Legend

Chapter 285

Theorem, who was leading the Demon Soldiers, went straight towards his goal, Count Arius. It was then natural that Elena, the Mireana Kingdom’s greatest present force, would obstruct him.

Her appearance was dignified, noble and beautiful. Even the Demon Soldiers following Theorem couldn’t help but admire her. Her beauty that bloomed gorgeously on the battlefield was what made her the General Princess.

(No. As her title of General Princess suggests, it is only on the battlefield that her beauty shows?)

Theorem muttered to himself as he saw the distance to the Flower of the Battlefield shorten as he rode on his warhorse.

However, he immediately got rid of those thoughts in his mind, raised his sword and called out to the Demon Soldiers who were admiring Elena.

「I will take on the General Princess! All others disregard me and aim for Count Arius! Cyanus, I’ll leave the commands to you.」

Normally, it would be a bad idea for a general to hand over the command of a unit and to fight himself. However, it was also true that he was the only one who could deal with Elena, the General Princess. For a moment, he considered leaving some Demon Soldiers behind to slow Elena down. But Theorem knew that it wouldn’t be difficult for Elena to deal with 10-20 Demon Soldiers. If he really wanted to stop Elena, he would only be able to do it if he sent all 50 Demon Soldiers he currently led. If he did that, he would run out of people to deal with Count Arius. Considering that, he decided to go out and hold down Elena himself.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry too much about commanding the Demon Soldiers as he had Cyanus, his lieutenant.

Passing on his instructions, Cyanus, who was riding beside Theorm, showed some hesistation.

「Theorem-sama has no choice but to deal with the General Princess. But in that case, what will we do with her?」

In the corner of Cyanus’ eyes, she saw Ara straddling a warhorse and holding a large battle axe beside Elena.

In this battlefield, where physical exhaustion was rife, only one person showed no signs of fatigue due to the effect of the Power Axe as she stood beside her superior.

「……Ara? Come to think of it, she was still in the Knights.」

Vel Sails had betrayed Elena’s Knight guard and turned to their side. He had told them that he had killed Kuust Brassin. However, he had also told them that he had failed to kill Ara, who could be considered Elena’s right hand aide.

Turning to look at Ara, Theorem made and instant decision and told his lieutenant.

「It is unfortunate, but we can’t leave the Demon Soldiers with no commander. We will leave 5 Demon Soldiers to hold her here.」

「Yes sir.」

Originally, she had wanted to stay and fight near Theorem. Killing those though,ts Cyanus quickly gave orders to the Demon Soldiers running behind her.

「You 5 over there. You guys deal with the one with the large battle axe. Remember, she has extraordinary strength as a human, so don’t fight her straight up. Do your best to buy us time until we take down Count Arius.」

The 5 Demon Soldiers nominated by Cyanus nodded without question at her order.

There was some dissatisfaction at being told to focus on buying time against a single woman as they had become Demon Soldiers for the purpose of gaining strength, even at the cost of losing their human figures. However, they nodded obediently because they knew that, as Theorem’s lieutenant, Cyanus’ judgement was accurate.

Deciding on their strategy, the distance between the two forces narrowed……and eventually, the two collided head on.

「Hah-!」

The sword whip, which was swung with great spirit, changed from a long sword to a whip with Elena’s magic power as it drew a curved trajectory, cutting through the sky as it tried to pierce itself into Theorem’s body.

As for Elena, she knew that she was the only one who could stop Theorem, who was leading the enemy force. As a result, oddly enough, the two of them ended up facing off in single combat.

「I won’t let you do that-!」

Theorem flicked away the tip of the sword whip, that drew a complex trajectory as it came towards him, with his own sword as they faced off at close range.

「The General Princess is as beautiful as ever. A beautiful flower is bound to have thorns on its sides though.」

「Then why don’t you have a taste of those thorns?」

While exchanging words, they swung their swords at each other, cleaving and stabbing as they tried to avoid, parry or block the other’s attacks.

The General Princess and the Flash. Of course, this was not the first time the two from the Mireana Kingdom and Bestir Empire, which had been hostile for many years, had met. Up until now, they had crossed blades many times. And for that reason, they could read each other’s attacks to some extent, giving Elena the advantage.

