The Tide of Corruption (6)
After I finally got back on my feet inside the healing tent, Alice and I moved to the command tent, where we began preparing both a frontal assault and a surprise operation.
The last night raid had claimed the lives of nearly a thousand men, leaving us with roughly five thousand troops.
The demons, by contrast, still numbered around eight thousand.
Every battle and every ambush had ended in victory, and those successes were what had whittled the gap down to this.
Then Deus proposed that we launch a surprise attack with the remaining five thousand.
"Our current strength stands at five thousand. The demons number eight thousand. Our consecutive victories have narrowed the gap, but if we simply sit here and wait, we'll be the ones to wither away first."
Alice posed a question at Deus's assessment. "Deus. Am I to understand that you're proposing we launch a counterattack now?"
"Yes, sir. That's exactly what I'm proposing."
"Why?"
Deus began to lay out, methodically, the reasons a frontal battle had become necessary.
First: the difference in capability between our forces and theirs.
Assuming a soldier fought alone, the average infantryman could kill about five lower demons before falling.
The reason we hadn't been able to choose a frontal battle in the beginning was that the disparity in numbers had been utterly overwhelming — choosing it then would have been a reckless gamble.
A head-on confrontation would have cost us a devastating amount of blood.
That was why we'd relied on defensive warfare and ambush units, a two-pronged strategy that let us rack up victories against the enemy efficiently.
Now that the gap in numbers had closed, Deus argued, an offensive of this kind would prove effective.
Second: the current state of our troops.
The situation on the front lines looked fine only on the surface; beneath it, the soldiers and knights were steadily wearing down.
Deus pointed out that this was tied directly to the momentum of the war — that if we continued fighting purely defensively, the line would grow more and more likely to break.
And as an aside, he added that the more wounded we took, the greater our supply burden would grow — a burden the supply depots at Dribble could no longer hope to sustain.
Third: the demons' change in strategy.
They knew our lines had taken enormous damage.
Naturally, they would have revised their strategy accordingly — and Deus argued it was right to gamble everything on a surprise operation and end the war, rather than drag things out in a tense, grinding standoff.
Because if the demons simply settled in with an 'Ah, we're not coming out~ keep waiting and sweating, lol' strategy, we'd be spending our days waiting for an attack of unknowable timing — buying time for them, in other words.
And last: my existence.
One reason the enemy was holding still, he said, was me.
Every one of the massive threats so far had been dealt with by my own hand.
Which meant that to the demons, I was an object of terror.
If I stood at the vanguard of the front lines alongside Alice, the sight of me — a Successor — would plunge the demons into fear. They wouldn't dare advance, and in the end they would fall to our assault.
"Sir Deus, your argument carries real weight. No — it's compelling enough that I'd want to put it into action this very moment. However."
"The enemy still holds a weapon they haven't revealed. The beings who raise the Tide of Corruption are Ranked Demons — foes far more formidable than even Great Demons."
The Tide of Corruption meant a flood of tens of thousands of demons pouring in from all four directions of the Holy Empire.
And to command such overwhelming numbers — to deploy Great Demons and peak demons alongside them — there had to exist a being of surpassing power above them all: a Ranked Demon.
"Deus. Then if the Ranked Demon is handled by me and the other Successor, would you face any difficulty in executing the plan?"
A bombshell of a statement from Alice.
What she meant was that, right then and there, she was handing over every ounce of her command authority to Deus.
Deus nodded and went on. "Yes. That would be a great reassurance. Though there is one concern."
The mindset being: if the Ranked Demon was merely an obstacle in the plan's path, then we simply form a dedicated team to deal with that obstacle.
Of course, even this approach had a drawback.
"If we proceed as Lady Alice has described, I can carry out my plan with room to spare. However — if you and the Successor were to fall into danger, there would be no troops left to send to your aid."
That drawback: no possibility of requesting reinforcements.
Every soldier would be locked in the frontal battle against the demons, with no reserves to spare. Even if we found ourselves in peril, we would have to claw our way out of it by our own strength alone.
