Demon King of the Royal Class
Chapter 517

Chapter 517

Dettomorian quietly stared at the door of the warehouse through which the three visitors had disappeared.

‘The wish has already been fulfilled,’ he thought.

Dettomorian knew that his long-offered ritual had achieved something, and that it had been fulfilled.

He had offered up this ritual in hopes of peace, but even he did not know if it had truly reached a power capable of bringing peace.

Even if peace would be the ultimate conclusion, the process could not be a peaceful one.

If it had touched a dark power, peace would come through a dark process.

If it had touched a benevolent power, peace would come through a benevolent process.

But if the wish was weak and had reached a weak power, it would not be able to bring about peace.

There was no way for the sorcerer to know the process or the conclusion. A sorcerer simply offered rituals and performed ceremonies, hoping for something, as all sorcerers had done since ancient times.

Dettomorian recalled the abyss he had sensed within Ellen Artorius.

How could he be sure that it was not a calamity created by the influence of this wish?

It was entirely possible that the influence of this wish had circled around and settled upon the hero.

It was impossible to know what sort of impact the ritual Dettomorian had offered would have on the world. Nothing would surprise him.

The abnormal and impossibly large gathering of spirits that had taken root in Ellen might have been created by Dettomorian’s ceremony, or it might not have been.

The sorcerer knew nothing, and could be sure of nothing.

He simply wished.

Dettomorian slowly stood up and began rearranging the candles.

That wish had already been fulfilled.

Dettomorian had seen something that might have been the result of that wish.

So now, the next wish. A clearer and more intuitive wish.

“...”

A prayer for the lost souls...

A prayer that this calamity would not grow larger...

It was one of the most common and important roles given to sorcerers since ancient times.

He began the requiem.

***

“So, one hundred...”

The carefully selected elite of Edina.

Mages of the Vampire Council.

Holy knights and priests of the Holy Order.

And even a few of the most powerful demons.

Exactly one hundred—no more, no less.

If we included the squad I personally led, there were one hundred and five.

A force of a hundred and five would be deployed. The force of one hundred would be divided into five squads of twenty each. The Vampire Lords would be in command of each squad, while I personally led the last squad, which would be directly under the Demon King’s command.

My squad was composed of myself, Riana de Granz, Harriet de Saint-Ouen, Airi, and Olivia Lanche.

Eleris led Squad 1. Lucinil, Squad 2, Lruien, Squad 3, Galarsh, Squad 4, and Antirianus, Squad 5.

The grand mages, who held the initiative, were responsible for each squad.

Each squad had one Vampire Lord capable of using Mass Teleport.

We would move independently by squad and secure the path ahead of the Allied Forces.

“There is one main principle: never engage the Allied Forces if you encounter them.”

The possibility of unnecessary conflict was very high.

Our enemies were the monsters of the Gate. Clashing with the forces of humanity and reducing our total strength would be disastrous for both sides.

“Also, in engagements with the monsters, there is no need to fight recklessly. Remember, our goal is not annihilation.”

It was best to avoid any losses while securing the path. There was no need for us to do everything.

Our goal was not to destroy the gates on behalf of the Allied Forces, but to help them reach the gate quickly. There was still a stark difference in power between our forces and the forces of humanity.

We had to make a move in order to bring about the end of the Gate Incident a little more quickly, and lay the groundwork for the world to return to normal. We didn’t know what the final conclusion was that awaited us, but from this moment, it was time to head toward the end game.

***

A massive army was a massive consumer of resources, and required an enormous amount of supplies.

During the Great War, humanity’s army had installed a sequence of warp gates to supply its large-scale force.

This time, though, no warp gates could be constructed, and with monsters flooding the continent, maintaining conventional supply lines was impossible, and they had to mostly rely on grand mages who could cast mass teleportation.

The fact that humanity’s army was sustaining itself solely through the use of Mass Teleport was impressive, but inevitably, the longer the army operated, the more strained the supply channels would get. If the war did not end quickly, humanity’s final army might perish not from fighting monsters but from starvation.

To end the war quickly, this expedition had to conclude swiftly.

To that end, we would become the vanguard that even the Allied Forces did not know about, clearing monsters from the path that lay ahead of them. It would not take the Allied Forces long to realize that there was a vanguard they were unaware of, and soon enough, Vertus and the high commanders of the Allied Forces would know that it was us.

The commanders would know that fighting among ourselves would be foolish, and try to avoid conflict as much as possible, but it was naive to think that no soldiers or knights would lose their reason and charge at me. Therefore, we had to avoid contact as much as possible.

There was also one more thing.

Although we had a hundred and five combatants, we still needed information about the Allied Forces.

“Be careful, Sarkegar.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Sarkegar replied with a bow.

As always, Sarkegar would infiltrate the encampment and gather information on the Allied Forces’ route of advance and other operational details for us.

While it might have been okay to establish a direct connection with Vertus, it was dangerous to do so—not for me, but for Vertus.

Even if Vertus agreed to establish communication and cooperate, any information about it leaking out to the wrong ears would be dangerous.

