A defeated soldier with a resolve to die.
Honestly, dealing with them is troublesome, both mentally and physically.
No matter how much they struggle, the only way to stop them is by killing them.
Even if taken prisoner, they don’t have any useful information.
Angels, in the first place, would probably loathe being captured by demons.
Himik is a complete exception.
Ordinary angels refer to someone like the Archangel before me now, who, with a fierce look, swings a wheel down.
“Demons shall perish!!”
“There’s no way we’d perish obediently.”
It’s certainly a formidable skill to have slipped through Valse-san’s Space Static and reached me.
However, there’s no way I’d lose to an angel whose power and skill are below Himik’s.
I firmly stomp on the wheel that was thrust at me.
It’s probably a precious weapon, given by God.
Her eyes widened in disgust, radiating anger, she raised the wheel to push me away with all her might.
But, unfortunately, I haven’t left any room for her to do that.
Stepping on the wheel signifies advancing forward.
While you were feeling enraged, my blade was already at your neck.
By the time you transmitted the signal to your shoulder muscles to raise the wheel, your head was already flying through the air.
While you were fantasizing about killing me, your head would be rolling on the ground, and your body would be lying on the ground.
“Now then, shall I move on to the remaining cleanup?”
If their trump card has fallen, there will be no more reinforcements.
On the other hand, I have requested reinforcements, so more are expected.
I can’t afford to take my time, but I can create some mental space.
“It seems the instructor’s fight should be ending soon too.”
My comrades are falling one after another, and the ones who remain in the end are indeed the powerful ones.
The unit called the Hero is surprisingly still active.
However, they have injuries here and there; their once clean armor is covered in sand and mud; large drops of sweat flow down their foreheads; and there are visible signs of treatment on their blood-soaked bodies.
On the other hand, look at the Great Onis.
They must have been cut in various places, but there are no wounds left on their bodies.
Rather, they are still gleefully rotating their shoulders, with plenty of energy left.
It seems they’ve just finished their warm-up.
“At most, I’d say they’ve lasted sufficient time.”
The remaining Pegasus Knights who were providing support can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
A decrease in support naturally means an increase in the burden on the Heroes.
Therefore, the scales of victory or defeat will inevitably tip in our favor.
“Hmm, should I finish them off before they do something unnecessary?”
“But if I hold back here, I might be setting up a losing flag.”
“Instructor, I apologize for interrupting your enjoyment, but our time is up. I’ll finish them off before they do anything unnecessary.”
“Huh? Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Tch, did I play too much?”
As I carried the Ore Tree on my shoulder and approached the instructor, he frowned and made a displeased face for a moment, but looking at the situation on the battlefield, my actions were clearly correct.
“In that case, let’s finish this quickly and go for drinks.”
“There’s still post-battle cleanup, so we won’t be able to drink for at least three days.”
“You idiot, what are you going to do without a victory celebration?”
The Heroes felt a surge of anger from the Oni’s confident words, as if they had already won, but unfortunately, this is the fact.
Even while saying this, neither the instructor nor I are letting our guard down at all.
It’s just a lighthearted remark, hoping for a little leniency from the enemy.
“That’s something to look forward to after we win.”
“Idiot, do you think we’d lose to these guys?”
That hope didn’t materialize.
Naturally, they aren’t foolish enough to let their guard down and get angry here.
Even so.
“You’re right.”
As I suddenly relaxed and put all my strength into my legs, closing the distance to zero instantly, they couldn’t fully react.
It’s impressive that they widened their eyes in surprise and slid their spear against their body for defense.
“Holy Sword, no, overconfidence in the Holy Spear.”
An object doesn’t serve as defense for me.
It certainly feels like a sin to strike down a boy who probably hasn’t reached adulthood.
However, that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on him.
Someone gave him instructions, he was raised that way, this child had no choice, he had to become a Hero to survive.
There are plenty of reasons to hold back my sword.
But that doesn’t mean they were weak enough to be forgiven for coming to kill me.
If I let him go here, he would undoubtedly kill someone from the Demon Lord’s Army on another battlefield.
As a final act of mercy, I ended his life without him even realizing he had been cut.
His body was cleanly cut in two, along with the Holy Spear. He tried to move his eyes, but his body wouldn’t follow.
After all, his body was already in two pieces.
“Hey, don’t look away.”
His comrade fell in an instant, causing a moment of disturbance, a gap the instructor would never miss.
The compact and clean fist conveyed no playful intent, piercing the chest of the Hero who seemed to be just a girl.
Two down in an instant.
The overwhelming difference in military strength led to the loss of valuable personnel, and the formation, which had barely maintained equilibrium, collapsed, bringing the chance of victory close to zero.
Shaking off the blood, I moved the Ore Tree, creating a momentary pause.
The instructor also carefully withdrew his fist from the girl’s body, allowing a brief respite.
It was the only mercy shown by the adults on the battlefield to a young heart; a mercy that would allow them to escape if they fled now.
“I see.”
However, they used that interval to regain their breath, reorganized their formation, and swung their blades at us with the utmost resolve to kill us.
I uttered a single word of disappointment and clashed my Holy Sword against theirs.
A Hero swung a greatsword towards the instructor.
They have skill, but lack experience.
They are too fixated on fighting with a sword, and their only other offensive means is magic, a rather straightforward fighting style.
Such opponents are not accustomed to gritty combat.