"Then we proceed as proposed."
At that, Benedict slammed both hands on the table in protest. "This cannot stand! This operation must not be carried out! In the worst case, we lose the Supreme Commander and the Successor both, the battle is lost — and the Cumul Territory is finished!"
I spoke up quietly from my chair. "You're right. If the Commander and I die, this war is lost, and the Cumul Territory won't hold out for long. But are we going to keep dancing to the demons' tune like this? At the very least, their not advancing means they're waiting for us to hold back."
"The state of the front lines is dire as it stands. Our troops can't hold on much longer. As Sir Deus said, the front only looks sound on the surface — and the forces we can field are fewer than the enemy's."
"What's more, time isn't on our side either. We have no more soldiers who can come to our aid — but the demons can call up reserves at their leisure."
Eight thousand had been the total after mobilizing every last soldier that could be scraped together from across the entire Cumul Territory.
That was with everyone brought along except the garrison troops that had to be left behind by obligation.
We had brought our entire army — which meant no reinforcements could ever be requested from the territory again.
And sending word to the Imperial House was no answer either; by the time reinforcements could travel from the capital to the Cumul Territory, the reorganized demons would have already struck these lines.
Rather than sit here and fight a losing battle on the defensive, it was right to prepare an assault and take the field on our own favorable terms.
With me, Alice, Deus, and Crow all signaling their approval, the motion carried by majority — and Benedict had no choice but to fall in line with the operation.
We put our heads together to fix the timing of the surprise attack.
The hour settled upon was two days hence.
Meaning: for those two days, the soldiers would be given as much rest as possible to preserve their strength.
By our reasoning, the demons would show no movement for those two days anyway.
And truly, just as we'd predicted, on the day after the plan was decided, the demons attempted no attack whatsoever.
Just as on the night the Dreamer had struck — not even so much as a raid.
Of course, with the Dreamer dead, their own losses must have been considerable.
Naturally, they couldn't afford to attack us rashly.
A Successor of this era had certainly been born — that much they knew.
But they had no way of knowing just how strong that Successor was.
And knowing a Great Demon — the Dreamer — had died made it all the more certain.
What if, just maybe, that Successor could even threaten their own lives as Ranked Demons? So they played it safe.
And so one day passed in a flash.
With no battles and nothing of note happening, I passed the time sparring with Alice, having the healers check my body for anything amiss.
- Whumm!
- Whoosh! Whumm!
Summoning the Ice Dragon and learning to wield the authority of ice was also among the things I'd spent those two days doing.
"Successor, you must endure it!"
"Ghhk..! Since when is handling ice with precision this difficult?!"
Brionic insisted that precision above all else was the first requirement for wielding the authority of ice.
Handle it carelessly, and you might end up harming your own allies — so she said.
Apart from that sparring and training, I didn't move my body recklessly at all.
And so two days passed.
Tomorrow was the day we would launch the surprise attack and meet the enemy head-on.
I flooded my whole body with tension, sharpening every sense from head to toe.
Tomorrow, it all ends.
Even if that ending should take the form of an armistice written with my own death.
To claim victory, to win this war, I had to stake my life on it.
After all, no such thing existed as a safe and comfortable victory in war.
With those thoughts in mind, I stretched out my body with a light workout.
Thanks to that steady conservation of strength, mercifully—
"Thank goodness. My stamina's fully back. All I need is a good night's sleep."
My condition had recovered to a remarkable degree.
The healer clicked his tongue, saying he'd never seen anyone recover this fast.
After washing the sweat from my body with a small amount of water, I headed for my tent.
Because I needed to sleep for the battle tomorrow.
On the way back to my tent after a quick wash, the night sky was brimming with stars, as if cheering me on down the road ahead.
"Whew... let's go in."
And so, the moment I stepped inside my tent — there sat Alice on my bed, wearing nothing but a white shirt and black trousers.
