Chapter 155: Age of Tyrants (5)

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The 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance led by Barbatos advanced.

She had dispatched a rather sizable amount of her military power, but Commander Barbatos had no intentions of slowing down. Her tactical doctrine was very simple. Move faster than the enemy. This was it.

“How about we wait until the other legions arrive and advance together?”

Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar proposed the idea. He was a careful old veteran. He had white patches of hair, but that didn’t make him look shabby. The aroma of a hundred years’ worth of fierce battles emanated from his white hair.

“If we wait three to four days, then the 2nd legion should be able to join up with us. Our military power would basically be doubled. This will allow us to dominate the human army more easily.”

Barbatos shook her head.

“The enemy will also make all sorts of preparations while we are waiting for our allies. If we attack them while we are not fully prepared, then the enemy will also have to take our attack before being fully prepared. Do you know what the difference between us would be in this situation? It’s the fact that we will know where and where to attack while the enemy will have no idea when or where the battle will occur.”

She spoke firmly.

“If anything, we should speed up further. Those humans probably think we’ll attack after we’ve all come together. This ignorance will open an opportunity for us. I will be dismissing Zepar’s proposal. Beleth!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Rank 13 Demon Lord Beleth responded energetically. Beleth was a man with a physique as large as an ogre. Once he let out a shout, the Demon Lords who lacked nerves inadvertently flinched. Beleth’s voice sounded like that of a wild beast.

“I will leave the 400 death knights under my command to you. My knights do not require food or rest. Charge forward with them regardless of whether it’s day or night. Also.”

Barbatos took out a dagger and tossed it. It stood upright as it stuck to the ground. A strategy map was being displayed by Barbatos’ magic on the ground. The word ‘Krems’ was written where the dagger had landed.

“Assault Krems and capture it.”

The fortress city of Kerms. That was the Habsburg Empire’s final line of defense. The river of Danubius ran across the center of the continent behind the fortress. If you cross this river, then you would immediately reach Vindobona―the capital city of the Habsburg Empire.

“Kuhuu.”

Demon Lord Beleth let out a heated breath. Beleth’s copper-toned muscles glistened like that of a snake’s. He was clearly excited. The Danubius River. For the past 2,000 years, the Crescent Alliance had only managed to cross this river twice.

The first Demon Lord to cross the Danubius River was the current Rank 1 Baal. The second person to cross it was none other than the Rank 8 Demon Lord before them, Barbatos. It was now Rank 13 Beleth’s turn to have his name written in the history books.

“Commander…… No, Miss Barbatos. Do you see it? My body is trembling with excitement.”

His name was going to follow Baal’s and Barbatos’. Beleth couldn’t help but feel moved.

“Just give me the order……. Annihilation, destruction, or repelling. I, Beleth, will carry out whatever type of victory you ask for.”

“There is only one thing I want.”

The Demon Lord grinned.

“Annihilation. An utterly cruel annihilation. Make those humans so weak that they can no longer put up a resistance. Make them so terrified of us that they fall to their knees and scream if they even see our toes. Make their lives have no other meaning than being underneath an ashy sky. This is the kind of annihilation that I want.”

“As you command!”

Beleth let out a roar. The Demon Lord’s voice echoed ominously through the cloudy sky. Beleth immediately led the 400 death knights. Demon Lords normally don’t require a lot of rest, and this was especially true for Beleth since he was a fighter.

Beleth ran with the death knights for 4 straight days as if he had never experienced exhaustion before in his life. On the contrary, the wolf monsters they were riding, the black wolves, ended up getting tired first. Beleth did not care. He had prepared 3 black wolves for each person in case something like this were to happen. Whenever one black wolf got tired, they would rotate to another one.

After running for four days, the towering city of Krems entered their vision. It was a fortress that used the river to naturally create a moat. Beleth’s unit had truly advanced like a typhoon.

“What, the Demon Lord army has already arrived!?”

The commander of the fortress shouted in surprise. The messenger nodded.

“Yes! Their number is about 400. All 400 of them are death knights.”

“400 death knights…….”

The commander gulped.

Barbatos’ prediction was correct.

The imperial army had expected the enemy to arrive a week later at the soonest. The current supreme commander of the imperial army, Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth was a genius when it came to tactics; however, there was no way for her to know what sort of personality the Demon Lord known as Barbatos had.

Nonetheless, the Imperial Princess had set up a precaution just in case. She had gathered the elite knights of Habsburg at the fortress beforehand. She told her men the following as she assigned skilled knights at Krems:

– Regardless of what enemy forces approach, endure for at least four days. Do you understand? Defend the fortress with your lives for four days.

Only four days.

The military strength of the knights that had gathered at the fortress to play for time was definitely excessive.

They had two Rank 1 <Masters of the Sword>, 30 Rank 2 swordsmen, and 50 Rank 3 and Rank 4 swordsmen. A total of 550 swordsmen were currently residing in the fortress. Their numbers may have been small, but they were a powerful force.

The commander of the fortress was also a <Master of the Sword>. A powerhouse that was comparable to an army. If the enemy forces that had appeared in front of the fortress hadn’t been death knights, then the commander would have definitely let out a snort and dealt with the situation with little effort.

The commander clenched his jaw.

“Four days……in just four more days, reinforcements will have arrived.”

The plan was all messed up now. Imperial Princess Elizabeth was currently in the middle of executing her plan in the capital. She was evacuating all of the people. A large number of soldiers were being used to maintain public order.

