Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Ambush
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"By any chance, are you affiliated with a guild?"
The apprentice knight and the soldier looked at Do-yoon.
Do-yoon pondered for a moment. He'd left in such a hurry that he hadn't received the guild's seal proving his identity. They would surely treat him like an imposter.
In the worst case, they might even suspect him of being a spy since he knew about the raid in advance.
He figured it might be better to borrow the Heineken family name instead. Just as Do-yoon opened his mouth with that thought...
"A new dispatch has arrived!"
A soldier came running toward them.
"The approaching enemies total eighteen! No sign of follow-up forces yet!"
"...Really eighteen?"
The original soldier and the apprentice knight looked at Do-yoon with wide eyes in surprise.
"...How did you know that..."
No, wait. The apprentice knight stopped mid-sentence.
'...Only eighteen?'
If they repelled them, wouldn't all the credit go to him, the one on site?
A calculator started spinning rapidly in his head.
'This is my chance.'
Eighteen was probably not the main force but a scouting party. They would assess the situation here and retreat immediately. That wouldn't earn him any merit.
He finished his calculations.
"Open the gates and prepare for melee combat! We'll repel the enemies!"
The order went out, the gates opened, and soldiers for close-quarters battle were deployed outside the walls.
Excluding the archers and mages on the walls, there were a full four hundred infantry. And ten cavalry for pursuit.
It was an excessive force for capturing just eighteen enemies. A deployment that showcased the commander's fierce determination to annihilate them no matter what.
"Don't let the retreating scouts escape—pursue and make sure to repel them!"
To the apprentice knight, Do-yoon's identity was already irrelevant. Excited at the prospect of unexpected military merit, he bellowed loudly.
Do-yoon watched silently. Against Satan's forces, defending the walls would be madness. They would dodge all attacks from above and scale the walls straight up.
Even if it meant sacrificing troops, they had to stop them with melee combat.
"..."
"..."
The tense standoff continued. From the skyscraper-like watchtower, they peered through telescopes into the forest, while soldiers gripped their weapons, staring into the dark trees.
About three minutes passed like that.
"They're here."
"Pardon?"
Do-yoon's voice broke the silence.
"Wh-where? How long until they arrive!? O-one minute!?"
"They're already here."
"Pardon!?"
"Look at the forest ahead."
He stared intently at the sticky darkness between the pure white trees.
But there was nothing. Just a quiet, dark forest.
"No matter how I look, there's noth—"
Swoosh-!
Crack!
The stone Do-yoon threw embedded into a tree.
The apprentice knight and the soldiers watching the front jumped in fright, their bodies jolting.
"Ah, damn, you scared me...!"
He patted his pounding chest, but at the same time, a question arose.
Those white trees of the Demonic Realm were tough wood that barely dented even after dozens of axe strikes. How had a mere stone embedded into it?
"Look."
Do-yoon nodded toward it.
Then, between the shadows of the dark Demonic Realm, pumpkin-colored light sources flickered.
Exactly thirty-six of them.
"Wh-what?"
The apprentice knight flinched in shock. When had they arrived?
His body trembled. For some reason, just looking at those eyes made it feel like his sanity was being devoured by fear.
He was overwhelmed by the aura of true demons, which he faced for the first time in his life.
"Keeek. Kiruk."
"Kiruk, kek, kiruk."
Moments later, they emerged into the sunlight, making sounds like nails on glass.
Small stature. Bodies like goblins bulked up with muscle. Veins and tendons bulging vividly over their skin. No nails—their fingers themselves sharpened to points.
Mouths torn to their ears, grinning disgustingly. Teeth sharp and dense like a great white shark's. And pupils absent, just eerie pumpkin-colored irises glowing.
"Kiik, kek."
Little devils that lived at the bottom of hell, feeding on the soul scraps of the dead.
The army of the Demon King's legion commander 'Satan'—imps.
"Uh, uh, ah..."
"Fuck... fuck...!"
The soldiers in formation trembled in terror. The imps' aura was intimidating enough, but the cursed energy pouring from their bodies was gnawing at the soldiers' minds.
And the apprentice knight, the highest commander on site, was no different.
"Wh-what the hell is that..."
All thoughts of military merit had vanished from him. His mind was filled only with the desire to survive.
Thirty-six eyes staring at them, mouths licking their chops with torn grins. They made no effort to hide their intent to ravage, toy with, and brutally kill them.
It was the playful atmosphere of mischievous children before a hunt, like hunters facing prey.
In the end, even the cavalry horses couldn't withstand the pressure.
"Hiiing-!"
"Aaaah!"
As the riders fell, the imps' playtime began.
"Kiriraek!"
"Kiruk, kyiruk!"
It started with the front line of shieldbearers.
Without giving the soldiers time to react, they leaped straight to the front of the formation in one bound.
Then they grabbed the tall tower shields and hopped over like jumping a fence, playfully.
Crunch!
Crunch, kwajik—
One landed on a shieldbearer's head, stabbing claws into the skull. Another tore its mouth unnaturally wide and bit off the entire head in one gulp.
A thin, sharp tail pierced the next shieldbearer's eardrum. Hook-like fingers ripped out the throats of those on either side.
All in an instant too short for anyone to react.
