Chapter 344: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 344
The reason why the moon particularly draws people's attention is that it shines amidst darkness. That's why the moon has always been an object of fascination for humans, an ideal they wish to reach.
For these people, Homigraph was now their moon.
"There it is! That's Homigraph!"
For self-proclaimed kings with no special values or justifications, there was only one way to lead their people.
"There are fat pigs over there! Let's kill them all and take everything!"
"Aaaaaaa!"
It was to channel the violence of the hungry toward their prey. The roars of hungry soldiers echoed noisily.
The soldiers were so poorly clothed that it was hard to tell whether they were bandits or beggars, and their only weapons were clubs or guns without bullets. They staggered forward like moths flying toward the moon, using it as their guide.
Bang! Boom!
At that moment, a huge explosion occurred in front of the soldiers.
"Argggh!"
"It's magic!"
Magicians could be seen on the control tower or atop tall buildings.
They threatened the self-proclaimed king's advancing army by drawing brilliant magic circles.
"Come any closer and you'll all die. Get lost!"
"R-run away!"
The soldiers fled much faster than they had charged toward Homigraph. Facing magicians without proper equipment was nothing short of madness.
The self-proclaimed king raged at the returning soldiers.
"You damn bastards! Magicians can't do anything if you get close to them!"
"Aaaaargh! Magicians!"
"You fools!"
Bang!
The king fired his gun at a fleeing soldier. The soldier fell, spewing blood. The other soldiers stopped in confusion.
Click!
The king's royal guards aimed their guns at the soldiers.
"Charge right now! If you don't charge, I'll kill you!"
If they went forward, they would die by the magicians. If they fled, they would die by the king.
The soldiers, doomed either way, didn't know what to do.
"Go right now and plunder what belongs to us...!"
Swoosh!
A blue beam pierced through the king's head.
The blue beam had originated from Homigraph. The king, with a coin-sized hole in his head, collapsed and died.
"The, the king is dead!"
Having lost their king, the soldiers fell into panic and scattered in all directions.
When the king died, the royal guards grabbed only the crown on the king's head and his revolver before fleeing into the mountains.
Nearby beggars quickly stole the king's clothes and shoes before running away. A small but great magician on top of a building in Homigraph stared blankly at the scene.
"......"
Raven couldn't help but sigh at the pathetic and desperate battle that couldn't even be called a war.
Raven put the staff back inside her robe.
"Just kill the self-proclaimed king and the rest will scatter. Just snipe the king."
Easier said than done, the sniping magic Raven used was extremely difficult.
It's a precise magic that an ordinary magician couldn't calculate alone; it required a team of three: a targeting magician, a firepower magician, and a support magician.
To create and accurately fire such magic in the time it takes to exhale once. The magicians found it impossible to gauge Raven's genius.
"I'm leaving."
Raven left the rooftop and went down the stairs. At that moment, two knights greeted Raven politely from the darkness.
"We meet the Green-eyed Wizard."
It was Pio and Aurora.
Pio and Aurora looked as if they had been through a lot, with their hair and clothes in disarray.
"Did you find Caesar?"
"No. We couldn't find him."
Raven felt a throbbing headache.
It's said that Caesar disappearing on Whitey was a common occurrence, but this time was quite serious.
"How does it make sense for the Grand General to be missing for two weeks?"
Caesar was like this during the Demon Realm War too. He doesn't understand how much trouble he causes others when he disappears.
"That guy needs to properly understand his position. How difficult does it become without him in the current situation!"
"It's fortunate that you're temporarily in charge, Raven."
Raven wanted to shout, 'That's why I'm suffering like this!' but instead just sat down heavily. She didn't even have the energy to be annoyed anymore.
"Have you found where Caesar is?"
"I'm not sure exactly where he is, but I've discovered a few traces."
"Where did he go?"
"It appears he attacked the nest cities near the Niflheim border. That's why Niflheim seems confused and unable to invade the Pruna border area."
"Why did that guy cross the border...!"
"More urgently, I have something to report."
Pio handed Raven a photograph. The photo showed devils gathered, having a conversation.
