562
Chapter 562
"HAHAHAHAHA! Bring more alcohol! Having someone to mock makes the drinks go down even better!"
The Northern warriors' boisterous laughter and crude remarks echoed throughout the Allied Forces' camp.
Helen and Duke shook their heads watching the Northerners who kept drinking and mocking tirelessly.
Duke spoke to Helen.
"I had them do as you suggested, but I didn't expect them to keep at it so relentlessly."
Helen nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. The Himonas side is performing beyond expectations, but Castro Pollock is surprisingly resilient."
They had expected him to fall for the provocation quickly, but there was surprisingly little reaction from Jupiter Castle.
Duke clicked his tongue and said.
"It would be better if they showed a reaction soon. Some nobles are starting to complain about this provocation."
Some were voicing their displeasure, saying it was trampling on the honor of noble aristocrats, even if they were enemies.
Helen's expression darkened at those words.
'If there's no reaction within this week, we'll need another plan...'
But then.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Along with the massive drum sounds, the sentinel's voice rang throughout the camp.
"MONSTER WAVE INCOMING!"
Duke rose from his seat with a grin.
"The Commander-in-Chief was right. Castro finally took the bait."
Helen nodded at Duke's words while picking up her Dragon Buster.
"What happens now is crucial. Please take charge of the rear, Captain."
"Understood. I wish you good fortune."
Duke immediately left the tent and headed toward the Black Sword Knights' position.
The Black Sword Knights, along with the dispatched Highlanders, were already in battle formation.
He shouted to the knights.
"Well then! Let's go hunt some monsters!"
The Black Sword Knights had already experienced several monster waves while following Zeke.
They raised their morale and quickly moved toward the rear where the monster wave was approaching, following Duke.
In their field of vision, they could see the gate floating in the sky behind the camp.
Infernal monsters pouring out from the gate were advancing in lines toward the camp.
Farrell quickly assessed the monsters and reported to Duke.
"Captain, they're mostly B and C-grade monsters."
The Black Sword Knights, having continuously faced monster waves, had developed their own monster classification system for efficient combat formation.
A-grade were large monsters, B and C were medium-sized, D and below were small monsters.
Based on the fact that there were no super-large S-grade or large A-grade monsters, only medium-sized ones making up the numbers, it seemed the forces were hastily prepared.
Duke assigned troops into divisions based on Farrell's report.
Clonne, Farrell, Felix, and Reina took charge as division leaders, with other Black Legion members serving as deputy leaders to support them.
The leaders led their units charging toward the monsters.
"HAAAAAH!"
Clonne swung her mace flickering with white light at the approaching monsters.
CRASH!
Several monsters fell with that single strike.
Meanwhile, Farrell and Felix commanded other soldiers with orthodox tactics to prevent monsters from approaching the camp.
"Save your arrows! Shoot when they're in range! Soldiers, support the stockade from below so it doesn't collapse!"
With the experienced Black Sword Knights leading the battle, knights and soldiers from other houses who had been tense were also able to handle the monsters steadily.
Then at some point, one knight order charged rapidly toward the monster army's flank.
"Kill them all!"
The Himonas knights, who had been drinking and making noise, had somehow organized their formation and began sweeping through the monsters.
In their center, Northern Grand Duke Alicia swung her Wolf fang Sword as tall as herself, sending monster bodies flying like leaves.
CRASH! CRASH!
The dark mages in the rear were flustered seeing the Black Sword Knights and Himonas Knights engaging the rushing monsters as if they had been waiting for this.
'W-what is this?'
Although Castro Pollock had urgently requested the gate and summoned mainly medium-sized monsters, it was still a scale that normal knight orders couldn't properly handle.
But the dark mages couldn't help but feel more bewildered as they handled the monsters overwhelmingly without any panic.
'Communications with headquarters are cut off, and the Thermo Gate situation is still stagnant, so we opened the gate for now, but damn...'
They had temporarily closed the Thermo Gate to open a gate here, leaving the forces there isolated.
Especially for the undead, when the gate closed, they couldn't maintain their power without receiving magic from the demon realm.
The plan was to increase chaos by releasing monsters in the rear, then quickly close the gate and redirect magical power back to the Thermo Gate, but the calculations had gone completely wrong.
That's when Alicia charged toward the gate while swinging her Wolf fang sword
"There they are! Target those mages!"
Alicia grabbed an iron ball-tipped spear hanging from her warhorse.
She had tried throwing them to provoke Jupiter's forces and found she liked the feel, so she brought several.
She hurled the spear with all her might toward the altar where the mages were.
CRASH! CRASH!
The iron ball Alicia threw cut through the air rapidly toward the altar.
Her aim had improved since the first time, and the iron ball landed precisely on the altar.
"R-run away!"
The mages jumped off the altar in surprise.
BOOM! BOOM!
CRASH!
The altar was completely destroyed by Alicia's single iron ball throw.
Watching this, Alicia grinned and shouted excitedly.
"Did you see that?! A direct hit!"
The Himonas Knights charged in more forcefully while cheering for Alicia's hit.
Duke, watching from behind the fortification, raised his ki sense and observed the battlefield.
Then he noticed an ominous energy rippling in the air.
'This is...'
It was the energy of a high-rank demon that Zeke had warned about before.
Duke shouted to Zeros, the Black Sword Knights' magic unit commander who was standing by.
"Zeros! Calculate the coordinates where I'll send my sword strike!"
Duke leaped into the air using wind technique.
Then he sent a sword strike straight toward where the energy was rippling.
CRASH! CRASH!