Moreover, Vertus was not directly commanding this army but mostly spent his time in the capital. Even if we established a connection, we would not be able to receive up-to-date information in a timely manner.

Therefore, it was better for the enemy to remain the enemy.

As always, Sarkegar, who specialized in disguise and infiltration, would deliver information on the Allied Forces to us.

A spy, not to hinder the enemy, but to help them. A strange inversion of roles. I didn’t know what to call that anymore.

Rumble...

We all watched as Sarkegar transformed into a hawk and soared into the sky.

“Now, let’s begin.”

We left Edina and arrived on the continent.

We would occasionally have to return to Edina for maintenance, but most of our time would be spent in the field.

It would be a long fight until the Gate Incident was fully resolved.

***

The Allied Forces had their own vanguard.

Although we did not know the details yet, this vanguard was likely composed of very powerful combatants like Sabioleen Tana and Ellen. It would be a unit that would be able to respond quickly to emergencies, emphasizing mobility, both in advancing and retreating.

Encountering that vanguard could lead to some troublesome situations, so we would operate slightly ahead of them.

The Allied Forces had an overwhelmingly large number of troops, so we did not need to annihilate all the monsters along their route of advance.

Even if we only dealt with what we could, it would significantly reduce what the Allied Forces’ vanguard would have to face.

There was no need to overextend ourselves.

The five divided squads spread out in their assigned directions to exterminate the monsters.

The five of us under my personal command ventured even deeper.

The current target of the Allied Forces was the large city of Lahstran, located in the northwest of the continent. To get there, they had to pass through numerous small and medium-sized cities, and navigate through the border region.

If we destroyed all the warp gates in the territory of the third-largest principality of the empire, Rizeln, the Gate Incident would officially be over.

When Rizeln fell, the empire had planned to reclaim it last because of how vast the territory was.

As such, none of the warp gates in Rizeln had been touched.

The Allied Forces faced the tremendous task of reclaiming the territory of a sizeable nation occupied by monsters.

Among the border cities of Rizeln, Lahstran was the largest of them, and there were a total of seven warp gates in the city. However, monsters still emerged from the gates located in the small- and medium-sized cities that had to be passed on the way to that city.

These small- and medium-sized cities were necessary secondary targets that had to be dealt with on the way to the main target of Lahstran.

“The main target is still far away, but if things are already like this so far away...”

“Yeah...”

While the other squads were carrying out their missions, my squad was scouting out a much more advanced position. It was a position so far ahead that whatever we did here would not affect the Allied Forces’ vanguard or our own squads.

We were essentially the vanguard of the vanguard of the vanguard, so to speak.

We stood there, staring blankly at the overwhelming flood of monsters packed into a border stronghold with a small warp gate on the Rizeln border.

We were observing the situation from high ground a distance away, hidden by Harriet’s invisibility magic.

Kraaaah!

Keek!

Flying monsters swarmed about in the sky while a tide of monsters roamed about the fields around the ruined city and within the city itself.

There were already too many to count, and the deeper we went, the more we would encounter.

Among the squads, my squad—Harriet, Olivia, Airi, Riana, and I—had the widest range of abilities.

“Let’s test things out one by one, see what’s most effective. If we can pacify a small city on our own, there’s no reason not to.”

I looked over at Riana.

Summoning a lightning storm would be a good option. And when it came to large-scale destruction, no one among us could compare to Riana.

No—there was no one on the whole continent who had abilities on her level.

Not even the magic of the Vampire Lords could match Riana’s destructive power.

Now, though, Riana had awakened a new ability, and its scope was on a different level from the Riana we knew.

Weather manipulation... She could alter the weather on a regional scale.

It was a supernatural power that could literally affect regions on the horizon and beyond.

Moreover, using this supernatural power did not require the consumption of mana. There was no cost to using it.

“Whew...”

With a calm expression, Riana quietly looked at the monsters swarming around.

She had already sufficiently tested out her abilities, and they went beyond just storms and tornadoes.

Riana, who had taken a depression-inducing drug, began to manifest her power. She looked somber, but her eyes were full of conviction.

“It’s going to get a bit cold.”

It was still only October—too early for winter.

Yet the clear blue sky was soon veiled by clouds, and the air quickly grew cold.

Before we knew it, the chill began to turn our breaths white.

Whooooosh!

A wind began to blow, which soon grew into a fierce gale.

The swirling wind was soon joined by waves of sleet pouring from the sky, whipped up into a blizzard so thick that it was impossible to see even an inch ahead.

“Unbelievable...”

Harriet stared blankly at the scene with wide eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

A massive shift in the weather...

A snowstorm raged.

Kyaaaah!

Keek!

The wings of the flying monsters broke, unable to withstand the sudden change in the weather and the strong gales, and they fell from the sky.

But that wasn’t the real deal.

“Let’s see how many of them don’t freeze to death,” Riana muttered quietly amidst the fierce storm with a determined expression.

Her manipulation of the weather was powerful in the extreme, creating an anomaly.

Freezing to death the monsters that couldn’t endure the extreme cold—an impossibility under normal circumstances...

That was the true power of this blizzard.