

    Nobody could stop me. If anyone was to stand between me and my goal of revenge, I would destroy them without mercy.

    You''ll be next, Kobayashi.

    Vowing silently, I stood upon the bridge of Poseidon and stared out into the ocean, trying to hide my excitement with a nonchalant expression.

    It took another day or two before the coast was finally within sight of my fleet. Unable to contain my enthusiasm, I stood atop the deck and watched the white, sandy beach expand before the horizon. Trees from forests dotted the area just beyond the bay, followed by the distant towers of the fortress city of Havia.

    "Sir, we''re reaching the Legnican Coast as planned. Do we prepare for disembarking orders?"

    One of the naval crewmen ran up to me to report. I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the coastal shore ahead.

    "Don''t forget the plan. We''re to establish a beachhead first and wait for them to come to us."

    After annihilating the pathetic fleets that Kobayashi sent to stop us, he would surely know that we were coming. I was surprised he wasn''t already waiting for us with an army at his back. The beach was still empty, but I wasn''t taking any chances.

    This could be a trap.

    "Take up bombardment positions and secure a beachhead, but don''t disembark the troops yet. Send a reconnaissance team to scout the area and take note of enemy positions."

    "There''s nothing on radar or the visual auspexes, sir," the navigation officer spoke up from behind his control panel in the bridge.

    "That means nothing. They could be hiding in the forest, waiting to ambush us," the tactical officer rebutted from behind his tactical overlays. He turned to me. "Lord General, I suggest that we level the forests and flush them out of hiding."

    "Negative. I appreciate your advice, but look at how big the forest is. Not to mention we don''t want to make an enemy out of the wildlife, forest, spirits and monsters living inside there. In any case, it''s impractical ¨C we don''t have enough ammunition or energy to wipe out the entire forests in this area."

    "That is true."

    The tactical officer admitted grudgingly as he studied the pict-screen in front of him. Dense forests shrouded the area behind the beach, clusters of trees spreading out for miles on end. Despite having over a hundred ships in my armada, there was simply no way we could destroy the whole thing. Even if we cleared out the forest in the vicinity, Kobayashi''s army could simply move further in and set up new positions for ambushing my forces. Not to mention, the remaining wildlife would be hostile toward the invading army and hamper our progress. I didn''t want to fight a war on two fronts if I could help it. There was no sense dragging the neutral nature into our war.

    The treefolks have maintained their neutrality so far in this war, but if we were to provoke them, they could prove to be a formidable enemy and a staunch ally of the humans.

    Given Kobayashi''s disposition, I doubted the latter would be true. But I wasn''t about to drive them to the desperation of allying with each other. No, I was going to isolate Kobayashi and destroy him with his brainwashed minions.

    Or free the latter if possible. Aoyama Aoi was making good progress on that, or so I had heard from the Iron Knights.

    "Sir! A message!"

    The vox officer called out to me after his machine bleeped, indicating a message received on the vox relay system.

    "What is it? The Iron Knights?"

    The Iron Knights were scheduled to launch a simultaneous attack on Havia City with my ground forces. They should be waiting nearby, but there was no reason to contact us when I still hadn''t disembarked my troops yet.

    "No. It''s¡­from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity."

    Kobayashi''s voice crackled as a holographic picture of him materialized in front of me. He looked down on me with a sneer.

    "Tanaka. So you''re still alive."

    I grinned defiantly. "I would say the same for you, except that you''ll be dead before the end of this week."

    Kobayashi''s sneer deepened into a scowl.

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    "Still as mouthy as ever, you spineless beta male. But do you really think you can fool me?"

    I raised an eyebrow at that. "Fool you?"

    "Hah!" Kobayashi snorted. "There''s no need to pretend. I''ve seen through your bluff."

    "What bluff?"

    I was beginning to get a little impatient with Kobayashi''s nonsensical ramblings. I was about to invade his favorite and most fortified domain, and here he was spouting rubbish that I didn''t understand. Or perhaps he was here to threaten and intimidate me?

    "I know you''re a spineless, useless coward, Tanaka. You don''t have the guts to invade my city. You''re just here to show off how powerful you are, but again, I know you''re not that strong. You can''t possibly be this strong, not without Evelyn''s blessings. I know the truth. You didn''t kill Takeshi and the others. You somehow persuaded the powerful demon nobles to do it for you. You just don''t possess the strength to pull off such feats!"

    Was it me, or was this guy deluded? Unable to accept imminent defeat, he decided to escape reality by diving into his own delusions?

    "And now you''re just here to show off, but I know you don''t have the guts to order your fleet to fire upon my city! You''re the typical spineless beta male main character who is too cowardly to kill anybody! Coward! I know you won''t do anything. You don''t have the strength to do anything to me or the rest of us! If you want to prove me wrong, then come at me! I''ll be waiting for you in my castle!"

    I narrowed my eyes at that statement. Either Kobayashi was being delusional or he was being incredibly intelligent. I might have underestimated him a little. By publicly broadcasting this, he was trying to wage a psychological warfare to lower the morale of my men and convince them not to follow me. Furthermore, he was trying to conceal his own cowardice by shifting the attention toward me. He probably knew it was sucidical to march his troops out from beyond his base and decided to just sit back behind fortified walls and wait for us to attempt to siege his city. He was provoking me into marching my troops across hostile terrain as quickly as possible and exhausting us before we begin to siege his city while his own army remained fresh and at full strength.

    "Why should I?" I shrugged. "I can destroy your city from here. Havia City is within range of my ships."

    "Because I know you don''t have the guts to kill innocent people," Kobayashi sneered. "Typical spineless, cowardly, beta male."

    "Why the hell do you sound like a specific group of edgy, self-proclaimed ''masculine, alpha'' male readers all of a sudden? Those readers are dumb. They think there''s only one way to be ''masculine'' and want all protagonists to be cold, unfeeling murderous bastards, or they''ll label rational and kind guys as spineless and cowardly. Those are the worst kind of commenters."

    "What the fuck are you talking about?!" Kobayashi demanded, but then caught himself. "Hmph, I won''t waste time arguing with you. I know you will never be able to order your fleet to fire upon my city and kill the innocent civilians in here."

    "¡­so you''re basically holding your own human civilians hostage?"

    I gaped at him. The guy was admitting his own atrocities and causing the crew aboard the bridge to exchange uneasy glances with each other. Their expressions were literally saying that this guy was insane. And I agreed with them, especially since I had been a victim of his madness even before I arrived in Restia.

    On the other hand, his own human citizens had been brainwashed into mindless zealots who were so utterly devoted to Kobayashi that they would willingly offer their lives up for him, even if it was meaningless sacrifice. So it wasn''t surprising that none of them reacted or rebelled against Kobayashi despite his open declaration.

    Not until Aoyama cleansed them of the brainwashing, at least.

    "Call it whatever you want," Kobayashi sneered. "I''ll do anything to win. No, I will win. You''re just wasting your efforts, weakling. Do us all a favor and kill yourself. Stop bothering with this farce and causing us unnecessary trouble."

    "Unnecessary trouble?" I repeated incredulously.

    "Your little fleet¡­I can crush it as easily as lifting a little finger." Kobayashi glared at me. "I have given you many chances to live. Either accept my mercy and run away with your tail between your legs like the spineless, weak coward that you are, or die."

    "I''ll choose to kill you," I replied neutrally. The guy was bluffing. Kobayashi never showed any mercy to me. He was trying his best to appear magnanimous in bestowing mercy, but I knew him too well for that. If he had the ability to kill me, he would do so without hesitation or a second thought. That he didn''t simply meant that he didn''t possess the means to do so. "And if it''s that easy, why haven''t you done it already?"

    "Because I''m the benevolent Emperor of Humanity," Kobayashi answered sagely, spreading his hands dramatically for emphasis. "I¡­"

    "Oh, save it. Kill me if you can. If not, I''ll destroy you and your army, so be prepared."

    With a gesture, I cut off the reception and the hologram fizzled out. Once my vox officer nodded to show that the line was secured, I turned to the weapons officer.

    "Weapons Officer, calculate a firing solution for the entire fleet. The target is the fortified walls of Havia City."

    "Sir?"

    The weapons officer stared at me. I smiled.

    "We''re making slight alterations to the plan. If Kobayashi refuses to come out and meet us, then we''ll just have to make him."

    "¡­I see. So the target is the fortifications protecting Havia City?"

    "That''s right. Take great care to minimize collateral damage as much as possible. Do not aim at civilian quarters or areas. Just the walls. We''re bringing down the revered fortified walls of Havia City and reducing them to rubble today."

    "Understood, Lord General! Calculating targeting solutions now¡­"

    With the help of the sophisticated artificial intelligence and belligerent machine-spirits dwelling within the ships, it took a few minutes before the weapons officer managed to hammer out an optimal firing solution.

    "Sorry, sir, but this is the best I can do."

    "No problem."

    I glanced over the strategic overlays in my holographic display and nodded in approval. Even though there was a 16.8% chance of several shots missing and straying into the civilian areas, this was the best firing plan. It was that or we would be stuck in a stalemate.

    "While I can''t say this is ideal, I treasure the lives of my soldiers over that of civilians. We will minimize civilian casualties if we can, but I will not risk the lives of my men just so the enemy can hold an overwhelming advantage. Besides, if this so-called Emperor of Humanity really cares about his people, he would have evacuated them long ago and escorted them to safety, or to take shelter in his castle. Shall we find out whether he''s a fool or a hypocrite?"

    "Probably both," Sergeant Michael Marko muttered. The sergeant major of my vampire regiment was waiting at the corner of the bridge, probably so that he would among the first to receive my orders. "From what we heard earlier, he''s completely nuts."

    "That he is." I nodded and then grinned. "Then let''s show him the depth of his folly. Weapons Officer, fire."

    "Right away, sir!"

    The ships all began sailing into position along the coast, aligning so that their broadside cannons all pointed toward Havia City with maximum efficiency. The moment they got into position, their weapons barked in unison. Plasma bolts, gauss slugs, railgun projectiles, cruise missiles and laser lances leaped out from their arsenals and streaked across the forest to arc beautifully down upon Havia City. The fortified wall, built to withstand sieges from primitive weapons such as arrows, blade and mini-cannons, were totally unable to endure the punishing onslaught from hi-tech weaponry. Within seconds, the entire length of the city''s fortified walls were brought down, disappearing in clouds of dust and obliterated into falling rubble.

    Several shots strayed from the walls and detonated outside the city walls, while a single cruise missile misfired and crashed into a nearby house. Thanks to Kobayashi refusing to issue an evacuation edict, more civilian casualties resulted than necessary.

    That said, I wasn''t going to absolve myself of responsibility. The weight of civilian deaths rested upon my shoulders, for it was I who gave the order to fire. I would have to bear the burden of that sin for as long as I was alive. I did not seek forgiveness, nor did I care that the surviving humans would swear vengeance upon me or whatever. What was done was done, and it was necessary so that my men would survive.

    Surely I couldn''t prioritize enemy civilians'' lives over my soldiers?

    Swallowing, I forced my mind away from that issue and focused on the situation at hand. Now that the ramparts and fortifications had fallen, Havia City''s defenses had been decimated. The soldiers garrisoning the walls had been annihilated along with them during the fierce bombardment. Additionally, without the walls, the city was now open to ground invasion. They could no longer hold back a siege.

    "Sir, movement in the city!"

    At the tactical officer''s shout, I turned my attention back toward the display.

    There was a great amount of soldiers milling into the city and toward the rubble, their movements panicked and desperate. I could imagine them screaming and shouting to each other.

    "This wasn''t what we told!"

    "The Emperor told us the archenemy wouldn''t fire upon us!"

    "Isn''t he supposed to be a coward who wouldn''t dare pull the trigger?!"

    But with the brainwashing of Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition, none would dare question his orders and would remained enslaved to his will, so I wasn''t going to count on them rebelling.

    "Calculate new firing solutions," I told my weapons officer. The moment the human armies leave the city, obliterate them."

    "Yes, sir!"

    I sat back and watched in satisfaction as my ships circled around and adopted new positions to point their broadside cannons at the massing armies of humanity near the edge of Havia City. It wouldn''t be long before they departed.

    Kobayashi must be desperate by now. Realizing that I wasn''t such a spineless coward after all, he must be desperately gathering his armies and launching an all-out attack to destroy the fleet that could obliterate his favorite capital.

    But it was too late.

    The moment the soldiers filtered out of the remains of the wall, they were met by high explosives, missiles and plasma, which hurled their charred bodies high into the air. The corpses rained back down on their screaming comrades with force, crushing them under the sheer weight.

    The rest tried to retreat, but the cannons of my ships roared again and the inner edge of the city was suddenly saturated with plasma fire.

    The slaughter had finally begun in earnest.

 132 Chapter 132: Siege

    Even in the midst of the ferocious bombardments, the human soldiers continued to pour out. And they continued to die.

    Zealous and utterly devoted to Kobayashi''s cause, the humans screamed furiously and charged out of the rubble fearlessly, attempting to cross the miles and miles of distance between their fortified city and the coast. It was incomprehensible and absolutely stupid. For one thing, it would take hours for them to cross the distance on foot.

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    For another, they would be wiped out long before they could reach the forest, never mind the beach. There was at least twenty miles between the ships and Havia City, including the three miles of open terrain between their ruined walls and the forest. Even assuming they could reach the forest, it would still take far too long for them to trek through the space between us and reach the naval armada floating along their coast.

    Then the tanks came. Released from some armory or garage deep within the city, the armored vehicles roared out, their treads squealing as they rolled over the rubble and ground out toward the battleships. Evidently Kobayshi was no longer holding anything back. He had realized to his dismay that I wasn''t bluffing and was throwing everything, even the kitchen sink, at us so as to save his stronghold and his main seat of power.

    It didn''t matter. The tanks were obliterated instantly, their armored chasis turned into smoking wrecks as gauss projectiles pierced through their hulls and ripped them apart from the inside. Or disintegrated under the superheated blasts of plasma. Or blown off their tracks and flipped sideways, broken, when missiles detonated against their turrets. Or exploded from sheer kinetic force when railgun rounds penetrated their inches-thick armor.

    It was still a massacre.

    Kobayashi obviously doesn''t play strategy games. He''s just panicking and sending his most powerful forces in hopes that they will survive.

    After shelling for half an hour, the trickle of tanks and soldiers flowing from behind the wrecked walls stopped. Kobayashi must have realized how futile it was to needlessly waste his soldiers'' lives. From what I could see on the auspex, he must be pulling his forces back to behind the ruined walls to seek shelter inside whatever civilians'' buildings that were still standing. Since I had ordered my men to minimize casualties to the civilians, there were a lot of city structures that remained untouched and unmolested by fire.

    Now the hard part begins.

    I took a deep breath and turned to my vox officer.

    "Mr. Bombshell, inform Admiral Spire that we''re ready for disembarking. The command of the naval fleet will be handed to him."

    "Right away, sir."

    "Comand of the deck handed right back to you, Vice-Admiral Steele."

    "Aye, aye, Lord General."

    The captain of the flagship, Vice-Admiral Stanley Steele, saluted before settling back into his control throne.

    "Good hunting, Lord General. Kick those traitor scum''s asses for me and free the human kingdoms from the so-called Emperor of Humanity''s reign of terror."

    I smiled at the Marrina Admiral''s candor. "Will do, Admiral. Leave it to me."

    Then I whirled around and strode out of the bridge, with Sergeant Marko following me closely, hot on my heels.

    *

    The armada sailed toward the shore, turning slowly before slamming down their hatches on the sand. Even before the metallic structures barely touched the sand, armored tanks and APC transports ferrying troops rolled out. The beach was immediately covered by teeming metal as countless vehicles drove over the damp sand and proceeded straight toward the forest.

    From my control screen aboard the super-heavy Hellblade tank, Savior of Moria, I could fully appreciate the breathtaking sight of hundreds of Malthas tanks and innumerable Cerberus APCs trampling over the wilderness, ferrying thousands of infantry. Columns of Elemental Combat Suits marched alongside the squadrons of Malthas tanks, which escorted a dozen Hellblade super-heavy tanks that included the Savior of Moria. Even the ancient, revered Golems had been revived and coaxed back into battle. Including Lieutenant Char Aznable''s Golem, there were at least twenty of the towering titans rapidly striding alongside us into war.

    Even as the land vehicles and ground forces left the armada behind, the ships were already slowly spinning back so as to aim their broadside cannons and missile launchers at Havia City. They were on standby, ready to deliver a devastating payload and offer fire support should the army within Havia City reveal themselves to be too much for the ground troops to combat. Furthermore, they would also deal with any reinforcements from other cities and kingdoms that came within their weapons'' range, or any naval threats that approached from the sea.

    Furthermore, if it came down to the worst-possible scenario, I was ready to order Exterminatus and level the entire capital with a nuke. Unfortunately, I hadn''t bothered to summon a nuke, so that plan was not an option. I couldn''t let it fall into the hands of the wrong people.

    It was an intimidating invasion force, one enough to conquer continents, never mind a single city. That said, I still couldn''t let my guard down.

    "All forces, remember not to disturb the wildlife. We''re here to fight humans, not monsters and treefolks. Take the route that Intelligence has mapped out."

    With nothing to do, I decided to remind my army. There were acknowledgements from multiple channels and I leaned back in satisfaction.

    "Honestly, sir, do you think they still have any fight left in them?"

    Lieutenant Jason Jurgen glanced at me wryly.

    "We took out their walls and pounded their army into smithereens. There won''t be anyone left inside the city to fight us."

    "Don''t underestimate the humans," I warned him. "We''re fighting on their homeground. And while we will most certainly win a battle on open ground with our tanks, things will get a lot more complicated in urban warfare. We won''t be able to maximize the use of our tanks, and there''s plenty of hiding places for their troops to hole up in. Make no mistake, this will be brutal. They''ll have heavy weapons teams set up in the most unexpected places to take out our tanks, and we''ll suffer massive casualties trying to clear each room of enemy soldiers."

    Urban warfare was still something new and foreign to this newly modernized world that had only just recently emerged from a fantasy medieval age. This would be my soldiers'' first taste of urban fighting and an unprecedented experience. I could only hope it was the same for the defending army ¨C with Kobayashi''s lack of military and strategic knowledge, and the human soldiers'' inexperience in fighting inside cities, they might not be able to make full use of their homeground and urban advantage. But as any good commander knew, you could never count on your enemy to feth up.

    Always assume and prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

    "Not to mention¡­there''s no sign of Evelyn''s Chosen. If I''m not mistaken, Kobayashi is surely going to round all of the remaining Evelyn''s Chosen up in Havia and make a last stand. They are the equivalent of an army in their own right, even if their numbers have somewhat been decimated. You''ve seen how they can effortlessly destroy our tanks, haven''t you?"