The sword strike containing strong wind flew toward where the high-rank demon was being summoned.
WHOOSH!
As Duke's sword strike was negated, the summoned demon slowly began to reveal itself.
It had a lion-like face and a grotesque body like a giant insect.
But its power was no less than the Black Knight's aura.
Just before the high-rank demon was fully summoned, Zeros and his subordinate mages below raised their staves and completed their spell.
SCREECH-
Along with a sharp sound, magic circles made of white light overlapped on the high-rank demon's body.
As the summoning completed, the magic circles activated and bound the high-rank demon, preventing it from moving.
CRACKLE!
White light burst from the magic circles whenever the demon tried to move.
It was a trap spell for high-rank demons created by the light mages Arina and Hades.
Taking advantage of the relatively long summoning time for high-rank demons, the Black Knight with excellent ki sense would identify the summoning point coordinates, then mages would set up trap magic there in advance to seal the summoned demon's movements.
Zeke had suggested the idea, Arina and Hades had designed the magic circle, and Duke and Zeros were using it in actual combat for the first time - Duke's judgment had been spot on.
ROAR!
Watching the high-rank demon roaring while unable to move due to the trap magic, Duke raised his sword in the air.
"Stay right there!"
WHOOSH!
Wind energy gathered in Duke's sword.
And at some point, Duke's body became a single gust of wind.
SWOOSH!
It was the moment when Duke Draker the Wind Knight's ultimate technique, which once shook the entire continent, reappeared.
SWOOSH-
The high-rank demon struck by Duke's ultimate technique fell to the ground, spewing blue blood.
CRASH!
BOOM!
Even though it took the Black Knight's ultimate technique while defenseless in the trap, it was still breathing.
SCREECH!
And surprisingly, as soon as the high-rank demon got up, it reached for nearby monsters and began devouring them indiscriminately.
CRUNCH!
The high-rank demon's wounds from Duke healed very quickly as it devoured monsters.
While it was recovering by catching and eating a huge Twin Ogre in one bite, a thunderous sound split the air from behind.
CRUNCH!
Alicia's thrown iron ball precisely pierced the high-rank demon's hard shell.
SCREECH!
The high-rank demon screamed and rolled on the ground after the surprise attack while eating monsters.
At that moment, Alicia leaped into the air, raised her Wolf fang Sword, and charged down toward the high-rank demon.
"HAAAAAH!"
She swung down her wolf fang sword with enough force to split the high-rank demon in half.
CRUNCH!
Just as the blade was about to make contact, the demon shed its shell and slipped out its main body, dodging Alicia's sword.
GROWL!
The high-rank demon, having abandoned its insect-like body, looked like an ugly monster with wrinkled skin.
The transformed high-rank demon tried to convey its will through telepathy.
-...humans...dare to...the great demon realm...
The high-rank demon tried to stutter something more, but Alicia wouldn't wait.
She charged straight in, seemingly uninterested, and swung her Wolf fang sword at the demon.
WHOOSH!
While she used to rely purely on force before, her movements had become much more natural after receiving sword training from the Sword King.
SWOOSH!
With fluid movements, she sealed the high-rank demon's movements and cut off its legs in one strike.
THUD!
Even without its shell, the high-rank demon was twice the size of a human, so it fell to the ground with a loud noise.
The demon, having lost its composure, babbled something in demon language, but Alicia paid no attention and immediately rushed in to cut off its neck.
CRUNCH!
The demon's head was cleanly severed by Alicia's wolf fang sword.
But then something amazing happened.
CRUNCH!
The Wolf fang sword opened wide like a wolf's mouth and instantly devoured the demon's severed head and body.
"Huh?"
Even Alicia was startled and hesitated for a moment, having never seen her Wolf fang sword do this before.
Usually, demons whose power has been depleted in the mortal realm are reverse-summoned back to the demon realm.
This is because their main body remains in the demon realm.
However, the Wolf fang Sword containing the Wolf King's power instantly devoured the soul contained in the summoned demon's body, destroying even its main body in the demon realm.
WHOOSH!
The Wolf fang Sword returned to its original form after cleanly devouring the high-rank demon.
Although Alicia couldn't understand exactly what had happened, she narrowed her eyes as she felt the Wolf fang Sword's power more clearly than before.
'The Wolf King Fenrir was a wolf that devoured monsters in legend. Could those monsters have been demons?'
A wolf that grows stronger by eating monsters. Then this Wolf fang Sword would grow stronger by eating demons.
Until now, she hadn't known about this function because she hadn't properly drawn out the Wolf fang Sword's power.
The Wolf fang Sword's true power was revealed as she became one with the sword through training with the Sword King.
Alicia grinned after learning about the Wolf fang Sword's new ability.
"Thanks to Zeke Draker, I learned something good."
The dark mages maintaining the gate panicked and prepared to withdraw from the battlefield when even their hard-summoned high-rank demon was instantly defeated.
'M-monsters.'
The treaty between Abyss and Jupiter wasn't important to them.
Just as the dark mages were about to open a gate to escape the battlefield.
CRACKLE!
Suddenly, strong electricity sparked from the gate.
Along with magical power backflow, the dark mages collapsed on the spot, spewing blood from their mouths.
"COUGH!"
In their blurry vision, they saw someone approaching.
BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!
A man in Draker uniform walking out of the light.
The dark mages of Abyss muttered the man's name with trembling voices.
"Z-Zeke Dra..."
CRACKLE!
At that moment, intense lightning of light swept through, turning all the dark mages to ashes.
The Knight of Salvation, Zeke Draker, appeared on the battlefield.