The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 051 – Lost [A]
At the battle of the forest region, the kalar race should have gained a temporary advantage through their use of constant waves of magic and arrow attacks.
However, said advantage was completely nullified by the opponent who suddenly jumped in.
…Wha, what happened…?!
Pale turned her gaze to the depths of the forest. There was a figure who wielded a battle axe almost twice her height. He swung the axe with no effort at all, easily chopping through massive trees as if they were saplings.
“Hahaha! Damn, the forest sure is cramped and troublesome!!”
…Eh, no way?! That’s a human?!
Although the figure itself was that of a human, the size of it made Pale think,
…I-I thought it was a giant race or a dekant…!
She compared the man to the practically extinct race and the demon species who were based on said race. His size was so unimaginably big that she couldn’t help but think of clearly inhuman species.
As that huge human knocked down a tree, he made an indignant voice,
“Hey, guys! If you have time to gawk like this, you have time to fight! Don’t stand there, hurry up and follow me!!”
“…Roger that!!”
He shouted his orders out casually, but it instantly brought order to the previously chaotic soldiers. They raised their voices to answer him and began to march forward in unison once again.
As she saw that, Pale knew what the kalar had to do if they wanted any chance of winning the fight.
“—A-aim for that big person…!”
“Yes!”
Even though she had only issued the commands seconds ago, the rest of the kalar warriors had already raised their weapons in preparation for attack. This was because both the kalar and Pale had reached the same conclusion. That was,
…That person is the leader on the other side…!
His combat prowess was easy to guess, based on his luxurious armor, which was probably a gift for winning wars, his robust appearance, and the way the soldiers immediately followed his command. All of these factors pointed towards this man being a well-respected commander of the human army.
Then, as long as they managed to remove him from the battle, they would gain the advantage again. That was the course of action they decided to take.
Following that idea, the kalar warriors all fired their arrows and magic at the same time toward the beast of a man.
“—Angel Cutter!”
Pale also included her attack, shooting her strongest magic toward his hulking figure.
The massive surge of magic, with the addition of blades of light, traveled through the gap between trees and rushed toward the man.
Then,
“—!”
To their relief, the magic hit the commander directly.
…It landed!
Magic had certain characteristics that made it unavoidable. Therefore, it was natural for a properly cast magic spell to always land on its target. However, it was especially good that the magic managed to land a direct hit. The kalar were worried that the commander might take some sort of defensive posture, or he would use fellow soldiers as a shield. Although Pale had never seen a warrior skilled enough to deflect oncoming magic, she knew it wasn’t impossible.1
Pale and the rest of the kalar warriors waited to see the result after that attack. A huge cloud of smoke and dust rose from the impacted area. By all accounts, the commander should be stunned, if not taken out, so they should be able to redirect their focus back to the rest…
…Eh?
She saw something move in the depths of the smoke. Something massive. And at the same time, a voice reached her ears.
“—Aah?! Like hell that could work against me!!”
“No-no way?!”
Her expression was painted in horrified surprise as she watched that massive shadow grow darker and darker as the commander emerged from the smoke.
The bolts of magic had indeed hit him directly. But although the man’s armor was slightly dirtied and scratched, there seemed to be no physical damage to his body.2
While the kalar all stood in shock, the commander stood to full height. He threw his head back and laughed victoriously, and then lowered his head to stare directly at them. There was a crazed look in his eyes. He bragged,
“I hate magic!! It doesn’t make for much of a fight at all! That’s why…”
He hit his chest with his left hand and made a metallic sound. He gestured proudly to his own armor,
“I requested his majesty to give me this custom made, super expensive, magic-resistant armor! It took a lot of convincing, and it looks like regular armor, but I indeed have a much easier time once I am equipped with this!!”
“…!”
To think the kalar was so unfortunate, that during their biggest chance for a counterattack they were forced to face an enemy perfectly equipped to resist it. Pale’s face contorted in panic and dread, but the enemy continued to move forward. Even now, the commander still boasted,
“Well, it still hurts though!! But with this, magic users cannot stand against me anymore. In other words—”
He hefted his battle axe into the air.
“—I am invincible!! It means I am the strongest!!!”
And rushed in.
“…gh, shoot the arrows!”
The first to react was the captain of the kalar warriors, commanding her subordinates to shoot their arrows.
Since magic wasn’t effective, their only course of action was to use physical attacks. No matter how good the suit of armor was, there were always gaps in the armor. Hopefully, one of the arrows could find its mark at an arm or leg joint, which would dramatically cut the fighting power of this warrior.
“OooooOOOOOooOOOooOOOh—!!”
The commander swung his battle axe in one fluid motion, repelling the incoming wave of arrows. Most of the arrows were simply knocked away with the blade, while others had their momentum completely stopped from the shockwave that followed.
And that wasn’t the only thing that happened.
“These trees are also a hindrance! This one, this one, and that one, too—!!”
He roared and knocked down the trees one after another with his battle axe. The raid kalar unit, still in the trees, were barely able to outrun the pace at which the forest was collapsing. Pale was frozen in terror.
…Muu, that’s unreasonable…!