In response to a horizontal slash, I stepped in forcefully, crushed his foot from above, and snapped his ankle. While he was immobilized by the pain, I struck his jaw with my elbow guard, causing a concussion.
Even with a dazed consciousness, he attempted a counterattack out of reflex, but with his support leg unusable, he couldn’t deliver a sharp blow.
In that case, the speed at which I grip the Ore Tree and swing it is overwhelmingly faster.
Calmly re-measuring the distance, I swung the Ore Tree, and the Hero, who was more than half unconscious, had no way to evade it.
That’s two down. Nearby, the instructor delivered a roundhouse kick to the greatsword user, causing him to recoil significantly. As his posture broke, I stomped down on his head with my heel.
Neither the instructor nor I show any mercy to those we’ve decided to fight, as it would be an insult to warriors.
I severed his head, and the instructor crushed his skull.
With each delivering a fatal blow, any arrows flying in for support were naturally dodged by a tilt of the head and we continued to advance.
Magic also flew our way, but it was blown away by the instructor’s fist pressure.
Trying to put distance between us is futile.
Did you think you were safe outside the range of my slash?
Let me tell you, the range of my step is no joke.
I’ve spent countless hours training to cover the distance of one step.
Crushing the ground beneath me, I leaped forward, the force of my step accelerating me.
If the power of that step turns into acceleration, my charge would break the sound barrier in a living body.
I have no intention of dodging arrows and bows.
If I have time to dodge, it’s faster to just cut them down and proceed on the shortest path.
There were five arrows flying towards me.
A large number shot in an instant, and they were accurate.
But that’s all.
They might be imbued with magic, possibly faster or homing.
But if I cut them down along with the magic, they become mere trash.
Without stopping or changing course, I closed in on the Hero holding the bow and cut down the Hero, who was desperately trying to escape, from behind.
“Haa, if you’re going to run, then run from the start.”
Cutting targets from behind always leaves a bad aftertaste.
If I can win in a head-on confrontation, I can enjoy it, but otherwise, I can’t really have fun.
Seeing such indecisive behavior is the most disheartening.
With a deep sigh, I shoulder the Ore Tree again.
“Well then, is this the end?”
“Yep, mine’s over too.”
“Instructor.”
“In the end, it was over before the reinforcements arrived.”
Finally, the instructor finished off the Hero wielding a staff, and the battle on this battlefield reached its conclusion.
Now, if we just deal with the remaining angels, the fighting will be over for the time being.
“…”
“What is it? Is something bothering you?”
“Why aren’t the angels retreating?”
I judged it to be cleanup, but upon careful consideration, the commanders who were leading here have all been slaughtered.
Under such circumstances, it would be natural for them to retreat to avoid further casualties, or for the soldiers to flee.
“Ah, well.”
Even for beings with somewhat mechanical thinking like angels, even the lowest level disposable soldiers, it’s obvious that this is a losing battle.
Therefore, it’s logical to calmly assess the situation and retreat.
Despite this, the angels remain here.
“?! No way!”
Something hasn’t ended.
There’s an object that fulfills that condition.
“Damn it!”
It’s an object that fell from the sky.
I thought it broke when I slammed it into the ground, but there must still be some functioning object left.
And you never know what fanatics will do.
“I have a bad feeling about this. Hey.”
The fallen Heroes suddenly began to glow, and my bad feeling proved to be correct. I hurriedly poured magic into them to burn them away, but it was too late. They, along with their weapons, turned into spheres of light and flew towards the other side of the mountain, the direction from which the floating fortress was shot down.
This is happening all over the battlefield.
It’s a scene like recovering souls who have passed away on the battlefield.
Light rises to the sky in streaks and disappears beyond the mountains in an arc.
The instructor also made a bitter face, as if chewing on a bitter gourd.
The instructor, who enjoys fighting, had a bad feeling.
And that bad feeling was easily confirmed.
“The angels are retreating?”
“It doesn’t look like they’re realizing they’ve lost and are pulling back. Someone is ordering them. Their escape is too clean.”
The angels suddenly stopped fighting, took to the sky with their wings, and began to withdraw from the battlefield.
Normally, I’d want to cheer for our victory, but the demons on the battlefield also seem to be wary of this sudden action.
“So, this is where the real fight begins.”
“Yeah, I don’t think they’d admit defeat that easily.”
What will happen from here?
I desperately recall past documents etched into my mind, trying to find something similar to this situation, but there’s no relevant data.
“Valse-san.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“What’s happening?”
If that’s the case, I have no choice but to ask the spirit, who has accumulated far more knowledge than I have.
Calling out to Valse-san, who is now idle since the fighting is over, she appears on the head of a snake.
“Well, I have a few ideas.”
“The worst-case scenario, quickly.”
“Well, considering they were able to secure so many souls on this battlefield.”
She thinks, resting her hand on her chin with a troubled expression.
“I might be able to summon a gate connecting the present world and the celestial realm.”
“A gate to the celestial realm?”
“Yes, that would be terrible. A super-large celestial realm gate could disrupt the balance of this world, not the physical balance, but the conceptual balance, and world integration would begin. However, with this amount of souls, I don’t think such a large gate would be created.”
She presents possible scenarios from her memories.
“Still, a gate that even a Divine Beast in the celestial realm could pass through, I can summon that anytime.”
She informed me that the battle was not yet over.
Today’s word:
Make sure to confirm the end properly.
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