    "That I have, sir," Jurgen muttered bitterly. "Those Evelyn''s Chosen defy common sense. I would never have believed it if I didn''t see it without my own eyes."

    We reached the fortifications in two hours, and already the ground was peppered by arrows and crude missiles that struck the Malthas tanks and detonated harmlessly. Unlike Moria, who had developed dedicated anti-tank weaponry, the missiles and rockets of the humans were still simplistic and weak. The Malthas tanks, charging at the front of their less armored Cerberus brethren, bore the full brunt of the attacks, shrugging off the explosions and projectiles that the panicked defenders were hurling at them. More than one stalled, their engines smoking, or their treads blown off by a lucky shot.

    But the majority of them continued to roll forward unimpeded, hundreds of massive war machines with enough firepower to level the city.

    "Fire!" I shouted. "Fire at will!"

    The turrets on the Malthas tanks traversed and rumbled, azure eldritch energy glowing eerily before erupting into streams of plasma energy that melted both humans and structure alike. Metal or ferrocrete, it didn''t matter. No material could withstand the superheated blobs of plasma that rained down on them.

    "Fall back! Take cover!"

    A commander was shouting to his forces, who fearlessly and zealously faced down the approaching tanks. Whatever few tanks that remained after the massacre held their ground to provide covering fire for the retreating infantry, but they were disintegrated by concentrated volleys of plasma from the Malthas Executioner tanks.

    "After them!"

    "Take them out!"

    "Don''t let them escape!"

    All over the vox channels, tank commanders barked out orders and directions to their companies and squadrons, their tanks shifting to indicate their orders. Behind, the Cerberus APCs rolled over the rubble that used to be the great Havia Wall, before they slammed their hatches down and allowed the embarked infantry to pour out in waves.

    Thousands of soldiers, demons and humans, flowed out of the parked Cerberus APCs and began moving quickly into cover, taking up firing positions and retaliating against fanatical human soldiers that fired their muskets and arrows at them. A courageous but reckless squad of Kobayashi devotees raced out of cover, screaming their Emperor''s name as they brandished blades, bayonets and other melee weapons, but they were quickly gunned down in concerted fire from the emerging Alliance infantry. A grenade was hurled from one of the windows and into a massed group of soldiers, taking them out with shrapnel.

    In response, the triple-barreled laser turret on the Cerberus APC swiveled around and blasted the room into smithereens. A corpse was flung out of the falling debris, his grenades detonating from the impact.

    Despite their numbers, my infantry were being driven into killing zones as they tried to push deeper into the city and toward Kobayashi''s castle. Still, through sheer weight of numbers and the immense casualties that the defending army had sustained during their ill-advised push against my naval armada''s bombardment earlier, their advance was inexorable and rapid. Any lingering remnants of resistance were brutally and swiftly gunned down.

    At least that was what I hoped, but suddenly my vox crackled to life.

    "Sir, I know you ordered us to minimize civilian casualties, but they''re using civilians as hostages and shooting my men!"

    "Do your best in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. I''ll let the commanders on the ground make the call. I''ll take responsibility, but if you''re unable to find a solution, then¡­you know what to do." I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath. "Prioritize our men''s lives over the enemy civilians. That''s what I told you earlier. Of course, if I find out there are soldiers shooting civilians needlessly or out of sheer cruelty, they''ll be punished. But if whatever circumstances force your hand, then you''ll have to make the¡­hard choice. It''s not ideal, but I would rather be a demon than lose good, loyal men."

    "Uh¡­sir, you are a demon, aren''t you?"

    "You know what I mean."

    The officer''s voice turned grim. "I understand, sir. I''ll do whatever is necessary."

    "I know you will. Good luck, Lieutenant. And again, I''ll take responsibility. The deaths of civilians will be a burden I bear, not you, and not the men."

    As the vox clicked off, I sighed. I didn''t like this, but war forced us to make hard, cruel choices. The universe was a grim, dark place and often didn''t allow us to follow our ideals through. To achieve victory, I had to be merciless and sometimes merciless. I couldn''t let civilian hostages stand in the way of defeating Kobayashi.

    It wasn''t just because I wanted revenge. It was also because if I didn''t stop Kobayashi, he would unleash a horror upon Restia that no god or mortal would ever be able to stop. I would be dooming this world and its inhabitants to a fate worse than death.

    "Let''s go, Jason."

    "Yes, sir."

    The super-heavy Hellblade tanks were trampling over debris and shouldering past burning wrecks of vehicles and tanks, firing and laying waste to any enemy armor that crawled out to meet us. Enemy heavy weapons teams fired from buildings, and the sponson guns replied with a thunderous barrage that smashed rooms and tore huge chunks out of buildings, silencing the missile launchers and infantry bearing them.

    Golems loped over the packed roads, their weapons firing. Gleaming shields crackled and shifted as the pilots rotated them to meet crude, explosive projectiles, rendering them invulnerable. Though they did not possess as much firepower as the Hellblades, the Golems still delivered devastating payloads with their arcane weaponry, frying humans and decimating tanks alike.

    The Elementals were in their element. Unlike the vulnerable infantry struggling to capture buildings, they shrugged off all but the most brutal firepower, impervious to arrow or musket rounds. Their jet thrusters burning, they leaped up into buildings and flooded them with blazing promethium, flushing the infantry out of their cover and turning supposedly safe strongholds into burning hells. Dozens of screaming human soldiers flung themselves out of inferno-infested rooms, their bodies immolated into charred skeletons.

    Slowly but surely, we were advancing toward the castle. For a moment I thought we might just be able to pull it off, but a Malthas tank nearby exploded.

    "Sir!" Geoffrey Gunnery shouted, his voice tense. "They¡­the Evelyn''s Chosen have finally shown up!"

    "Great." I pushed my glasses up my nose and stood up to haul myself up into the cupola. "I''ll go deal with them."

    "The Iron Knights voxed in as well," Jurgen informed me. "They''ve met the enemy on the other side of Havia City¡­the one facing away from the coast. They''ve encountered resistance there, and one other Evelyn''s Chosen, but they should reach the castle faster than us."

    "That''s one less Evelyn''s Chosen we have to worry about then," I remarked and ran through the numbers in my head. Who was left? Yamada Yuji, Ishida Ryuuji, Yoshida Yume, Midorikawa Midori and Igarashi Hana. Then Kobayashi Kenji himself. Six heroes. On my side, I had an overwhelming army, Lilith and even nine members of the Iron Knights. On paper, it should be an easy victory.

    So why was I getting this uneasy feeling?

    "Tanaka! So you''ve come!"

    The moment I emerged into the cupola, I caught sight of the hero who had decimated a trio of Malthas tanks that had forged forward to challenge him. Yamada Yuuji was grinning as he waved his sword about, and he pointed his blade at me.

    "Get off that tank and let me kill you."

    A vein twitched in my temple. "Geoffrey, blow that arrogant bastard to bits."

    "My pleasure."

    Gunnery pulled the trigger and a crimson lance of energy streaked out to slam into Yamada. Despite him using his sword to slice the lance in half, he was blown back and sent hurtling several meters away, slamming into a building and causing the pillar to cave in.

    Despite the immense firepower, he was miraculously still alive. Coughing, he hefted debris off him and staggered to his feet.

    "You coward!"

    "Sir, recharging incapacitators. We''ll be vulnerable while the plasma annihilator reloads."

    "There''s no need to worry, that''s why I''m here." after assuring Gunnery, I turned to Jurgen. "Jason, you have command of the Savior of Moria now. You know the plan. Continue forging ahead toward the castle and encircle it. I''ll deal with this Evelyn''s Chosen."

    While I issued my order, Yamada conjured a spell and blasted the Savior of Moria. I vaulted out of my cupola and kicked the fireball away, causing it to swerve harmlessly into the ground. The barriers that my Redwood jacket generated bristled and burned, but the first layer regenerated instantly.

    "Go!" I shouted. Behind, the Savior of Moria threw its gear into reverse and rumbled away loudly. Yamada sneered.

    "You sure you don''t need that big tank to support you?"

    "What about you?" I retorted. "Are you sure you can take me on by yourself? I''m pretty sure even five of you wouldn''t be enough."

    Yamada''s sneer curled into a scowl.

    "You''ll regret that," he swore. "Kobayashi is right. You were always a cowardly weakling who''s too stupid to understand that you''re completely outmatched. You''re nothing but trash! I can''t believe how idiotic you are to even conceive of the notion that you have a slight possibility of winning against us. You should just die!"

    "That''s what Kijima, Tsukishima and all the others said before I killed them," I replied with a cocksure grin. "If you really can kill me, you''re welcome to try. Otherwise you''re just a bag of hot air like the rest of them."

    "Fucker!" Yamada roared before he launched himself at me. I parried his strike with my Blood Dragon Sword, the tremendous impact from the collision of our blades causing a huge explosion that rippled throughout the district and shattered glass.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang."

    "?!"

    Blasting Yamada at pointblank range, I sent the hero flying into yet another building, reducing much of the structure into rubble that buried him. Still, Yamada was tenacious if nothing else. With sheer determination, he clawed his way out of the debris before blasting the concrete apart to free himself. A violent tornado of mana swirled around him.

    "Miracle Warrior," he snarled. The vortex of mana was sucked into his body and he began to grow into a gargantuan giant. Towering over me by a good ten meters, he leered. "This is my special ability, bestowed upon me by the goddess Evelyn herself. I''ll crush you like an ant."

    "Giant monsters?"

    As if in response to his gigantification, I called upon a summon of my own. Ryuu loomed over us both, several times bigger than the enormous Yamada. Magic circles materialized as he unleashed his Draconic Meteor.

    "You''re a thousand years too early to be challenging me on that aspect."

    "I¡­impossible!!!!!"

    Yamada''s scream was cut off as the blazing meteors buried him within a series of massive explosions that left craters in the city.

 133 Chapter 133: Knights of the Round

    I watched nonchalantly as the rubble rumbled atop the crater where Yamada Yuji was buried. With a roar, the gigantic, glowing form of Yamada threw off the huge concrete chunk and rose to his feet, a gigantic halo blazing over him.

    Huh? Is it me, or did he just got bigger?

    I frowned when I noticed that Yamada was now towering over twenty meters, and his form was slightly differently. He resembled more a specter, a ghost, than a human, shimmering with holy white energy. An angel, perhaps?

    "Didn''t I tell you?!" Yamada roared. "My special ability is Miracle Warrior. The bigger the pinch you force me into, the more powerful I become to overcome it!"

    "So you''re ripping off Bleach now?" I demanded, annoyed. "How about you change your name to Gerard?"

    While I said that, I used the obligatory Absolute Appraisal because apparently readers love to see blue tables and status screens. Don''t ask me why. I personally was getting sick of them, but I had to continue to appeal to readers or I would lose another few hundred followers and get several dozen more 0.5 ratings.

    Name: Yamada Yuji

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Elite Guard/Hero

    Special Abilities: Miracle Warrior

    "Elite Guard?" I muttered, shaking my head. "As in¡­Kobayashi''s elite guard? Has the guy gotten so egocentric to the point that he has other heroes serve him as his elite guard?"

    "Shut it!" Yamada hollered. "I won''t allow you to insult the boss!"

    Right. Okay. Maybe Yamada was brainwashed or something. Then again, he was always Kobayashi''s loyal lackey even when we were back on Earth, so it was possible that he was acting on his own volition.

    "Well, it doesn''t matter how big you grow." I cocked my head and gestured to Ryuu. "I''ll just kill you over and over again until you run out of mana to regenerate."

    "!"

    "Hah! You can try!"

    I didn''t even bother to retort. Sending a telepathic message to Ryuu, I waited for him to launch another barrage of devastating spells. Dozens of magic circles materialized in the heavens, fiery meteors emerging from within to point downward on Yamada''s position.

    Yamada, to his credit, merely stared up at the meteors and smirked, as if he knew that they wouldn''t hurt him.

    ??

    I frowned when I saw his self-assured expression. The guy definitely had a trick up his sleeve. No matter, I might as well find out what it was and then counter it accordingly.

    Go!

    Ryuu nodded briefly and launched the Draconic Meteors upon Yamada''s location. However, before the flaming meteors could reach his position, they were swatted off course and slapped away by gigantic swords, or blocked by immense shields.

    "?!"

    "We''re going to need Titans of our own," I muttered, almost in disbelief. What I wouldn''t give for a legion of Titans¡­god-machines with blistering firepower that could level entire continents. A Warlord Titan, 2 Reaver Titans, escorted by 4 Warhound Titans. That might almost be enough to challenge the thirteen gargantuan knights that now stood protectively over Yamada.

    But there was something amiss.

    "This¡­isn''t your special ability as a Miracle Warrior, is it?" I asked skeptically. Having used Absolute Appraisal, I didn''t see any Knights of the Round special ability in Yamada''s stats. It was highly unlikely that he was the summoner of these things.

    "Oh, you catch on quick." Yamada grinned. "No, of course not. These are the boss''s Knights. He has the ability to command these divine Knights of the Round and destroy any enemy that dares challenge him upon his holy ground."

    So Kobayashi''s confidence wasn''t misplaced after all. That must be why he was provoking me to come fight him on his homeground, to attempt and invade his city if I could. If he had summoned these Kights of the Round earlier and sent them after my naval armada, they might have been bombarded to oblivion before they could cross the distance, and I doubted they could fight well in water. They would surely sink under the sea.

    But here, in Havia City, they were in their element. They were the most imposing enemies I had ever face, each one a god in its own right. Not entirely a god-machine like those in the Titan Legions of Mars and other forge worlds, but almost as powerful.

    If only we have the technology to create such god-machines¡­

    My thoughts were laced with a little regret, but I had no choice but to make do with what I had. There were no titans even in the present world, so how could I expect a world that had just recently emerged from the medieval period and embedded in the throes of the birth of the industrial revolution to begin producing such goliaths?

    "Ryuu!"

    I shouted a warning to my ancient dragon zombie, who was already reacting to this new threat by firing another barrage of spells, which were nullified by the Knights'' sanctified armor. One of the knights raised its consecrated sword and unleashed a lance of holy energy that nearly pierced through Ryuu, but missed.

    "Holy Terra¡­"

    I gaped when I saw the holy lance of light burst through the heavens, tearing through clouds and disappearing into space. If that attack had hit¡­

    That did it. No more holding back. I summoned the full force of my dragons. Zombie wyverns, the zombie dragon, whatever. I didn''t hold anything back and sent my flock of zombie wyverns to escort Ryuu and aid him in fighting the thirteen Knights. There was no way Ryuu could fight all thirteen Knights of the Round by himself.

    But even as they hurled themselves into the saintly Knights, screeching and slashing, their talons and spells barely left a scratch on the saintly Knights'' sacred armor. Instead, one of the Knights cut a zombie wyvern down with its gigantic sword, setting the poor creature ablaze and disintegrating the huge beast in mere seconds.

    "You''ve got to be kidding me."

    Well, no matter. I would just¡­

    "Thousand Astral Graves!"

    ¡­call upon my most powerful necromancy spell, one that would buff my zombies to their utmost extremes. At least, that was the plan, but¡­

    "?! What''s going on?!"

    None of the gigantic gravestones materialized. Despite activating the spell again, I couldn''t call forth my Thousand Astral Graves to buff my zombie dragons. Gritting my teeth, I tried to suffuse the area with my mana, but there was something rejecting it, impeding it. I could still cast other spells and summon other zombies, but¡­

    "Hah! Did you think we wouldn''t know what you''re capable of?"

    Yamada was roaring with laughter as he watched me struggle to summon my Thousand Astral Graves. Clapping his hands gleefully, he placed his hands on his hips arrogantly and leered at me. I stared back at him impassively, refusing to give him the pleasure of knowing that he had me in knots, but he continued to gloat.

    "We know what you can do. The boss has already planned in advance and prepared countermeasures for your spells. We heard how you summoned zombie dragons to defeat the rest of the class, so the boss readied his Knights of the Round to defeat your zombie dragons. Furthermore, this is our ground, our territory. You''re an outsider, a foreigner trying to invade our homeground. This space won''t respond to the likes of you. Havia City is completely under our control ¨C every bit of space, every inch of land. Your spatial buff spell won''t have any effect in our territory."

    A bead of perspiration rolled down my face when I comprehended what Yamada was telling me. "In other words, you''ve already prepared for my invasion."

    "Something like that." Yamada glanced in the opposite direction and his sneer grew wider. "And don''t bother counting on the Iron Knights to come to your aid. Ishida is more than enough to defeat them by himself. He''s on a completely different level from the rest of the class. The only one who can match him is me!"

    "I was never planning on relying on them," I muttered, and then shrugged. "Well, we''ll have to do this the hard way then."

    Above, another wyvern combusted when a Knight hacked it down. Ryuu and the remaining dragons tried to circle around and evade the Knights'' attacks to the best of their ability, but their numbers were dwindling while they were barely able to even hurt their opponents.

    "It''s over, Tanaka. Your weaknesses have been exposed. You''re no match for me, never mind the boss. You''ll die here!"

    Laughing boisterously, Yamada pounced forward and swung his huge broadsword down on me. He must have expected to crush me to the dirt, for his expression suddenly twitched and turned into that of surprise when I simply parried his massive blade with my Blood Dragon Sword. The barriers that my Redwood jacket generated rippled as they absorbed the tremendous impact, but otherwise I remained standing, almost unaffected by his strike.

    "You¡­! How?!"

    I smiled coldly. "Even with these preparations, you vastly underestimate me¡­no, I should say, you underestimate my comrades. Why do you think I brought an entire army to your doorstep? I always knew I couldn''t just walk up to Havia City and expect to defeat you, Kobayashi and every single hero by myself."

    As if to punctuate my statement, a trio of crimson beams lanced out from a company of super-heavy Hellblades and slammed into one of the Knights. The convergence of the superheated lances of energy pierced through whatever divine protection the Knight possessed and bore a hole through its blessed armor.

    Not wasting the opportunity, Ryuu gathered a ball of black flame in his jaws before firing it at the exposed vulnerability. The Knight shuddered before toppling over, his form wreathed in black flames the color of void, being immolated from the inside out.

    The other surviving twelve Knights seemed to tremble at the demise of their comrade, turning uncertainly to the ancient dragon, who banked and soared higher to avoid a retaliatory strike from the biggest among them. The remaining zombie wyverns provided a more than adequate distraction, unleashing their own black flames to blot out their view.

    "What the hell are those tanks!?" Yamada screamed. I shrugged.

