The Demon King's First General
Chapter 55: Did I Miss One?

Chapter 55: Did I Miss One?

Arctic watched the battle between the silver-haired man and the second prince. She tried her best to analyze their fight and studied the way they moved, especially the strange man. Despite the strong vibrations of energy that became rampant as their clashes went on, her eyes remained on them.

Based on what she witnessed, she defined the man’s movement as arbitrary. She predicted what his next action would be several times, but not a single one of them was accurate.

"Who really is he? He’s fighting toe to toe against the prince," she asked.

"You’re wrong, young lady. Watch carefully; it’s not him who’s fighting on equal terms with the prince. It is the prince who’s doing his best to match up his opponent’s power," the man beside her replied.

And like she was told, Arctic analyzed the situation once more, but the moment Prince Lex deflected the scythe from the silver-haired man. She questioned the knight.

"He’s on the losing end," she commented.

Then Manchester chuckled upon hearing her, and he let the princess realize her wrong judgment without saying a thing.

In the next few seconds, the prince’s upper body was blown into nothingness as a huge explosion reverberated in the sky.

’As expected,’ Manchester thought.

Then he glanced at the young princess whose eyes widened upon seeing the prince fall one more time. Arctic rubbed her arms while watching; she couldn’t fathom the secret regarding Zeno’s strength.

"Is it... His Legacy?" She uttered, asking without removing her eyes from the two demons.

But she received no reply from the knight. A couple of minutes later, sweat enveloped her forehead after the second prince vanished in front of the silver-haired man all of a sudden.

"What happened?" She asked, her tone a little bit high.

She was surprised by the sudden development of the battle. The prince disappeared, and another man came after.

"Wait! I remember him! He’s one of the tournament’s participants," Arctic said.

Despite all of her reactions, Manchester stood still without averting his eyes from the two figures. He was so immersed in the ongoing scene that he didn’t hear the princess’ query.

"What are they talking about?" Arctic asked once more, curious upon noticing that Zeno and Lux were just standing several meters away from each other.

Even though their distance from the two people was not that great, they had difficulty hearing their conversations.

Then Arctic tried to move closer, but she heard a yell coming from her right side.

"Duck! Young lady!" A familiar voice said.

Then a spear covered with white light flew from that specific direction, and the princess heeded the warning. She dove and crouched on the floor as she heard the voice.

"H-how? I-It can’t be," she stuttered upon recognizing the owner of the voice.

It was the knight whom she met earlier, the man who was supposed to be by her side. Though his wounds were much more severe than those of the one who was accompanying her.

’Then who is it?’ She thought before lifting up her head.

However, all she saw was a curtain of white energy that was devouring the spear.

"Hmnn, I didn’t expect that you could escape my butterflies," the knight said all of a sudden before glancing at the princess and making a wide grin.

"Do not underestimate the empire’s knights!" The man answered and summoned a sphere of blinding light in the palm of his hand before throwing it at the man who had the same face as him.

Then Arctic leaped away from her position. As of now, her mind was in a state of confusion regarding who was the real Manchester, so she maintained a distance from both of them.

"Well, your Legacy is somewhat amusing, though I still prefer black," the man said after deflecting the white ball of energy with his own hand.

Then he extended his left hand sideward, and a swarm of black butterflies flew out from the skin of his arm. It circled around him while a small number landed on a pillar, and it exploded as soon as they touched touched the giant post.

After that, the man’s ears grew longer, and the tone of his skin became darker in color. His eyes turned yellow, and his hair grew longer until it reached his waist.

"You’re that dark elf from before!" Arctic exclaimed, and she summoned an ice sword on her hand.

Then the elf pulled a round transparent lens with a golden string dangling on its side from his pocket and put it in his left eye.

"I have a name, Young Lady, and it would be my pleasure if you refer to me with that one. The name is—" the elf tried to introduce himself, but a man behind him chimed in.

"A dark elf? I’m certain that I eradicated your existence from this world before. Did I miss one?" Zeno said as he appeared standing, at the top of a damaged wall while thinking about what happened a thousand years ago.

. . . . .

"Move! The demon army has already passed the frontline!" Screamed a dark elf, informing his clan about the news.

"They emerged from the swamp! Retreat behind the walls and prepare for the enemy’s attack," another one added.

