Chapter 139
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Translator: Nisarah Editor: Fleeting
♦
In the midst of the bloodbath around him, Welner faced Gezarius head on, but he was not as confident as he appeared on the outside. After all, a single attack from the demon general in front of him could kill him.
However, Welner also felt a strange reassurance. If his guess that Gezarius wanted to take his body were right, then Gezarius would make sure not to injure his body too much.
As a matter of fact, Welner’s earlier words were to make sure that his guess was right. If after saying those words, Gezarius attacked him relentlessly without hesitation, it would mean that his guess was wrong since Gezarius also knew that Welner as a human would not be able to survive under a demon general’s relentless attacks.
However, Gezarius didn’t attack him and even took the trouble of replying to his words. That convinced Welner that his guess was right.
Gezarius closed the distance and attacked Welner while Welner ducked to dodge. Welner’s new spear might be able to receive Gezarius’s attack while Welner’s old spear might break. But the spear Welner was currently using was neither the new spear nor the old spear. It was a different spear a bit lighter than Welner’s usual spear and that lightness had become an advantage for the current Welner.
Gezarius once again attacked Welner and Welner dodged by ducking again, then Welner thrusted out his spear aiming for Gezarius’s chin from that position. Gezarius deflected Welner’s spear and launched a counterattack, which Welner dodged by rotating his body. Immediately afterward, Welner retreated backward to make some distance and readjust his position.
The two were now facing each other side by side, about halfway up the hill.
Welner was the aggressive fighter between the two. He constantly hit Gezarius with his spear but this level of attack failed to inflict injuries on Gezarius, causing Gezarius to sneer.
Hearing Gezarius’s sneer, Welner quickly took a step backward and Gezarius, as if lured by Welner’s movement, took a step forward then Welner swung his spear horizontally at Gezarius’s feet.
Gezarius failed to block Welner’s surprise attack and became a bit disorientated but that attack was unable to chip off any of Gezarius’s fighting power.
Gezarius cleaved his arm to the side, trying to knock Welner away, but Welner avoided that blow and escaped to the lower side of the hill. Now, Gezarius was standing on a higher area of the hill slope while Welner was standing on the lower area of the hill slope.
The two stared at each other, waiting for the other party to make their move first.
Not long after, a dull thud resounded as something hit Gezarius powerfully on the back, sending him flying.
As he was sent flying, Gezarius managed to barely turn his head, only to spot a small ballista that didn’t exist earlier in the fort. The thing that attacked him was a huge metal club, not an arrow, that was most likely fired by that ballista. Gezarius was stuck by that club from a short distance so the club barely lost any momentum before hitting him.
The blow from the club was so powerful that even the demon general was sent flying. Seeing the collapsed demon general, Welner retreated to avoid being caught up in the followup attacks.
Ever since Welner developed the new weapon, he had had a thought. Perhaps, the magic bag was the reason why Carroballista didn’t exist in this world. The army could just put a normal ballista inside a large magic bag and carry it around, no need to develop a Carroballista.
With that thought in his mind, Welner borrowed a magic bag with a large capacity from Grand Duke Seyfart.
Welner then put a small ballista in that magic bag and gave it to Schunzel. After that, Welner went to the frontline to pull Gezarius’s attention away from the hilltop. When Gezarius’ attention was completely focused on Welner, Schunzel took out the ballista and fired it.
The sight of Gezarius being sent flying and crash landing in a poor state shocked demons to no end. The hero wasn’t here and yet, their commander was reduced to such a mess. It was really shocking scenery for demons.
“Hurry up and prepare the blinding agent!”
After Welner yelled out, another round of ceramic urns rained down from the fort on Gezarius. Gezarius swung his fists, shattering urns. The powder inside the urns spread out and its pungent smell took Gezarius’s sight and sense of smell away from him. Gezarius’s entire body was covered with the powder.
Crying out in pain, Gezarius ran away. In his head, Gezarius might only plan to escape the range of the ballista and get rid of the powder, but from the viewpoint of the demon army, their general had just run away from a mere human. Witnessing the unbelievable sight, the demon army was shaken.
“Drive them down!”
Welner’s shout was welcomed with a round of battle cries from the human army. A sword stabbed an agitated lycanthrope, a spear pierced a weretiger and blood spurted, and a werewolf rolled down on the hill after being kicked by a human.
After witnessing their general run away from humans, the demon army had lost its will to fight and on the contrary, the humans lost their fear and apprehension toward demons.
The demon army was pushed down the hill with momentum so strong that it was hard to believe that humans did it against demons.
“Everyone! Don’t chase after them!!”
Welner ordered not to chase the running demons as it would be hard for the human army to catch up with escaping demons, much less while maintaining their formation.