For a second, I thought I'd walked into the wrong tent.
But no. It was my tent, all right. She had simply broken in.
"Noona. Breaking and entering is a crime, you know."
"It's fine. It's your tent, Hyun."
"Well, I'm not fine with it..."
"You're so mean. I'm going to be disappointed...?"
Alice said it with a wounded look on her face.
She knew perfectly well that I was weak to that expression. What a girlfriend.
I set the towel and washing kit back in their place, then slowly made my way to the bed.
And I sat down quietly beside Alice.
"Noona. Are we... sleeping together?"
When I asked, Alice nodded. "Yeah. Let's sleep together."
The bed was built for one person, so it was impossibly narrow — but that much was never going to be an inconvenience for the two of us.
When I lay back on the bed, Alice shifted not to my side but on top of me.
As Alice climbed up over my hips, an indescribable softness filled my lower stomach.
Then her thighs settled around my pelvis until I couldn't have moved if I'd wanted to.
"N-N-Noona?"
When I asked in a fluster, Alice placed her hand on my chest and lowered her head toward my face.
Her face drew closer and closer, and then she began whispering softly into my ear.
"Hyun. Did you really think when I said 'let's sleep together,' I meant just sleeping?"
.....?
......!!!
That means... th-that...!
"Noona...?!"
"So cute... my Hyun..."
With those words, Alice sealed her lips over mine.
Her lips pressed against mine, and I could feel how soft and moist they were.
- Haa..! Haa...!
Our excitement began to accelerate, little by little.
What had begun as a touch of lips deepened as our tongues met — and it felt like being pulled down into a sweeter, deeper abyss with every passing second.
"Mmm... haa...!"
When the deep kiss finally ended, Alice drew her lips away.
Our tongues had been tangled together for so long that a long strand of saliva still connected them.
"Noona..."
When I called for her, Alice smiled brightly. "If you—"
"If we..."
"If the two of us survive this... then I'll give you what comes next. I'll give you my first. So...! We both make it out alive. Promise me, Hyun!"
And with that, Alice showed me the most beautiful smile.
With no one knowing what tomorrow would bring, Alice had made a promise.
That if she and I both survived, she would give her body to me.
What she was really saying was: please, survive. No matter what.
Then it was only right that I showed her a will to match.
"Alice."
When I called her by her name, Alice's eyes flew wide open in shock.
She wouldn't have known, since I'd kept quiet until now — but Alice had been asking me, all this time, to call her by her name.
And I had refused her every single time, stubbornly clinging to 'Noona' up until this very moment.
There was no grand reason I'd refused her request.
I simply didn't want to take her lightly.
She was the first precious person I'd made in this world — someone who lived inside my walls — and all the more for that, I didn't want to treat her casually.
The moment I started calling her 'Alice,' I knew she would inevitably grow used to it.
And when we grew used to each other... wouldn't we end up taking each other for granted?
I was just a coward, that's all. Well.
But... I think I understand now.
Even if I call her by her name, there is no force in this world that could ever make what she and I have into something small.
"Alice... I love you?"
When I smiled and confessed it, my hand cradling her cheek, Alice's eyes brimmed over with tears.
"I'm so happy..! I love you too, Hyun!"
It was a bed made for one, barely wide enough for a single person.
And yet, for us, there was no more comfortable haven in all the world.
I held her in my arms and let myself drift into sleep.
Please — let tomorrow spare everyone.
For the first time in this other world, I prayed to the Azure Dragon.
Let me see them all again — safe and sound.
Morning sunlight streamed through the tent and into my eyes.
Bathed in it, my closed eyes had no choice but to open on their own.
"You're up?"
"Yeah..."
Alice seemed to be awake as well.
It was five in the morning.
Roughly an hour until we marched out.
Plenty of time.
I finished a quick wash and tended to my weapon, then put on my armor.
Because of the nature of my skills, I couldn't move in heavy plate, so I dressed in light gear and waited for Alice.
Before I knew it, Alice had fitted her own armor into place, ready for departure in every respect.
