Approximately 6,500 demons giggled in sinister excitement in front of the gate connecting to the human realm, in the extremely gut-wrenching world full of smoke and fine dust. It was the underworld.
"Ha. I can't believe I'm actually invading the human realm. This is going to be fun."
"I wouldn't call it an invasion, idiot. We're basically the cleaning crew."
"What?"
"Am I wrong? The hell's knights will wreak havoc in the human realm and destroy everything. We're only going to wrap things up after them."
"That still counts as an invasion."
"Believe what you will, but the Frontera Estate, was it? That place is probably razed to ashes by now already. There won't be a chicken left for us to kill on the other side of the gate."
"Ugh."
"So relax and keep your hopes low."
"Still."
"Still what?"
"It's my first time there. I just want to have fun."
"Well, if you put it that way, I kind of agree."
"See?"
"Haha."
These were some of the best demons in the entire hell, each of them matching advanced sword experts in the human realm in might.
"But how much longer do we have to stay on standby for? The enemy estate is going to be incinerated by the time we get there."
"I don't know. We can't move until our lord king of hell opens his eyes."
"True. But when is His Evil Majesty going to awaken?"
"Soon, probably."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," said one of the demons with confidence. "I heard it takes about 100 or 200 days in a human's time for his soul to settle in the lich's body."
"And that's today?"
"Most likely."
"Wow. I'm still amazed by how His Evil Majesty still took care of the day-to-day operation of the underworld despite falling into the slumber."
"That's why he's our king and liege. Although he wasn't able to monitor the human realm in the meantime because of that."
"True."
The two demons nodded in agreement. The king of hell indeed was astounding in that aspect, and they had not a shred of a doubt that today's invasion was going to be an absolute success. They believed it wouldn't even fall to the king of hell, in fact, because the Frontera Estate should already have been razed to ashes by now regardless of how well-prepared they were, and how much of a resistance they put up. Five hundred hell's knights was just too overwhelming.
500 hell's knights... I don't think humans can stand against them even if they formed an alliance of the entirety of their forces.
The demons hoped for their king to open his eyes and give the command for them to cross the portal, so they could destroy everything they come in contact with in the human realm, covering themselves in red blood to have a good time.
"...Huh?"
A demon made a strange noise all of a sudden, shortly before pointing at the hell's gate in astonishment. "Somebody is coming!"
All 6,500 demons lifted their heads up in surprise, as the visit from the human realm was certainly an unanticipated turn of events. They hoped one of the hell's knights was returning from the other side temporarily to give them commands, as hell's knights were high-ranking knights of the hell's military and could thus lead them into battle. Demons desperately waited for a fearsome and majestic hell's knight to show itself and give the speech, stating the Frontera Estate was almost finished, but they still left some humans alone so the demons could have some fun, and that they had permission to wreak havoc against the poor humans.
Please... Please!
Demons prayed in unity from their thirst for blood. They craved atrocity and murder. Soon enough, someone came out from the portal and gave his speech.
"Hello, all."
But it was that detestable human Lloyd. He glanced at the horde of demons and put a huge smile on his face. "We've met before."
The demons were astonished by the sight. The man riding a huge bird and flying around in circles was clearly someone most of them remembered.
Isn't that Lloyd Frontera?
He's the guy who exploited us during the construction of the hell's railroad!
Ugh, I still remember all those overtime and day shifts.
My mother told me not to hang out with him because he was clearly more evil than demons.
But why is he here?
It was perplexing, as 500 hell's knights had definitely invaded the Frontera Estate. He wasn't supposed to show up unhurt on the other side of the hell's gate. It did not make sense.
"A-are you here to surrender?!" Shouted one of the demons in a flustered voice.
"Surrender?" Lloyd's smile turned peculiar as he responded. "Not at all. I'm here to attack."
"What?!"
"Yong Yong!" Lloyd shouted out instead of replying to the demons.