In four days, Imperial Princess Elizabeth would have sent reinforcements; however, Beleth, no, Barbatos was a step faster.

The fortress had to stop Beleth with only 500 soldiers. They did have another hundred sentry guards, but they were normal soldiers. They probably wouldn’t last even a second before a death knight’s blade.

‘We have to stall for as long as possible!’

The commander quickly came to this conclusion.

The sound of bells rang clamorously throughout the entire fortress. The knights that were resting comfortably in their quarters quickly put on their armor. Today was probably the fastest the attendants had ever moved in their entire lives. Equipping someone with sturdy armor was a surprisingly difficult task.

On the other hand, the commander of the fortress sent a <Master of the Sword> outside the fortress. They were going to stall for time by having the swordsman duel the enemy.

“You petty demons! Are any of you willing to taste my blade!?”

The Master of the Sword stood out on the plains and shouted.

What the commander wanted was simple: lure the enemy into accepting a duel by dispatching a swordmaster. If they agree to the duel and send in a death knight to fight one at a time, then they would be able to stall for that much time. Although this would probably only earn them about half a day at most, this was the best he could do as the commander.

“Pfft.”

However, the commander’s plan didn’t work.

“Men! It seems that these humans are aware of common courtesy. They even sent out a pretty lady to welcome us.”

Demon Lord Beleth easily saw through the human army’s intentions. He may have been a meathead, but he was also a general. He wouldn’t mess up their original plan simply because he liked duels. Beleth raised his right hand.

“The other party has willingly gone out of their way to be polite. As the most gentlemanly demons in the world, we cannot possibly ignore this. ―Shall we show them how we demons respond to courtesy!?”

A blackish-red mana started to surge around Beleth. Immediately after, a huge axe appeared out of thin air.

“Let us go! Gentlemen of the demon world!”

The death knights and the black wolves all let out a roar.

The cries from the monsters that sounded like metal on metal scraped the inside of the skulls of the humans who heard it. The death knights had let out a sound through their magic power instead of their throats. The swordsmen of the imperial army all possessed magic inside of them, so the sound emitted from the death knights would give them an uneasy feeling as their magic responded to the sound.

– Khuaaaaaaaaah!

Beleth charged along with 400 death knights. None of the decorum that followed usual battles like ceremonial speeches or duels was carried out. The death knights roared like a bunch of barbarians as if they had forgotten something like decorum a long time ago.

“T-This goes against the decorum of the battlefield!”

The Master of the Sword shouted in a panic. Her mana-enhanced voice echoed throughout the plains.

“You insolent bastards! If you are truly warriors, then you would agree to my―.”

“Huhahaha! Human lady! The maximum courtesy we can show you is by violating you guys a bunch!”

Beleth let out a cheer as he raised his axe.

“Be grateful that you’ll be able to taste my rod of meat!”

“You absolutely cowardly son of a bitch!”

“According to my sworn brother, bastardly men are popular lately! Kuhaha!”

The Master of the Sword had no other choice but to retreat. She jumped up the rampart and into the fortress. This was a move that she could do since she was a master of her class.

“Damn it.”

The fortress commander gnashed his teeth.

Their stalling tactic didn’t work. Despite looking like an ogre, that Demon Lord’s head worked properly. There was nothing else he could do in particular now. All he could do now was follow the Imperial Princess’ command and protect this place for 4 days.

The human commander and Beleth both shouted at the same time.

“Men, protect the fortress!”

“Ravage them however you want!”

The death knights approached the rampart in an instant. They had fought together for hundreds of years. They hopped off their wolves and started to climb up the rampart in perfect unison. The death knights wearing black armor started to flutter their black mantles like bat wings.

“Stop them! Work together with your comrades!”

“We have the topographical advantage! Do not get swept away by them!”

The imperial knights unsheathed their weapons at the same time. They relied on the rampart as they fought back against the approaching death knights like hunting hawks. The knights of the human world and the knights of the demon world collided.

“Kuaaaaah!”

“Die!”

Everyone here was skilled. The fight wasn’t decided in a single moment. The death knights were unable to capture an area on top of the rampart. Some of them managed to push back the humans, but they backed down without any hesitation. Only a few death knights had managed to get up, so they hopped down and got ready to charge again.

“We stopped them! We can keep this up!”

“Move in unison with those around you! Don’t forget it! Move in unison!”

A small cheer erupted from the knights. They weren’t so incompetent that they would let a small battle influence their emotions. However, this was the early phase of the battle. They had to deliberately raise their morale however they could. They had intentionally let out a cheer in order to motivate the people around them.

The Imperial Princess’ order passed through the commander’s head.

Endure for 4 days!

‘We can do it. Your Highness, be it three or four days, I will defend this place for as many days as you want!’

A tinge of excitement welled up inside of him as he looked around. The death knights were attempting to climb up the rampart for the second time. All of a sudden, he realized the most dangerous individual in the enemy army was nowhere to be seen.

‘Wait a second. Where did the Demon Lord go?’

At that moment, the entire fortress started to shake as if an earthquake had hit it.

The commander of the fortress skillfully maintained his balance and figured out where the tremor came from in an instant. He then began to panic. The vibration―had come from the fortress gate.

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TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, like I said, I uploaded the previous chapter late so this one came out a lot sooner since I was already finished with like half of it by the time I released the previous chapter. Uh, I hope you guys did something nice for your mothers on Mother’s day. I don’t got much else to say. I suck at small talk.

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.