𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬
Soldiers, Knights, Generals, Adventurers, Heroes, Holy Warriors, Kings, Champions.
For two weeks, an overwhelming human army exceeding one million in numbers has been marching in unison to reclaim the lands once ruled by the former Kingdom of Murjim, now under the control of the Demon King.
We’ve finally reached the fortress of the demons, the Demon King’s Castle.
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Upon arrival, Earth Saints, Heroes of the Earth, and common Earth Wizards collaborate to swiftly construct a makeshift base that seems far more durable than the average town’s fortifications.
They are shielded by other combat forces from monsters trying to disrupt the construction, ensuring the outpost’s completion and securing a preliminary victory.
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That being said, the enemies mainly relied on long-ranged attacks that posed less risk of depleting their forces. The monsters that did charge were evidently expendable and weak.
Our strategists said they probably aimed to drain our stamina, even a little.
No demons took part in their offense.
While we may have won the initial skirmishes, defeating such half-hearted enemies carries little weight.
We couldn’t let our guard down.
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Afterward, our tacticians employed all sorts of clever tricks to chip away at enemy forces before the full-on clash.
We isolated and defeated the few demons ensnared by our decoy tactics, unleashed ultra-long-range magical attacks on the Demon King’s Castle to shake them up, among various other strategies.
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The results were underwhelming.
We only managed to eliminate a handful of demons and fewer than a hundred monsters.
Far fewer demons reacted to our provocations than expected.
Likely, the Demon King is keeping them in check.
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Deciding that further delays would only waste resources and stamina, the Supreme Commander on the mankind side, the King of Sirius Kingdom, ordered a halt to these minor confrontations after a week of posturing.
Upon declaring that a full-scale assault would commence the next day, dawn finally broke, and the moment had arrived.
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Morning.
From a hastily constructed platform, the King glares down at the million soldiers assembled below.
Accompanying him on the platform are the Pope, various Generals and Commanders, Eltrait-san the leader of the Elven unit, Imina-san the leader of the Dwarven unit, Garm the leader of the Beastfolks unit, and we, the Hero’s Party, standing a few steps behind the King.
“Warriors, the time has finally come.”
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The King begins to speak in a solemn tone.
The soldiers listen intently to his words.
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“It’s been 15 years since the current Demon King’s Army attacked us. If we count from the era of the previous Demon King, it has been 115 years.
It’s been a seemingly eternal and hellish time of suffering for mankind.”
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The King’s words reverberate in our minds.
His voice isn’t loud.
However, the strange force and emotional weight behind it are enough to shake our hearts.
Clearly, the King has tasted a great deal of bitterness.
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“How many heroes have fallen?
How many millions of warriors have died?
How many tens of millions of innocent people have they trampled upon?!”
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The King’s barely-contained fury begins to manifest, and many warriors start to radiate a similar intensity of anger.
They must have lost friends, family, lovers, and other dear ones to them.
Much like I once did.
Much like the revenge-driven demon I once became.
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“But! Today is the day we put an end to this bitter history! We will end it with our own hands!
Mine! Those of you heroes on this platform! And each and every one of you! We will vanquish the enemy who has continued to steal from us!
Begin the full-scale assault! Hunt down every last demon!”
“””Woooooooooo!!!”””
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The army, whose morale had been elevated to its peak by the king’s speech, bursts forth from the makeshift fortress and begins its charge towards the Demon King’s Castle.
We follow suit, although we are positioned towards the back.
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The crux of this strategy is to infiltrate the Demon King’s Castle, where it’s believed that demons are densely populated, with elite heroes who possess divine protection, and have them enter with as little exhaustion as possible.
Leave the demons to the heroes, delegate the last of the Four Heavenly Kings to a fraction of the Holy Warriors, and with the Hero’s Party and the rest of the Holy Warriors, take the Demon King’s head.
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Therefore, the battle on the plains between the makeshift fortress and the Demon King’s Castle is mostly undertaken by those without divine protection.
They fight as sacrificial soldiers, aiming to reduce the heroes’ exhaustion even a little, without considering retreat.
After all, if we can’t resolve this with this offensive, we lose.
We’ve mobilized all the combat power we can muster, aiming for a swift resolution.
Moreover, the plan is to throw all of those elite forces right into the enemy’s lair.
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With no option to whittle down our forces in skirmishes, this is the only way.
Once the elites have penetrated deep into the castle, they either come out victorious or get swallowed in defeat.
If we lose and are swallowed up, losing a bulk of our elites, there will be no next time.
Therefore, there’s no need to think about what comes next.
It’s either win and survive or lose and die!