"Let's go. Alice."
"Yeah."
Taking her hand, we stepped out of the tent and headed for the muster point.
There, every last soldier stood in formation, armed to a man, not one of them missing.
Alice and I made our way to the strike force.
When Crow saw us, he offered a silent bow and spoke. "Commander. Successor. You've arrived."
Though Alice had handed command authority over to Deus, her rank still stood higher — and so command of the strike force fell to her.
Accepting his salute, Alice turned to Crow. "Has every soldier of the strike force completed their preparations for battle?"
Crow nodded in answer to her confirmation. "Yes, ma'am. One Crow completed their mission and joined us yesterday evening — Crows three, and the fifty soldiers of the strike force, all stand ready."
The strike force had originally numbered one hundred, but since we needed to punch through the heart of the demon lines faster and more quietly, the decision was made to commit half of them to the main force.
Our goal, above all else, was to remain undetected — and to kill the Ranked Demons.
The hour arrived at last. Deus's address to the troops drew to a close, and the entire army set out for the Devil's Valley.
Over the past two days, Alice and the other commanders had dispatched runners and a portion of the strike force to scout the Devil's Valley.
And they had learned this much: the valley was the demons' main base.
Granted, the demons might have dressed the place up as a headquarters to muddy the waters and feed us false intelligence.
But what mattered was this: a Ranked Demon was at the Devil's Valley.
And that there were two of them.
A single Ranked Demon could certainly command fifteen thousand demonic troops — but if that were truly the case, this land would already have been scorched to ash.
To wield so many minions at once was, in itself, a symbol of that demon's strength.
What if a single being were commanding fifteen thousand demons, issuing orders to them all?
At the very least, there was a chance it would be a demon of the higher Ranks.
But mercifully, their intelligence listed two Ranked Demons — which let us rule out the possibility of a higher-ranked one.
When we asked about their appearances, we learned that one carried a burning sword in its right hand and had the head of a bird, while the other took the form of an ordinary human carrying nothing but a book.
The moment I heard those two descriptions, I could piece together their identities at once.
Rank 63: Andras.
Rank 71: Dantalion.
Both were demons of the lower Ranks — but beings possessed of strength at least surpassing that of a Great Demon.
Which meant: no room for carelessness.
How long had we ridden?
When I pulled out a pocket watch to check the time, it read roughly seven hours of riding.
Discounting the two hours of rest we'd taken at intervals to let the horses breathe, every moment of it had been spent on the march.
And then, as if to welcome us, the mouth of the Devil's Valley came into view.
It bore that name for the jagged rocks that jutted from it like the teeth of a demon.
And thanks to those very rocks — the places where ambushers had crouched and killed more than a few unwary travelers — the sinister name had spread all the faster.
We had decided to send the archers to the tops of the cliffs above the Devil's Valley, raining arrows down from on high to neutralize a portion of the enemy.
Carving out a path of entry so the cavalry and infantry could ride past the neutralized foes and into the valley — that was the archers' role.
The one leading the archers was Rosie Benedit.
She was the commander in charge of our archery forces.
She led the great mass of archers, split them into two wings, and stationed one on the right and one on the left.
Her eyes, no doubt, were already fixed on the staggering horde of demons arrayed below.
Of course they were. Even the strike force, arriving up close only now, could barely keep its jaws shut at the sheer numbers.
From that distant remove, Benedit exchanged words with a centurion.
The centurion nodded: every preparation was complete.
At once, every archer stationed on the right and the left drew an arrow from their quiver and nocked it to their bowstring.
Benedit raised her right hand in the signal to hold; the archers drew their strings taut and waited, and waited, for the command.
And then— Benedit's right hand swept down.
An endless rain of arrows poured down upon the demon lines.
When the first volley fell and countless demons began to moan in agony, Deus wasted no time in giving the order for the general assault.
"Attack! Spare none of them!"
The final battle that would decide the fate of this war had, at last, begun.