Chapter 315: Develania’s Gambit

Piles of food and quivers overflowing with arrows are useless without a magic suppression array.

‘Heroes won’t change that either.’

Unless all the Heroes are here, it won’t matter. No idea how Sir Deon pinpointed the core, but now that we know, Rweche’s defeat is practically guaranteed.

While the soldiers were still reeling from the shock, Develania met the charging Hero’s attack with a taut thread. Grinning, she snagged his weapon, yanking it hard.

“Well, hello there.”

“…”

Abandoning his weapon and retreating immediately, the Hero must have decided a long weapon like a spear was a disadvantage and grabbed a sword lying nearby.

Develania swiftly dodged the incoming sword, using the moment to check the threads she’d laid.

“Why so eager? You’re just going to die anyway.”

“…”

“Rweche is finished. You know that, right?”

Your lifeline is cut. And we have the 11th Corps here, specialists in magic. Fighting any longer is just pointless struggle.

For a moment, the Hero seemed to deflate, the sword in his hand lowering slowly. But it was fleeting. Resolve hardened in his eyes, and his grip tightened on the weapon.

“Then at least I’ll take a legion commander’s head to make it worth it.”

“…Spirited.”

As if just now realizing their commander’s location, some legion members started to move towards them. Develania didn’t even glance back at them, playing with the thread in her hand as she gave an order.

“Find the king. Just bring back his head, and don’t make it difficult.”

Her gaze locked intensely with the Hero’s across the space.

“Stay back, you’ll just get in the way.”

“Understood.”

The legion members vanished. Develania blocked the Hero’s attempt to stop them.

As she blocked the Hero, Develania secretly set another thread. A cruel glint lit her eyes as she grinned, watching her prey caught in her web.

“Looking away from me? Right in front of you? That’s a bit insulting, you know.”

“…”

“Hmm, are Heroes always this quiet? I’ve faced quite a few Heroes, and it’s always me doing all the talking. Like now.”

“…Probably because there’s nothing to gain from talking to the enemy.”

The Hero spoke slowly, his eyes darting around, scanning their surroundings. He was focusing on the areas near where the threads were laid. Definitely sensed something was off, like a Hero would.

‘Even if he looks all he wants, he won’t see them that easily.’

Might as well have some fun.

News of the king’s head won’t arrive for a while yet. Develania smirked and lunged at the Hero.

……

Like a seemingly small gap widening into a chasm later, the battle that had looked even at first glance quickly tipped in one direction after a short time.

The Commander of the 2nd Corps’ attacks were nearly invisible.

Sensing the invisible threat, the Hero took a step back, then froze. The sudden stop made him stagger, but that wasn’t important. Instead of retreating further, he ducked his head, avoiding the danger, and glanced down. Invisible threads, placed sometime earlier, had already begun to bite into his Achilles tendon.

Seeing this, the demon Develania chuckled.

“Just a step back and it would have been cut clean off. Shame.”

“…”

“Heroes really are a pain.”

Good instincts.

And that’s not all. He won’t fall for the same thread twice once he knows its location. Must be the ‘talent’ at work, including his brain. A truly bothersome opponent.

‘What to do now…’

Play around a bit more, or finish it here?

As she considered her options, her communication stone vibrated. Develania pulled it out with one hand, simultaneously blocking an incoming attack by stomping on the end of a thread and yanking it taut, then answered the call.

“Yeah, what is it?”

– We found the king. But…

Click.

They found the king, so the job’s practically done. Nothing more to hear.

She swiftly dodged a sword arcing upwards from below, as if slicing through air, then tucked the disconnected communication stone back into her clothes and looked at the Hero.

“Guess it’s time to finish this.”

How far is it from here to where Deon Hart is fighting, anyway? Can’t be that far.

With a calm thought that seemed out of place given the situation, she tugged the thread wrapped around her left pinky. Threads laid all around suddenly became visible, binding the Hero.

Thin red lines appeared on his arms, legs, even his cheeks and neck, as if sliced by something sharp. Any sudden movement now would surely sever a limb.

“…”

Sensing death, the Hero’s grip on his sword loosened slightly.

He held onto the sword, barely, as if about to drop it any second, which surprised her. Develania glanced at him, then tightened her grip on the thread around his neck.

“Maybe they rushed to gather these Heroes… the quality certainly seems lower than before…”

“…”

“Well, it was still fun.”

Gotta give him credit for his willpower.

She yanked the thread. The Hero’s head thumped to the floor, and a ripple of shock ran through the enemy soldiers.

“…!”

The soldiers, stunned by their Hero’s defeat, exchanged glances, then charged forward.

Some of their comrades had already fallen, caught in the crossfire of her fight with the Hero. They knew they couldn’t win, yet instead of running, they charged. Rweche’s military strength had really grown. With this kind of spirit, they might even rival the Imperial army at its peak.

‘More importantly…’

Develania casually cut down the remaining soldiers and glanced up. Lirinel was in the sky, picking off enemies with magic.

Let’s see…

‘Four Heroes in each city. I’ve already taken care of one.’

That human sprawled at Lirinel’s feet must be a Hero, so that leaves two. Ah, there’s Idelia, taking down another one in the distance. Now there’s only one left.

