I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 135

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 135

I should have been careful ever since I realized that the twin-headed ogre was a devil.

No, shouldn’t I have found it strange that I didn’t send even a single scout, even two days after Caesar had swept through?

Or should I have anticipated that a two-headed ogre offspring might have intelligence?

In any case, the arrogance that said, ‘What difference does it make that an ogre with an empty head has two heads?’ created this situation.

This was clearly Caesar’s mistake.

Caesar quickly descended to the ground and gauged the direction the creatures were heading.

With 80,000 Orcs moving simultaneously, there was no way no traces would be left.

Their footprints were imprinted heading south.

“…Why are they going south?”

From their perspective, the south is where the forest of the water people and the 556m nameless highlands are located.

Could they be trying to attack from the rear or side of the unit?

No matter how much they are Orcs, it would take quite some time to attack the flanks by crossing highlands over 500m.

Moreover, when moving along the mountain range, dust would fly up, and the unit’s direction would be noticeable.

‘No, that’s not it.’

Caesar looked towards the south.

Then, dust clouds that weren’t visible just moments ago began to appear beyond the mountain range.

And the highlands, which were full of fresh blue, had changed to a deep ocher color.

“Damn it.”

The twin-headed ogre had a devil’s ability to ‘conceal’ a large-scale unit in a way that didn’t match its massive body.

That’s why it could move around and change direction.

“Whitey!”

Caesar flew on Whitey.

He needed to inform the unit of this situation immediately.

That 80,000 Orcs were coming.

***

Porter, the commander of the 67th Regiment, was heading towards the Eagle valley following Baker’s division commander’s order.

“That bastard Timber must be shitting his pants right now.”

80,000 Orcs…

Even though there are 300 wizards, Timber has no experience fighting together with wizards.

Well, there’s a variable called ‘Raven’, but no matter how he thought about it, confronting 80,000 with just 300 wizards was impossible in Porter’s mind.

Without the 67th Regiment’s 100 towed cannons and 5,600 high-explosive shells, they would be devoured like grains by a locust swarm.

The adjutant beside Porter chuckled while bowing.

“Shouldn’t we be preparing to welcome the guests about now?”

“If Timber had such a brain, he wouldn’t be rotting in the Eagle valley.”

There are only two ways to get promoted in the demon realm:

Either achieve an extraordinary merit,

Or gain the favor of a superior.

The current demon realm is maintaining peace centered around the imperial nation.

Although these stupid Orcs bastards are causing a bit of a ruckus, the Orcs who only know how to charge straight ahead will be swept away with a concentrated bombardment. They were perfect material for gaining merit.

If succubi or vampires were still remaining in the demon realm, it would have been quite tricky, but well…

It’s been almost a year since those guys disappeared from the demon realm.

There’s no need to worry about them.

“But what is that dust cloud?”

At the adjutant’s words, Porter, who didn’t have good eyesight, frowned and looked towards the mountain range.

Even with his poor vision, he could see dust clouds rising from the edge of the mountain range.

“Has that been there?”

Porter received binoculars from his adjutant and looked towards the mountain range.

“…Huh?”

If he wasn’t mistaken, Orc hordes were charging towards him at the forefront.

The number was so large it was uncountable.

At that moment, a messenger ran to the regimental commander.

“Report from the vanguard battalion commander! Orcs forces detected 5 km ahead! They are charging this way!”

“What, what?! Weren’t they supposed to be at the Eagle Valley? How did these Orcs hordes get here?!”

“I, I don’t know well…”

“You should have known that! Oh, no. What should I do now?”

Porter momentarily panicked and went blank.

Then, the adjutant spoke.

“Shouldn’t we first dispatch messengers to inform about this situation?”

“Yes! Send messengers! From Luxhope to the Eagle valley, everyone! We’ll meet the enemy here!”

“Yes, here?!”

“If we lose all the towed cannons, we’re done! Quickly deploy!”

Porter’s orders were not rational.

Even at the fastest, deploying towed cannons would take 10 minutes.

The problem was how to position the cannons in such an emergency, how to determine friendly and enemy coordinates, and when to unload the shells piled in the wagons.

An even bigger problem was how to stop the Orcs hordes.