"This photo was taken about 4km east of the Homigraph border. I took it by chance while gathering information about Caesar."
There were quite a number of devils. Nearly 20 were gathered, and about 5 of them appeared to be in conversation.
Raven's hand stopped as she flipped through several photos.
"This is..."
Devils with a third eye embedded in their foreheads could be seen. While devils with eyes on their foreheads weren't particularly special, devils carrying large, blunt greatswords like clubs were rare.
"Spell eaters?"
"What are Spell eaters?"
"They're devils that devour magic. I faced them once in the Demon Realm."
"What do you mean by devouring magic?"
"It's exactly as I said. They can swallow magic with that third eye and convert it to aura for use."
A chill ran down Raven's spine. Were Spell eaters devils that could be mass-produced like devils born in devil nests?
What would happen if these creatures attacked Homigraph now?
"How many Spell eaters were there?"
"There were about 10 of them, I think. But it's difficult to know if that's the exact number."
"10 of them?"
Raven knows the abilities of Spell eaters from experience. Wasn't she too busy running away because she couldn't handle them either?
If Gloria hadn't helped her at that moment, she really could have died.
"These creatures are the natural enemies of magicians. Even if there are 100 or 1,000 magicians, they can't win."
"Is it that serious?"
"Yes. We need to warn the magicians immediately. And we need to increase the number of knights deployed."
Raven bit her lip.
So the observation spells she had recently deployed around Homigraph disappeared because of the Spell eaters. Being too busy with her duties as the Acting Martial Law Commander, she didn't have time to clearly investigate why the observation spells had disappeared, which led to this situation.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
At that moment, a bell rang from the building.
That bell doesn't ring for minor incidents. This was because mostly low-level troops that magicians could easily handle had been approaching, like earlier.
Raven immediately jumped up to the rooftop.
"What's happening?"
"The enemies are attacking again! Their numbers are enormous!"
Even to Raven, the number of enemies was incredibly large. It looked to be around 10,000.
Moreover, unlike the foolish ones from earlier, these were properly armed. Some had mortars and guns, and behind them were even towed artillery.
"When did so many gather?!"
"What were the observation magicians doing?"
Raven recalled Pio's report from earlier.
Didn't he say that devils were discovered 4km to the east?
If so, they should have been detected by the observation magicians' spells, so why had no one reported it?
Raven remembered facing the devilized Twin-headed Ogre in the demon realm.
'There was a devil that could erase its presence.'
The magicians launched fireball spells toward the towed artillery.
Having completed precise target calculations, the fireballs flew accurately toward the artillery. But when a purple eye blinked from somewhere, the fireballs disappeared like melting snow.
"W-what?! What's happening?"
"The magic suddenly disappeared!"
Raven looked at the battlefield.
There were Spell eaters mixed in with the soldiers rushing forward. The problem was, there weren't just 12 of them.
There were too many Spell eaters to count. A rough count exceeded 500. The Spell eaters quickly climbed up the building walls and control tower.
The magicians hurriedly cast spells, but...
Blink!
When a Spell eaters blinked its third eye, all the spells were rendered useless.
"Everyone run!"
"Aaaaaaargh!"
Screams could be heard everywhere. The frontmost control tower collapsed in an instant, and then the towed artillery fired.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
When shells flew to where Raven was standing, she instinctively deployed a barrier.
Blink!
But Raven's barrier magic was devoured by a Spell eater and disappeared.
"Get down!"
Pio and Aurora wrapped around Raven and ducked.
BAAANG!
The building rooftop exploded and sank.
***
Homigraph's first defense line was a flimsy one, composed of makeshift observation towers where magicians could be stationed, despite being called a defense line.
Just having magicians stationed in the observation towers could neutralize most attacks, which is why they had been doing it that way, and since it was a defense line built with the intention of abandoning it if overwhelming numbers approached, they abandoned the first defense line without regret.
"Evacuate the magicians!"
"Wake up all the knights on standby! It's an emergency!"
The observation towers collapsed, and the Spell eaters swarmed in.
"Should we fire shells according to the plan?! What should we do?"
"No! The devils are mixed with our allies!"
The artillery officer adjusted the coordinates.