    "Super-heavy tanks. Titan killers equipped with volcano cannons. Not that you would understand. Besides¡­" I swung my Blood Dragon Sword and knocked his gigantic form back. "Don''t you think you should worry about yourself first?"

    "! You¡­!"

    Yamada was hollering in rage, but I was deftly avoiding him with an agility I didn''t know I possessed. Now, Yamada''s superior size was working against him. He might possess immense power and unrivaled physical strength (still no match for my Redwood jacket, though), but he was slower and clumsy, unable to follow me as I darted around him.

    "Shadow Lunar Fang!"

    Spinning around, I launched a crescent-shaped blast of black mana at him, causing him to stagger from the explosion. Roaring, he swung his broadsword down, but I effortlessly evaded it, then jumped on top of his blade. Running along the length of his sword, I ducked under a hook from his huge arm, and then lunged at his face. Black energy rippled along my blade before I unleashed a second Shadow Lunar Fang at near pointblank range.

    "Gah!"

    Yamada staggered from the blow, but he somehow managed to lash out with his other hand. I flipped over his gigantic fist, spinning my body in midair, before I landed on his immense forearm. Without even bothering to regain my balance, I hurled myself off his arm before he could squash me with the pommel of his broadsword.

    "You¡­pesky bug!"

    "Yeah, well¡­I''m glad I''m bugging you."

    Yamada spluttered angrily, unable to form coherent words. I ignored him and continued to race away. He swung his broadsword down again, but I managed to dodge it, throwing myself to the side and rolling on the ground as his gigantic blade pulverized the ground and sent a shower of earth, rock and concrete high into the air.

    "Stop squirming around, you bug!" Yamada bellowed. I scoffed at him.

    "What, and let you hit me? Are you stupid?"

    The guy had to be delusional if he truly believed I would just lie down and let him hit me freely. Then again, most of my former classmates were insane and idiotic, so I couldn''t dismiss that possibility entirely.

    "You''re no match for me! Just give up and let me kill you!"

    This guy¡­I give up.

    "Says the guy who can''t land a single hit on me," I taunted instead. Yamada bristled and swung his broadsword again cleaving a building in half. Again, I easily evaded his attack, ducking under falling debris and weaving my way through the broken building.

    To my horror, I saw bloodied corpses falling along with shattered concrete. Yamada hadn''t bothered to minimize collateral damage and didn''t care if he dragged innocent civilians or his own allies into his attacks.

    "Hey!" I shouted. "What about your people?! You shouldn''t be attacking your own allies!"

    Yamada smirked when he heard that. "The boss is right. You''re na?ve and too stupidly kind-hearted for your own good. Who cares about the people of Restia? They''re just expendable pawns. NPCs that don''t matter. They should be honored to die for our sakes!"

    His voice rang through the district. I saw that his soldiers and safely hidden civilians were listening in, but none of them reacted. They were too brainwashed by Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition that they would zealously obey the heroes'' callous expenditure of their lives no matter how unreasonable it was.

    "Besides, it''s your fault that they died!" Yamada shouted eagerly. "If you would stop refusing to let me kill you, then they wouldn''t have to die!"

    What kind of twisted logic was that?! Not only was he cruelly sacrificing the residents of Restia, he was laying the blame on me. As I said, the guy was truly delusional.

    Well, I already knew all that. I had suffered this delusional abuse long before I came to Restia, and knew how distorted their minds were, and how insane they were. There was no point questioning their logic.

    There was only one thing to do. Kill them.

    "So if you understand, stop running about and stand still! Let me kill you!"

    I merely jumped away from another crushing strike and landed on his blade. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I regarded Yamada coolly.

    "Your idiocy is really exasperating."

    "You¡­!"

    Roaring, Yamada swung his hand to smash me, but at the same time I clicked the V button the moment I saw the icon at the bottom left of my glasses flash ready.

    "Standby for Titanfall."

    Matsukaze''s voice whispered in my ear. The next second, he came crashing down upon Yamada''s position, pulverizing him into the earth. The log scrolling across the bottom right of my screen, I mean glasses, indicated that Yamada had been Crushed by Titanfall.

    The next moment, he burst out of the ground, radiating fury.

    "You¡­!" he bellowed, his face red from both rage and humiliation. "I''ll kill you! I swear, I''ll fucking kill you!"

    "You''re welcome to try," I replied as I hopped into Matsukaze''s cockpit. My Titan reared up and straightened, the shimmering dome shield disappearing. While the blue dome shield would protect me from projectiles, guns and ranged weapons, it wouldn''t protect me from physical melee attacks within the dome shield itself. That said, by being inside it, Yamada would continue to take damage, but his special ability would nullify it.

    Damn. I guess I can''t kill him with my dome shield then.

    "Die!"

    Snarling, Yamada slashed with his broadsword, but I blocked it with Matsukaze''s katana. Sparks flew as my Titan skidded backward, but I managed to dig in and parry his strike.

    We exchanged several attacks, our blades colliding and producing hundreds of sparks that rained down on the ruined district. Occasionally, I would send arc waves rippling across and stunning Yamada, but he would recover quickly and charge at me. in one instance, he shoulder-charged me, ramming my machine with brute force and sent me staggering backward. Gritting my teeth, I phase dashed, entering the quantum dimension, and disappearing from reality ¨C only to appear behind him. Seizing the opening, I left a huge cut across his back.

    However, the near-fatal injury healed almost immediately.

    "I told you, it wouldn''t work!"

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    Yamada roared and spun around, striking me with such strength that red klaxons rang in my cockpit. I glanced upward and saw that the structural integrity of my suit had taken a huge hit. Matsukaze couldn''t endure an exchange for too long. In a battle of attrition, Yamada surely held the advantage. Already the damage was accumulating.

    I had to wrap this up as quickly as I could.

    "Die!"

    Yamada slashed at me again, but I ducked under his swing and responded with a riposte. In a swift, fluid motion, I severed his arm, causing his limb to crash heavily and flattened a nearby car into a metal wreck.

    "Aaaaah!"

    Yamada screamed and staggered backward. But the next moment, his arm regenerated instantly, and he grinned.

    "I told you, no matter how you hurt me, I''ll just come back much stronger and more powerful than before!"

    Miracle Warrior. With that in effect, he punched me with his newly regenerated arm. I parried his blow with my katana, but his strike was clearly several times more powerful than before. The servos screamed and my machine shuddered from the impact, the thin metallic frame actually folding and giving way.

    "I am the boss''s chosen! One of his elite guard! Nothing you do will ever be able to hurt me!"

    "Yeah, yeah."

    I cut off his head, but the blood between his neck and severed head seemed to elongate and reattach themselves.

    Whoa, that''s disgusting.

    "My turn!"

    Yamada slammed into Matsukaze with his broadsword, almost cleaving the machine in half. I staggered backward, fighting the controls. The stabilizers whined, unable to bear the load, and the Titan fell.

    "Kuh!"

    I floored the accelerator, and the thrusters flared to life. Matsukaze boosted upward and cut off Yamada''s other arm, but he merely regenerated it. Chuckling, he buried the blade of his broadsword deep into Matsukaze''s shoulder and I lost the control of one arm.

    "It''s useless. You''re doomed. Finally!"

    I kicked out desperately, but Yamada stood strong against the blows. Rather, it was Matsukaze''s mechanical frame that was receiving damage. Yamada increased the pressure of his broadsword, and I could see the blade slowly sliding into the cockpit above.

    No choice¡­

    With the remaining arm, I sliced with the katana and unleashed an arc wave that sent Yamada stumbling backward. Yamada growled and gripped the katana with his hand, shattering the blade with sheer strength.

    "It''s useless! You cannot defeat me!"

    "Yeah," I agreed as I worked the broadsword out of Matsukaze''s frame and dropped it on the ground. "It''ll be a miracle if I can win against you."

    "Hah! So you understand!"

    Yamada crowed triumphantly as he pounced forward, grappling with my severely damaged Matsukaze.

    "So just give up and die already!"

    I ignored him and shook my head. "Unfortunately, I have no time to waste on you. And since you acknowledge that it''ll be a miracle for me to win against you, Miracle Warrior-san¡­"

    I pulled the lever and punched out of Matsukaze, ejected high into the air while Yamada gaped at me below.

    "¡­your special ability will respond accordingly."

    "Huh?"

    Matsukaze blossomed into a mushroom cloud, a devastating nuclear explosion that swept across the entire district and seared a scorched crater into the ground. Despite Yamada''s special ability, or actually because of it, he was incinerated instantly into ash. My status chimed as it clocked in another confirmed kill of a hero.

    "Finally¡­" I muttered as I slowly drifted back down to earth. Then I turned my gaze upon the titans that were still clashing in front of Kobayashi''s castle. Ryuu and the surviving dragon zombies were still dueling with the twelve Knights of the Round, supported by a company of Hellblades. Another Knight was felled, torched by the combined firepower of the Hellblades'' volcano cannons and the arcane black flames of the dragons.

    It would only be a matter of time before they triumphed over the Knights of the Round.

    ...time that I didn''t have.

    Closing my eyes, I ran a few calculations in my head before plotting my next course of action. I had no choice but to proceed to the castle without my most powerful familiars.

    "Lord General!"

    The moment my feet touched the ground, a familiar voice rang through the destroyed district. Turning around, I caught sight of Major Elia Kratz, Major Benjamin Burado, Warrant Officer Michael Marko, Lieutenant Gio Vanni and the rest of my infantry rallying behind me. Companies L and H were sweeping through the district, clearing out the buildings and flushing out the human zealots. Fortunately, it didn''t seem they had taken many casualties.

    "Majors. How goes the mission?"

    "We lost a few men, but otherwise it''s proceeding well." Elia checked her holographic screen. "It seems that Companies A, C and J will be arriving in a few minutes to reinforce and hold this position."

    "Good. You guys are with me."

    "Where are we¡­?"

    Before Benjamin could finish his question, a company of tanks roared into the district, sending a spray of gravel. The hatch atop the turret of the lead tank opened and Major Daniel Dressia pulled himself up to the cupola.

    "Lord General! We''ve cleared the southeast street of enemy armor. The way forward is clear."

    "Nice timing. Daniel, you and Company T will be following Companies L and H."

    "We''re following you, I assume?" Gio asked, and then swiftly added, "Sir?"

    "Yup, that''s right." I nodded at my men and turned back to Elia. "To answer your question, Major Kratz, we''re going to storm Kobayashi''s castle right now."

    *

    While the ferocious fighting in the streets of Havia City did not cease, there was a similar battle taking place elsewhere.

    One was in the western gate, where the nine members of the Iron Knights, led by their leader, Takeda Tetsuo, were confronting Ishida Ryuuji and his elite human knights.

    Another was at the north, where an unexpected battle had just ended.

    "I can''t believe she tried to kill us!"

    Kido Mayumi was still shaking her head, aghast, as she glanced down at the smoldering corpse of Igarashi Hana.

    "Tanaka was right, after all." Umezu Shigeo looked grim as he regarded both Igarashi''s corpse and the city. "Kobayashi, that bastard, has gone insane."

    "We always knew something was off about Kobayashi-kun," Kido pointed out, and then stared sadly at Igarashi. "But I didn''t know the others were just as insane. If only Hana-chan would just listen to us¡­"

    "They are beyond reasoning with."

    Inwardly, Umezu was feeling just as unsettled as his wife, but he tried to maintain a composed demeanor.

    "Still¡­I can''t believe she attacked us! We used to be¡­friends!"

    Kido was still shaken by the encounter. They had arrived there to talk to Igarashi, but the latter refused to listen. Instead, she had labeled the couple traitors and attacked them without hesitation, even unleashing her ultimate technique. If Kido wasn''t accompanied by her husband, she might actually have fallen at the start¡­

    Umezu placed a comforting hand on her battered shoulder. Even though there were two of them, they were nearly defeated by Igarashi Hana. She had used magic that the two of them were unfamiliar with, and consequently they had taken severe injuries.

    "There''s no use thinking too much about it." Umezu grimly raised his head and regarded the smoking city of Havia. "One way or another, it''ll be over soon."

    "But¡­if Tanaka-kun is right, we can''t let Kobayashi-kun win!"

    "Perhaps not, but this no longer has anything to do with us." Umezu gently turned his wife away and led her back toward the forest. "We are no longer in any shape to help."

    Kido''s shoulders slumped down. "Even so¡­"

    "Right now we''ll be more of a burden than assistance. And honestly, I can''t say I trust myself¡­"

    Umezu could still hear the faint voice of insanity shouting somewhere deep inside his mind, urging him to kill Tanaka Tomoyuki. He ignored it pointedly and focused on the present. On his wife, Kido Mayumi.

    "I understand, Shigeo-kun. Let''s go then."

    "Yeah."

    As the couple left the northen gate, Umezu Shigeo couldn''t help but cast one last glance at the fuming city and clenched his fists tightly.

    "With this, we''ve repaid our debt to you, Tanaka," he whispered softly before he turned away and disappeared with his wife.

 134 Chapter 134: Siege of Havia

    The resistance in Havia Castle was much more ferocious than I had anticipated, but nothing beyond my capabilities.

    It appeared that Kobayashi had pulled back the bulk of his surviving forces to defend the castle, for they were unleashing a hellstorm of missiles, mass-reactive shells, las and plasma upon my position. My soldiers had already taken cover, ducking their heads as explosives struck ferrocrete and adamantium before detonating into shrapnel. Kratz and Benjamin had organized a hasty counterattack, but their infantry were currently pinned down by heavy suppressing fire from the castle. Meanwhile, Daniel''s tanks were rooted, immobilized and stuck in narrow pathways as anti-tank weaponry spiraled from the castle''s bastions and struck their titanium-steel armor with impacts tremendous enough to send tremors throughout their hulls.

    The lead tank responded with a stream of plasma that incinerated one of the bastions, immolating human soldiers and causing the ammunition to cook off into bright, crimson conflagrations. However, thousands more remained, and it appeared that Kobayashi had held back the majority of his forces for defense after all.

    The selfish bastard¡­ignoring his civilians and leaving them undefended all so he could protect himself. And he called me a coward?

    "Forward, for the Emperor!" I roared and surged forward, wading through heavy fire and shrugging off the enemies'' shots. Hundreds of projectiles and las-fire slammed into me, but none of them could even scratch the first layer of my Redwood jacket. It had endured far more powerful spells and attacks than the likes of mass-produced Guard-issued small-arms and weaponry. For all their effectiveness, the lasguns the puny humans were relying on could pass off as mere flashlights. Such was their lack of strength and firepower that they might as well be shining light on me rather than trying to burn holes through my defenses.

    "Impossible!"

    "What in Restia is that demon?!"

    "I don''t believe it! Why can''t he just die?!"

    The enemy howled and shrieked vengeance and bloodlust, focusing all their fire on me, to no effect. I continued to walk through multiple explosions and barrages of las-fire and bolts, my Redwood jacket''s barriers shimmering fiercely as they aborbed most of the damage. Still, the first layer of its twelve barriers remained intact, despite being constantly hammered by a fusillade of bolts and las. I raised my hand and unleashed a hail of Doombolts that pulverized concrete and delivered mortal wounds to countless soldiers foolish enough to think that cover could save them.

    "Follow the Lord General! Support him!"

    "Protect the Lord General!"

    "Forward, for the Demon Lord!"

    "Fire on my target!"

    "Move, move, move!"

    Shouts and yells filled the vox channels as officers and sergeants barked orders and instructed their men forward. Infantry and tanks alike slowly advanced, their weapons emitting an unceasing hail of death and destruction. Another tower toppled over, its base support melted by superheated plasma beams, burying the men inside under broken debris.

    Despite all the fire and fury around me, I continued to stroll forward calmly, tanking the shots meant for my men. If this was a game, I would be the hero character, with the mobs and opponents directing everything they had at me. Unfortunately for them, I had an equipment that granted me absolute defense against mob attacks, completely nullifying any damage they tried to deal to me.

    It was a cheat equipment, or as readers liked to say, plot armor. Well, this was the endgame, so it made sense that I possessed such high-tier equipment.

    "Lord General! Be careful!"

    No sooner did Marko shout a warning than another tower blew apart. Overhead, the dragon zombie swarm was still unleashing apocalyptic attacks against the Knights. There weren''t many wyvern zombies left with only five of them circling Ryuu and the former crimson dragon (which was now black). On the other end, ten Knights remained, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their titanic weapons and shields raised.

    They might hold the numerical advantage, but they were being cornered. Just when I thought that, three crimson beams from the trio of Hellblades'' volcano cannons converged and seared a hole through one of their shields. Ryuu took advantage of that to launch a Draconic Nova that detonated the Knight from the inside out.

    Another colossal titan was taken out. Nine left. But the Hellblades had to recharge their incapacitators before firing another shot, and the zombie dragons were vulnerable during that significant window.

    I''ll have to trust them.

    There was nothing I could do but believe in my men and dragon zombies. The only thing I could do was defeat Kobayashi Kenji as soon as possible so that I could permanently destroy the surviving Knights of Round and bring an end to this bloody siege.

    Raising my hand, I unleashed another Doombolt that sent men flying and obliterating both cover and bodies alike. Strolling through the remnants of the barricade I had just destroyed, I coldly ignored the moaning wounded and the dying. If Aoyama made it in time, he could save them and erase their brainwashing, but before then I had no choice but to proceed. I wasn''t god or Kira Jesus Yamato. I didn''t have the ability to deal superficial yet crippling wounds that allowed the enemy to survive without taking their lives. I had neither the luxury of time nor skill to show my foes mercy. The lives of my men were more important, and I wasn''t na?ve enough to buy into the "let thy enemies live" bullshit that idealistic and unrealistic anime love to spout.

    "Fire!"

    "Take out that demon!"

    "Don''t let him near the castle!"

    "Protect the Emperor with your lives!"

    The human zealots formed a living wall between me and the castle, pouring a barrage of las and bolts in my direction. My Redwood jacket continued to absorb the damage, shimmering as it practically laughed at their pathetic efforts to attempt to hurt me. It just wasn''t happening. In terms of game terminology, they were level 1 mobs trying to inflict damage on a level 1,000 hero character. Never mind the sheer volume of shots weren''t enough to weigh down my near-infinite HP, my auto-regeneration was surpassing the amount of damage being dished out.

    However, I didn''t buy into this game mechanism nonsense. As I said, the strength of humans couldn''t be measured in numbers, levels or stats. There was no such thing as HP. How do you measure HP anyway? Or MP, for that matter? It wasn''t something that could be represented by values. Even the most exhausted magician could still unleash a devastating spell if he was desperate enough, something that couldn''t be represented by MP values of 0 or whatever.