The basic tactic against Orcs hordes is for knights and infantry to protect the cannon gunners in the front while the artillery destroys the rear forces.

But deploying cannons in this vast, open terrain with no defensive line was tantamount to suicide.

The adjutants and staff quickly assessed the situation.

‘Damn, let’s run.’

Porter, the regimental commander, was notorious for his incompetence.

There were rumors that he bought his position with bribes to the division commander.

Relying on this guy against the Orcs hordes would definitely result in massive casualties.

The adjutant saluted Porter and said, “I’ll quickly request support from Luxhope!”

“What? Not you, but the messenger…”

The adjutant ignored Porter’s salute and fled. However, his direction was clearly not towards Luxhope.

The staff’s minds were filled with how to ‘survive’ rather than ‘repel’ the enemy.

As everyone was watching nervously, the operations staff spoke:

“Commander! For now, it’s not safe here, so perhaps we should retreat to the rear…”

At that moment, a massive explosion occurred where the deserting adjutant had been.

BOOM!

The explosion was so powerful that Porter’s hat was blown off, and some staff members were knocked off their horses by stone fragments.

“Wh-what is…”

As the dust cloud cleared, a single spear was embedded where the adjutant had been. Naturally, the adjutant and his horse were torn to unrecognizable shreds.

Porter raised his telescope towards the mountain range. There, a twin-headed ogre with devil horns was accurately looking at Porter.

The right head muttered, “…Isn’t that the commander?”

The left head said,

“Target the flags. Right side. He’s the commander.”

“Got it. Left side.”

The right head’s eyes flashed purple.

“The flag… The commander. I won’t miss this time.”

***

Flying high reveals many things.

Caesar, riding a pegasus back to the main unit, could see the Orcs hordes descending from the far end of the mountain range.

And he also saw the allied forces marching in a straight line towards the Eagle valley 

These were definitely the 67th Regiment.

Caesar involuntarily cursed.

“We’re screwed.”

At the frontline, orcs were running like madmen, followed by trolls, and finally goblins.

Despite some orcs at the front tripping and falling, they continued to advance, trampling and crushing their fallen comrades.

At a glance, they were running a distance of about 5 km.

Even though Orc stamina is monstrous, there’s no way they could fight at full capacity after sprinting 5 km.

They would likely be exhausted upon arrival, unable to even swing their axes.

A wise commander would recognize this and immediately retreat towards the nearest Luxhope while conducting a delaying action.

However, a large explosion occurred in the middle of the regiment, causing the army to fall into chaos.

What was happening?

Caesar headed to the Eagle valley command tent.

There was nothing he could do right now.

Entering the tent, he found Raven, Commander Timber, and staff already present.

Though slightly wary of Raven, Caesar stood beside her.

“What’s the current situation? Dust clouds suddenly rose from the 556 highlands. There are reports of explosions in the rear.”

“I seem to have underestimated the ogre.”

“What do you mean?”

“The devil ogre had hallucination and concealment abilities.”

Caesar pointed to the mountain range on the map.

“They used our limited long-distance observation to deceive us, making it seem like 80,000 troops were in our front while actually circling around the Red Mountains to target our flanks and rear.”

Timber took a sharp breath.

“How is that possible? I’ve never heard of ogres conducting deception operations.”

“That might be how the Eagle valley was occupied.”

No survivors remained from the Eagle valley.

They never understood how it was occupied, but now they might know why.

Timber examined the map and spoke.

“Are they targeting us?”

“No. They’re currently attacking the 67th Regiment coming from the rear. The Orcs hordes are charging that way, so they’re not immediately targeting us. However…”

“We’re next.”

Timber made a decision after looking at the map.

“We must abandon the Eagle valley and meet the enemy at Luxhope. If we rescue the 67th Regiment and position artillery and wizards, we might have a chance.”

The quick decision suggested he had prepared for such a scenario. Caesar agreed.

Jerry then spoke.

“That won’t work. If the enemy passes Luxhope and sweeps through the rear, it’ll be catastrophic. The rear has magic stone mines and critical civilian infrastructure.”

“Orcs only target prey right in front of them… Damn. Trusting that habit got us into this mess,” Timber ground his teeth.

“What do you suggest?”

“We must counterattack. While their main force targets the 67th Regiment, we’ll strike their flanks and disrupt their offensive.”