Thus, half the front-line shieldbearers collapsed without even a scream.
"Uh, uh, ah..."
"Aaaargh!!"
"Aaaargh!!"
Flesh-tearing sounds and screams rent the air, starting a concert of terror.
Though they could have rushed straight to the gates, the imps simply massacred the infantry. No—toyed with them.
Blood and flesh sprayed across the ground and walls. The soldiers were no match for the imps.
Soldiers on the walls shook like aspen leaves. Some collapsed to their knees, others pissed themselves. They couldn't respond to the pleas for help rising from below.
They could only flinch at the horror movie unfolding before them, praying the relatively high walls kept them safe.
That the protagonists were their comrades, and they couldn't simply stop watching, made it an excruciatingly cruel horror film.
Do-yoon watched the scene impassively, analyzing the situation.
'...Stronger than the imp legions from my past life. And far less affected by the holy stone's influence.'
Imps were strong, but eighteen alone couldn't conquer a major city within the holy stone's barrier. If they could, the alliance would have fallen in his past life, heroes or no. Even heroes had only one body.
'The aura of Satan surrounding them is more potent than before.'
That meant Satan's power had grown. It seemed they were freer from the holy stone's effects because of it.
'Something... a massive change has occurred in them.'
He didn't know what, but some change utterly different from his past life had greatly strengthened the Demon King's army. That much was certain.
Do-yoon continued observing the imps.
One even had four spears lodged in its head. But it didn't die. It writhed on the ground for a moment, then pushed the spears out with crunching sounds and regenerated in seconds. Life force beyond common sense.
"C-close, cl-close the gates! Close the gates!!"
The apprentice knight screamed in fury. At that, the wall soldiers—who couldn't even draw their bows—shut the gates with astonishing speed.
Boom!
The massive thud of the closing gates made all the infantry eyes turn back.
Some infantry clawed at the closed gates with their nails.
"S-save me! Save meee!!"
"Open it! You fucking bastards, open it! Uwaaaah!!"
And soon, they became smears of red paint on the walls.
Watching this, Do-yoon spoke calmly.
"They'll climb the walls soon. Prepare for battle."
The apprentice knight stared at Do-yoon with a face drained white. His eyes, viewing this hellscape, were no different from those that had conversed with him earlier.
That sent chills down his spine. How could anyone be so indifferent to people— the same people—dying like this? He seemed like a worn-out doll.
He screamed in rage.
"Sh-shut the fuck up, you mercenary scum! How the hell do we fight those monsters! You—you! You do it! Yeah! I—I don't wanna fucking die!"
Like regressing to infancy, he babbled nonsense in a fit.
Do-yoon clicked his tongue. It seemed the imps' aura and curse had completely devoured his reason.
Then, Do-yoon's eyes caught the sword at the apprentice knight's waist.
"...Can that sword withstand sword aura?"
"Wh-what?"
Without waiting for an answer, Do-yoon snatched the sword. The guy wasn't in any state to fight anyway.
He inspected the blade.
'...No.'
Nothing to be done. He'd have to make do with this in a pinch.
As Do-yoon prepared to leap down from the wall with that thought...
"Do you need a sword that can withstand sword aura?"
A knight walked toward Do-yoon.
"K-kn-knight sir! Save me!"
The apprentice knight clung to his legs. Apparently, this was the city's true commander.
"...Yes."
As Do-yoon answered, the knight unstrapped the sword from his back and handed it over. He already had another at his waist.
"It's a spare, so not the best, but better than nothing."
"Thank you."
As Do-yoon took the sword, he met the knight's eyes.
The knight already trusted him. Meaning he was skilled enough to gauge Do-yoon's level, even roughly.
"N-no, knight sir! You can't give your sword to a lowly mercenary! What about you! Me— what about me! No! No way!"
"...I have my favorite sword separate. Shut up and stay put. Every soldier counts in this emergency. Didn't the Apostle say he'd help?"
"No! No! Not the sword! Not to a lowly mercenary like that...!"
"..."
His words weren't getting through. Only then did he realize the apprentice knight wasn't in his right mind.
"...I apologize on his behalf for the rudeness. Forgive us. And please, have my back. It'll be tough, but... keep those I've missed from climbing the walls."
"No."
Do-yoon laid the sword flat before him like aiming a gun, inspecting the blade. It was decent. Without looking at the knight, he replied.
"Stay here. I'll fight alone."
"Pardon?"
"Losing someone like you would be a great loss to the alliance."
He was skilled, but meaningless in this situation. He'd probably take down two imps in the chaos before being surrounded and killed.
Do-yoon held out his palm. A fist-sized black portal opened above it, and a small gold orb dropped into it.
The knight and apprentice knight's eyes widened at the sight.
"Wh-what...? A mage...?"
"Spatial magic...! An Archmage!?"
Do-yoon didn't answer, just flicked the orb to them.
"Payment for the sword."
"Pardon?"
The knight looked at the gold orb in his hand. Worth at least fifty gold coins. Over ten times the sword's value.
'But more than that, why is a mage using a sword...'
And at Do-yoon's next action, the two couldn't hide their shock.
"Wh-whoa!?"
"No, don't! Mage sir!"
Do-yoon leaped down from the wall.