The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Ifwewerevillains
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 002 – Demon Army
—Plateau, North- West of settlement
There was blood already flowing there.
The side which shed more blood was human, while the one who made them bleed— were demons.
“ORAAA, DIEEE—!!”
“GYAAAAAHHHH?!”
“Guh! Don’t fear! Don’t break the formation and keep on enduring!”
The soldiers of the settlements continued to endure the onslaught of demons, using spears made out of long sticks and sharp stone. These weapons were quite good for defending.
However, the demons kept on marching without fear.
“Hyaahah! Like that would work against us!”
“Guah?!”
The soldiers were brutally beaten down by demons, which were superior in both power and numbers.
“I’ll kill more and more—“
“Flame Arrow!”
“Guah?!”
“Oh, did you just use magic? Then die—!!”
“Gugh!”
In this era, even with a minority who were capable of defeating demons using magic, other demons would just aim for the opening when such magic was being created.
This battlefield was dominated by demons— by the demon army’s side.
“If this goes on..!”
The captain, who commanded soldiers reluctantly, thought of the possibility of annihilation.
The demon invasions were more intense than ever.
Furthermore, demons had just struck the other day, and soldiers were exhausted from continuous invasions. The absence of the king also affected them greatly. If he didn’t arrive soon, then…
Should they consider retreating? The situation made it so that they couldn’t help but think so.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong!? Where was your momentum from earlier!!!”
“GYAHHH! Gah! Cap, tai…”
“Kuh!”
Even now, one of his subordinates had lost his life in front of him. Not just him, there were other lives that’d been lost in several other locations
And then—
“ORAAH! So the captain was you?!”
“Gh!”
As he was about to let go of his spear, the moment he was about to draw his sword to deal with the demon.
Thud.
The body of the demon soldier was split into two parts
“Wh, wha…”
The demon soldier was defeated without him realizing what just had happened. The demons nearby stopped their movement as they witnessed the mysterious phenomenon, while the soldiers were reminded of the person who could cause such a phenomenon, and found his figure.
Well-trimmed golden hair, blue eyes, and a silver sword.
It was the king and the strongest person in the settlement.
It was Leonhart, the King of the Swords.
As he looked upon his soldiers, or to the captain to be precise, he briefly said:
“Sorry, I’m late.”
He apologized.
At that moment, the soldiers roared.
“The King has come—!!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
The morale immediately rose to its peak, and Leonhart took the opportunity to command out loud,
“I will pierce through the center! Those with excess stamina, come along and bring your swords! The rest shall use their spear and push back the enemy!”
“Understood!!”
As soon as the word was said, Leonhart pierced through the center just as he said.
“What’s the big deal about a single human! Die!”
Demon soldiers tried to attack Leonhart, who rushed toward them.
But it was too late,
Buhn, Leonhart swung his sword
At the same time—
“GaHaah— ho, fast…!”
The demon soldiers at the front were cut down.
The moment the demon soldiers entered within the reach of Leonhart’s attack they were split into two pieces, one by one. This phenomenon scared the demon soldiers.
“Eek! It… it was a monster?!”
“E, Eii! Do not fear! We are only fighting against a single man!”
As a demon captain, an individual, which closely resembled a human, roared to maintain morale,
“Die”
“Gaga, Ah…”
As if it had been aimed from the beginning, the demon captains were quickly cut down by Leonhart who muttered a short word.
Witnessing this, the surrounding demons became frenzied.
“Ru- Run away! Like hell we’re dealing with such a monster!”
“Bu, But… our post…”
As they feared the incoming blonde grim reaper, the movements of the demon soldiers became awkward.
And the human soldiers were not foolish enough to let the chance slip away.
“Now! Charge—–!!!!”
“UUUOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!”
At the captain’s signal, the soldiers abandoned their spears and drew their swords, then slashed the demon soldiers.
Several demon soldiers became corpses as a result.
“Guh, Now it has happened! Repel the human—!”
“Follow the king’s lead—!”
And so, the battlefield became more intense.
Meanwhile, Leonhart who cut down demons everywhere in midst of battlefield—
…Hah, what a hassle.
I couldn’t help but feel melancholic inside due to how troublesome the battle was.
I mean, what’s with today? These demons had great morale, and their numbers were greater than usual. At this rate, I might be unable to end this battle with just killing a single demon general.
Basically, the demon army had a command system that was defined in the order of demon general, demon captain, and finally, demon soldiers.
First, there were the demon soldiers. They were those who wore mysterious suits of armor in the colors green, red, or blue.
Eh, didn’t I say before that there were many species of demons? Why were there only a few types present on the battlefield, all with similar looks? Well, that was an obvious question.
There were many species of demons, tons of them. To the point that even with my past life knowledge, I was unable to name all of them.