Creak! Creak! Creak! The bones creaked as colossal skeletal structures appeared through the gate. Several hundreds of these things floated in the air, shortly before assembling to return to their original state. The demons had seen this creature before.
"B-bone dragon!"
The bone dragon that had shown up when Lloyd took care of the magma giant was making an appearance again in the red sky of the underworld. It held the hell's gate with its two arms and placed its head right beneath the gate to serve as the bridge for thousands of vile creatures of the human realm that rushed out of the portal.
"Weird, the air here!" Shriek!
"Hurts, my nose and throat!" Shriek!
"Hurts, my eyes because of your face!" Shriek!
"Still invade, we!" Shriek!
"Still conquer, we!" Shriek!
"Still fight, we!" Shriek!
"Invade! Conquer! Fight!" Shriek!
Orcish warriors, whose size was certainly not inferior to that of demons, flooded out through the hell's gate. They stepped on Yong Yong's head, ran down its bony spine, and rushed to the ground of the underworld. That was when demons finally realized what was going on.
"S-stop them!"
"Get rid of the bone dragon first!"
"Aaack!"
Demons let out their creepy battle cries and charged towards the bone dragon Yong Yong. Getting rid of this colossal creature was their biggest priority, as creatures of the human realm were descending through this from the portal. They unleashed fiery breaths from their mouths. The hell's fire from 6,000 blazed towards one leg of Yong Yong, engulfing the hind limb with grudging fire.
Creak! Creak!
And Yong Yong loved it. The bone dragon actually enjoyed the heat massage on its leg every time it came to the underworld, and took a quick glance at the demons to signal them to attack the other leg as well. The demons' understanding of the peril they were in drastically became sharper.
"Break that thing apart!"
Shring! Clink! The demons stretched out their hands, causing their arm bones to extend and protrude through their palms. They then took the shape of grim weapons of each individual's choice, not to mention the horrifying facial expressions.
"Graaaah!"
Strong demons charged, but they couldn't attack Yong Yong. Their marching had been stopped by brave orc warriors.
"Big, they, like us!" Shriek!
"Muscle, they, like us!" Shriek!
"Fight, I want!" Shriek!
"Date, I want!" Shriek!
"...There's a spy among us!" Shriek!
Orc warriors shouted out in response to the battle cry of the demons, each holding a battle axe, hammer, and steel mace.
Booooooooom!
They charged and clashed with one another. Muscles flexed, tusks shone, and fists were clenched. They bit and pulled and stomped. But the orcs were pushed back.
"Strong, they are!" Shriek!
"Hit me, that guy!" Shriek!
"In there, hang!" Shriek!
The orc warriors stood their ground despite the adversities, however, as in amphibious warfare. They did their best to make way for other soldiers of the alliance to cross the portal and descend on Yong Yong's spine, joining forces with the orcs.
30,000 orcs all charged recklessly, as 10,000 Royal Magentano soldiers marched in a precise formation, accompanied by 500 centauri sprinters carrying elf sharpshooters and 500 White Cavalry on the left wing, and 1,200 Mamluk cavalry on the right. 36 artillerymen from Cremo escorted by 700 pikemen from Namaran followed from behind, eventually pushing the demons back.
"Argh! Ack! H-hold on!"
But there was no such thing as a time-out in war. The alliance forces continued to mercilessly rout their enemies, putting pressure on the demons with headstrong orcs and well-organized royal soldiers, while the fleet-footed centauri, White Cavalry, elf sharpshooters, and Mamluk cavalry ran around and caught them from behind quickly.
6,500 demons were surrounded, just like that. Artilleries from Cremo were fired, and demons got knocked out from the projectiles here and there. Some demons went wild in fury, but only to be held by the flexing muscles of ore warriors in the vicinity. Some demons tried to flee, but were hunted down by the arrows of elf sharpshooters. The tide of the battle had certainly turned. Lloyd clenched his fist as he watched from above.