Demons truly had a mentality of a herd. The demons might be just running to chase after their general, Gezarius, but from the viewpoint of the human army, the demons had indeed escaped from them. Voices mixed with cheers and astonishment echoed on the hill.
“Welner-sama!”
“Your Excellency! We did it!”
“Don’t get carried away! First, hurry and go to the fort. Once the wounded are treated, prepare to retreat.”
Welner, who had succeeded in making the demon general retreat using his bluff, instructed Neurath and the others while sighing in relief and wiping his cold sweat.
The ballista that Welner brought here was the old ballista without the rotary table, so with Gezarius’s mobility, he would definitely be able to easily dodge ballista’s followup attacks. In order to prevent Gezarius from doing that, Welner took away Gezarius’s sight using the powder right after the ballista was shot. That’s also why Gezarius chose to run away to escape the ballista’s range rather than attacking to destroy it.
The reason Welner loaded up a club not an arrow to the ballista was simple. The chances of an arrow killing Gezarius with a single shot was slim. In addition, Welner’s objective was to wait for the Knights to come and kill Gezarius, not killing Gezarius himself. The blunt club that could produce an astonishing visual effect of flinging the magnificent demon general away was more in line with Welner’s objective.
The javelins and the ceramic urns had been considerably depleted. Most importantly, the surprise element of the ballista’s attack was also gone. This victory was not something Welner could achieve twice.
“Finish all preparations fast. We will start moving at sunset.” (Welner)
“Will they chase us?” (Holzdeppe)
“They will. After all, attacking us in the night will fit their instinct as animals more.” (Welner)
After praising Schunzel for firing the ballista at the perfect time and then telling him to put it away in the magic bag, Welner answered Holzdeppe’s question. Suppose Welner’s assumption that the reason demons cared about territory was that they mimic animals around them was right, then most likely they also tend to attack just like many animals do. That was why Welner chose night as the stage of his plan this time.
“Be careful of the magic lamps that will be used in the retreat.”
“Yes, sir.” (Holzdeppe)
After that, Welner also ordered Holzdeppe to send out the cavalry scout. Then, Welner took out the most detailed map in his possession and asked Neurath, Schunzel, Holzdeppe, and Gekke for their opinion. After a short discussion, they all agreed.
“This is the place” (Welner)
“I think so too.” (Holzdeppe)
“Right. For a hunt, this place will be the best.” (Gekke)
Holzdeppe and Gekke nodded. With this, Welner had decided on a place best for hunting on the way to the third fort, so he decided to make the army move quickly to that place first. Welner then ordered the rest of the army to hasten their retreat preparations.
When night fell, Gezarius finally recovered his sight and his sense of smell. Gezarius returned to the fort and was astonished when he saw the fort was on fire. Gezarius then checked the surroundings. Night view was not an issue for demons. Gezarius found the horseshoe track and quickly ascertained the direction the humans were moving to. It was not the direction to Anheim town, but Gezarius was sure that it was most likely a direction to another human’s military facility.
Usually, beasts would divide themselves into 2 groups, one for ambush and one for pursuit when they were hunting, but this time the humans were already on the move, so Gezarius didn’t have time to divide his army in the usual way. Gezarius chose to just let his entire army follow the trace of the horseshoes without dividing it.
Fortunately, because the human army carried quite a bit of baggage, their movement was slow, so before long the demon army was able to make out the Zeavert flag in the distance. It was night, so the demons had the advantage with their night vision. In addition, this area was level ground, so the humans would not be able to pull any cheap tricks. That was what the demons thought, so they decided to just attack the humans. Still, they had their lessons, so they approached the humans carefully.
Welner and his men were moving, knowing that the demons would chase them. Welner, who was able to predict the rough direction the demons would attack them from, placed some knights on horseback in that direction. He did that not because the knights were strong but because of the nature of the horses. Horses were timid animals by nature so they would realize when the demons were getting close faster than humans would be able to.
Just like Welner expected, the horses noticed the demons’ existence faster than the humans did. When the horses neighed, the entire human army turned around.
“Let’s start!”
Noticing that the humans had found out, Gezarius roared and the demon army rushed to attack the humans. The cavalry ran away from the demons toward the direction where the infantry was lining up. Behind the infantries, there was a line of metal, shield-like planks.
“Get down! Start!”
Welner sharply ordered and the infantries all got down in unison. The row of magic lamps between the infantries and the metal planks came into view. The soldiers in charge of activating the magic lamps didn’t get down and instead they hid behind the metal plank.
Then, the light exploded.
Usually, the magic lamp had enough magic power to last up to 20 days if used by a conserver. A magic lamp was also brighter than a candle but was only bright enough to light up a room. This time though, the magic lamps were purposely made to go out of control and use up all their magic power in just a few minutes.
