The Demon Bait Gambit
When we arrived at the city where the large-scale demon summoning was to take place, news had already spread that the Mountain Dragon’s servant was stirring up trouble in the North. The city that had been brimming with confidence—even while tense—upon hearing of the medium wave was nowhere to be found. The once-peaceful atmosphere had instantly shifted into one of high alert.
Secondary and tertiary defensive lines were being erected inside the city, while mages continued layering barriers until they collapsed from mana exhaustion. Even ordinary citizens joined in, hauling supplies as the entire city prepared for an all-out war.
“Move the supplies faster!”
“Don’t skimp on the mana stones for the mana cannons! Forget about overwork—we should be worrying whether the city will fall before those things explode!”
“Hey! Have you sent word to the craftsmen?”
“Yes, sir. They replied that they’ll keep working without rest until the situation is resolved.”
“Don’t hold back support for the craftsmen. From now on, consumables are going to be in critically short supply.”
Urgent voices echoed from every direction. I slipped through the crowd of hurried people and headed toward the city hall at the center of the city. The building, now serving as a temporary command post, was bustling with people handling their duties. I could see figures standing before a large communication artifact capable of long-distance transmission, shouting in frantic voices.
Anel, who had been conversing with a serious expression alongside the city administrator and what appeared to be the commanders, spotted me and waved.
“You’re here?”
“I took care of the ones approaching the city.”
“You handled them all by yourself?”
“You know my specialty.”
“Right. Your Mystery is specialized for group combat.”
I was confident that no one in the North surpassed me in group battles. Anel knew this as well, so she quickly accepted it and showed me the map laid out on the table. The map displayed the detailed terrain centered around our current city.
Pointing at the map with a command baton, Anel connected the surrounding cities to ours as she spoke.
“As soon as the scouts reported in, we contacted the neighboring cities and requested cooperation. Seven cities, centered around this one, are going to establish a defensive line.”
“The other cities are only just starting their preparations. Will they be all right?”
“We have no choice. They said they’d prepare as best they could, so we’ll have to trust them.”
Anel, who had been muttering with a grave face, began placing miniature figures on the map that Coco, her subordinate, handed to her. The number of soldier figures at each city was small, while the number of monster figures was overwhelmingly large.
“Since we couldn’t pinpoint the monsters’ exact locations, we’ve used the emergency authority of the highest-ranking guild employee in each region to mobilize nearby informants for search operations.”
“Ask Goro and Arash for the details. They’re the witnesses, so they should have a rough idea of the location.”
“That’s a relief. But even if we know the location, the fundamental problem remains—the allied forces facing the monsters are overwhelmingly outnumbered.”
I nodded grimly at her words. Thankfully, we had managed to send word across the entire North before a disaster occurred, but it would still take several days for reinforcements from the nearest locations to arrive. Even those would only be from the rear cities closest to us, so the numbers wouldn’t exceed a few hundred.
This crisis couldn’t be resolved by a handful of people showing up. We needed to prepare an army in the thousands to even stand a chance—and it had to be properly trained elite troops at that. I furrowed my brow, unable to even guess how many Gold-class monsters might be among the ten thousand.
“At least we have the saving grace that the Archduke and Vergo are in the Edenberg County.”
“The Trajan Village where they’re staying is on the complete opposite side from here. It’ll take them days to arrive.”
“If they heard the news and came running at full speed, it wouldn’t even take half a day.”
“It’ll probably take a few days just for the news to reach them. The ruins you discovered weren’t ordinary, so they left in a hurry with only the bare essentials.”
“Damn it. So we have to hold out on our own for at least a few days.”
Since they only needed to excavate the ruins, long-range communication artifacts had naturally fallen low on their priority list. I never imagined the snowball I’d set rolling would come back this huge. I let out a sigh, finally understanding how the Spartan army must have felt facing the Persian forces.