She could understand that the distance between trees was too small for the giant to fit through, so he would want to clear a path for himself. But it definitely wasn’t normal to keep advancing at such a speed while cutting down the trees. In fact, to be able to cut down the trees so fast in the first place, without getting his axe stuck or dulled down, was unbelievable.
And unlike his size suggested, he was actually quite fast. The soldiers behind him were eventually left behind as he alone got closer and closer to the kalar.
And,
“Gahaha…! I finally can see your faces properly—!!”
“…Pale-sama! Please retreat!”
“—!”
The captain gave her desperate words, and right after, Pale heard,
“Hah! Too late for that, you idiots! Diee—!!”
“—! Gah—”
“KyaaaAaaaAAaa?!”
With a sudden burst of strength, the commander closed the gap between him and the kalar. He lept forward and swung his axe in a massive horizontal arc, directly at the group of kalar warriors that were furthest in the front. Some kalar had caught the impact of the axe directly, and the sight and sound were too much to describe. Those kalar lucky enough to not have been directly hit were still sent flying by the shockwave that quickly followed after. They slammed into the bodies of the kalar warriors that stood behind them, knocking them down in turn. During the resulting chaos and breaking of formation, the human warrior continued to advance, swinging his axe and laughing maniacally.
“Ah, ah…?!”
Pale, who was among the fortunate people who wasn’t caught in direct hit, was frozen in shock. In front of her eyes, her comrades were being slain. It was the first time she had witnessed such a brutal and hopeless scene.
“Urg…gh…!”
She felt something acidic coming up her throat, and tears welling in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and roughly wiped at her eyes. As she endured that sensation, she saw the person who was responsible for such carnage.
“Gahahahahah!! Weak! Too weak!! Once you’re out in the open like this, it turns out you’re all just a bunch of weaklings! A group of weaklings is still weak! Hahahaha!”
“Augh…!”
“Kah…ngh…”
What was happening in front of her — was the entire kalar force being overrun without mercy. It was a complete reversal of the tides of battle.
Although her allies were still fighting, those who were within the range of the monstrous human warrior were mercilessly slaughtered by his series of attacks. With each swing of his axe, he brought down dozens of kalar warriors. As the kalar warriors retreated behind the tree trunks, he would swing his axe, bringing down a wide swath of trees and sending many of the raid kalar warriors plunging down to the forest ground. He left behind himself a massive pit of destruction. Nothing living remained in the path he carved out for himself.
But the worst was yet to come.
“—Ooohhhh! Follow the warrior chief’s lead—!!”
“Defeat the kalars—!”
The human soldiers came right after. No longer unhindered by the trees thanks to the path that the commander had forced, the soldiers could freely rush and attack as they wanted. The kalar warriors were barely managing to escape the commander’s attacks; they had no time to organize any attacks to ward off the rest of the human soldiers. With every second, they were forced closer and closer towards the settlement’s walls. Pale despaired as she heard the pained screams of her fellow kalar.
“Ah, aah…!”
She dropped to the ground and her body shook. All she could do was clamp her heads over her ears, but the roar of battle resounded through her entire body.
No, I should keep fighting, I have to keep moving, or else— although her mind understood that, her body wouldn’t move. She couldn’t even lift her eyes to watch for any enemies anymore.
…Move, please move…!
It was the reaction of her body to her first battlefield experience, and the first time witnessing death. She was completely paralyzed in shock and fear.
And,
“—Oh?”
“—!!”
Finally, that monster of a man noticed her.
Right that moment, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Even without making eye contact with him, her body sensed his gaze, and she unconsciously felt the premonition of death.
And in an ironic twist, that split second realization of impending death was enough to jolt her body into action. Pale managed to move her body for just a moment.
“—Li, Light!”
“—!”
She only managed to desperately stretch her hand out and move her lips. She activated a rudimentary magic spell of the light element and shot it toward her opponent.
Even as the flash of light ran and sparkled through the surroundings, there was no way such an attack could be effective against such an opponent. Therefore, the result was inevitably,
“Gahahahaha!! Like hell that could be effective!!”
The giant didn’t even make a move to deflect or avoid the magic. In fact, he stopped and let it hit him straight on his breastplate, and laughed wildly. The magic spell was not even enough to scratch his armor.
…Ah, so it’s no good after all…
There, Pale realized. The man in front of her was an opponent on a completely different level from her.
She was the Chief of Kalar, and perhaps the other party was also the chief of the enemy army. They were similar in that they both were in the position of leading people.
However, his capability was in a wildly different league compared to her. After all, she was a pitiful chief who always shut herself away, relied on other people, and never fought properly until today.
On the other hand, her opponent was a warrior who had definitely lived through many battles until now. He was someone who had to fight to be acknowledged as a leader of any kind, rather than being named by the previous leader as successor. He always sought new ways to improve his strengths and be helpful to others.
If she was to compare him to a worthy kalar, then he would be something like Kesselring. They were the kind of people who worked hard, lived, and succeeded, when thousands around them had failed or died — the kind of hero that was born only once every few thousand years.3
There was no way a common person like her could be comparable to them. Forget about trying to block them or surpass them; even if she tried to follow in their footsteps, she would only be treated like a pebble in their shoes and kicked away.