She raised her communication stone.

“Idelia.”

– Busy, what do you want?

“Could you handle the last Hero? Just one left—”

– Not going yourself?

“Got things to do.”

Across the distance, her eyes met Idelia’s.

Idelia stared at her for a moment, as if trying to dissect her intentions, then finally turned away. She dealt with the next wave of enemies as she gave a curt reply.

– Fine…

“And where is he…”

– Palace, obviously.

“Knew you’d know.”

A high-value asset like a Hero wouldn’t leave the king’s side. The last one must be there.

The call ended, and Idelia immediately moved out. Develania watched her retreating back until she was out of sight, then rolled her eyes upwards.

The finger with the thread twitched. Instantly, Lirinel threw up a magical barrier.

Scrape!

“…!”

The sound of something scraping against the barrier echoed in the air.

“What… the—?!”

A sudden sense of unease made her throw up a barrier, but this wasn’t an arrow or a dagger. Something invisible was attacking her. Not a human attack then. For a moment, Lirinel stared blankly at the scratches on her barrier, unable to process what was happening, then whipped her head around to face Develania. Her cute face contorted in fury as she met Develania’s serene expression.

“What in the world are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

Develania smirked and waggled her finger pointedly.

“Punishing a traitor’s lackey, obviously.”

***

Develania had made her judgment.

Deon Hart, for his spree of killing legion commanders, and the Demon King, for condoning it and covering it up, were both guilty. After much deliberation, she had decided to consider both Deon Hart and the Demon King as enemies.

But what could she do against them alone? The Demon King was untouchable to demons, and even Deon Hart was a Hero. Taking them on solo was impossible.

So, she sought out others who might have grievances against both the Demon King and Deon Hart.

‘The 8th and 10th Corps who’d lost legion commanders to Deon Hart, and… the Commander of the 12th Corps, who’d lost his adjutant.’

They would naturally resent Deon Hart for killing their superiors and adjutant, and they’d likely harbor ill will towards the Demon King for simply covering it up. Even so, they were probably holding back because the one they were dealing with was the ‘Demon King’.

Develania had poked at those feelings. Getting a reaction hadn’t been difficult.

[Made up your minds?]

[……]

[Well, you coming here says you’ve made up your minds. Coming this far, you know there’s no turning back, right?]

They’d arrived on time at the warehouse, just as asked.

[Good, I’ll take that as a yes. Listen closely while I explain the plan.]

They listened to the plan in silence.

The goal was simple: ‘Kill the Demon King and the Hero.’

The representative from the 8th Corps asked, sounding uneasy.

“Forgive me, but is killing the Demon King even possible? For us, the Demon King is…”

“Like a god, yes. But it’s possible now.”

Negative, just like the old legion commander.

What this one needed was reassurance. Develania stated firmly.

“You’ve noticed the Demon King has been suppressing his magic power lately, right?”

“…Come to think of it…”

“Right. Someone who’s never done it before, not once in living memory, suddenly starts acting out of character, there has to be a reason, right? And the reason is obvious.”

No…

“…Magic… power… depleted…?”

“Correct. Normally, the Demon King is known for recklessly throwing around magic power, but even after using up ninety percent of his reserves to revive Deon Hart, he hasn’t broken the habit. He’s bound to be running low.”

Even the Demon King’s magic power isn’t infinite.

And a big part of why the Demon King is revered is the overwhelming magic power you can feel just by being near him.

“It’s worth a shot.”

A Demon King without magic power is like a toothless tiger in the Human Realm.

With that reassurance, Develania looked around at the assembled group, signaling that she was getting to the main point.

“The biggest obstacle to attacking the Demon King and Deon Hart is the legion commanders. They’re fiercely loyal to both.”

The Demon King, fine, but why are they so loyal to Deon Hart?

Develania frowned slightly, thinking of Lirinel, still not understanding the loyalty, then lightly traced her fingertips across the cities marked on the map.

“Well… even so, taking down the Human Realm is the priority, so we’ll start by capturing the cities. Shouldn’t be too hard. Won’t take long either. It’s like mop-up duty in already fallen cities.”

“…How can you be so sure?”

“Unless they’ve got Heroes stacked to the rafters, most of them will be busy with Deon Hart at ‘this location.’ To put it another way, the three countries’ main military strength has been focused on killing Deon Hart, not defending their cities. Does that make it clearer?”

The difference in power is overwhelming; they’re not going to start whining about not being able to handle this, are they?

The representatives from the 8th and 10th Corps glanced over at her, as if on cue, then their gazes shifted to the location she’d pointed out earlier. The place where Deon Hart was set to fight the Heroes.

Myers, Commander of the 12th Corps, who had been silently studying that location and calculating distances to the cities, spoke up quietly.

“Distances to all the cities are about the same…”

“Exactly. Perfect, then. We don’t know which cities we’ll be assigned to, right? So we’ll make this place the rallying point.”

They’ll have to come here to deal with Deon Hart anyway.

“So… capture the cities and then rally here? Or should we take out the other legion commanders after we gather, before engaging Deon Hart?”

“No. Take out the other legion commanders before you move out. Right after capturing the cities is when they’ll be most off guard. Rally here after that.”