At least at Thermopylae, the Spartans had the advantage of terrain. Here, we had to face ten thousand monsters capable of destroying the very land we stood on—and their numbers were still growing in real time.
Faced with such overwhelming odds, I lightly tapped my head and steeled my resolve.
“Still, we have to find a way.”
I had no intention of sitting around sucking my thumb and waiting for Master-class adventurers just because we were under attack by the Mountain Dragon. My fate was mine to carve out—I couldn’t leave it in someone else’s hands.
If Arthur and Vergo weren’t here, then we’d just have to come up with countermeasures without them. As I firmed my expression and gathered my determination, Anel, who had been watching me closely, smiled and handed me the command baton.
“What’s this?”
“Among the seven cities forming the defensive line, you currently hold the highest rank, Argo. You’re the one who has to lead them.”
“I have to lead them?”
“I may be a senior receptionist with a fairly high position in the guild, but I’m still a non-combatant. If you want the warriors to follow you wholeheartedly, the strongest fighter has to step up.”
She wasn’t wrong. Even if Anel and the guild staff handled the detailed planning, I would have to play the role of the figurehead. It would help boost morale as well.
Aside from me, the only other viable candidates were the Lucy siblings, but they’d probably make disgusted faces and shove the responsibility back onto me if asked to take on such a role.
After making a quick decision, I grasped the command baton without hesitation.
“Fine. I’ll take responsibility and stop the offensive.”
I deliberately answered with a playful tone to ease the tension, then turned to look at Adela and Beatrice, who were waiting inside the city hall.
“How many ants are currently in the Water Realm?”
“My elite swarm has three hundred, and Beatrice’s swarm has two thousand two hundred.”
“I’ll figure out how to handle the food and resources they consume, so increase their numbers as much as possible.”
“Got it.”
“The artificial hatchery in the nest was just completed, so we’ll begin mass production.”
That was a stroke of luck amid the misfortune. Even if regular ants needed at least seven or eight of them to barely take down a Wood Gore, their strength was still precious right now.
I gave a small smile at the reliable words of the two queens and closed my eyes. Shifting my senses into the Water Realm, I scanned its interior. Monsters were scattered across the vast space.
The total number of monsters in the Water Realm was around seven hundred. Half were Bronze-class, the other half Silver-class, with a very small number of Gold-class. It was more than enough power for an individual to possess—far beyond sufficient—but compared to the enemy’s numbers, it was still lacking.
Still, I judged that it would be enough to hold the line. Opening my eyes, I tapped the map with the command baton.
“The main offensive will be handled at this city. Considering the forces I can summon alone, this is the method with the highest chance of successful defense.”
“This side also has the strongest defenses because we prepared for the wave, right?”
“Exactly. And evacuate all non-combatants to the rear cities. There’s a high chance this city itself will become a battlefield, so we can’t have civilians inside.”
“I’ll issue the evacuation order immediately.”
After confirming that the city administrator had hurriedly left with the city hall staff, I nodded. Every second counted in this situation, so we had to act as soon as the plan was made.
After briefly explaining the plan and dispatching the responsible parties to prepare the defenses, Anel suddenly looked at me with curious eyes.
“By the way, how are you planning to lure the monsters? No matter how solidly we prepare, it’ll be a problem if they decide to ignore us.”
It was a reasonable doubt. Just as Anel said, if the Mountain Dragon’s servant judged that attacking our prepared defenses would be too difficult, they might simply bypass us. Then we’d be left chasing after nothing.
But there was no need to worry. We had the most reliable aggro puller of all.
Looking at Neon with a gaze full of trust, the eyes of everyone present followed mine toward him. Neon, who had been staring blankly at the sheer scale of the plan, suddenly snapped to attention and pointed at himself.
“Huh? Me?”
He looked around quickly, as if asking if I really meant him. It didn’t inspire much confidence, but I knew the limitless potential Neon possessed.
Recalling the scheme to bring that potential to bloom, I voiced the method I had devised to draw the aggro of the monster army—by any means necessary.
