Gonna Be a Demon King!
Chapter 84: Flanking Manoeuvres

Chapter 84: Flanking Manoeuvres

The erasure of the ravine rendered the carefully laid plans that the defenders of Zlego had crafted around its existence completely useless.

But they didn’t falter. They had fallback strategies and alternate routes of defence, so even with the land bridge formed by Gorgre replacing their natural barrier, they adapted quickly, ready to protect Zlego Magic City and hold the front lines against the oncoming incursion.

Soldiers sent by the kings of the Ohlion continent, reinforcement angels from beyond the stars, elves and surviving dark elves alike—all united, all charging across the newly levelled ground to meet the advancing demon army.

The moment both armies clashed, the battle instantly turned into a violent slugfest.

The brown earth was stained with various colours of blood within seconds as explosions of magic power tore across the battlefield.

Blasts of fire and lightning collided mid-air, casting combatants into the skies like ragdolls. Demons leapt and soared upward to meet angels descending with blades of light, engaging in aerial duels.

Soldiers on the ground hacked and slashed, screamed and died.

One moment saw an angel’s wings being ripped from their back by a gleefully smiling demon who devoured their soul on the spot, only for that same demon to be skewered through the spine by a dark elf’s twin daggers. But the dark elf barely had time to breathe before their head was cleaved clean off by another demon, who in turn was caught in the blast of a human’s magic, only for that human to be disintegrated in the radius of an angel’s AOE attack.

And then, from above, more demons descended. Level 500s, the lot of them, dropping like meteors from the airships overhead and crashing into the centre of Zlego itself.

But before they could begin their rampage, the off-world angels responded, intercepting them with blinding speed. They clashed against the demons in mid-air and pushed them away from the city’s centre, determined to keep Zlego from being torn apart from the inside.

Battles erupted all across the landscape. Craters formed, trees were turned to ash, and the ground split open under the weight of the tremendous powers being unleashed.

The momentum of the demonic forces shocked even the combined armies of the humans, elves and angels.

The humans had gathered troops from various nations. The elves had summoned all clans in the region, even the dark elves, their bitter rivals. The angels had called for reinforcements from beyond the stars.

But it still wasn’t enough.

Even with their forces united, the demons still had more numbers than they did!

They came like a tidal wave, crashing forward with terrifying speed and ferocity, not pausing for breath or mercy.

The defenders did their best to hold the line, but that line was cracking, and the demons were still charging.

◇　◇　◇

While the main force pressed forward for the north, with wave after wave of demons clashing headlong against the defenders atop the former ravine, the demons were far from relying on brute force alone.

Flanking manoeuvres were already in motion.

High above, the airships continued their descent, and from their underbellies came more demonic missiles streaking toward the ground. The angels intercepted many, detonating them mid-air with bright explosions, but not all of them.

Several found their targets, striking the eastern and western walls of Zlego and reducing sections of its defences to rubble.

From across the war-torn battlefield, hundreds of armoured trucks charged forward like a surging wave from the east and west. Their engines growled and their wheels churned up bloodstained soil as they thundered past the frontlines, ramming through any humans and angels in their paths.

Some were destroyed in waves of retaliatory magic and fire, but there were hundreds more.

Those that reached the broken eastern and western walls Zlego screeched to halts, unloading hordes of demon soldiers who immediately charged into the gaps, roaring as they stormed the flanks of the defenders.

Among them, naturally, were Xaren and Ilya.

Floch did say he was going to put their Company on the frontlines, didn’t he?

Both of them unsheathed their Neuro-Machinae demon swords, infusing their demonic energies into them as they charged and began slaughtering anything non-demonic in sight.

Xaren didn’t lag around to wait for the souls of those he killed to manifest after death. He was focused solely on EXP right now.

His stats were going to rise with his increased level anyway.

Ilya moved like the wind, charging ahead of their unit and activating her Darkstorm skill mid-charge. The human soldiers before her barely had time to scream before the rapidly rotating blades of black wind shredded them apart.