All the elves ran and picked up their weapons, while those who knew magic stayed at the backline.

"Who’s leading the attack?" A dark elf with braided hair asked as he walked outside the walls to meet with the elves who gathered in there.

All of them had weapons in both of their hands, and they all lowered their heads as they saw the person who approached them.

"It’s the Conjurer of Blue Flames, my King," one of the elven soldiers answered.

The Dark Elven King nodded and asked another question.

"How about their numbers?" He said.

"Approximately a hundred came out of the swamp, and there are no traces of enemies up in the sky, my King," the same elf replied.

The king nodded once more and pulled out his weapon. It was a pair of black twin blades with a silver-coated handle.

"As long as their general is not present, we have a chance to win," the king stated.

Then blue flames, which illuminated the night sky before raining down like meteors, became the signal for the bloodshed to start.

Hundreds of demons and a great number of dark elves fought for power. The dark elves reigned supreme in the southwest part of the Forest of Nightmares. They were creatures who excelled in the aspect of dark energy, and their proficiency in using dual weapons was considered top-notch on the whole continent.

However, they were burned as they entered the Demon King’s sight. One swing of his sword was enough to turn them into ashes. Then he leaped straight to the center of his enemies and let the blue flames run amok.

Those who attacked him without thinking vanished without a single speck of ash. However, a terrifying darkness devoured the flames and saved the elves from imminent danger. Then a blade came to Cinhard’s side, aiming for his lower abdomen.

But the demon king blocked it with the tip of his sword before kicking the silhouette with flames intact on the sole of his foot.

The elven king leaped backward to evade the incoming attack, but he heard a whisper beside him the moment he landed.

"Where’s the rest of your people, Ascreal? Almost half of them are not present here," Cinhard said.

Then the dark elven king spun and aimed his blade at the demon king, but he vanished at his back, and he felt a burning kick land at the top of his head, which slammed him down on the ground.

"You’ve made the wrong choice. Did you really think that I wouldn’t know the existence of the tunnel that you elves were using?" Cinhard asked.

Upon hearing the Demon King, Ascreal’s face turned grim. Before the war started, he let most of his people use the tunnel to escape the Forest of Nightmares. That passage was a secret only known to elves. They used it to travel back and forth into the Mountain Range of Phantasms without getting detected by the other races.

But now the demon before him knew it all along.

"That man who’s more terrifying than me is waiting at the end of that tunnel," The Demon King added as he saw the look in the dark elf’s face.

"Maybe they’re a bunch of corpses by now, but don’t feel sad; I’ll send you to them soon," Cinhard taunted his opponent.

Then he let out a sinister laughter that echoed in the night sky, which pissed Ascreal, making him charge at him as soon as he stood up without any plans in mind.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, near the foot of the mountain range, a silver-haired demon was lying beside a tree while looking at the stars above.

"Here they are, at last!" He said as he heard several footsteps coming underneath the ground.

He stood up from his position bit by bit, then peeked at the tunnel and extended his hand to the dark elf inside.

"Here, take my hand; I’ll pull you out," he said, smiling.

The elves recognized his face and the color of his hair as soon as they saw him. They were contemplating what was going on, and questions like asking why that man was here crept into their minds, but no one was brave enough to ask.

’We’re doomed,’ they thought.

Then, the first elf reached the demon’s hand, and even though his body was shaking in fear, he still held the hand. Then the demon pulled him up and did nothing. Afterwards, the silver-haired demon extended his hand again for the next elf; this process continued until all of the dark elves came out of the hidden passage.

Surprise was pasted on their faces; after all, they knew how ruthless the Demon General was. They were about to express their gratitude when the demon spoke, which caused their emotions to shift from thankfulness to sorrow.

"I’ll give you an ample amount of time to run away from me, but I’ll come after and hunt you down one after the other," the silver-haired demon stated without any expression.

His words caused panic among the elves, and they ran the fastest they could to flee from him.

"This is boring; I shouldn’t have listened to that fox; not even a single one of them captures my interest." The demon sighed, then looked at the back of the elves as they disappeared upon entering the thick forest of the mountain.

"Well then," he uttered.

Soon after, they fell in succession. Some tried to fight back, while others hid in hopes that the demon would fail to find them. However, their hard work was futile as the grim reaper chased them down to harvest their souls.

. . . . .