When Welner consulted Fogto if it was possible to make the magic tools go out of control intentionally, Fogto was confused. Of course, he would be confused since no one would think of doing that. The result of the magic lamps that were purposely made go out of control was astonishing. The light of the magic lamps was truly powerful and all of the light, including the lights reflected by the metal planks, was directed at the demons.
The intense light caused by the magic lamps could even be seen from Anheim town. It caused a commotion in the town with some people claiming that a star had fallen.
The demons’ powerful vision that made it possible for them to even see at night turned into a disaster. The light produced by the magic lamps would be enough to blind them even in broad daylight, let alone in the middle of the night like this. The entire demon army collapsed.
“Don’t look at your back! Charge!”
With the intense light on their back, the human army rushed toward the demons that had lost their sight. Numerous blades pierced demons who covered their eyes with their hands in agony, while some demons were sewn to the ground by spears.
“Breakthrough to the west!”
“Only attack demons that can’t move because of the light!”
“Head to the third fort.”
While shouting such things toward each other, the members of the human army ran toward the demons. Some thrust their weapons toward the demons, piercing their throats or ripping their guts. Some kicked the demons in anger.
The battlefield was filled with painful screams and the stench of blood. A familiar voice entered Gezarius’s ear who was also enduring the pain in his eyes.
“How is it, demon general? Have you finally realized how stupid you and your army are?”
Gezarius swung his arm before he could even process that voice belonged to Welner. It was a swing clearly filled with the demon general’s anger and if that swing hit Welner, Welner would lose his life. Unfortunately, the current Gezarius had lost his sight and the smell of blood also made him unable to judge the distance between him and Welner accurately. Rather, Gezarius swung his arm too hard causing him to lose his stance. There were a lot of gaps in Gezarius’s defense. Welner seized this opportunity.
Welner pierced his spear in Gezarius’s right eye. His spear was about to reach the limit of its endurance and the size of the speartip was just right for piercing a small target like the eye.
“I’ll give you this spear. In exchange, I’ll take your left eye next time.”
After purposely saying that with a loud voice, Welner escaped. The rest of the human army also left the battlefield. Now, the place was only filled with cries of pain from the demons. Most likely, from the era of the previous demon king to now, the demon army had never been beaten this one-sidedly by humans. In a battle in the middle of the night, when the demon army should have the advantage nonetheless. To say this battle was an impossibility was an understatement.
“That damned brat!! I will remember this humiliation!! I will make him taste pain worse than death!!”
While trembling with anger at being one-sidedly attacked, Gezarius pulled out the spear from his right eye. The sound of Gezarius’s shout resounded in the night.
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Translator: Nisarah Editor: Fleeting
♦
In the midst of the bloodbath around him, Welner faced Gezarius head on, but he was not as confident as he appeared on the outside. After all, a single attack from the demon general in front of him could kill him.
However, Welner also felt a strange reassurance. If his guess that Gezarius wanted to take his body were right, then Gezarius would make sure not to injure his body too much.
As a matter of fact, Welner’s earlier words were to make sure that his guess was right. If after saying those words, Gezarius attacked him relentlessly without hesitation, it would mean that his guess was wrong since Gezarius also knew that Welner as a human would not be able to survive under a demon general’s relentless attacks.
However, Gezarius didn’t attack him and even took the trouble of replying to his words. That convinced Welner that his guess was right.
Gezarius closed the distance and attacked Welner while Welner ducked to dodge. Welner’s new spear might be able to receive Gezarius’s attack while Welner’s old spear might break. But the spear Welner was currently using was neither the new spear nor the old spear. It was a different spear a bit lighter than Welner’s usual spear and that lightness had become an advantage for the current Welner.
Gezarius once again attacked Welner and Welner dodged by ducking again, then Welner thrusted out his spear aiming for Gezarius’s chin from that position. Gezarius deflected Welner’s spear and launched a counterattack, which Welner dodged by rotating his body. Immediately afterward, Welner retreated backward to make some distance and readjust his position.
The two were now facing each other side by side, about halfway up the hill.
Welner was the aggressive fighter between the two. He constantly hit Gezarius with his spear but this level of attack failed to inflict injuries on Gezarius, causing Gezarius to sneer.
Hearing Gezarius’s sneer, Welner quickly took a step backward and Gezarius, as if lured by Welner’s movement, took a step forward then Welner swung his spear horizontally at Gezarius’s feet.
Gezarius failed to block Welner’s surprise attack and became a bit disorientated but that attack was unable to chip off any of Gezarius’s fighting power.
Gezarius cleaved his arm to the side, trying to knock Welner away, but Welner avoided that blow and escaped to the lower side of the hill. Now, Gezarius was standing on a higher area of the hill slope while Welner was standing on the lower area of the hill slope.