Good. Perfect.
It was a complete victory. In fact, he had anticipated this much.
Because we invaded after incapacitating the hell's knights.
Each of the hell's knights was mightier than a swordmaster. The ascension of one of these frightening creatures was enough to obliterate a single nation, but there were 500 of them. It was indeed horrifying just to consider what kind of havoc they could have wreaked.
Me, Javier, and my queen. There are only three swordmasters even in the Kingdom of Magentano, which is definitely the lordly dominion in the entire continent. Other kingdoms? One or two at max.
Swordmasters were that hard to come by, but 500 warriors more powerful than that rare commodity had invaded. But Lloyd had successfully incapacitated them with a young dragon and 1,000 mermaid warriors.
I was able to minimize the damage to the estate thanks to that.
Focusing on defense alone was going to devastate the lands. In fact, Lake Kapua had already been damaged due to the execution of the holy flood, not to mention peripheral losses.
The waterworks are all gone, the bridge got swept away, and Maritz Farmland lost a third of its land to flood. I gotta repay all of that and drain the water out... Ugh.
Lloyd barely managed to contain his tears from falling, thinking about the monetary deficit. He had to strengthen his resolve again.
I'm not going to be in the deficit!
He remembered how much effort he had put into constructing the waterworks, bridge, and Maritz Farmlands. Lloyd shouted out to the alliance forces with anger from his heart.
"Remember to focus on capturing the demons alive!"
Lloyd was determined to apprehend all of them as prisoners of war, before sentencing them to ruthless labor without pay. But that couldn't happen without accomplishing one feat.
The king of hell. He's the biggest obstacle.
Lloyd knew he had to capture the lord of the underworld alive in order to put a stop to this madness. He strengthened his resolve once again and took a glance at Sir Giolexius, riding on his hell's steed next to him.
"Sir Lexi. Does it feel strange to be here like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know. Whether you feel like a traitor or not."
"Not at all, my liege. Please don't worry."
"Really?"
"Yes, my lord," replied Sir Giolexius, nodding his heavy head. "You are my liege now, although it is only a five- year employment contract."
"Then can you perform your duty to navigate us through the underworld?"
"As you wish, my lord."
"Good. Let's do this. You perform well today, and the next employment contract will be for a permanent position."
"Understood."
Sir Giolexius's ribcage vibrated in excitement at the term permanent position. For the past three months, he had experienced workplace benefits in the Frontera Estate, for the first time in his life.
It felt strange in the beginning to have a cozy place of my own and enjoy the rest there after the established work schedule. Even humans weren't afraid of me. Sir Yong Yong and senior members of the skeletal corp were actually very kind.
He had even gotten paid on time. This was the first form of kindness and benefit he had been the receiving end of, as a hell's knight.
And if it's possible... that's how I want to live the rest of my life until my bones become dust.
Sir Giolexius knew he had to enter into a permanent employment contract in that case. He was determined to, and he was convinced he could. He strengthened his resolve and clenched his fist, reminding himself of the duty he was assigned today: navigating.
"I can sense the energy of the king of hell from there," the hell's knight pointed to the north.
"That way? How far?" Lloyd asked with sparkly eyes.
"Quite a distance, but we can get there in ten minutes if we hop on Sir Yong Yong's back and fly in full speed." "That should do. Did you all hear him?"
Lloyd turned around and glanced at the mightiest warriors of the alliance army. Javier was ready. Lloyd's queen was eager to enter into battle, Raphael's halo was burning more fiercely than ever, orc warrior Arosh was flexing his muscles, Elf archer Moira was calmly inspecting her bow and arrows, and colossal creatures Yong Yong and Bibeong boasted of their sheer size. Because they hadn't engaged the demons in the battle, they were all teeming with energy. Lloyd glanced at this group of mighty fine warriors who were ready to give their everything against a single enemy and asked them.
"Are you ready to hunt down the king of hell?"
