Chapter 1

Makai Hongi 魔界本紀 ー 下剋上のゴーラン

もぎ すず

Gekokujyo no Golan

(Demon World History – Giant-killing Golan)

Magic came flying from the enemy formation, and the head of my comrade went flying.

It was the guy who pushed his way forward during the charge.

Blood and brain fluid splattered on my face.

I wiped the warm stuff off with my left hand and flung it on the ground.

(Ah, mother. Your son is now in the Demon World battlefield.)

As the sounds of explosions rang in my ears, I could hear a cheerful voice shouting, ‘Gahaha! Advance! Advance!’

To my left, someone was growling, ‘Arrghhh!’ as they raised a club.

I stepped over the body of one whose legs had been blown off and continued forward, my legs moved back and forth as if a machine.

This was a battlefield in the Demon World.

If you didn’t want to be blown apart by the magic that soared through the sky, then you had to advance.

“Advance! Advance!”

All I could hear was that word. It was as if an idiot had learned a single word.

The magic had been targeting us for a while now.

And so he was right. We had to keep moving.

If we stopped, our lives would end… 

Once you got past the magic, you would reach the enemy base, which was made of stone and wood.

For us ogres, it might as well have been nothing.

All we would have to do was swing our clubs as we marched, and then it would fall.

“…However…”

The leading group that had started the charge was now in disarray. Again.

I looked through the cracks between the giant bodies of the ogres and saw that wraiths had appeared.

The enemy had positioned a gang of them in front of their base. They were waiting for us.

As they were semi-transparent, it was hard to see them unless they were moving.

And if they lay low on the ground and stayed still, well, you would hardly see them at all on the battlefield.

“Advance! Advaaance!”

I listened to the order that had repeated so many times today. And I sighed quietly.

(We’re going to lose again today, regardless.)

As expected, a band of orcs appeared from the enemy base in order to take down the confused ogres. That battle became chaotic.

There was no formation now. ‘Advance? What’s that?’

There was no recovery once the chaos started.

The fighting would stop when the sun came down, and we would retreat.

Once again, we were unable to take the enemy base. In fact, we hadn’t even reached it!

My name is Golan. A demon. An ogre.

Three days ago—we arrived at this hill.

I was fighting as a common soldier under Commander Guden.

In the Demon World, ogres were just meatheads who couldn’t use magic. We were the expendables.

It was because we had physical strength, that we were destined to be used and crushed in the charge.

In fact, I was only participating in this fight because too many had died, and they needed more of us.

Drafts were sent to my village again, and in spite of being a third son, it was my turn to go.

After all, my two older brothers had already been turned into pieces of meat.

I might have even stepped on their remains today.