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“Let’s go, Stella!”
“Yeah! We’ll do it!”
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Leading the charge in front of us, who are also brimming with fighting spirit like the warriors, is the Iron Dwarf’s large army.
While enduring the worst possible ride, wizards specializing in barrier magic and those firing support shots from behind resist enemy long-range attacks and advance relentlessly.
Eventually, the Iron Dwarves collide with the mass of monsters arrayed on the plains before the Demon King’s Castle.
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“Activate the Gatling!”
“Mow them down!!!”
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Following the orders of the earth wizards operating the Iron Dwarves, the magical Gatling guns on various parts of their bodies begin to fire a continuous stream of iron bullets.
In combination with the wizards’ attacks, they start annihilating clusters of monsters.
However, an exceptionally large monster attacks these Iron Dwarves.
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“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIAA!”
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It’s a giant made of earth.
Though much smaller than the mountain-integrated Asgard, it is still three times the size of an Iron Dwarf.
Furthermore, several other monsters of massive size, clearly too large to fit inside the Demon King’s Castle, appear in numbers similar to the Iron Dwarves.
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“Punch them, Iron Dwarf!”
“Take them down!”
“You’re stronger than this!”
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Trusted immensely by their operators, the Iron Dwarves swing their fists, engaging in a head-to-head brawl with the earth giant.
Their punches do make holes in the giant’s body and are clearly effective, but the Iron Dwarves also take counterattacks, causing their armor to dent.
This is as much as the barrier wizards can manage.
That earth giant is undoubtedly of a high-rank monster or mature class!
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“Providing cover!”
“””O spirit of water, who governs one aspect of the arcane! Gather our calls into a torrential strike and pierce the enemy! ━━『Water Wave』!”””
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Protected by the Iron Dwarf, the wizards in the rear gathered together. With their combined efforts, they unleashed a powerful spell upon the earth giant.
The spell was as potent as the one cast by the hero without chanting, and it dealt significant damage to the earth giant.
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“Charge!”
“””Oooohhh!!!”””
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Close combat types readied their weapons and engaged the earth giant.
Each individual’s damage might be small, but when multiplied by dozens or hundreds, it made a heavy impact.
Wearing down the earth giant’s body, it was ultimately shattered by a full-force uppercut from the Iron Dwarf.
They had already defeated several other giant monsters using the same tactics.
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“Forward! We can’t afford to stop!”
“””Woahhh!!!”””
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Commands flew from the mounted commander, who was also fully committed to the ongoing battle against the swarm of monsters.
Not just giant monsters, but they were also taking down numerous smaller monsters.
Some casualties were unavoidable, but thanks to the Iron Dwarf’s efforts, the damage was significantly reduced.
The heroes were also successfully conserving their energy.
So far, things were going extremely well.
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At last, the vanguard of the warriors pushed through the monster horde and reached the gates of the Demon King’s Castle.
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“Now’s the time!”
“Spirit of Fire that governs a corner of magical law.”
“Spirit of Water that governs a corner of magical law.”
“Spirit of Earth that governs a corner of magical law.”
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At the commander’s signal, the magic-based Holy Warriors in the rear started chanting in unison.
The strategy was to minimize the Holy Warriors’ consumption as much as possible, but this was a necessary expense.
Unless they gave their all, the gates of the Demon King’s Castle wouldn’t budge.
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During previous skirmishes, they had tried launching long-distance, time-consuming mega-spells at the Demon King’s Castle.
However, the Demon King’s Castle remained unshaken.
Apparently, the castle, originally belonging to the conquered Kingdom of Murjim, was now reinforced with a black magical coating that they couldn’t break through.
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This was almost certainly enhanced by the power of the Demon King.
To break it, they had no choice but to launch a massive close-range attack.
Now, protected by many allies and with the magic-based Holy Warriors able to focus on their chanting, the conditions could be met.
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“Raging flames.”
“Flowing currents.”
“Roaring earth.”
“Howling winds.”
“Freezing chill.”
“Thunderous claps.”
“Darkness of destruction.”
“Holy light that repels evil.”
“””Under the name of us Holy Warriors, combine and mingle to manifest as a single, formidable force.”””
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『Flame Saint』『Water Saint』『Earth Saint』『Wind Saint』『Ice Saint』『Thunder Saint』『Dark Saint』『Light Saint』.
Each Holy Warrior chanted for their respective divine protection, then joined their voices to condense all the spells into one.
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I’ve seen this great spell multiple times.
A spell that has supported our battles many times.
Originally, only someone with the strongest magic-based divine protection, 『 Sage divine protection』, which is compatible with all magical elements, could activate this strongest spell.