    "Why isn''t he dying?!"

    "The Emperor said we can take him down through faith and courage alone!"

    "But why isn''t it working?!"

    "Who cares!? The Emperor said so, believe in his words! We''re to sell our lives to kill this bastard. For the Emperor!"

    Despite several soldiers faltering, their commanders refused to give in and continued to fire a barrage upon my position. Several soldiers broke morale and began to flee, but their officers spun around to put a bolt through their skulls, thus "inspiring" the rest of the troops to bravely sacrifice their lives and valiantly resist to the bitter end.

    Clearly some humans were brainwashed more than others. Or perhaps the effects of Kobayashi''s Kingly Disposition were weakening?

    No matter. They stood in my way, and therefore they should die.

    I swung my sword and released a Shadow Lunar Fang, blasting human soldiers apart and pulverizing their scant cover and hastily erected barricades. Striding over the debris and bodies, I proceeded forward. The main entrance to the castle beckoned just meters away, but enemy warriors continued to fire from bastions and towers built into the castle walls.

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    I ignored them all, shrugging away las and bolts, missiles and plasma. Walking up to the door, I kicked it open with brute force, sending the ten-meter high gates crashing down in a cloud of dust, sand and concrete.

    "Please excuse my intrusion," I proclaimed loudly and sarcastically before casually striding into the interior of the castle.

    "The enemy has breached the castle!"

    "The demon has broken through!"

    "Don''t fall back! Hold your ground! Or I''ll shoot you where you stand!"

    Despite my forced entry, the human zealots refused to retreat and held their ground. They continued to pump las and bolts into my solitary figure, but none of the rounds had any effect. I merely strode through the storm of fire and explosions, occasionally blasting soldiers apart with Doombolt. They desperately threw whatever they had to stop me, but I continued, unimpeded. It was almost as if I was some unstoppable force of nature, a god incarnate.

    I felt like a Primarch, a god of war casually strolling through the battlefield and meting out death to those pathetic fools who thought they could try and hurt me. Well, they probably could if I let my guard down. Complacency was still the biggest enemy here.

    Be careful. Don''t get too arrogant and let your guard down. Mortals they may be, but they have courage and hearts of steel.

    Given enough time, the sheer volume of fire they directed toward me would eventually wear down my defenses and scrape away at my physical body. But I had no intention of giving them such time and space. And even if I did, my men weren''t willing to allow that.

    "Fire!"

    "Support the Lord General!"

    "Kill all who oppose us!"

    Infantry poured in through the breach I had created, scything down human warriors with las and plasma. Tanks rolled in, crushing more towers and carving more holes through the walls to create breaches for both tanks and infantry to file in. my battalion was invading the castle in mass numbers, largely unmolested by the defenses because the humans stupidly directed almost everything at me. Even so, I could see the casualties were horrendous. A vampire shuddered and fell, his body riddled with smoking holes as a dozen las-rounds punched through him. A demon was blown apart as a missile streaked and slammed into his squad''s position, raining blood down on his wounded comrades, one who lost an arm and leg, and another who was twitching helplessly on the ground after being punctured by countless shrapnel. A tank stalled and exploded as several missiles and thermal beams from meltaguns scorched their ways through its armor, reaching its volatile plasma reactor and detonating it sky-high. An entire squad tried to break through a barricade but were mowed down by the autocannon and heavy bolter heavy weapons teams stationed there.

    Yet I couldn''t let their deaths be in vain. Raising my Blood Dragon Sword high into the air, which gleamed an angry crimson amidst a dark battlefield saturated with blood, I let out a deafening battle-cry to rally my surviving men.

    "On me! Onward! Let''s finish this!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "We''re with you, Lord General!"

    "Kick those humans'' asses!"

    Taking another step forward, I blew another barricade up with a Doombolt and carved my way through it, slicing through the steel barriers with my glowing sword. The main hall was just ahead now, with nothing but masses of human warriors standing fearlessly between me and my goal. They raised their rifles and fired, but I merely walked through their barrage of las and bolts, totally unharmed. Reaching them, I cut a bloody swathe through the first three, causing their corpses to crash to the ground in bloody pieces.

    Even in face of such a terrifying sight, the human zealots refused to falter. Their officer charged forward, his power sword flaring in a crackling, blue energy field, and hollered.

    "Fix bayonets!"

    The human soldiers didn''t hesitate, yanking their bayonets from their utility belts and affixing them to their rifles. With a roar, they charged me, stabbing, thrusting and slashing.

    I wasn''t sure what to say. If bolt, las and plasma couldn''t penetrate my barriers, what were the chances that a mere blade powered by meager human strength and muscle could? Nonetheless, I refused to let my guard down. There were far too many humans clustering around me, massing about and stabbing that they might wear me down with the sheer volume of attacks. I gritted my teeth and slashed a bloody path through them. Dozens went down, falling in pieces as my sword effortlessly scythed through them. Reversing my grip, I cut another three down and began hacking my way through the crowd of humans who were attempting to mob me.

    "Do not fear the demon! For the light of the Emperor will allow us to prevail! Have faith! Emperor Kobayashi will not let us down!"

    The officer with the power sword was yelling platitudes and encouragement. Striding forward, he thrust with his power sword. Realizing that it contained an arcane spell that would allow it to penetrate at least the first layer of my barriers, I parried it on instinct. The officer then delivered a riposte to cut into my shoulder, but I ducked it quickly and staggered back.

    As much as I hated to admit it, this so-called mob character had better footwork and superior sword skills than me. I had relied too much on my magic that I had neglected my Sword Saint Ability and swordsmanship. I tried to activate my Sword Saint ability and engage the officer in a fight, while keeping his crazed men and their bayonets at bay.

    "For the Emperor!" the officer bellowed and swung his crackling power sword. I intercepted his blade and used my superior strength to send him off balance. As he stumbled I ducked under his deadly blade before ramming my Blood Dragon Sword into his sternum. He croaked, blood dripping from his mouth as my blade exited his back, impaling him and lifting him off the ground.

    To his credit, he refused to die simply. Grabbing my Blood Dragon Sword, he then desperately swung his power sword to cleave me apart.

    "For the Emperor!" he roared defiantly.

    "You''re a brave mortal, I''ll give you that," I acknowledged, and then ripped my sword out of his chest and through his right shoulder, severing his arm and dropping his power sword onto the ground. The company commander gurgled one last time before he collapsed, the life fading out of him.

    A shudder rippled through his company. Their morale broken, they began to flee, no longer having the courage to attack me with their bayonets. There were a few brave souls who stayed and fought to the last, and I honored their courage with swift, brutal strikes of my sword. The cowards who retreated were shot in the back by my subordinates, their lasguns finding their targets with impunity and precision.

    "The way is clear, Lord General!" Elia reported as she hurried over with Gio and a squad of infantry. I nodded.

    "Secure the hall. Keep a platoon here and send the rest of the battalion out to capture the castle. Flush out any resistance."

    "Easier said than done," Gio grumbled. "We''re just a small battalion. This castle is huge! Didn''t you see the size of this thing earlier?!"

    I did see the full size of the castle earlier when I was outside, trying to break in. I knew taking it would be difficult, but I didn''t have a choice.

    "Just do your best with whatever resources you have available," I instructed wearily. "You know the deal. We''ve to capture this castle if we want to put an end to the reign of the tyrannical self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity."

    "Well, I''ve good news," Benjamin called out from the other end while he was busily assigning heavy weapons teams to optimal placements. "Captain Charlie Bass and the 7th Battalion of the Marrina Marine Corps are arriving to reinforce us. Once we link up, we can ask the Marines to storm the rest of the castle."

    "Let''s do that," I agreed. The Marrina Marines excelled at this sort of thing, after all, and they would be itching for a fight after the 1,087th Magna Battalion had taken the full burnt of the battle when invading the castle. "I''ll leave it to you guys."

    "Where are you going, sir?" Marko asked, his heavy plasma gun hanging off his shoulder.

    "To finish this once and for all."

    I turned toward the gigantic double doors that stood guard in front of a colossal chamber. From schematics, I remembered that the throne room lay ahead.

    That would be where Kobayashi Kenji would be waiting.

    "Do your best to secure this hall. Don''t let any enemy in. try not to come in either."

    "Why not?" Elia asked, confused. "We can help you, Lord General!"

    "Uh, actually, the boss is right. We''ll only be getting in the way."

    Gio placed a hand on the sullen Major''s shoulder to restrain her. He shook his head gloomily.

    "From here on out, it''s going to be a battle between gods. The Lord General won''t be able to fight at his full strength if he has to protect us as well."

    "Yeah, you saw how the Lord General simply waltzed into the castle despite taking the full brunt of an entire army''s worth of firepower." Marko was shaking his head in disbelief. "We won''t be able to help him."

    "You''ve already helped me out plenty. And you can do the things I can''t¡­such as capturing this castle and securing strategic locations. I can''t be everywhere at once." I took a deep breath and smiled. "Don''t worry. I''ll be back shortly. And this whole war will finally come to an end."

    "Good luck, Lord General." Benjamin saluted. "Try not to¡­uh, die."

    I laughed at that. "Don''t worry about that. I''ve already come back to life more than once."

    Turning around, I pushed my glasses up my nose and exhaled. I took a step forward and pushed the double doors inward, forcing open a small gap for me to enter. After I strode into the room, the massive double doors closed behind me.

    "So you''ve finally come."

    A scornful voice sneered from up ahead. Seated upon the throne was none other than Kobayashi Kenji himself, resting his head on a hand and glaring down on me derisively. He was flanked by two girls ¨C Midorikawa Midori and Yoshida Yume. They were glaring at me hatefully, disdain and contempt filling their gazes.

    "Since you want to die so badly, I will grant you your wish."

    Kobayashi rose to his feet and drew the heavily decorated sword by his side. He sauntered down the steps that led away from his throne and pointed his glowing blade at me. Midorikawa and Yoshida followed, remaining close to him.

    I couldn''t help but smirk.

    "¡­I wonder about that. I''m surprised, though. Even until the very end, you remain unbelievably delusional. Did your mind snap from all the fear and guilt?"

    "Shut up!"

    With a roar, Kobayashi hurled himself at me, his glowing sword flashing downward in a deadly arc of might and magic.

 135 Chapter 135: Unkillable

    I parried Kobayashi''s blade easily and threw him off, causing him to stumble off balance. While Kobayashi staggered from the unexpected deflection, I ducked under his flailing sword and thrust my blade at him, piercing his armor and stabbing through his heart.

    "Ugh!"

    Kobayashi shrieked in pain before he unleashed a holy energy blast at pointblank range. Despite my Redwood jacket absorbing most of the blast, I was sent skidding away, fumes pouring off my body. Taking a deep breath, I kicked off the ground and charged at the faltering Kobayashi, who desperately deflected my sword away from his chest. Even as he escaped what could prove to be a fatal blow, I slammed my palm against his golden armor and cast a Doombolt.

    "Gaaaah!"

    Kobayashi was flung backward, a smoking hole carved into his extravagant breastplate. He slowly sat up, blood dripping down from his mouth, and stared at me in disbelief.

    "This is not possible. How am I losing to a pathetic weakling loser like you?! This just can''t be real! It''s not possible!"

    I was really getting tired of his ranting and raving, so I ignored his blabbering and attacked him instead. Kobayashi''s eyes widened and he threw up a hand to cast a spell. A golden beam of light flared out and seared across the distance between us, but I casually hacked it apart with my Blood Dragom Sword, dissipating Kobayashi''s attack.

    "No way!"

    Kobayashi gaped at me, only to duck under my sword to prevent himself from being beheaded. He was, however, unable to avoid a kick from below, and my foot connected with his torso, breaking a few ribs and sending him crashing across his throne room.

    "Gah!"

    Kobayashi spat out blood and coughed, heaving heavily as he clutched his chest. He glanced up at me, terrified, and began to back away.

    "Midori! Yume!" he hollered.

    "Yes, Kenji-kun!"

    "Right away, Kenji-kun!"

    The two girls leaped forward and cast a healing spell on their beloved leader simultaneously. Glowing green light wreathed the wounded Kobayashi for a few seconds, giving off an eerie visual impression. Right before my eyes, Kobayashi''s injuries vanished and he straightened up, completely restored to his former glory.

    "Thanks."

    "No problem!"

    "It''s nothing!"

    The two girls clearly had been brainwashed or were so deeply in love with Kobayashi that they were ogling him like some sort of god. Or their husband. Or something. Then again, just like Yamada Yuji, Midorikawa Midori and Yoshida Yume had been infatuated with Kobayashi Kenji and following him around back in the previous world.

    Watching them flirt like this was making me sick.

    I didn''t even bother to dignify his statement with a response. I darted forward, evading his spells, and then slashed him with my sword. Kobayashi staggered back, shocked, but he swung his sword in retaliation. I effortlessly deflected it before delivering a riposte that cut a strip of flesh from his supposedly handsome face, causing him to roar in pain and anger.

    "You¡­!"

    Slamming his foot forward with such tremendous strength that the ground shook, Kobayashi counterattacked with a thrust. I slightly deflected it away to the side with my blade and then smashed my elbow into his nose, causing him to bellow and stagger backward, blood spraying all over his features. Before he could right himself, I landed a knee into his groin, causing him to double over and emit a high-pitched scream that no man should ever be able to make.

    "Kenji-kun!"

    "You bastard!"

    The girls dashed forward, already casting their healing spells. Even as Kobayashi''s injuries healed and disappeared, I didn''t care and slammed my foot into his gut, sending him flying. Before the still-healing Kobayashi landed, I swung my Blood Dragon Sword and unleashed a gigantic Shadow Lunar Fang that engulfed him in destructive energies before exploding. Gravel, concrete and marble rained down in huge debris as the throne room shook.

    If Kobayashi was going to rely on the two girls to continue healing him, then I would just continue beating him up until their mana ran out and they could no longer cast any healing spells. In fact, this battle of attrition was favorable for me. It meant that Kobayashi wouldn''t experience a swift, merciful death. I could drag out this battle and made it as long, tormenting and agonizing for him as possible.

    I was so looking forwad to this.

    Unfortunately, Kobayashi hadn''t realized the sort of hell that was awaiting him. Pushing the rubble off his body, he swayed to his feet, still glowing in that sickly eerie light of healing magic that his two wives were casting on him.

    "Hah¡­I don''t believe it. I underestimated you. I didn''t think you were able to cheat somehow, to gain such strength and power. Even though I threw my entire army at you, you were still able to come here without even a single scratch."

    "You sacrificed your entire army, and you still weren''t able to slow me down." I shook my head sorrowfully. "I really pity your soldiers. You used them as expendable pawns and discarded them when you no longer need them."

    Honestly, there was no need for Kobayashi to send his army after me. He was just uselessly and pointlessly throwing lives away for nothing. He could have just challenged me from the start to prevent such wanton loss of lives.

    But no, he decided to spend all these lives on the extremely tiny chance he thought they had of putting even a single scratch on me.

    "Are you an idiot?" Kobayashi sneered. I frowned as I stared at him blankly.

    "The lives of my soldiers are a currency that I don''t spend lightly. In fact, they are something I treasure. I would never willingly send them to their deaths unless absolutely necessary."

    "Then you''re na?ve!"

    Kobayashi laughed mockingly, despite the blood on his face. He wagged his finger at me.

    "Well, it''s you, after all¡­of course you wouldn''t understand. You''re someone who will be stuck and rooted to the bottom forever. You''re the type who should be stood on¡­you''re the same as these useless idiots, an expendable pawn who should just die when I tell you to."

    This guy was just unbelievable.

    Kobayashi spread his hands and grinned.

    "I''ll use those people who have value, and discard them once they are no longer of any use to me. I''ll cast away unnecessary people. This is the natural right of those who stand above others. Like me! The Emperor of Humanity!"

    Like I said, the guy was completely deluded. Then again, I already knew that from the start, so this didn''t come as a surprise.

    Despite that, I couldn''t help but feel exasperated when forced to listen to his nonsense all over again.

    "Even so, I''m still astonished by how you''ve managed to come this far."

    Kobayashi glared at me, his eyes glinting with malice as he held me under close scrutiny.

    "I don''t believe it. I wonder, what sort of cheats did you use? Or maybe you''re not Tanaka¡­you must be someone else, taking on his guise and pretending to be him so as to annoy me."

    Even to the end, Kobayashi was still refusing to believe that I was stronger and better than him. The delusional, arrogant idiot continued to deceive himself, his mind twisted both by his distorted personality and probably the work of goddesses.

    It didn''t matter. I wasn''t here to entertain him. I was here to kill him. I would prefer to eliminate him as quickly as possible because I knew the constant danger of him escaping, growing stronger and returning for revenge was ever present. It was a tale of heroes that had been told countless times. I was the villain here, and Kobayashi was the hero. In a normal narrative, he would be driven to a corner, and somehow escape before gathering his forces, growing much stronger and returning for a revenge match where he would eventually prevail.

    I refused to give him that chance. I was going to kill him. I wasn''t going to make the same mistake as every other villain out there, gloating and slowly toying with my opponent, only to inadvertently give them the chance to survive and escape, then return to take revenge. I couldn''t allow myself to get complacent. That was how every villain died.

    No, Kobayashi had to die as soon as possible.

    Unfortunately, the presence of Midorikawa and Yoshida meant that he was surviving everything I threw at him. Despite dealing massive damage to him again and completely dominating him in terms of swordsmanship, they were repairing every damage I dealt to him.

    "How?!"

    Even as I lashed out and cut open another grievous wound on the shocked Kobayashi, he staggered backward and stared at me in disbelief.

    "How are you winning against me?! This cannot be possible! I stand above you! You''re just a pathetic weakling loser!"

    Oh, just shut the fuck up¡­

    Despite that, to Kobayashi''s credit, he was avoiding the most lethal blows and refusing to die from just one hit. I couldn''t believe it, but as expected of a hero, he was downright tenacious if nothing else. Or he simply had the luck of the devil. Despite suffering severe injuries, he avoided those attacks that would downright kill him if he had been a bit slower.

    Something''s wrong here¡­

    I couldn''t help but had a feeling that something was amiss here. A premonition of some sort. I couldn''t shake off the feeling that Kobayashi was toying with me¡­deliberately allowing me to win, to allow me to lower my guard down. After all, he couldn''t be stupid enough to continue fighting against me when he was clearly at a disadvantage. Any normal, sane person would be retreating by now instead of recklessly throwing himself at me over and over again.

    This guy¡­

    Not only that, but the way he avoided fatal blows that would kill him instantly was too choreographed to be coincidental. It was as if he was deliberately allowing me to land wounds on him while ensuring he wouldn''t suffer one that would kill him outright.