"We'll target the enemies approaching from the rear!"
"Then what about those devils?!"
"That's..."
Dududududu!
From behind came the earth-shaking sound of horse hooves.
"Everyone move aside! Clear the obstacles too!"
Looking back, there were knights on horseback galloping down the main road. The soldiers quickly cleared obstacles like wire fences so the knights could pass.
"It's the White Horse Knight Order!”
"It's Lord Caesar's personal cavalry!"
Messio smiled as he swung his spear in the air.
"Let's go! Snow! It's been a while since we've had a war!"
Messio left the main road and headed toward the collapsed first defense line. There, Spell eaters were ravaging the magicians and soldiers.
Messio swung his spear at the first Spell eater he saw.
Clang!
As Snow's charging power was imbued in the spear, the Spell eater couldn't withstand it and was sent flying.
Messio rushed toward the Spell eater that had been thrown and fallen. Snow trampled over the Spell eater's head as it passed.
Following behind, the White Horse knights pounded the Spell eaters with their horses' hooves.
"Now, let's go! Crush them all!"
With his extensive battlefield experience, Messio maintained the White Horse Knight Order's charging momentum even in the complex battlefield situation.
He knew very well that if the cavalry stopped, they would be isolated, and isolated cavalry would be easily defeated.
Messio mercilessly cut down the Spell eaters climbing up and destroying the observation towers.
As a single Spell eater died, the other Spell eaters stopped simultaneously. And they saw the White Horse Knights.
"Aaaaaaaa!"
The Spell eaters charged toward the White Horse Knights who were ravaging the battlefield with their great swords.
"Ugh!"
A knight who couldn't withstand a Spell eater's great sword fell from his horse.
Following this, the Spell eaters rushed in swiftly, tearing and crushing the fallen knight.
Messio felt the charging power of the cavalry diminishing exponentially as time passed. There were too many Spell eaters ahead.
Eventually...
A Spell eater charged toward Snow and stopped him.
Messio cut off the Spell eater's neck in one stroke. But because of this, the cavalry was halted, and having lost momentum, the cavalry was instantly isolated.
"Aaaaaa!"
"Aaaack!"
The Spell eaters rushed in like locusts discovering crops, beginning to capture the knights one by one.
"These bastards!"
Messio charged in with bloodshot eyes to save his fallen comrades.
Thud!
At that moment, two Spell eaters rushed toward Messio.
Messio fell to the ground.
"Grrrrrrl!"
There was no intelligence in the Spell eaters' eyes. Only the instinct for destruction and slaughter filled them. They scratched at Messio's armor with their sharp claws to remove it.
Messio struck at them wildly with his spear, but they showed no sign of retreating.
Eventually, Messio's helmet was removed.
"Ah."
The Spell eater's sharp teeth pounced on Messio.
Bang!
At that moment, the Spell eater flew away as if hit by a traffic accident.
"Snow!"
Snow had rammed the Spell eater with his body to save Messio. But Snow's condition wasn't good. One leg was already limping, and blood was flowing from his mouth. A long spear was stuck in his side.
Neeeiiighhh-!
Snow charged toward the other Spell eaters with all his might.
"Snow, don't!"
Snow pushed away and trampled the Spell eaters with all his strength. However, before long, Snow collapsed, having used all his strength.
"Snow!"
Messio rushed to Snow, but blood gushed from Snow's neck.
"Uaaaaaaa!"
Messio charged like a mad dog toward the Spell eater that had cut Snow's neck.
The Spell eater's arms and legs were instantly dismembered, and then its neck was cut.
Thunk!
A Spell eater struck Messio's side with a great sword.
Crack!
Along with the sound of ribs breaking, breathing became impossible.
Nevertheless, Messio's gaze was fixed on the dead Snow.
"Snow..."
Spell eaters charging toward Messio like a swarm of bees. Messio sensed his own death.
『Flame that Annihilates Devils』
Snow-white flames engulfed the Spell eaters.
The Spell eaters screamed and twisted their bodies like snails meeting salt.
Messio looked toward where the voice had come from.
There stood a wizard with blazing green eyes, standing nobly above the battlefield.