As she moved, the runes on her sword glowed faintly, feeding into the wind blades, enhancing their rotation speed and slicing power.

The two didn’t make any effort to stick together, which led to them getting separated without realising it—not that they really minded.

Xaren continued his advance through the wrecked streets of Zlego at his own pace, cutting down humans and elves alike, as though they were little more than grass beneath a scythe.

The elven monster tamers sent rock serpents and flaming wolves towards him, but Xaren didn’t spare them much attention.

He snapped his left fingers and activated his Unique Skill, amplifying the gravity on everything within a radius of 25 metres from him. The monsters collapsed instantly, their bodies crushed to the ground under the sheer pressure.

’Gesture activation worked perfectly.’

The thought crossed his mind as he charged at the monster tamers, using Gravity Crush to squash the heads of the weaker ones.

The sight of multiple heads being crushed to meat paste, spilling blood and brain matter was enough to make even the hardened elven soldiers shriek in fear.

Some pulled out weapons and charged at him while roaring, but their strikes were easily parried and deflected by Xaren’s black-flame coated sword. His blade hissed as it met flesh, cleaving through their bodies with nightmarish ease.

He wiped out the group in minutes, before continuing on his way deeper into the city.

Just as Xaren’s kill count was about to hit 100—his 99th being a clean beheading of a screaming angel—a loud voice boomed from behind him.

"YOU! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!!"

He had every intention to ignore it and keep moving. Another grieving soldier screaming in the middle of a battlefield wasn’t anything new.

But he was curious, so he glanced over his shoulder and spotted the source of the voice—a two-metre-tall angel, sword raised high, charging toward him like a meteor of righteous fury.

"Wait, what?!"

Xaren blinked, visibly confused.

’Who the hell is this guy?’

The angel didn’t care for introductions and swung his great sword down with a shout.

"Die, Demon!!"

Xaren, of course, didn’t stand still and let himself get hit. He lightened his body with gravity magic and leapt back, dodging the strike as it slammed into the ground and split the earth apart.

"Who the hell are you?" Xaren asked, still baffled.

"DIE!!!"

The angel wasn’t answering any questions. He was too busy trying to cut Xaren in half.

Xaren jumped back and evaded the wild swings, then, catching a group of nearby human soldiers in the corner of his vision, extended his palm in their direction.

Snapping his fingers, he activated Attraction, dragging the group helplessly toward him, then instantly followed with Repulsion, launching their bodies like ragdoll projectiles at the angel.

"You—!! Dirty tricks!"

The angel was forced to cancel their attacks to avoid hitting his allies, and naturally, Xaren didn’t let the opening slip by.

The moment the angel’s blade pulled back, Xaren dashed in from the side and drove a gravity-amplified punch into his side.

A sickening crack echoed through the air as his left fist, powered by 4x gravity, crushed their ribs and sent their body hurtling into the distance.

As for the humans he’d flung toward the angel, Xaren swung his blade diagonally with his right hand, unleashing a flaming aura slash that cleaved them in two, and the bisected halves of their bodies slammed into the ground with a dull, final thud.

Xaren’s body skidded to a stop, and he blinked at his sword in surprise.

"Wait, did I just infuse my flames in my aura? My training paid off!"

He took a second to admire the flickering black flames around his sword, until the furious scream of the angel he had punched earlier echoed through the air.

"YOU DAMNED DEMON!!"

The man charged again, but Xaren only snapped his fingers, sending the broken remains of a crumbled building hurtling at him like shrapnel.

The angel responded quickly, swinging his massive great sword and releasing a wave of murky gold aura that shattered the rubble mid-air. But in that instant, Xaren, his body lightened, blitzed behind them and swung his blade in a horizontal arc, aiming straight for his opponent’s neck.

"?!"

The angel managed to twist his blade over his left shoulder just in time to block, but the force of Xaren’s strike was far heavier than he’d expected, driving him a step back and forcing his boots to grind into the dirt for stability.

Eyes wide with disbelief, the angel spoke,

"You... how are you this strong?!"