“I have a good plan.”
As the people listened to the plan, their mouths gradually fell open, and by the end, they were looking at me with eyes full of admiration. When the explanation was finished, Neon couldn’t hold back and muttered his honest thoughts.
“It’s really insane, but efficient.”
At Neon’s murmur, everyone present nodded. The plan I had come up with was that absurd. Yet they all agreed—because no other strategy was as efficient as mine.
“All right, the plan explanation is over, so let’s get moving!”
Having completed the final piece of the puzzle, I immediately set everyone to work on preparations.
***
Exactly one day had passed since the cities had formed an alliance and established their defensive line. The Mountain Dragon’s servants must have been monitoring us through some method, because the moment the seven cities entered defensive posture, they began their full-scale operations.
As if their previous silence had been a lie, they rampaged across the land, declaring their presence to the entire world. Their very existence radiated immense pressure.
“Informants have confirmed the monster army’s location!”
“Estimated numbers: approximately seventeen thousand!”
“Monsters are still joining the army in real time!”
“They are currently advancing northeast!”
We had set up a temporary command post in the central plaza for the sake of the plan and were receiving reports from the informants. My heart pounded heavily with each new piece of news.
If we hadn’t noticed this in time, how many casualties would there have been? Not only the seven cities forming the defensive line, but dozens of villages would have been reduced to rubble. Everyone there would have died.
‘Seriously, what would we have done without Goro and Arash?’
Sending silent praise to the two of them, I waited with a serious expression. I tracked the monsters’ positions in real time, moving their figures across the map. After calculating the cities’ locations against the monster army’s advance route, I judged that the time had come.
Finally, a signal came from the informants.
“The guild informant has sent the signal! They say the monsters have moved to the target location!”
“Now’s the time! Neon! Activate the prepared summoning circle!”
“Roger!”
At my shout, Neon, who had prepared a massive summoning circle in the central plaza, began drawing up his black mana. The ominous relics arranged around the summoning circle emitted eerie sounds as they thrashed to break free from their bindings. The priests maintaining the relics’ seals turned pale, but Neon paid them no mind and began his incantation.
“O great demon who dwells in Hell! O sage who has mastered the knowledge of all things! This lowly black mage Neon beseeches the truly truthful one!”
Shaaaaaaaak!
The sinister relics trembled violently, scattering a dreadful aura. These were artifacts that had once belonged to black mages and heretics who had rampaged across the continent over the past thousand years—each one extraordinary. They included the staff of a high-ranking black mage who had brought a city to ruin, and sacred relics of evil gods.
We had gathered every wicked artifact from the nearby cities, which was how we’d managed to collect this many. Even so, there were far too many sinister items, but in a way, that was only natural.
The North was a clean zone for black mages. Whenever black mages or heretics carrying evil energy tried to establish a nest, the monsters would go berserk and slaughter them, so no more fools dared come up to the North. Thanks to this, the priests of the Holy Kingdom had come up with an excellent idea upon seeing the churches in the North.
That idea was the sealing vaults for storing wicked artifacts. Since the artifacts resonated with each other when gathered in one place and caused chaos, the number that could be sealed in any single location was limited. In the meantime, the vast North—where even ordinary people were as strong as quasi-knights, and where monsters despised black mages—had been the perfect sealing location from the priests’ perspective.
Even if a demon escaped from a sealing vault, the Northern warriors would drool at the thought of the achievement they could gain by hunting it. It was a win-win situation for both sides.
That was the origin of the priests paying a massive price to build sealing vaults beneath each temple in the North. Unfortunately(?), no demon had ever been released from the North’s temple vaults—until today, when that perfect record was about to be broken.
Neon, who had been chanting while sweating coldly, spread both arms wide and uttered the final line.
“Manifest the legion of the great Archdevil of Hell upon this place! In exchange, I offer these wicked artifacts!”
Crack crack crack crack!