…Even though I have to show my worth as the chief…!
However, as Pale looked at the huge enemy approaching her, she gripped her staff with quivering hands and thought — I don’t want to die. I don’t want everything to end like this…
Even though she had already stepped up to help everyone as chief, she didn’t want it to just end like this. She wanted to do more—
“Oraoraora!! Diee—!!”
“—!”
But the reality was cruel, very much so. The weak would easily die in this world. In front of the incoming storm of blows, Pale could only accept this bitter truth.
The weak stood no chance against those who were innately talented or strong.
…I-I guess… I was a no-good person after all.
As death approached her, Pale looked back on the life she had lived and regretted it.
If only she’d gained her resolve earlier! If only she had stopped being a coward, and immediately started training harder when Kesselring chose her to be chief, perhaps the result might be different. Maybe she could have achieved something. She wasted too much time, and now it wasn’t just her paying the price, but her entire community.
…I’m sorry… I’m sorry, everyone… I’m sorry, Kesselring-sama…!
She failed to achieve anything in the end. She felt like the worst of the worst, completely incapable of redeeming herself. She was so useless, she could only apologize, over and over, inside of her head.
And she accepted the end that would come to her. She would die forgotten, crushed under that monster’s blade, nothing more than a faceless enemy.
Suddenly, there was a roaring sound in the forest.
“—?!”
And a shockwave, of equal strength to the human warrior’s, followed a little after.
“What ha—Uouh?!”
“—!”
The ground shook.
“Is it an earthquake…?!”
“Everyone, lower your posture…!”
Both the human soldiers and kalar warriors were forced to suspend their battle at that moment. That was how great the shockwave was.
It felt like an earthquake, but it also felt different.
A deep, low noise resounded from the depth of the forest. The tremor implied that the ground was hit by something.
…What is this…?
Pale could feel the creatures of the forest buzzing. Those with wings flew in the sky, while those who walked the earth fled desperately and hid.
It felt as if the whole forest was scared of something—
“—”
And just as she was about to be completely overwhelmed,
The tremor finally stopped.
“I-is it over…?”
Everyone there forgot they were bitter enemies for a moment and exhaled in relief.
However, it was only for a short time, and as the fight was about to resume,
—It came again.
“—?!”
Suddenly, the roaring sound could be heard again. It was closer than before.
…Ra-rather than saying it was close, it’s more like, any moment, it’ll…!
Just as Pale started feeling nervous again,
“—!”
A shockwave ran through the ground, causing waves of dirt to rumble through the forest — creating destruction in its wake.
The destruction happened suddenly.
Dozens of meters above the forest region, what could be faintly seen was something that looked like a shooting star. As it approached, it turned out to be a flying slash, and it swiftly descended, slicing through the air and the trees in its path.
And finally,
“—!!”
It reached the ground.
The ensuing impact didn’t just stop with a massive chunk taken out of the ground.
The soil was forced upwards, and dozens of trees fell around the area of impact. The shockwave produced by the impact sent animals fleeing in all directions, and smaller creatures near the area of impact were blown away altogether.
And among the unfortunate were these two armed forces.
“—?!”
The unlucky people, whether they were human or kalar, were equally blown away from the scene. Even the fearsome commander was forced backwards with his men.
There was no way a human could cause this much destruction. This was the thought running through everyone’s heads as they struggled to their feet.
Right after the impact, a shadow appeared from the depths of the forest.
That person had the appearance of a human man. He was a blonde man with a handsome and strong impression who wore dark gray clothes.
“…”
There was a blue long sword held in his right hand, and he looked around while exuding an overwhelming presence. He had a pair of sharp, red eyes, and those who directly gazed at them were terrified by the red aura he emitted. The pressure radiating from him alone was stifling, and it made everyone hold their breath and try to stay as still as possible. It was like a wolf suddenly appearing in a warren of rabbits.
And above all, his expression was filled with intensity.
He looked around with furrowed eyebrows, and seemed to be looking for something. His expression was frustrated and twisted in concentration. He gave off the impression that he might explode immediately just from the slightest touch.
“…!”
Then his gaze sharpened and focused on a single point.
Most of the people there were unable to tell what the man was searching for, but one lucky – or maybe unlucky – soul happened to see what the man was looking at.
It was one of the human soldiers. He coincidentally turned his eyes to the existence that suddenly appeared in front of him and his eyes widened.
“Ah—a treasure chest dango…”
Unable to process anything happening in the moment, the soldier opened his mouth and described what was in front of him out of conditional reflex.
The red-eyed man’s expression changed immediately to one of determination. He opened his mouth and shouted.
“—SO IT’S OVER THEREEEEEE!!!”
Along with his roar, the man swung the sword in his hand.
And once again, the forest crashed and shook from a terrible impact.
—There was only one thing that could possess this absolute strength that greatly surpassed the powers of both humans and kalar. It was an existence that could easily slaughter mythical heroes.
—A majin had appeared on the battlefield.
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