“How? We have no attack resources. Do we have preset magic coordinates? Any prepared artillery?”

“If we can slow their advance and fix the frontline, wizards can acquire coordinates.”

Normally, this would sound impossible, but they have Raven.

“How long must we maintain the frontline?”

“30 minutes.”

“So if we fix the frontline for 30 minutes, we can neutralize the enemy?”

Jerry nodded.

“Definitely. 300 wizards represent legion-level firepower. 80,000 Orcs are nothing if we can acquire about 20 magic coordinates per operational zone.”

“Good.”

Caesar looked at Raven and said:

“Is the One Man Supporting Magic ready?”

Caesar’s fierce eyes collided with Raven’s green eyes. Raven’s green eyes were filled with questions she wanted to ask Caesar. Caesar… No, Barre had always seen Raven as someone who never brought her personal problems to the outside. Whenever going to war, she was always a cold and rational human. If it were Raven, even if there had been an emotional fight with Caesar yesterday, she would have likely prepared the magic.

“…Not yet.”

…This time, it seems different. It seemed that Barre had become a significant problem for Raven. Whatever it was, this was Caesar’s karma.

“Instead, fight first. I will create and adjust on-site.”

“Is that possible?”

“There’s no time to distinguish between cold and hot water right now.”

He knew that creating a One Man Supporting Magic takes at least 3-4 hours. This was possible because it was Raven; other wizards would take more than a week. But creating a One Man Supporting Magic during battle? Is that even possible?

Caesar stopped trying to use psychometry to read Raven’s inner thoughts. Raven’s eyes were already filled with resolute emotions, and that gaze was proof of her will to endure any trial. If Raven cannot do it, no wizard can. Caesar decided to trust Raven.

“You’ll need to ride the Pegasus alone for quite a long time. Can you do that?”

“I’ll do my best to endure.”

Caesar spoke to Gloria:

“Prepare the White Horse Cavalry for departure. I’ll clear the way with my bow, and tell Messio and the White Horse Cavalry to follow the path I open, and for the rest…”

Caesar looked at Timber and said:

“Follow the orders of Colonel Timber.”

Caesar drew the golden dagger from his waist.

“Jerry. By the authority granted to me by the Emperor, I now delegate to you the right to command 299 wizards, excluding Wizard Raven, for the next 24 hours. Protect them with your life.”

Jerry grabbed the golden dagger.

“I will give my life. Godspeed. My lord.”

Caesar looked at Raven and said:

“I will come to the tent in 10 minutes. Bring anything you need.”

Caesar left after those words.

***

Caesar and Raven rode together on Whitey. Gloria saluted, her expression stiff with apparent worry.

“Come back alive.”

“That’s the most unlucky thing to say on a battlefield. Don’t say it again.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’ll learn slowly.”

Caesar tried to give the brightest smile possible and firmly gripped the reins.

“See you in a bit.”

Whitey  leaped and soared into the sky. Raven closed his eyes, holding tightly to Caesar’s waist. Caesar was not wearing armor, so Raven could feel his warmth through the thin cloth. He seemed to think that heavy armor was nothing more than shackles that reduce agility and consume stamina. …Just as Barre had thought.

‘No.’

Raven tried to erase Barre from her mind as much as possible. Now is the time to focus. Normally, she would have completed the magic this morning. She knew that the Orcs group could attack today, yet she had not done so. No, she won’t make excuses.

She had not done it.

If Caesar dies fighting the Ogre today, it will all be Raven’s fault. So, focus.

Feel Caesar’s magic and physical rhythm.

Raven pressed her ear to Caesar’s back and listened to his heartbeat. Knightly and strong. Yet steady. Does he not feel tension at all? Caesar’s heart was beating so calmly that he couldn’t be seen as someone stepping onto a battlefield.

‘Like Barre.’

Although she tried to erase Barre from her mind, the more deeply she got to know Caesar, the more Barre kept coming to mind. Barre also did not have a rapidly beating heart just before entering the battlefield. Like a calm snake, he would scan the battlefield, precisely choosing where he needed to step, and then causing his heart to beat only when necessary.

‘Come to think of it, Barre had changed a lot.’

Raven recalled the first time she met Barre.

TL NOTE:

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