As the final incantation ended, the relics forming the summoning circle trembled violently before turning to dust. The priests, who had been watching the summoning circle with complicated expressions as it accepted the contract, swallowed dryly.
“Now that we’ve actually done it, I’m worried. Is this really all right?”
“The situation is far too dire. If we can save countless lives by offering the wicked artifacts as payment, then we must gladly do so.”
“May the gods forgive us.”
Their complexions remained poor even though the relics they had been sealing were gone. They had agreed to remove the wicked artifacts from the vaults because the situation was so critical, but they had never dreamed that such a mad act would actually be carried out.
If it hadn’t been for the approval of Torso, the Inquisitor of the Northern Inquisition, they would never have permitted it.
Regardless, Neon, who had finished the summoning, rose from his spot with an exhausted face.
“Don’t tell me it failed?”
“Look at the sky.”
Looking up at the sky with nervous eyes, wondering if it had failed, Neon pointed upward with a face that had turned completely white. Following his finger, I saw an extremely ominous Gate of Hell forming in the cloud-filled sky.
The priests clicked their tongues at the precursor phenomenon of a large-scale demon summoning that countless black mages had yearned and yearned for.
“So that’s the Gate of Hell.”
“When I read about the Gate of Hell being summoned five hundred years ago, I thought it was an exaggeration. I never imagined it was real.”
“The official black mage’s name was Neon, wasn’t it? He certainly has remarkable ability.”
“Even if he replaced the entire cost of the summoning with artifacts, to think he’d complete the Gate of Hell in just one day.”
“According to rumors, he clung to the leg of the Archdevil he contracted with and begged until he learned the summoning method. That must be an exaggeration, right?”
The precursor phenomenon of the large-scale demon summoning filled the area with black mana. It was an ominous power that ordinary people couldn’t withstand, but fortunately, the people here were no ordinary individuals.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble!
Finally, the completed Gate of Hell swung open, and countless demons revealed themselves with wild laughter. Having crossed through the Gate of Hell that connected the middle realm after so long, the demons grinned grotesquely as they announced their arrival in this world.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been in the middle realm!”
“Hunting! It’s hunting time!”
“Who will be my opponent?”
The demons belonging to Krisnain’s legion looked down at the city to find the enemy of their summoner, Neon.
“They’re here! It’s the demons!”
“Reinforcements!”
“We’ve been waiting for you!”
Seeing the people cheering at their appearance instead, the demons stopped laughing and looked at each other. What? Had they actually been summoned to a city of black mages? No, there were priests over there.
After briefly pondering the phenomenon that defied all demonic common sense, they headed toward their summoner, Neon, as per the contract. The demon legion commander leading thousands of demons spoke with an arrogant face.
“Black mage Neon, state the price of the summoning. I shall sweep away all your enemies.”
“Ooh! O great demon legion commander! There are terrifying beings whose names I fear to speak approaching this place! Please deal with them!”
“I shall follow the contract.”
The demon legion commander nodded at Neon’s request. The demons here were all elites. A legion that served a great being had the confidence to defeat any opponent…
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa───!
A horrifying cry filled with pure hatred echoed from beyond the horizon. Pure killing intent. Pure loathing. Pure hatred. The roar, filled with spine-chillingly terrifying emotions, made the demons involuntarily look toward the horizon.
Hearing the cry that carried the will to kill them by any means necessary, they instinctively knew something had gone wrong. The demon legion commander, who had heard the sound from beyond the horizon, looked at Neon with an uneasy face.
“…What was that sound just now?”
“They are the terrifying beings whose names I cannot speak.”
“…I know this is rude, but could you tell me their names?”
“Of course. The opponents are the monsters of the North. Their numbers reach approximately seventeen thousand, and they’re still increasing.”
“Ah, fuck.”
Hearing Neon’s words, the demon legion commander couldn’t hold back and spat out a vulgar curse. The commander finally understood why the great Archdevil had laughed with tears in his eyes when they were being summoned.