    "Oh, so you''ve noticed?"

    Kobayashi''s sudden blubbering changed and he lashed out.

    "!"

    That strike was much sharper and a lot stronger than any of his attacks from before. Despite parrying it, I was sent skidding back. Kobayashi straightened up, his face healing under the benevolent spells of Yoshida and Midorikawa, who stood behind him determinedly.

    "Hmm¡­"

    Instead of pressing his advantage, Kobayashi twirled his sword a little and then tested it out with a couple of swings. Then he turned to me, tilting his head with a sly smile.

    "That''s¡­Kureha''s Sword Saint Ability, isn''t it?"

    "!?"

    I didn''t reply, but my stunned silence was more than enough to offer Kobayashi the answer that he was seeking. He grinned.

    "I see. I have no idea how you managed to obtain Kureha''s Sword Saint special ability, but it truly is a troublesome ability."

    "..."

    I didn''t reply. Instead, I crouched down and readied my stance for another attack. However, thanks to the Sword Saint special ability that Kobayashi was talking about, I could see no openings or gaps in his defense.

    The guy¡­he was completely different from before. I knew it, he was toying with me earlier!

    "Ah¡­and I was hoping to fool you for a little longer. I thought you would continue to dance in the palm of my hand and get complacent enough, lowering your guard so that I can finish you off in one hit. A pity¡­you''re much smarter than I give you credit for, despite being a mere weakling trash."

    Kobayashi shook his head tragically.

    "It was¡­amusing to see you struggle, but I guess that all comes to an end now."

    "?!"

    A sudden flash, and then I was flying.

    "Gah?!"

    I crashed against a pillar, demolishing it. My Redwood jacket flickered, its twelve barriers smashed in an instant.

    What the hell just happened?!

    "Huff¡­huff¡­"

    "Oh¡­so you have Regenerative powers as well?"

    Kobayashi strolled across the throne room, watching as my injuries closed up.

    "I knew it¡­you''re one troublesome opponent. If I don''t kill you in a single blow, you''ll keep standing up again and again like the pesky cockroach that you are."

    The tables had turned, and I found myself in an exact reversal of the circumstances we were in earlier. Now I was the one struggling to keep up and survive Kobayashi''s onslaught. The bastard had been toying with me all this while.

    "Or maybe you can just make things easier for me and simply die right now?"

    I blinked when Kobayashi''s voice rolled over me. There was some sort of hynoptic tune to it, a tone that sounded almost alluring, but¡­

    Adamantium Will.

    "Oh? You''re resisting my command? Impressive."

    Kobayashi looked down on me haughtily, stunned that I hadn''t gone and killed myself yet. I merely stared at him, my Absolute Appraisal automatically activating. I actually used it earlier, but because of timing and the way this stupid story was written, I didn''t have time to reveal what I saw until a plot twist like this happened.

    Name: Kobayashi Kenji

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Emperor of Humanity/King of Heroes

    Special Abilities: Kingly Disposition, Knights of the Round, Almighty Emperor

    I see. So he was using his Kingly Disposition to attempt to command me. Fortunately, Adamantium Will allowed me to be immune to all sorts of mental attacks and mind control, which almost made it seem like I was fated to fight him.

    But what the hell is Almighty Emperor?

    Absolute Appraisal couldn''t tell me anything more than the name, other than¡­

    "What are you waiting for?"

    Kobayashi taunted as he strolled toward me, spinning his sword casually.

    "If you won''t come to me¡­I''ll come to you, you know?"

    The moment he finished his sentence, he immediately appeared in front of me. I barely blocked his strike before I was sent crashing backward. I dug my feet in to arrest the skid, but Kobayashi dashed at me again, his sword swinging down upon my position.

    "You''re finished!"

    With a triumphant laugh, he cleaved me in half, his sword sinking deep into my shoulder and carving a bloody path all the way to my ribcage. Blood flooded from my mouth and I staggered, red-hot agony lancing through my body.

    However, I didn''t block his attack with my Blood Dragon Sword for a reason. Reaching up, I grabbed his blade with my left hand and held it where it was.

    "?! You¡­!"

    Kobayashi reacted in horror, but he was too late. I stabbed him with my sword and released a pointblank Lunar Shadow Fang.

    "Gwaaaah!"

    Kobayashi was almost ripped apart from the inside out, but he slammed his palm against my chest and hurled me away with a blast of golden energy. I crashed onto the ground, my momentum digging out a trail of broken concrete, but my Regeneration kicked in and the fatal wound began mending and knitting together.

    The same couldn''t be said for Kobayashi. However, even as he lay on the ground, Yoshida and Midorikawa hurried over to heal him and bring him back from the brink of death. This time, it took them both much longer to heal, perspiration dripping down their faces, but I was in no condition to capitalize and finish them or Kobayashi off, not when I was trying to regenerate from my own lethal injury. By the time I was in a good enough condition to stagger to my feet, Kobayashi was no longer in danger. His two wives shielded him, placing their bodies between him and me.

    To take out Kobayashi, I might have to target the healers first.

    It wasn''t that I didn''t think of the idea from the beginning, but Kobayashi had been occupying my attention and diverting my focus away from them with his constant attacks. Now I fully understood why he allowed me the illusion of winning against him earlier. Whenever I shifted my attention to the healers, he would immediately jump in and distract me away from them with his clumsy attacks, lulling me into the mistaken belief that I could attack the healers after dealing with him.

    How intelligent.

    "I don''t believe it. You really are a reckless one."

    Kobayashi wiped the blood from his mouth, his royal aura flaring up furiously as he glared at me. In a second, the entire throne room was saturated with his killing intent.

    "I have no choice but to go all out. I''ll crush you with everything I have."

    Another bluff. If he could do so, why didn''t he do it already?

    ¡­at least that was what I thought, but suddenly I was crushed onto the ground.

    "?!"

    Gritting my teeth, I tried to stand or at least lift my head, but something was pressing my whole body into the ground. My limbs were immobilized, and even though there was nothing above me, I felt as if several tons of something was pinning me to the ground. I couldn''t even lift up my face to glare at Kobayashi defiantly.

    This is¡­

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    "Oh, it''s nothing much. I merely increased the gravity in your area."

    What the fuck!? He could do that?!

    I bit my lip and focused. A Doombolt seared through the space between us and struck Kobayashi, only to dissipate harmlessly in front of him. The guy seemed to have an invisible barrier in front of him, negating my attacks.

    However, it was more than enough to lift the spell away from me. Feeling the sudden massive weight disappear, I quickly hauled myself to my feet and leaped away, trying to stay out of Kobayashi''s sight.

    "Oh? Well¡­I don''t blame you. I would have come to that conclusion myself."

    Kobayashi smirked. I kept my eyes on him, wary of whatever new tricks he would pull out of his sleeve.

    I was too careless.

    "Argh!"

    Several golden spikes of holy energy burst from the ground, impaling me. I dangled helplessly in the air for a few seconds before destroying those spikes with a slash of my Blood Dragon Sword. Dropping back to the ground, I hurled myself away even as my body regenerated from the multiple wounds.

    "Do you think I can''t see you?"

    Kobayashi didn''t even bother to turn to look at me. The moment I landed on the ground, a cluster of golden spikes burst from the ground and tore through my foot.

    "Ugh!"

    I yanked my foot out from the ground, blood spurting from it. As I staggered back, Kobayashi spun to regard me with disdain.

    "You''re still alive, huh?"

    BOOM!

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    An explosion engulfed me, golden flames roaring as they consumed me. I crashed onto the ground, shrieking as the inferno wrapped me in its destructive embrace, melting flesh off my bones and vaporizing blood.

    "Ugh!"

    I staggered out of the flames, my body fuming. Even as my Regeneration kicked in, restoring my disintegrated flesh and replenishing my blood, I weaklly flopped onto the ground.

    "Still not dead yet?"

    Kobayashi shook his head, scorn filling his expression.

    "You really are an irritating, tenacious cockroach. Just die already."

    He pulled his arm back and summoned a gigantic, glowing spear of golden energy. With a single motion, he hefted it back and hurled it at me.

    "Guh?!"

    A mushroom cloud blossomed in the titanic throne room, spreading out and consuming everything in its wake. The single spear that Kobayashi summoned had the power of a nuke, almost obliterating my entire body.

    Almost.

    Even from just a single scrape of flesh, I managed to pull myself back together and regenerate. It took me a while, but I managed to restore my body amidst the smoke and divine flames. Kobayashi didn''t even notice until he saw me slowly crawling back to my feet.

    "You survived even that?"

    "Huff¡­"

    I pushed my damaged glasses up my nose. Despite the pseudo nuclear explosion, my glasses and Redwood jacket remained roughly intact. My clothes could be regenerated along with my body, another privilege of being a Vampire King.

    "It''s useless." Kobayashi sighed and strode toward me, sword in hand. "This is my special ability, Almighty Emperor. As long as you''re within my domain, you can''t win."

    "¡­domain?"

    "What, have you already forgotten?" Kobayashi sneered. "How you are unable to summon your Thousand Astral Graves or whatever? Because this whole thing is my domain. As the Almighty Emperor, everything within my domain is under my control. I can do anything¡­anything! Inside my domain. I am a god here. You were foolish to attempt to invade my territory. The moment you stepped into my domain, your fate was sealed."

    While he spoke, another cluster of golden spikes surged from the ground and impaled me, hefting me high into the air and literally crucifying me."

    "You cannot defeat me," Kobayashi scoffed as he stabbed me in the chest with his sword. "Before I kill you, I''m going to sink you into the darkest depths of despair and make you regret ever thinking that a pathetic, weak loser such as you had the right to challenge me."

 136 Chapter 136: Reinforcements

    "HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

    I couldn''t help but burst out laughing at Kobayashi''s threat. Shaking my head, my body shuddered and I shut my eyes, unable to wipe away the tears of amusement that were flowing out because my hands were impaled by golden spikes.

    "Are you really resorting to these clich¨¦ lines, Kobayashi? Stop being so dramatic."

    "You¡­" Kobayashi growled. "It seems that you don''t understand the situation you''re in."

    "Oh, I understand it very well," I replied. "Better than you, at least."

    Kobayashi scowled, and then conjured another golden spear. "Shut up and die, you pathetic weakling loser!"

    "You know, that insult is really wearing thin¡­" I rolled my eyes and sighed. "But given your lack of intelligence, that''s probably the only thing in your vocabulary."

    "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

    Kobayashi roared and stabbed me in the chest with the golden spear, the divine beam of lethal energy piercing my heart right next to his sword, which was still protruding out of my body. The golden mana lanced throughout my body, glowing brightly before it ripped me apart from the inside out. I vanished in a wave of blood, splattering Kobayashi and the surroundings.

    "Hah!" Kobayashi crowed triumphantly. "I''ve finally killed that irritating fucker!"

    "Yeah, yeah¡­congratulations."

    "What¡­?" Kobayashi stiffened when he heard my voice echoing everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Yoshida Yume and Midorikawa Midori also glanced around in panic, not understanding what was going on. "How¡­?"

    All around them, the blood continued to flow and coalesced into a single human shape, regenerating and reforming back into me. Kobayashi spun around and gaped at me, especially when he saw that I was totally unscathed.

    "What¡­what the hell are you?!"

    "I''m Tanaka Tomoyuki," I replied simply with a grin. "You know who I am. After all, you''ve been treating me like a punching bag even way back in the previous world."

    "That''s not what I mean! How are you still alive?!"

    "Because you lack the ability to kill me."

    "Fuck you!"

    With a roar, Kobayashi retrieved his sword and slashed me. I merely allowed his blade to pass through me, my body rippling as it transformed into fluid blood, and then reforming again after his sword exited what would otherwise be a fatal wound.

    "?!"

    "Told you so."

    I kicked Kobayashi in the face while he was still stumbling from the momentum of his attack, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying across his throne room.

    "Impossible! This is my domain! I''m a god here! An Almighty Emperor! There''s no way you should be able to use techniques like those!"

    If Almighty Emperor was really as almighty as Kobayashi claimed it to be, then he could have killed me instantly the moment I set foot here. He wouldn''t need to fake himself being weaker than me to get me to lower my guard so that he could deal a decisive, fatal blow to me. He wouldn''t require Yoshida and Midorikawa to be present to provide him with constant healing spells. Hell, he could just kill me or even my dragon zombies with a single thought or a flick of his finger without needing to engage me in combat or summon his Knights of the Round to distract them. not only that, he wouldn''t even need to send an entire army to defend his castle and buy him as much time as possible while hoping they would deal as much damage to me as possible. He could just let me waltz in here and then laugh as he offed me with nothing more than a snap of his fingers.

    Furthermore, he could have stopped my entire army from invading Havia City if it was truly his domain. Like a god, he could have erased the Demonic Alliance''s army from existence by just thinking about it or casting a spell, while avoiding losses or collateral damage to his own forces. The fact that the regiments under my command were still running around rampant in his domain was proof that he couldn''t.

    There''s also the possibility that the range of his Almighty Emperor is limited. Its effects are strongest in his throne room, here, and weakens the further away he is. And he can''t heal himself or he wouldn''t bother keeping Yoshida and Midorikawa here with him.

    These were mostly conjectures, but I had seen a lot of evidence supporting them so I was confident that I was right. If I was mistaken¡­well, then I would worry about it when Kobayashi revealed yet another dimension to his abilities. Otherwise I could only work with what I currently knew.

    "What the hell are you?!" Kobayashi shrieked in despair as he slashed me, only for his sword to pass through uselessly. I countered with a kick to his chest, causing him to stumble. Before he could fall, I whipped out my Blood Dragon Sword and cleaved him from shoulder to hip, causing blood to spurt out in large amounts.

    "Gaaaah!"

    As Kobayashi fell back, Yoshida and Midorikawa leaped forward, already casting healing spells and preserving his life. I sought to press my advantage, but Kobayashi threw out a hand and golden spikes lanced out of the ground to impale me. Even though they scored a direct hit, I merely dissolved into a pool of blood before rematerializing a few meters away.

    By then Kobayashi was already fully healed and withdrawing to a safe distance.

    "Bastard," he growled.

    "Totally." I shared a similar sentiment. If it weren''t for the two healers backing him up, I might stand a higher chance of victory. As things were right now, the both of us were locked in a stalemate. My only chance was to continue hurting Kobayashi until both Midorikawa and Yoshida''s mana ran out and they could no longer heal him.

    Unfortunately, I had spent too much mana pulling off this vampire blood trick. Even though I was temporarily invulnerable and unkillable, my mana was draining away at an incredible rate. I wouldn''t be able to sustain this form for too long, and I would certainly expend all my mana before either Midorikawa or Yoshida did.

    This was looking pretty bad for me.

    Then again, what else is new?

    I was used to facing such overwhelming odds. I had faced despair, got kicked down by it, slapped around by it and tossed about by it. But every single time I had risen back to my feet to overcome all odds and squashed despair apart like the annoying bug it was.

    I was going to kill Kobayashi and end this once and for all.

    "Why don''t you just die?!" Kobayashi screeched as he lunged at me. I dodged him and sent an elbow into his stomach. Whirling around, I took him by surprise with another slash of my Blood Dragon Sword, sinking it deep into his shoulder and chest. While Kobayashi flailed about, I unleashed a Shadow Lunar Fang, almost tearing him apart from the inside out.

    Kobayashi yelped as he flew off my blade, his life miraculously hanging on by a thread. Behind, Yoshida and Midorikawa hurried forward to bestow life-giving magic, healing his fatal injuries and restoring him to full health.

    "Kenji-kun! Are you all right?!"

    "Kenji-kun! Be careful!"

    Kobayashi threw out a hand to stop the two girls from advancing forward. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he grinned.

    "I see¡­so that''s how it is."

    "?"

    I suddenly felt a chill. Kobayashi didn''t wait for my premonition to sink in before he conjured a golden spear and hurled it at me.

    Useless¡­I''ll just¡­?!

    Despite going into my blood-form, the golden spear exploded and seared through my body, vaporizing a massive amount of blood and sending shockwaves throughout my almost non-existent form. I was immediately forced back into my human (or vampire) body and thrown back, blood spewing from my mouth and pores.

    "Ugh¡­"

    "Do you think you can escape my attacks just from turning into blood? I''ll just need to evaporate all the blood and make my domain not conducive for blood."

    Golden spikes lanced through me again, and even though I tried to shift away, they left painful aftereffects. To my horror, I saw brownish substance spread through my wounds.

    "After all, blood is made from iron. All I need to do is rust you out."

    "Kuh¡­!"

    I dropped to a knee, only to jump away as golden spikes burst out of the ground. However, more of them surged out of the place I landed on, impaling my body.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha!" Kobayashi was guffawing as he watched me writhe about. "I thought you had some amazing technique that made you immortal, but it turned out to be a cheap vampire trick. As expected of a pathetic weak loser, Tanaka!"

    Blood dribbled from my mouth as I raised my head to glare at Kobayashi weakly.

    "Oh well¡­I didn''t want to rely on this, but¡­I guess I''ve no choice."

    "Huh? What are you babbling about?"

    Kobayashi approached me before swinging his sword to decapitate me.

    Adaptive Mutation¡­activated.

    The golden spikes shattered and I ducked just in time to avoid Kobayashi''s sword. Twisting around, I caught him off guard with a kick to his guard. Kobayashi grunted as he staggered backward, but he retaliated with a riposte that I managed to deflect with my Blood Dragon Sword. Black mana rippled through my blade before escaping in a Shadow Lunar Fang that detonated against his golden barrier, two gargantuan waves of light colliding against each other before exploding with tremendous force. Yoshida and Midorikawa shrieked as they were buffeted by the shockwaves.

    "You¡­!"

    Kobayashi staggered out of the explosion, blood streaming down his face. Midorikawa and Yoshida immediately went to work, even though these were just superficial wounds. As for me, I slowly regenerated the injuries I sustained in the blast with my own dwindling mana.

    Damn it¡­I can''t keep this up forever¡­

    Kobayashi seemed to have noticed that something was up, for he quickly darted forward, slashing at me with his sword. I parried his strike and our blades clashed violently, sending streams of mana and shockwaves across the throne room.

    "What''s the matter?" he sneered as he bore down on me, increasing his strength. "You seem to be weakening."

    "And you don''t seem to be as almighty as you claim to be," I replied before unleashing another pointblank Shadow Lunar Fang. The guy just didn''t seem to learn. I quickly retreated as Kobayashi cursed and coughed inside the black explosion before stumbling out, blood dripping down his face and body in rivulets.

    "Yume! Midori! Healing!"

    He barked out an order without looking back. But when they didn''t respond and didn''t cast any healing spells, he realized that something was amiss.