But by gathering all-element Holy Warriors, they combined everyone’s power to evolve it into an even greater mega-spell that far surpasses the original.
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“Incinerate, Wash Away, Crush, Raze, Freeze, Resound, Shatter, Shine. ━━『True・Judgment of All Attributes』!!”
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Once, Auntie Elle obliterated half of a swarm of over a thousand dragons with a single blow.
A hyper-extreme magical spell that far surpassed that unleashed devastating power from Blade’s sword strike, creating a gigantic hole in the front of Demon King’s Castle.
. . . . . .If it only created a large hole, then the defense of Demon King’s Castle is terrifying.
However, this has cleared the way.
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“Charge━━!!!”
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At that command, the heroes who had been conserving their energy burst all at once into the Demon King’s Castle.
Given there were no demons outside, they must be swarming inside the castle.
The real battle starts now.
As they braced themselves for that moment . . . . . .
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“Huh?”
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The floor at the entrance of the Demon King’s Castle began to glow, and a radiant magic circle appeared.
It’s a trap. That much is clear.
We’re invading enemy territory, so it would be strange if there were no traps.
We’d accounted for this, and had people who could resist even the nastiest traps take the lead.
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However, this trap was unexpected.
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“Is this a teleportation trap?!”
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I heard Auntie Elle’s astonished voice.
A teleportation trap?!
I knew such a thing existed.
Demons have limited control over space.
The Old Witch Demon had summoned zombie pawns using this magic.
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Although humans couldn’t use this magic, its workings had long been studied and understood.
I’ve heard that spatial magic is both inefficient and costly, a fairly well-known fact.
I also heard from Auntie Elle that even connecting short distances consumes vast magical power, and the more entities cross through, the more the consumption accelerates.
That’s why, if demons were to use it, they would likely connect to a large-capacity Magic bag and use it to take things out, like the Old Witch Demon did.
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However, the magic circle spreading on this floor is absurdly large.
Big enough to swallow everyone who entered.
And the worst part is, humans can’t resist spatial magic.
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“What an inefficient trap! Grab onto someone nearby!”
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Auntie Elle shouts.
However, the time from when the magic circle appeared to when the teleport activated was brief.
Just a few seconds.
Those precious seconds were spent in uncertainty, bracing for what was assumed to be an attack.
This is bad?!
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“Allan!”
“Stella!”
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Stella and I reach for each other, but just before our hands could touch, the surroundings changed.
What appeared in front of my eyes was a dimly lit space, like an underground tunnel.
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“Damn?! 『Light』!”
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Driven by urgency, I quickly take out a magical light source scroll from my Magic bag, creating a freely controllable orb of light with a simple chant.
And there they were, right in front of me.
A sizable number, crawling all over the place.
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“Ah, there you are. We’ve been waiting.”
“Finally, we can cut loose! Demon King made us hold back for so long!”
“Huh? This guy doesn’t even have divine protection. What a waste of time.”
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Before me are chattering monstrosities, the Demon Army.
If these guys are here, then I must be somewhere within the Demon King’s Castle.
Considering the mana consumption to teleport over a hundred of our raid members, we couldn’t have been sent too far.
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Even so. . . . . .we got played!
I never thought they’d use such an immense amount of magical power for a non-lethal trap!
And it’s not just me; even our smart strategists were fooled.
They used inefficient magic in an even more inefficient way.
Had they used that much magic for an attack, they could’ve inflicted significant damage on us, but they didn’t.
That’s why we were caught off guard.
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Thanks to that, I’m separated from Stella.
Demon King. . . . . .you’ve really done it now!
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“Well, you’re not much of a competitor.”
“For now.”
“””Dieeeeeeee!!”””
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The demons unleash their brutality and charge at me.
I parry their attacks and use the momentum to spin.
First Strike 『Flowing Blade』.
But I don’t release it immediately.
I keep parrying, increasing the rotational force again and again.
Once it reaches its limit, I let it loose.
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“Out of the way! 『Flowing Blade・Catastrophe』!”
“””Aaaaaaaah?!”””
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A strike with the ultimate rotation, accompanied by the black flames of Kurotenmaru.
It’s a technique that takes too much time to prepare, but it allows me, who is otherwise powerless, to unleash an attack rivaling that of a Holy Warrior.
With that, I cut down all the demons in one fell swoop.
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I hurry on.
I’m heading for the Demon King.
The moment I entered the castle, I felt an incredibly strong yet nostalgic presence from above.
If our aim is the Demon King’s head, Stella and the others will surely head there as well.
If so, we can rendezvous along the way.
I’m coming for you, Stella!
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