Although she had exhausted a lot of her stamina in the previous battle by using Dragon Language magic and fighting numerous Demon Soldiers, she was able to demonstrate notable strength due to her higher physical strength after undergoing the Inheritance Ritual. Because of that, Theorem guessed that Elena’s exhaustion was almost negligible and fought cautiously, allowing Elena to recover her stamina slowly as she fought with her sword.

「Haaaaaah-!」

At the same time as that violent clash of swords and words, a short distance away, Ara swung her Power Axe sideways with a loud shout.

If she hit, she would have definitely torn them apart. ……No, rather, she would have crushed them. However, the 5 Demon Soldiers realised that as they focused on dodging and staying clear of her attacks.

「Cyanus-sama ordered the 5 of us to face you.」

A Demon Soldier covered in a crustacean shell had cold sweat as he heard the sound of an axe slashing through the air. Even though he was confident in his own defence, he didn’t think he could withstand such a blow.

「But, don’t think that you can actually take on 5 of us!」

A Demon Soldier, whose arms had turned into those of a bear, closed the distance to Ara, who had just missed her attack.

「It’s a trap!」

A female Demon Soldier with snake scales all over her body shouted. However, it was too late by the time the bear Demon Soldier noticed as the stone axe pommel smashed through his head.

「Gyah-!」

The stone pommel of the Power Axe crushed his eye as it went into his brain. Although he didn’t die instantly due to the vitality of a Demon Soldier, Ara forcibly rotated the shaft of the axe, destroying his brain. As expected, even a Demon Soldier wouldn’t survive after suffering such an injury and he gave a strange cry before collapsing on the spot.

「Idiot, Cyanus-sama just told you to buy time.」

The other Demon Soldiers nodded at the words of the female Demon Soldier with the snake scales as they moved to surround Ara to avoid being overwhelmed.

「……Eh?」

「This? What’s this?」

A Demon Soldier with sharp claws and the lower body of an antelope, that seemed to be capable of high speed burst movements, and a Demon Soldier with the upper body of a lizard and the lower body of a horse, both suddenly spoke.

Even their fellow Demon Soldiers couldn’t understand what was happening at first. The reason was that tree roots were growing from the chests of the two that had raised their voices.

Then, turning to the source of the tree roots, they saw that the tree roots piercing them had come from the left shoulder of a Demon Soldier with four eyes and a burnt face. The Demon Soldier looked back at them with a distorted smile.

「Ke-kehi. Ara? Hihi, it’s been such a long time, right? How are you doing? I didn’t expect to find you in such a place, I’ve been looking for you. Kehi.」

The man convulsed with a smile. There was little trace of his original face, but Ara immediately knew who it was. After all, he had been with the Knight guards for several years.

「Vel! You, how dare you brazenly show your face in front of Elena-sama!」

Vel gave a happy smile and the angry words that were spat out of Ara’s mouth.

「Kehi. I’m glad to see you’re doing well. Look at me, see, see this figure. It’s because I failed to assassinate you guys that I became the subject of an experiment. ……Well, thanks to that I got this ability-AHHHHHHHHH-!」

At the same time as Vel’s shout, the two Demon Soldiers who had been pierced by the tree roots began to move. Yes, they moved even though the light of life had already left their eyes.

「Tch, what did you do!」

The spear used by the lizard centaur was parried by the axe as Ara used the blade to cut off the claws of another Demon Soldier that were swung at her.

However, even though his arm was cut off, her enemy didn’t seem to have any change in expression as he swung the claws on his remaining hand.

「W-What do you mean? Well, if I were to say, they are dead now. Kehi!」

Despite the horrifying behaviour of killing an ally and manipulating their corpse, there was an unmistakable smile of joy on Vel’s burnt face. Including the two eyes on his forehead, the colour of pleasure could be seen in all four of his eyes.

However, it was natural that those who had just seen their friends killed by Vel would turn on him angrily.