    "Yume? Midori? What are you doing? Hurry up!"

    Kobayashi spun around to glare at them, only to gape when he saw their corpses on the ground. Standing above their dead bodies, Lilith Scarlet twirled her demonic red spear about, its bloodied blade glowing hungrily.

    "You¡­!"

    "You''re late, Lilith-san," I told her with a smile. Lilith shook her head and sighed in an exaggerated manner.

    "Sorry, I was held up. You''re too reckless, Tomoyuki-kun. Running ahead without me and trying to take on Evelyn''s Chosen by yourself¡­what were you thinking?"

    "I was hoping to finish this farce once and for all." I shrugged helplessly, and then nodded toward Midorikawa and Yoshida''s corpses. Lilith had struck them swiftly and cleanly before either of them realized she was there, delivering a cursed, fatal blow to their hearts. That cursed technique of hers was really terrifying, ensuring the death of the opponent no matter what. Not for the first time, I was glad that she was on my side.

    Kobayashi staggered back, realizing that he was at a massive disadvantage now that his healers were gone and the battle had turned from three against one to one against two. The odds had now shifted to my favor, and he was still hurt from my earlier attack.

    "This¡­this isn''t fair!" he protested. "How¡­dishonorable! You dare to gang up on me!"

    "What is this guy talking about?" Lilith frowned, puzzled. "Wasn''t he fighting against you when it was three against one?"

    "Don''t listen to his nonsense," I told her. "He''s mentally¡­ill."

    "Fuck you! I''m not mentally ill!"

    I was pretty sure that any psychiatrist would beg to differ, but there was little point in arguing with an insane psychotic like him. Instead, I nodded at Lilith and we began to flank him from two different directions.

    At least that was the plan, but an explosion sounded high above. The ceiling of the throne room caved in and Ishida Ryuuji came crashing in. A blinding white spell lashed out in a devastating arc, swerving toward me and Lilith, but we dodged. Nonetheless, the spell struck and disintegrated several marble pillars before exploding.

    "I won''t let either of you touch our leader."

    Placing himself firmly between Kobayashi and us, Ishida drew his sword and pointed it at us. His eyes gleamed dangerously behind those square lenses of his.

    "Ishida! You¡­!"

    "I''ve defeated Takeda Tetsuo and slain him. Most of the Iron Knights are injured¡­the Eight Guardians have been broken. Shidou Makoto, Gendou Issei and Yonebashi Kyouko are dead. Sanada Hiroyuki and Nagano Nanaka are severely injured."

    Holy fuck¡­! This guy took out all nine Iron Knights by himself!?

    "Careful!" I warned Lilith. "Ishida Ryuuji isn''t as simple as he looks! Especially if he can defeat a monster like Takeda Tetsuo and the Eight Guardians by himself!"

    "They''re just weak," Ishida sneered. "And you''re even weaker than them."

    Well, I didn''t mean to brag, but I was also the guy who defeated the Eight Guardians by myself. Of course, I wasn''t exactly fighting both them and Takeda Tetsuo at the same time, or the outcome might have turned out differently¡­

    Nonetheless, I snuck a peek at Ishida''s abilities.

    Name: Ishida Ryuuji

    Species: Human

    Job/Rank: Elite Guard, Right-hand Man/Hero

    Special Abilities: Magic Swordsman, Victoria Imperialis

    Victoria Imperialis. Imperial Victory. So that was how he achieved victory over the Iron Knights and defied Takeda''s monstrous ability?

    "Please stand back, leader," Ishida declared. "I alone would be more than enough to take care of the two of them."

    White flames flickered at the edge of his sword and he launched a piercing beam at us. I quickly jumped forward and parried it with my Blood Dragon Sword, but the sheer impact of the divine spell sheared off several layers of my Redwood jacket''s defensive barrier.

    What the hell is this?!

    I couldn''t help but stagger back from the impact, slightly relieved that my Redwood jacket was already repairing itself. However, I couldn''t shake off the feeling that Ishida would pose a significant threat to us. His powers were beyond comprehension.

    He might even be stronger than Kobayashi himself.

    Well, that made sense. To be honest, Kobayashi himself wasn''t such a big deal. The only reason why he was so powerful wasn''t because of his abilities but because he had such powerful subordinates loyally serving him. Midorikawa and Yoshida to provide endless healing. Ishida and Yamada who were extremely strong warriors. A brainwashed army of zealots who were entirely devoted to him. Gigantic Knights of the Round who were the ultimate familiars. Take those away, and Kobayashi''s personal, innate special abilities weren''t that big of a deal in a one-on-one combat.

    His downfall was that he relied way too much on his subordinates. With Yoshida, Midorikawa and Yamada dead, the moment we took out Ishida, Kobayashi would be all but helpless.

    "We''ll target Ishida Ryuuji first," I whispered to Lilith. "I''ll distract him for a bit, and you should use your curse on him¡­"

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    "Leader, I suggest you escape." While I was discussing tactics with Lilith, Ishida was speaking to Kobayashi. "Our base here has fallen. We''ve no choice but to fall back and escape to Ravinca City for now. You''ll have to regroup and reconsolidate our forces there before returning for a counterattack."

    "Smart move, Ryuuji." Kobayashi smiled. "I''ll be depending on you to eliminate those that loser and his bitch."

    "I''ll do my best, but¡­I''m afraid I cannot make any promises."

    There was a slight shudder, almost too imperceptible for me to notice, but it was there. Normally I would miss it, but my vampire senses noted that Ishida was paler than usual and perspiration was running down his face. His breathing was labored and his mana emanation seemed diminished. Despite the strong front he was putting on, he had undoubtedly received significant damage from his battle against the Iron Knights.

    "Tch." Lilith clicked her tongue. "Tomoyuki-kun, we can''t let the so-called Emperor escape. You should pursue and finish him off. Don''t worry, leave this guy to me."

    "I don''t think that''s a good idea." My intuition was warning me about Ishida. "There''s something wrong with Ishida¡­it''s not wise for either of us to face him alone."

    "Heh." Ishida smiled thinly. "You''re smarter than you look, Tanaka."

    "I''ll get going first."

    Kobayashi was as thick-faced as ever, not even hesitating to sacrifice Ishida so that he could run away on his own. As usual, he only cared about his life, and was willing to expend others so that he could save himself.

    Before he could get far, however, a meteor shower bombarded his position, causing him to jump back in fright.

    "What the¡­?!"

    "We''re not letting you go anywhere!"

    From the hole that Ishida had carved into the ceiling, three figures landed on the ground. Hoshizaki Kozue, Aoyama Aoi and Domon Daisuke charged forward, their silhouettes blazing ferociously with mana.

    "How¡­? I injured you!"

    Ishida looked shocked at their appearances.

    "You did," Aoyama admitted but he raised his scythes. "Unfortunately you only dealt minor damage to us three. Have you forgotten what my special ability is?"

    "¡­healer!"

    Ishida scowled and clenched his fists in frustration.

    "I knew I should have targeted you and finished you off first!"

    "As if we would let you!" Hoshizaki cried. With a swing of her hand she summoned another hail of meteorites. Ishida swore before he swung his sword to unleash a wave of white flames, incinerating the meteor shower.

    However, the collision resulted in a tremendous explosion that knocked everyone off their feet. Fortunately, we were back on our feet in less than a second, eager to reengage in combat.

    "Tanaka-kun! We''ll handle Ishida. Please go after Kobayashi!"

    It was Domon. He was already sowing seeds in the ground and summoning large Treefolk to surround and impede Ishida.

    "But¡­"

    Ishida had defeated them along with their leader earlier. Now, not only were they just one-third of their original numbers, they were considerably weakened from the battle earlier. There was no way they stood a chance against Ishida!

    "Don''t worry."

    Fortunately, Lilith had sensed my concern. She placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and smiled sweetly.

    "I''ll help them. I think I have a gist of what that guy''s ability is and how to counter it. Leave him to us."

    "¡­"

    I glanced at Lilith for a few moments, and she pushed me forward gently.

    "Now go after that self-proclaimed Emperor and bring his head back. End this once and for all. That''s what you came here for, right?"

    "¡­yeah. Thanks. Make sure you guys stay alive, all right?"

    "Who do you think you''re talking to?"

    Lilith smirked before she spun around and lunged at Ishida. The bespectacled elite guard whirled around to parry her spear, only to be driven back by an explosive crimson blast of demonic mana. While he was distracted, Aoyama slashed him from behind with his scythes.

    I watched them for another second before turning around and pursuing the fleeing Kobayashi.

    "You¡­!"

    Realizing that I was hot on his trail, Kobayashi spun around to glare at me. He raised his sword and slashed at me, unleashing a golden tide of energy that dissipated harmlessly when I parried it with my Blood Dragon Sword.

    "Heh."

    Realizing that I was alone, Kobayashi chuckled.

    "Are you an idiot? Did you try to chase after me by yourself? If it''s a one-on-one, you stand no chance of winning against me."

    I didn''t even bother to rise to the bait. This guy had been spouting nothing but nonsense ever since the very beginning. Never mind that he needed Yoshida and Midorikawa to help him in a three-against-one battle just to force me into a stalemate, he was actually running away with his tail between his legs earlier when Lilith showed up to turn the tables on him. He was truly an arrogant, shameless, psychotic, delusional idiot.

    "Like I said earlier, this is my domain! You can''t do anything to me as long as we''re within my territory!"

    Laughing wildly, Kobayashi raised his sword and conjured golden barriers of light that surrounded us. Golden spikes lanced out from the ground and impaled me, but I shrugged them off, having adapted to their assault earlier. With a single movement I shattered them into countless bits before Kobayashi''s disbelieving eyes.

    Plunging my Blood Dragon Sword into the ground, I released all of my remaining mana into my ultimate technique as I uttered a single word.

    "Bankai."

 137 Chapter 137: Revenge

    "Bankai," I intoned. "Zetsumetsu Ketsuryuu (Total Annihilation Blood Dragon)."

    Blood dripped from my sword, my sleeves, my Redwood jacket¡­everywhere. In a flash, the entire space around us was engulfed in dark red blood.

    "W¡­what the hell is this?!" Kobayashi shrieked as he backed away instinctively in fear. Despite his supposed Almighty Emperor special ability, he couldn''t help but dread the new domain he now found himself in.

    "I wonder?" shrugging, I approached him casually. Blood continued to drip off the blade of my Blood Dragon Sword in rivulets, hissing as they touched the ground. "I guess it''s something like my ultimate technique? What, you didn''t read Bleach?"

    "Who the hell would read manga? What are you, a middle schooler?!"

    "Reading manga is good for you." I grinned ominously. "If you have, you would have understood my ability more."

    As it was, I had no intention of explaining the details of Zetsumetsu Ketsuryuu (Total Annihilation Blood Dragon) to him.

    "Don''t think that something like this is capable of stopping me!"

    With a roar, Kobayashi lunged forward. His feet splashed against the sea of blood that was gathering on the ground, hissing dangerously. For a moment, he stumbled, the bottom of his trousers melting away and his feet being eaten away by the corrosive blood.

    "Ugh! What?!"

    I didn''t reply, instead I just dashed forward and stabbed him with my Blood Dragon Sword.

    "AAAAAAH!"

    Kobayshi screamed before he frantically retaliated with his sword, blasting me at pointblank range with golden mana. I staggered backward as the golden energies seared through my body, but my corrosive blood flowed forward and healed my wounds instantly.

    "H¡­how?!"

    Unlike me, Kobayashi was being damaged further by the corrosive blood, more of his flesh melting away to reveal the white bone underneath. He desperately tried to summon more of his golden spikes, but they melted away under the effects of the corrosive blood.

    "Why¡­why can''t I summon anything!? Why aren''t my abilities working in here?!"

    "Oh, well¡­you said earlier that you''re a god in your own domain, right?" I smiled and gestured to the enclosed, crimson and black space around us. "Well, we''re no longer in your domain. This blood sphere is my territory."

    "?!"

    Kobayashi looked terrified as he glanced around, slowly comprehending the predicament he was in. He tried to draw more golden mana into his sword, but it flickered away, eaten away by the rain of corrosive blood that crashed down from above.

    "Ah¡­aaaaaah!"

    "Not just that," I continued. "Inside this territory¡­there''s a lot of people who have a grudge against you."

    "No! NOOOOO!!!!"

    Kobayashi''s helpless howls disappeared under the growing pile of blood ghouls. With one frantic maneuver, he blasted them apart with a single divine spell of golden destructive energy, but they simply regenerated once again.

    "What the hell are these!?"

    "Heh? You don''t know? I thought you thoroughly researched my abilities."

    I shook my head mockingly and waited for the blood ghouls to wear Kobayashi down. They weren''t just dangerous in large numbers. Made from the same corrosive blood that now layered the entire space we were in, even the slightest touch from their claws or bodies was highly dangerous. More of Kobayashi''s clothes and flesh were disappearing as the blood ghouls flung themselves at him.

    "Ah! Noooo! Argh!"

    Kobayashi was slowly dying, and without the help of his healers, he was unable to halt the inevitable progress of his death.

    "Please! Stop this! I''m begging you!"

    "Oh?"

    I cocked my head at his pleas and then shook my head.

    "You''re asking me to stop now?"

    "Y¡­yes!"

    Kobayashi was blubbering, tears running down his cheeks. Or what was left of his face, anyway. It was mostly a skull, what with most of his skin having melted off due to the corrosive blood. His eyes, which were slowly dissolving, stared at me imploringly.

    "I''m begging you¡­please! I''m sorry! Just¡­just stop this!"

    "Then let me ask you this. Did you ever stop, even once, when I asked you to?"

    "T¡­that''s¡­!"

    Kobayashi wasn''t able to reply. No, he knew the answer, but he just wouldn''t say it because it would further seal his doom.

    Instead, he pressed his face to the ground and cowered.

    "I''m sorry! I won''t do it again! Please! I''m begging you! I swear I will never bully or hit you again! I''ll never scheme against you again!"

    "Really?"

    I watched as my blood ghouls mercilessly tore him apart, limb from limb. Kobayashi wailed and trembled violently, his body flopping helplessly on the ground.

    "Do you think I''ll believe you?"

    "Ugh¡­no¡­! I''m telling the truth! Really!"

    Tears were springing unbridled to Kobayashi''s skull-face and he wept unabashedly.

    "No, that''s not the truth now¡­is it?"

    I gestured and one of the blood ghouls sank its claws into Kobayashi''s scalp. His thoughts echoed throughout the blood sphere.

    "Do I yield? Impossible."

    Despite Kobayashi struggling against the blood ghoul with everything he had, his deepest, unfiltered thoughts leaked out for everyone to listen to.

    "How dare this weakling¡­this pathetic loser stomp all over me, as if he''s superior. He''s inferior! I don''t know how he did it, but¡­I''ll just lower my head for now. I''ll do anything to survive for now. As long as I''m alive, there''s still hope!"

    That much was true, I would have to grant him that.

    "I am nobler than anyone else. I am a person who rules over others. How dare that guy act like he''s above me? I''ll kill him! Kill him! Kill him! I''ll absolutely kill this pathetic loser and show him his place! I''ll make sure he regrets ever hurting me!"

    "¡­huh. So those are your honest thoughts, huh?"

    Kobayashi''s eyes widened when I said that. He shook his head frantically, struggling wildly against the blood ghouls. I merely shook my head and gestured for them to intensify their efforts.

    "Feast on him."

    "NOOOOOO!!!!!!"

    With a strength that even Kobayashi himself didn''t know he possessed, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity emanated a blast of golden mana that sent tremors throughout the blood sphere. Hundreds of blood ghouls vanished, disintegrated instantly by the blast. The next thing I knew, Kobayashi was whole again, his body completely restored.

    "Tanaka! You¡­! You bastard!"

    Howling in unadulterated rage, Kobayashi grabbed his corroded, smoking sword and infused it with his mana. Using his newly reinvigorated strength, he lunged toward me, seeking to pierce my heart with his final, last-ditch attack.

    "Ho¡­so you still have some fight left in you after all."

    I parried Kobayashi''s strike with my Blood Dragon Sword. Yelling incoherently, Kobayashi slashed, going berserk with his attacks and attempting to slice me apart with large, powerful swings. I meet each and every strike of his with my blade, exchanging tremendous blows that sent waves of corrosive blood splashing all over the blood sphere in huge waves.

    "DIE! DIE! DIE!"

    Kobayashi''s mind had vanished, his eyes rolling up in their sockets as he bellowed furiously at me while swinging his sword and delivering powerful strikes that sent shudders throughout my arms. Such were the power behind his blows that my arms began to feel numb.

    "Tanaka, you bastard! I''ll definitely kill you!"

    He slashed at me again, but I parried his strike. Getting impatient, I sent a hook with my left hand and struck his cheek. There was a deafening crack before Kobayashi was thrown across the blood sphere and collided with a bloody wall. Smoke emanated from his back as the corrosive fluids went to work.

    "Ugh¡­!"

    "Time to give you a taste of your own medicine."

    "¡­fucker! I can easily deal with garbage like you!"

    Screaming, Kobayashi raised his sword and conjured a devastating spell. Golden mana accumulated at the point of his blade and grew rapidly into a single beam.

    But I merely raised my sword and pointed it at him. Instead of casting a long-distance spell like Kobayashi, I conjured a hail of blood spears from the sea around us and impaled the unwary Emperor. Kobayashi screamed and dropped his sword as he was hoisted high into the air, stabbed in multiple places by my blood spears.

    Ironically enough, this resembled the scene from earlier where Kobayashi was gloating triumphantly when he had me crucified by his golden spikes.

    "You''re still deluding yourself, huh?"

    Strolling over, I hammered him in the face, breaking his nose. Kobaysahi emitted a nasal shriek as his head snapped back from the blow, the blood spears cracking from the impact as his body was flung across the space again.

    "Ugh¡­! How?!"

    "I told you, this is my territory."

    I stepped over the trembling Kobayshi, whose powers were waning now. The corrosive blood began to regain their appetite and melted away his skin. Unable to bear the pain, Kobayashi toppled over into the sea of blood, thus worsening his condition. He wailed, trying his best not to roll about.

    "I''ll kill you! I''ll kill you!"

    "No, you won''t."

    At least he was more honest than earlier, where he tried to lie to me to get me to spare him. Not that I ever planned to show him mercy.

    "Fucker!"

    With a cry, Kobayashi retrieved his melting sword and lunged at me. But with his flesh dissolving in the corrosive blood and his muscles and tendons eaten away, his movements were a lot slower. I merely stepped to the side, avoiding his sword, and then kneed him in the gut, causing him to double over.