All of them had a different ecology. Their movements and attack methods also varied.
It was not impossible to function as an army even with that immense variety of troops, but it was way too inefficient. On top of that, if they were not a demon general or demon captain, they seemed unable to command the troops unless they wore those suits of armor.
And there came the mysterious suits. It allowed them to make the power level of soldiers into a similar standard to some extent. With them wearing those suits, it would make them look the same, regardless of their actual form. Even their method of attack became similar.
With that, it made the demon soldiers easier to command and manage. But that would raise the question of why the demon captain could command them. I also didn’t know why.
Anyway, the bulk of the demon army forces are these demon soldiers. By the way, the strength level goes from red, blue and green, with red being strongest. Even so, even the green ones were still stronger than the common human. How unreasonable.
Next up was the demon captain. This demon had the right to command a unit that consisted of around 200 demons, and allow them to be organized and move as one. Obviously, they were much stronger than the demon soldiers.
And finally, there was the demon general. This demon is capable of commanding 100 worth of demon captains.
Basically, there would be about 20000 worth of demons in a single unit of the demon army.
If they attacked at this scale, there was usually no hope for the human side to survive. Considering their side, soldiers were stronger compared to the human soldiers and their numbers were also superior. There was also a limited amount of humans who could fight after all.
Well then, even the demon army did have weakness.
And that was what I was searching for right about now, they usually stood at the back— there it was.
“To think a single human managed to reach here… you are the King of the Swords, I suppose.”
It seems the other party also noticed me.
Its belly was a spherical glass, it wore armor on its arms and legs and its overall shape was round- the demon general.
…It might not be related, but the name of King of the Swords made me feel complicated about it.
By past life standards, it sounds so chuuni it felt painful, but it also felt a little cool? I couldn’t help but think so.
Conclusion, I neither approved of it nor denied it.
“It’s not important who I am.”
As I replied, I charged straight forward.
“Kuh, demon soldiers! Repel him!”
“Hah!”
The demon general impatiently commanded its surrounding soldiers. I would be crushed by the sheer number of demons there, so there was no need to honestly deal with it. Rather, there’s no meaning to.
I just cut down demons which happened to block my direct path and continued forward, all the way, in order to reach the demon general.
“Cih! But, it would be hard to attack properly in that momentum!”
The demon general clicked its tongue, jumped high and swung his fist towards me.
“—!”
“Wha?! Kuh—!”
I parried its fists with my blade as it was about to land on the ground.
I cut down its belly faster than his attempt to trample me.
“KuUUH! Wh, what a human…”
With that as its last word, the body of the demon general collapsed.
“Ge, General?!”
“UwaAAAHhHh!? The General is defeated!!”
“O, Oi, what should we do now? Should we keep going?”
“I don’t want to! Just do that on your own!”
“Oi, don’t mess with me! The enemy is right in front of our eyes! We have to do it!”
“Then you do it first!”
“Hah? Don’t joke with me! If I tried to go against that monster, only death awaits me!”
“So? I also don’t want to!”
“Hih!! I will escape!!”
“Me too!”
Demon soldiers were unable to regroup once the demon general was slain and they moved as they liked. The majority of them escaped, while a minority who intended to keep fighting didn’t wish to fight against the one who’d defeated the general, so they kept pushing that role onto each other.
That’s right. The demon army collapsed the moment their leader was gone.
The demon army, which was able to move as one under the command of a demon captain and a demon general, was also unable to do so once their commander was gone.
In addition, demon society is a place where the strong rule, since a demon general and a demon captain were stronger than them, they wouldn’t wish to fight against those who’d defeated them.
This was the weakness of the demon army.
It would become a headless bird once the demon general was slain.
Well, the demon general was usually stationed in the center of the formation to command and practically never went upfront, and considering the effort necessary to reach such a location to begin with, one would be unable to say that was a weakness for some people.
Our settlement was able to come out victorious using this tactic. Rather, is there any other practical way to defeat the demon army? Please tell me if there is.
Well then, if it were the usual invasion, it would’ve been done by just killing a single demon general, but looking at the army scale, I guess I need to defeat another one or two.
I don’t think I would lose against a demon general, and I could escape if it ever gets dangerous.
As I cut down my surrounding enemies, I advanced deeper into demon army formation to search for the next demon general.
Tsukii Note
I will try to make Gallery of things that appeared in chap so people could have easier time to imagine the species
Demon soldiers: https://i.ibb.co/sF7BYRP/Demon-Army-Green-Monster-So-1.png [Green one, there are also blue and red one, but since not much difference outside color, weapon they wielded, and actual power output, I just gave one example, since it was the one with most number.]
Demon Captain: https://i.ibb.co/D1Bm32M/Captain-Monster-portrait.png
Demon General: https://i.ibb.co/82Tv3jG/Monster-General-X.png