「Hey, you! What are you doing!」

The first person to shout out was the female Demon Soldier with the snake scales. She forcibly grabbed Vel by the shoulder, who was manipulating the corpses pierced by the tree roots, and turned him around……

「Shut up, shut up, shut uppppp-!」

「Gah-!」

A newly grown tree root extended from his left shoulder as it pierced into the eyes of the female Demon Soldier with snake scales and covered her body.

The female Demon Soldier with the snake scales gave a dull scream before dying immediately and moving towards Ara in a flurry of footsteps.

「Damn it, he’s crazy!」

The beetle Demon Soldier, who was the only one still alive, glared at Vel abominably.

However, he couldn’t release his anger. If he did that, it was clear that he would also become Vel’s puppet.

「Vel!」

Even though her standpoint was different, Ara also shouted at Vel angrily.

Of course, the Demon Soldiers were her enemies, and if they had fought properly, it was highly possible she would have killed them with her own hands. However, she couldn’t forgive Vel for killing them for fun and humiliating their corpses.

「Kehi-kehihihihihihi-」

Laughing at Ara mockingly, Vel launched his attack on her using the Demon Soldiers he had turned into puppets using his tree roots.

As expected, they couldn’t move the same as when they had been alive, but because they were dead, they were able to engage in a fierce attack against Ara with reckless movements, not caring about the damage to their bodies.

Elena and Theorem, Ara and Vel. In addition to those two, of course, fierce battles were fought in the surrounding area. Soldiers, knights and adventurers attacked in waves against singular Demon Soldiers without rest, finally evening out the battle. Of course, the fiercest fighting was around Count Arius, the chief commander of the Mireana Kingdom’s army.

「Don’t retreat! If you retreat here, Arius-sama will be defeated! If that happens, this war will be our defeat! So never retreat!」

The knights under Arius shouted as they desperately as they intercepted the Demon Soldiers attacking them.

Under the command of Cyanus, the Demon Soldiers were nothing less than a powerful enemy as they worked together tirelessly. No, rather, you could say that they were strong to the point that they couldn’t be described with just the words powerful enenmy.

「Damn it, I won’t let you……I won’t let you!」

A knight with a huge metal shield that could cover more than half his body desperately tried to suppress the attacks of a Demon Soldier. He was a knight close to 2m in height and with a strong body. Yet, the Demon Soldier who suddenly appeared to his side easily bypassed his shield as he swung his arm down.

The attack from the Demon Soldier, whose arms were both that of a mantis, cut through the knight’s two arms at the elbow.

No matter how strong full plate mail was, not even the joints were protected by the armour and it was impossible for the knight to defend against that attack.

「Gyaaaaaaah-!」

The scythe arms swung again to the back of the neck of the screaming man. The next moment, the knight’s head flew up as his body fell to the ground with no head and no arms from the elbow down as blood flowed out. However, a new knight immediately came out to fill the gap of the knight who fell. All to buy a bit more time for reinforcements to arrive.

A little further away, an adventurer wielding a sword was fighting against a Demon Soldier with sharp claws. Claws against sword. The adventurer was in an overwhelming advantageous position in terms of reach, but he was actually forced on the defensive.

The next moment, as he parried the claws swung at him with his sword.

「Ah-!」

The adventurer took a step back with a shout. The next moment, the sharp fangs of the Demon Soldier were thrust into the space where the man’s neck had just been. Yes, for a moment, the Demon Soldier’s neck stretched 2m out.

From the fact that the adventurer’s leather armour was torn in several places, you could tell how sharp the Demon Soldier’s fangs were.

One by one, their allies collapsed while there was almost no damage to the Demon Soldiers. Futhermore, seeing a gap in the formation protecting Arius, Cyanus quickly threw in a spare Demon Soldier to widen the opening. How long had they been fighting in such a state? It had actually been about 10 minutes, but for the soldiers of the Mireana Kingdom, it had felt like a long fight that had gone for over 2 hours.

At this time, many were close to giving up the fight.

Roar-!

Something fell down from the sky, sending all five Demon Soldiers flying away at the same time.

「……Well, it seems I made it in time.」

Rei, who had just sent the Demon Soldiers flying, jumped off Set’s back as he muttered to himself as he held his Death Scythe. His voice echoed mysteriously into the surroundings.