    I then stepped in and rammed my elbow into his already injured face, breaking his nose a second time and causing him to topple over in the sea of blood. He writhed about, unable to withstand the agony as his back and limbs were dissolved.

    I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Nonetheless, I altered the properties of my corrosive blood and healed Kobayashi a little. Not enough that he could fight back, but sufficient enough so that the pain would stop and he recovered a little of his skin.

    "You¡­?!"

    Kobayashi was caught off guard by what he perceived to be a small mercy. I smiled at him and then raised my sword.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    The moment I stabbed his crotch and castrated him, severing his male organ from his body, Kobayashi let out a high-pitched shriek and clutched desperately at his groin. Blood was spurting from his nether region and tears sprang to his eyes. His mouth opened and closed desperately, but no sound other than the high-pitched scream from earlier emerged.

    I''ll never forgive you! You¡­you¡­bastard!

    Thanks to Absolute Appraisal, I was somewhat able to read his lips and make out what he was trying to say.

    I grinned.

    "Like I said, Kobayashi, you don''t have the balls to face me like a man. I''m just making that a reality."

    Kobayashi whimpered as he shut his eyes, tears still leaking from them as he struggled to endure the agony and humiliation. Gritting his teeth, he mustered the last of his strength and grabbed his sword before throwing himself up to stab me.

    The guy was hoping he caught me off guard and sought to deal a single, fatal attack.

    Unfortunately, with the amount of damage he received, his movements were far too slow. I would have to be blind and mentally disabled to not be able to dodge such an obvious and slow attack. In fact, I didn''t even need to evade it.

    "I really need to disarm you."

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    With that, I loped off his arm, sending both his limb and sword flying into the air. His amputated arm crashed back into the sea of blood before dissolving almost immediately, the corrosive blood eating both flesh, bone and fabric ravenously.

    "Ah¡­ah!"

    Kobayashi was seething and cursing, but he hadn''t given up. Golden mana gathered in his remaining left hand as he threw it forward in hopes of dealing one final attack.

    I didn''t wait for his strike to reach me. I stabbed him first, using the superior length of my Blood Dragon Sword to my advantage.

    "Guh?!"

    Blood dribbled out of Kobayashi''s mouth as he stared stupidly at my sword, which was protruding out of his chest. However, he tenaciously clung onto life and continued swinging his glowing hand forward, ready to unleash a single devastating blast with what remained of his dwindling mana. Even though it was greatly diminished, the amount of mana he had accumulated in his hand remained significant. If I let his attack land, Kobayashi would at least deal a severe injury to me.

    I never gave him the chance to do so. I refused to grant him the satisfaction of at least retaliating or landing a single consolation strike.

    "Shadow Dragon''s Annihilation Lunar Fang."

    Kobayashi exploded into countless bits as the crimson and black energy blast detonated within his body. Corrosive mana chewed and disintegrated his corpse, eating the little pieces that were left of him and rendering him into nothing. Within seconds, there was nothing left of him.

    I had won. I had finally taken my revenge. My goal was fulfilled.

    "¡­"

    Well, that was anticlimactic, but it was finally over. I had finally won. Had I known, I would have used this from the start, but I guess Midorikawa and Yoshida would have intervened to stop me from dealing a fatal blow, and would have continued to heal Kobayashi.

    With my archenemy dead, I had no reason to maintain the blood sphere, so I dismissed it and exited into the open. By then, Lilith and the remaining Iron Knights had just finished dealing with Ishida Ryuuji.

    "You¡­!"

    Ishida was still stubbornly clinging to life despite having Lilith''s spear pierce his chest. It was evident that she had used her ultimate curse, but at great cost. Lilith, Aoyama, Hoshizaki and Domon all looked pretty beaten up.

    Wow, Ishida must be really strong to be able to take on all four of them and deal that much damage by himself.

    Secretly, I was glad that I didn''t have to face him. It did feel a little unsatisfying that I wasn''t able to personally take my revenge on Ishida, but he was nothing compared to the big prize that was Kobayashi Kenji.

    "No way¡­did you kill the leader?!"

    "What do you think?" I responded wearily.

    "GWAAAAAAH!"

    Ishida let out a ferocious cry and broke away from his four, shocked opponents. Grabbing his sword, he lunged at me, seeking to kill me.

    However, my Blood Dragon Sword was still in Bankai mode. I swung it, unleashing a colossal wave of corrosive blood that seared the flesh away from Ishida and turned him into nothing more than a skeleton. Despite that, Ishida kept going and pierced my chest with his sword.

    "G¡­got you¡­" he snarled.

    "You have indeed," I agreed as blood dripped from my mouth. "Victoria Imperialis. Your special ability that allows you to achieve victory no matter the odds."

    "Heh. This is why you''ll never win¡­us heroes will always prevail¡­!"

    "Yes. You''ve won for now," I acknowledged. "But your victory came at a price."

    "It¡­doesn''t matter." Ishida''s smile was creepy, especially since there was nothing left of his face but a skull. "As long as I kill you¡­it''s our victory! My death¡­my sacrifice is worth it!"

    "Indeed. Now you can die."

    Zetsumetsu Ketsuryuu (Total Annihilation Blood Dragon) finished off what was left of Ishida, turning him into nothing and erasing his existence from Restia. I dropped to the ground and yanked his sword out of my chest.

    "You did indeed win against me¡­for that moment. At the cost of your life."

    However, the fatal injury that Ishida did to me instantly regenerated, closing up and mending rapidly.

    "But I somehow survived the defeat."

    "You¡­!" Lilith stared at me, massive relief showing all over her face. "You had us worried for a moment!"

    "Always so reckless, aren''t you?" Aoyama shook his head in disapproval.

    "But¡­you did it." Hoshizaki looked dazed. "We¡­did it."

    "Of course. I never doubted Tanaka-kun for a second." Domon sat back tiredly, a weary smile spreading across his face.

    "¡­yeah." Pushing my glasses up my nose, I turned to leave the throne room. "I''m going to inform my army, and the whole of Havia City. The Emperor of Humanity is dead. The humans have been defeated. This war is finally over."

 138 Chapter 138: Aftermath

    "Lord General!"

    I turned around at the familiar voice. Elia, Benjamin, Marko and Gio were running into the throne room, accompanied by their companies.

    "We''ve taken the castle, sir!"

    Elia was the first to speak, snapping up a salute.

    "Something''s strange happening," Gio added as he glanced around. "The human soldiers are surrendering en masse. It''s like thye''ve lost the will to fight."

    "Sir, you¡­"

    Marko noticed that something was amiss. He glanced around the devastated throne room, his eyes lingering on the wrecked throne and the absence of the enemy. Well, the traces of blood and destruction were evidence that the enemy once existed.

    "¡­you defeated the so-called Emperor of Humanity, didn''t you?"

    Even within my blood sphere, it was impossible to conceal the flunctuations and emanations of mana, especially when we cast such massive spells and unleashed near-apocalyptic techniques. They must have detected the clash between our reiatsu ¨C I mean mana ¨C and the disappearance of Kobayashi when I killed him.

    "Yeah." I nodded.

    "That''s incredible¡­" Benjamin was gaping at me, and then he shifted his gaze to Lilith and the surviving Iron Knights. "Ah, your highness¡­you were here, fighting too?"

    "Indeed¡­but it was Tomoyuki-kun here who did most of the work."

    Lilith was slowly healing from her wounds sustained from dueling Ishida. She wiped the blood off her mouth and arms and glanced at Hoshizaki and the others. Aoyama was already getting to work, healing a dazed Domon.

    "I did nothing¡­"

    "As modest as always," Marko chuckled. Elia smiled.

    "As expected of the Lord General!"

    "¡­"

    No, honestly¡­I did absolutely nothing. All I did was take revenge and killed the bastards who bullied me. That was all.

    Speaking of which¡­

    "Sir? Are you reading this, sir?"

    "Daniel?" I tapped my vox bead when his voice crackled into life. "What''s up? We''re done here, so I''ll send reinforcements¡­"

    "There''s no need to. The humans, they''re surrendering. All over the city, they''re throwing down their arms and giving up. They looked a bit confused and dazed, but they have obviously lost any will to fight."

    "The Knights!" This time, it was Jurgen from the Savior of Moria. "The Titans! They''re disappearing! They''re vanishing!"

    Of course. From the hole in the ceiling, I could see the surviving Knights of the Round fading away. With the death of their master, Kobayashi, there was nothing in Restia that could maintain their existence any longer.

    "We''ve secured the castle, sir!"

    "A little late on that, Lieutenant Bass." Gio looked amused. "We''ve already informed the Lord General."

    "The Emperor of Humanity¡­he''s gone?" Kracauer whispered as he sank to his knees, tears of joy and relief leaking from his eyes. "Am I¡­dreaming?"

    "No, Major. It''s not a dream. It''s real."

    The Legnica infantry cheered thunderously, their yells of victory and triumph echoing throughout the broken throne room. Even the hardened Marines had to smile, shouldering their weapons and glancing around in relief.

    We had finally won. The war was over.

    *

    Over the next few days, with the demise of the humans and the death of Kobayashi, the brainwashing that he had cast on the human kingdoms with Kingly Disposition was lifted. Zealous worship and religious fervor turned into righteous hatred and indignant fury when the formerly indoctrinated masses of the enslaved kingdoms realized the full extent of Kobayashi''s tyranny and what he had done. Excessive taxes. Needless and wanton sacrifices of human lives to save his own, or to pursue his own agenda of world domination. Agricultural ruin as Kobayasyhi and his policies drove entire villages to poverty. Astronomical losses of lives after Kobayashi forcibly conscripted soldiers from the masses and sent them to their deaths in his obsession of conquering Morten. Genocides and massacres committed under his orders on villages or kingdoms who resisted his brainwashing and refused to bend their knees under his rule. The murder of royal families and the **** of their daughters by abducting them into his imperial harem.

    The princesses were now being released, but they had been traumatized by the constant **** of Kobayashi and his subordinates. Yamada, Ishida and the other guys had been satiating their lust with them all this time, and their minds had been completely broken. It would take them a long time before they could recover¡­if such a thing was possible.

    With the death of the Emperor, the human kingdoms began the slow, arduous process of rebuilding. Alan, Captain Dante Infernius and Major Kracauer returned to Legnica to aid in the recovery plans, focusing their efforts on restoring the infrastructure, reducing taxes, saving the populations and staving off hunger. Defense and a strong army was far from their minds, and unnecessary, for I had offered military assistance to the human kingdoms should they need it.

    For now, they didn''t have to worry about wars or invasions.

    The Marrina Isles went back to thriving, having been one of the first human kingdoms liberated from Kobayashi''s tyranny. Lieutenant Bass and his Marines returned there to help revitalize the fishing industry as well as other sectors and trade.

    As for the demons, everything went back to normal and long, lasting peace was finally achieved. At leasf for now.

    The Magna 1,087th regiment returned to Helsfort, where Regis Gremory maintained close relations and trade with King Hedol and the dwarven kingdom of Moria. Lilith Scarlet returned to Haemorage to continue ruling over her domain, her authority much stronger than ever before now that she had the victory over the human kingdoms and other significant military exploits under her name. Even the Council of Elders had to obey her now.

    Major Elia Kratz, having achieved the military glory she sought, was now highly respected in her family and received several marriage offers. She rejected them to continue striving for the position of General in the Helsfort military, setting a fine example for women who chose to pursue military careers despite the discrimination against them.

    Lieutenant Gio Vanni continued to serve as her right-hand man, offering sound advice and reining her in when she got too reckless.

    Major Daniel Dressia and his tank company still served directly under me. He saluted when I walked past him in the hangar to inspect the row of Hellblades that had recently been assigned to my tank regiment.

    "Lord General!"

    "At ease." I waved him away and then knitted my hands behind my back as I grinned at the nine new Hellblades being tended to by the tech-priests engineers from Moria. As I did so, the tank in the center ¨C the Savior of Moria ¨C stirred and the cupola opened. Lieutenant Jason Jurgen poked his head out and gaped when he saw me.

    "Boss! You''re back!"

    "Yup, I am. Come to see the latest batch of Hellblade tanks."

    "Heh¡­want to go for a ride?"

    "Maybe later."

    "Oh? The Lord General is here?!" Gunnery also jumped out of his hatch in the main gunner''s compartment and then saluted me. "It''s been a while, sir!"

    "Yeah, paperwork and the humans'' situation is killing me."

    "Speaking of which, how are the humans doing, sir?" Daniel asked. "I heard they''re still in the midst of rebuilding, but that so-called Emperor of Humanity did a lot of damage to them before he died."

    "Yeah¡­it''ll take years¡­maybe decades before they fully recover. But recently the human kingdoms have been in discussions with Moria and the other demon domains to open up trade and to modernize. If they are willing to receive demon technology and aid, they will recover much faster."

    Such was the power of technology and industrialization. Moria was producing and manufacturing vehicles and tanks at a much faster rate than before, and they were planning to expand into the ore-rich fields in the human continent. If they did that, it would solve a lot of poverty and unemployment problems and allowed both humans and dwarves to prosper.

    The talks looked promising, but I wasn''t a politician. I could only sit back and hope they saw the light.

    "What about the rest of the regiment? I heard that Major Kratz has just received a proposal from one of the Marquises¡­"

    "Oh, you already know about Elia and Company L. They''re doing fine. As for Company H, they''ve returned to Haemorage for the time being."

    Major Benjamin Burado and Warrant Officer Michael Marko had returned to Haemorage to help and reinforce Lilith''s authority. The vampire regiments had all went back to Haemorage. With the war over, there was little point in sending them into foreign lands for rarely seen combat. I trusted them just fine to look after Lilith.

    "Speaking of her highness, what are you going to do about that? Aren''t you supposed to marry her or something?"

    "In a year or two." I cringed inwardly, but this was something I couldn''t run away from. I had made a promise and I was going to keep it.

    "Oh, right. The date has already been decided!"

    I cleared my throat and turned away.

    "Well, anyway, I''ll be back to give one of the tanks a test drive. Get back to work, guys. It may be peacetime soon, but it won''t last long."

    "Eh? Why? Didn''t we defeat the humans and secure peace with them?"

    "Oh, the humans are our allies now. But¡­the real enemy is still stirring in the distance."

    "¡­huh? What real enemy?"

    I smiled cryptically and left them hanging. I love doing that.

    *

    "So what are you going to do now, Tanaka-kun?"

    Hoshizaki Kozue was sitting on the ledge when I emerged into the open. Beside her, Aoyama Aoi stood, his arms folded. Domon was leaning on the ledge as well, looking a lot better than the last time I saw him.

    Aoyama''s healing magic was truly magnificent.

    "Help out here and there. Speaking of which, Aoyama-kun, how are the humans?"

    "¡­humans?" Aoyama frowned at my peculiar way of addressing them, and then shook his head. Evidently I had spent too much time with the demons. "Well, with Kobayashi dead, we don''t have to worry about them. The brainwashing effect is completely gone. I don''t have to do anything. They''re pretty pissed at Kobayashi for lying to them, but¡­he''s dead, so there''s nothing they can do about it. For now, they''re focusing on rebuilding."

    "I see. How''s Nagano-san and Sanada-kun?"

    "They''re recovering just fine," Domon assured me. "Aoyama-kun saved them, and their conditions have stabilized. They''ll be back on their feet in no time at all."

    "Umezu-kun and Mayumi-chan have gone to live in a village somewhere," Hoshizaki added. "They''ve decided to cut off all ties with the rest of Restia and live peacefully by themselves."

    "Cool."

    If they didn''t bother me, I wuldn''t bother them. It wasn''t as if they bullied me in the past. We did fight, but that was because we were on opposing sides.

    "What about Nishida-kun?"

    "What about me?"

    Nishida Kensuke emerged from the hangar, smudged and filthy. Hoshizaki blinked when she spotted him.

    "Whoa! What happened to you, Nishida-kun?"

    "I was working," Nishida replied with a shrug. He raised the spanner in his hand for emphasis.

    "He''s helping me develop new las-weaponry for the demon soldiers," I explained. "And safer plasma guns."

    "Don''t forget the tank weapons!" Nishida growled before he leaned against the wall tiredly. "All those plasma weapons are time-bombs waiting to explode. You''ve got to tell your men to stop supercharging them."

    "We have re-rolls of ones, so we''ll be fine."

    "Stastically-wise, something is going to happen sooner or later! What happens if your tanks or tank crews eat a mortal wound when their plasma weapons overheat?"

    "Uh¡­okay. I''ll let them know."

    The welfare of my crews was more important than anything else, after all.

    "He he he¡­"

    Hoshizaki was giggling when she saw the scene. All of us stared at her.

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    "What is it?" Aoyama asked gruffly. Hoshizaki merely shook her head.

    "No, I just didn''t¡­expect us to be standing here like this. Not after all that had happened. It just feels so¡­unreal, you know?"

    "I know what you mean," Domon agreed fervently. "I never thought we would be able to survive or win, especially after Kobayashi and the others went mad."

    "Hmph." Aoyama scoffed. "Our victory was never in doubt."

    "Even so¡­we achieved it at great cost¡­and because Takeda-kun and the others sacrificed themselves." Hoshizaki looked a little sad when she stared up at the heavens. Taking a deep breath, she rubbed at her eyes and beamed. "But I''m so glad that everything''s over. That everything''s finally over. We can now enjoy this hard-earned peace."

    "Oh, speaking of which." Domon blinked as he turned to stare at me and Nishida. "I''ve always been meaning to ask you. Didn''t we already defeat Kobayashi and achieve peace? Why are you still building new weapons and working in the military?"

    "Eh?" Nishida was caught off guard, evidently not having considered the question. "I¡­I''m only building weapons because the boss asked me to."

    "Eh? Why?" Hoshizaki turned to me curiously. "What''s the point of building and developing new weapons when we''ve already won? We''re at peace now. Building up an army and developing new weapons should be unnecessary."

    How na?ve.

    "We''ve won for now, but the true enemy remains somewhere, plotting in their territories and planning for a new invasion," I explained patiently. "We''re just getting ready for that."

    "True enemy? But wasn''t Kobayashi already defeated? And we''ll make sure that the human kingdoms don''t attack the demons again. So you don''t have to worry¡­"

    "Oh, I''m not referring to the human kingdoms." I waved Hoshizaki''s assurances away. "No, it''s something else. Even I''m not sure who they are, but I just want to be prepared."

    "Are you sure they exist?" Aoyama asked skeptically. "Knowing you, it might be another one of your delusions."

    "Aoyama-kun!" Domon snapped, but I shook my head.

    "You might be right. But I''ve seen a glimpse of the future, so I know they''re out there."

    "How can you be so sure?" Nishida whimpered nervously, paling at the prospect of yet another war. I smiled and turned away, narrowing my eyes as I glared at the tiny shadow flickering just above the horizon of an otherwise bright, blue sky.

    "¡­because in the grim, dark future of Restia, there is only war."

 139 Chapter 139: Tale of Demons and Gods

    Lyia placed her hands on the table as she restlessly stared into the blue sky outside her verdana. She fidgeted a little before she took the cup of tea and sipped it a little, then sighed as she leaned back in her luxurious, rocking chair.

    "What''s the matter, dear?"

    Chronos strolled into the verdana and took a seat opposite her. Lyia shook her head.

    "It''s finally over, isn''t it?"

    "Oh no¡­it''s only just beginning."

    A sinister smile flashed across Chronos''s face for a moment, but he clamped down on it when Lyia shot him a glare.

    "What do you mean by that? Are you still scheming something behind the scenes?"

    "Oh, you know me, dear. I''m always scheming something."

    Lyia sighed. "That''s true, I guess. Well, what are you planning now?"

    "I''m just planning to watch the carnage unfold. I''ve already caught a glimpse of the future, so I''m looking forward to it."

    "Really?" Lyia frowned at that, but chose not to pursue. Instead, she ran her finger along the rim of her teacup. "Speaking of the future¡­what happened to the Fates?"

    "Oh, you want to know the fate of the Fates?"

    Lyia resisted the urge to roll her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Yes, dear. What''s the fate of the Fates?"

    "Father has executed them. Their existence has been entirely purged and erased from both the mortal and divine realms. They are permanently dead." Chronos shrugged as he leaned back in his seat, looking nonchalant. "A fitting end for those goddesses who broke the covenant and interfered with mortal matters¡­as well as put Heaven and the mortal realm into jeopardy with their actions. To think they wanted to invite Chaos into this dimension¡­"

    "I''m glad our follower has put a stop to that," Lyia remarked. There was some pride evident in her soft, gentle voice.

    "Yeah, he has done a great job." Chronos nodded eagerly. "We can look forward to more achievements from him in the future."

    "I''m sure I will be looking forward to that," Lyia agreed airily. Then she smirked. "Speaking of followers, I heard that Evelyn had a breakdown shortly after her main follower was killed. What was his name, Kobayashi Kenji?"

    "That''s right." Chronos chuckled and nodded. "Evelyn was pretty traumatized after her main follower was killed by our follower. She has locked herself in her room and has refused to come out since then. It''ll probably take her another thousand years or so before she finally gets over her tantrum and recover psychologically from her failure."

    "She''s too used to success," Lyia grumbled, her eyes dark. "This will teach her for being uppity. I''m so glad we''ve finally put her in her place."

    Lyia giggled as she shook her head, recalling the release of exuberance and joy, as well as her father making a fool out of himself. She had been moderate with her drinking and celebrating, especially since she had to maintain her dignified image as a goddess of knowledge. Chronos, on the other hand, was bound by no such appearances and had taken a drink too many. Lyia had to literally drag him back to their bedroom after the party.

    "Speaking of the other gods, what of the Fates? With the current trio erased from existence, who will be taking their place?"

    Lyia suddenly recalled the yawning absence in the pantheon. With them gone, the balance in the divine realm would be thrown out of whack. Chronos stroked his chin for a bit before he replied.

    "Oh, Father has already selected three candidates from amongst the mortals. He will be ascending them soon, and have them take the Fates'' place when they are ready."

    "Father sure doesn''t waste any time."

    Lyia fell silent as she took another sip of her tea, contemplating the million different outcomes that flowed from this single branch of time.

    "With this, the threat of Chaos will be stopped¡­forever."

    "Indeed," Chronos agreed with a smile. "But for our dear follower¡­new conflicts will be awaiting him."

    "Don''t worry. I made sure to choose wisely." Lyia also smiled, but it wasn''t the usual benevolent smile that the goddess of knowledge was known for. It was a dark and sinister smile, one that concealed layers of schemes beneath it. "I''m sure our dear Tomoyuki will be up to the task."

    *

    The seven strongest, most powerful Demon Lords had gathered within a secret chamber, plotting and conspiring against the rest of Restia.

    "¡­it has already been two years since the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity has been defeated, huh?"

    "Oh¡­has it already been that long? Time sure flies by quickly."

    "Yes¡­and young Regis has actually convinced the whole of the human kingdom to ally with him."

    "Not only that, he has unified the other sixty-five Demon Lords and their domains under his rule."

    "He poses a significant threat."

    "It is time for us to eliminate him¡­"

    "Us?"

    One of the dark shadows barked out in laughter, interrupting the hushed murmurs and guttural whispers that echoed sinisterly within the chamber.

    "Since when do you speak for ''us''?"

    "Indeed I don''t," another hooded shadow replied, rearing to his full height. A titan towering over ten meters, yet still somehow silhouetted within the darkness, he brimmed with pure power. Yet the other party was not at all intimidated.

    "Watch your tongue, Lazarus, lest you trip over it again."

    Lazarus did not dignify the insult with a reply, his demonic mana brimming violently within his calm surface.

    "Now, now¡­" Asmodai broke in before the meeting could erupt into a brutal confrontation. "The purpose of us meeting is to discuss¡­which one of us should meet young Regis in combat first? Anyone with a grudge against him? Would you like to step forward and stake your claim? Otherwise¡­any volunteers?"

    "Hmph¡­what a farce."

    Asmodai raised a brow and glanced at the beared figure behind a hood, gigantic metallic chains spooling from his robe and glowing with an eerie fire.

    "I assume you''re volunteering, Prometheus?"

    "Not at all. I just think this whole thing is ridiculous. So what if that upstart Regis has unified the other sixty-five domains and even allied with humans? Even with all the manpower and might at his fingertips, he still can''t best even one of us."

    "No one''s saying that," another shadowy figure spoke up. "We''re just discussing and deciding the order of which one of us gets to face him first¡­so that we wouldn''t have any conflicts otherwise."

    "I don''t mind having conflicts with you all," a burly figure with glowing red eyes growled in the background, a smile carving into his face in the shadows. "I''ve been getting pretty bored."

    "Why don''t we get rid of the small fries first before we start fighting each other?" a smaller figure asked, almost tiny when compared to the behemoths around him, but his presence was no less significant ¨C what with the power emanating from his humanoid form.

    "You''re all so cruel," Asmodai sighed. "Leaving young Regis to fight the humans and clean up the mess, and then picking on him once he has done all the hard work." Then she smiled. "Then again, that''s why we Demons exist¡­"

    "No," I interrupted. "You seven demons only exist because the creator of this shitty story wanted to rip off The Silver Gravekeeper (Yin zhi Shoumuren) and threw in the nine powerful Demon Lords in as final bosses, but never intended to use them in the actual story itself. But now that he added you into the story when making fun of The Silver Gravekeeper, he has no choice but to tie up loose ends. Otherwise this thread will be left hanging."

    "What the fuck are you talking about?!" Asmodai snapped, baffled.

    "More important, who are you and what are you doing here?" the burly guy thundered. "How dare you just stroll into here¡­do you not know who we are?"

    "Oh, you''re seven of the nine strongest Demon Lords in Morten¡­in all of Restia, even." I shrugged flippantly. "Of course I know who you are. As I said, the creator threw you in when he was ripping off The Silver Gravekeeper, but then left your thread dangling when he returned to the main story. Probably because he never intended to use you guys to begin with."

    "Insolent idiot!"

    "Who do you think you are?!"

    "He''s¡­my guest. And my trusted partner in warfare."

    Regis Gremory strolled in, standing right beside me with a wink and a smile. Lilith followed shortly and linked my arm with hers, putting on a defiant expression.

    "He''s also my husband. He''s one of us¡­I can guarantee you that my husband is just as strong as, if not more powerful than the likes of you."

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    A tremor ran through the seven seated Demon Lords when they heard Lilith''s bold proclamation.

    "Uh, Lilith, that''s a bit¡­"

    "It''s the truth."

    "Even so, you should take their feelings into consideration. It might not be a good idea to damage their pride right from the onset¡­"

    "YOU!" the burly, thickset demon roared, moving his five-meter high body to tower over me. However, Regis quickly intercepted him and cleared his throat.

    "What''s this? I''m hurt¡­I can''t believe you held a meeting with the nine strongest Demon Lords without inviting me or Lilith-dono."

    "¡­brat."

    "¡­little Regis."

    "So you''ve come."

    "¡­along with the young vampire queen."

    "I see the current generation is full of upstarts and immature brats."

    "What have you come here for, little Regis? Lilith-chan?"

    Ignoring the snarls and sneers of her compatriots, Asmodai ventured forward to ask. Regis merely smiled and bowed politely.

    "¡­oh, since you''re in the middle of choosing the order of who gets to wage war against us, I thought we should drop in and declare war on you. To make this whole thing¡­official, and to give you ample warning before we crush you all one by one."

    A silence hung over the chamber as the other seven Demon Lords digested the audacious words that left his mouth.

    "Are you seriously saying that, little Regis?" Asmodai asked, a slight trace of amusment and disbelief lacing her words.

    "Are you seriously asking me that, Asmodai Nee-sama?" Regis responded evenly, his smile unchanged.

    "Hah! Good! Very good!"

    The burly, muscular Demon Lord thundered with laughter and reared his titanic fist back to throw a mighty punch. I sprang into action, jumping between the goliath and Regis, even as the burly Demon Lord''s fist hurtled forward like a meteor. Raising a single hand, I intercepted his punch and halted it in its tracks, even as the ground around me exploded and shattered.

    "Ngh?!"

    "Baal! Be careful!"

    It was too late.

    Wrapping my fingers around Baal''s fist, I lifted up the Demon Lord who was several times my size and weight off his feet and then flung him across the chamber. Baal crashed into the ceiling before plummeting onto the ground, seemingly unconscious.

    The remaining Demon Lords in the chamber stirred, unsure how to react in the face of such an unexpected outcome.

    "I told you, didn''t I?"

    Lilith came to my side and rested her head on my shoulder while wrapping her hands around my arm.

    "He''s just as strong as you, if not stronger."

    "Baal¡­"

    One of the Demon Lords turned to glance at the fallen muscular warrior, but he didn''t get up.

    "Anyway, as I was saying¡­" Regis stepped forward to take center stage once again. Placing his hands on his hips, he beamed brightly. "¡­we''ve come to declare war on all of you. Either you submit, or you''ll get crushed¡­like poor Baal-sama over there."

    Lazarus''s fingers gripped tightly into his armrest, breaking the furniture. "You''ll regret this, upstart. All of you."

    "That''s rich, coming from someone who was planning to destroy us in secret." Regis shook his head mockingly. "Either way, we''ll see who will regret this at the end¡­after all, there''s no use talking. Our actions are what matter."

    "¡­true enough," Prometheus admitted as he leaned back in his chair, the ominous flames on his chains flaring up. "We''ll meet you on the battlefield soon¡­or, wherever you want to meet to discuss peace terms."

    "You still plan on offering these brats mercy, Prometheus?" one of the Demon Lords sneered. "How kind of you."

    Prometheus merely tilted his head, looking puzzled.

    "Who said anything about showing them mercy? If anything, I just don''t feel like fighting. And¡­" the flames blazed along his chains. "¡­I''ve a feeling that these kids might surprise us old geezers for once."

    "Coward."

    "Say what you will¡­as young Regis said, our actions are what matter." Prometheus knitted his fingers and hunched forward to stare at us. "I''ll be watching you and how you progress."

    "Hah! Then I''ll take the honor of being their first opponents!"

    The titan who was over ten meters lurched to his feet, laughing. He narrowed his eyes at us, his fingers curling into gargantuan fists.

    "Well met, Agares-sama. Then we''ll meet on the battlefield."

    With a flick of his cloak, Regis turned and left the chamber. Lilith and I followed him shortly, even as the gazes of the remaining six Demon Lords lingered upon us. But before we made our exit, I couldn''t help but turn to Agares for one last time and drew my finger over my throat.

    "You whelp!"

    Stifling my laughter, I left the fuming titan behind as I followed Lilith into the outside, where thousands of tanks and millions of infantry awaited.

    "Your Excellency Emperor Gremory! Your highness Queen Scarlet! Lord General Tanaka!"

    A Colonel saluted as we emerged into the open, the air saturated with promethium fumes and ionic crackle of plasma.

    "Let''s move out, Colonel Burado." Regis smiled at Colonel Benjamin Burado, who bowed his head deferentially. "We''ve finally found out what our first destination is."

    Burado nodded and turned to glance at me. Since it was my duty, I stepped to the makeshift podium where most of my command staff awaited. Lieutenant-Colonel Elia Kratz, Colonel Daniel Dressia and even Nishida Kensuke all stood stiffly as I took my place at the center.

    Turning to the millions of soldiers that waited outside the demonic underground chamber, I raised my hand.

    "Soldiers of Morten! We march to war!"

    "FOR MORTEN!"

    And thus the curtains descended on the greatest war yet to befall Restia.

 140 Chapter 140: Epilogue

    "Dear, so you''re here after all."

    "Oh, Lilith. Are you ready?"

    Lilith blinked as she strolled to my side, and then gave a sigh.

    "¡­I guess so. To be honest, I still feel a bit nervous, but as long as I''m with you¡­"

    "Thank you." I gave her hand a squeeze before glancing up at the sky. It was a nice day. The sky was as blue as it ever was, with white fluffy clouds lazily drifting by under the dazzling sun. Despite the industrialization that had taken place over the centuries, we had ensured that pollution be kept to the minimum, so we didn''t suffer any smog or acid rain or whatever.

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    Still, I couldn''t believe how much time had passed. The Restia right now was completely different from the Restia I first came to, all those centuries ago.

    "¡­it took us over two hundred years, but we''ve finally managed to defeat all those monsters."

    "Calling them monsters?" Lilith giggled as I grumbled in a melancholic voice. "I don''t think you can call them that."

    "Yeah, well¡­at least we didn''t have to fight Prometheus. Good thing he decided to surrender or make peace with us, or we would really have broken apart¡­"

    Even though we subjugated six out of the seven remaining Demon Lords through military might and forced them under the banner of the Alliance (which now included the humans as well), the cost had been great. Fighting just one more war might take too much of a toll on Morten, which had survived upheavals and horrendous death tolls.

    Prometheus must have realized that, for he decided to keep his word and make peace with us. Even he didn''t want to see Restia in ruins¡­or more likely, he was too lazy to go through all the trouble of waging war.

    "Is there any part of Restia you want to visit?"

    "Hmm? We spent the last hundred years traveling all over Restia. I can''t think of a place we haven''t been to."

    Lilith placed a finger on her chin as she thought. Then she grinned mischievously.

    "The only place I haven''t been to is your world."

    "Right, right. That''s why I''m waiting for you."

    I stood up and stretched myself. With a flick of my right hand, I brought a book into reality and flipped through it.

    "Hmm, so¡­this should be all¡­"

    "Yeah," I assured her. "I''ve run through simulations and read through a few tomes and grimoires in the Library of Eden to double-check. This book is telling the truth."

    After the war, and while traveling, I had combed through the Library of Eden and found a book that held a clue to returning to my original world. It had taken far too much time, but I had eventually deciphered the necessary spell from the relevant book.

    Having a Library of Eden inside my mind was so convenient.

    "It''s a pity, though¡­I was far too late¡­"

    My former classmates who were transported to this world along with me had all passed away eons ago. While, as a vampire and Demon Lord, I was able to preserve my life and live indefinitely, my former classmates were only human. Nagano Nanaka¡­Sanada Hiroyuki¡­Nishida Kensuke¡­Domon Daisuke¡­Aoyama Aoi¡­and finally Hoshizaki Kozue. Probably Umezu Shigeo and Kido Mayumi as well. They all lived to ripe, old ages before they expired, buried with full honors and surrounded by devotees and families.

    Even though they were mostly satisfied with their lives, their one regret was that they never found a way back home. And in the end, I was left alone, living through immortality by myself. At least I had Lilith to accompany me. Regis too¡­and his son and daughter-in-law. Oh, and most of my subordinates ¨C those who survived the Morten War afterward ¨C were still alive and happily living with their families. So I wasn''t truly alone.

    But¡­sometimes I would feel homesick and think about my family back on Earth. Wondering how they would fare without me. If they could ever get over my mysterious disappearance. Wishing that I could meet them again, to tell them that I was all right. Hoping that they were coping well and living well.

    Now, however, I was about to achieve that.

    "Well¡­I mean, it''s been four centuries since you first came to Restia. What if the world you return to¡­has changed a lot? Will your family still be alive?"

    "They will be." I gestured toward the grimoire with a smile. "The spell doesn''t merely let us transcend space and dimensions¡­it''ll allow us to transcend time itself. If I cast it right, we''ll be able to appear on Earth shortly after my class was transported to Restia. Maybe a day or two later."

    Fortunately, as a vampire, I could use magic to adjust my appearance to make myself look like my high school self, so as not to shock my parents. They would never realize I had gone missing for hundreds of years.

    "That''s pretty convenient."

    "¡­yeah." I nodded, and then turned to Lilith. "But what about you? Are you really all right with leaving Restia for about fifty years or so? Just to accompany me and my family in Tokyo?"

    "¡­it''ll be a fresh experience," Lilith replied after a second. "And I want to see what your world is like, and try living in it. Who knows, I might like it better there."

    "We''ll see." I couldn''t help but smile. Lilith shrugged.

    "The only worry I have is¡­leaving this place behind. I know we''ll be back, but¡­I''m still a little concerned. Especially about Haemorage."

    "Don''t worry," I assured her as I put an arm around her shoulders. "Haemorage is in good hands. Lux and Krulcifer will do a great job governing it."

    "Yes¡­I guess they will."

    Our son had grown up to become a mature, intelligent man. That was a given, given how Lilith and I raised him. Lux also married a highly competent woman, and even an outsider could see what a perfect match Krulcifer was for him. In terms of fanspeak, Lux married the best girl.

    "Then let''s go."

    "¡­yes. Let us go."

    We smiled at each other, and then I turned to activate the spell. A gigantic magic circle materialized in front of us. Holding hands, the two of us stepped into the circle and disappeared from Restia. Our surroundings faded away, only to be replaced by the familiar urban environment of Tokyo. The spell had succeeded.

    "Hmm¡­nothing has changed."

    "Your spell succeeded!"

    Lilith was glancing around, astonished by her new surroundings.

    "Wow¡­this¡­this doesn''t look like anything I''ve imagined!"

    "Yeah." I offered her my hand and smiled. "There''s a lot of things I want to show you¡­but first, let''s go home."