The two stared at each other, waiting for the other party to make their move first.
Not long after, a dull thud resounded as something hit Gezarius powerfully on the back, sending him flying.
As he was sent flying, Gezarius managed to barely turn his head, only to spot a small ballista that didn’t exist earlier in the fort. The thing that attacked him was a huge metal club, not an arrow, that was most likely fired by that ballista. Gezarius was stuck by that club from a short distance so the club barely lost any momentum before hitting him.
The blow from the club was so powerful that even the demon general was sent flying. Seeing the collapsed demon general, Welner retreated to avoid being caught up in the followup attacks.
Ever since Welner developed the new weapon, he had had a thought. Perhaps, the magic bag was the reason why Carroballista didn’t exist in this world. The army could just put a normal ballista inside a large magic bag and carry it around, no need to develop a Carroballista.
With that thought in his mind, Welner borrowed a magic bag with a large capacity from Grand Duke Seyfart.
Welner then put a small ballista in that magic bag and gave it to Schunzel. After that, Welner went to the frontline to pull Gezarius’s attention away from the hilltop. When Gezarius’ attention was completely focused on Welner, Schunzel took out the ballista and fired it.
The sight of Gezarius being sent flying and crash landing in a poor state shocked demons to no end. The hero wasn’t here and yet, their commander was reduced to such a mess. It was really shocking scenery for demons.
“Hurry up and prepare the blinding agent!”
After Welner yelled out, another round of ceramic urns rained down from the fort on Gezarius. Gezarius swung his fists, shattering urns. The powder inside the urns spread out and its pungent smell took Gezarius’s sight and sense of smell away from him. Gezarius’s entire body was covered with the powder.
Crying out in pain, Gezarius ran away. In his head, Gezarius might only plan to escape the range of the ballista and get rid of the powder, but from the viewpoint of the demon army, their general had just run away from a mere human. Witnessing the unbelievable sight, the demon army was shaken.
“Drive them down!”
Welner’s shout was welcomed with a round of battle cries from the human army. A sword stabbed an agitated lycanthrope, a spear pierced a weretiger and blood spurted, and a werewolf rolled down on the hill after being kicked by a human.
After witnessing their general run away from humans, the demon army had lost its will to fight and on the contrary, the humans lost their fear and apprehension toward demons.
The demon army was pushed down the hill with momentum so strong that it was hard to believe that humans did it against demons.
“Everyone! Don’t chase after them!!”
Welner ordered not to chase the running demons as it would be hard for the human army to catch up with escaping demons, much less while maintaining their formation.
Demons truly had a mentality of a herd. The demons might be just running to chase after their general, Gezarius, but from the viewpoint of the human army, the demons had indeed escaped from them. Voices mixed with cheers and astonishment echoed on the hill.
“Welner-sama!”
“Your Excellency! We did it!”
“Don’t get carried away! First, hurry and go to the fort. Once the wounded are treated, prepare to retreat.”
Welner, who had succeeded in making the demon general retreat using his bluff, instructed Neurath and the others while sighing in relief and wiping his cold sweat.
The ballista that Welner brought here was the old ballista without the rotary table, so with Gezarius’s mobility, he would definitely be able to easily dodge ballista’s followup attacks. In order to prevent Gezarius from doing that, Welner took away Gezarius’s sight using the powder right after the ballista was shot. That’s also why Gezarius chose to run away to escape the ballista’s range rather than attacking to destroy it.
The reason Welner loaded up a club not an arrow to the ballista was simple. The chances of an arrow killing Gezarius with a single shot was slim. In addition, Welner’s objective was to wait for the Knights to come and kill Gezarius, not killing Gezarius himself. The blunt club that could produce an astonishing visual effect of flinging the magnificent demon general away was more in line with Welner’s objective.
The javelins and the ceramic urns had been considerably depleted. Most importantly, the surprise element of the ballista’s attack was also gone. This victory was not something Welner could achieve twice.
“Finish all preparations fast. We will start moving at sunset.” (Welner)
“Will they chase us?” (Holzdeppe)
“They will. After all, attacking us in the night will fit their instinct as animals more.” (Welner)
After praising Schunzel for firing the ballista at the perfect time and then telling him to put it away in the magic bag, Welner answered Holzdeppe’s question. Suppose Welner’s assumption that the reason demons cared about territory was that they mimic animals around them was right, then most likely they also tend to attack just like many animals do. That was why Welner chose night as the stage of his plan this time.
“Be careful of the magic lamps that will be used in the retreat.”
“Yes, sir.” (Holzdeppe)
After that, Welner also ordered Holzdeppe to send out the cavalry scout. Then, Welner took out the most detailed map in his possession and asked Neurath, Schunzel, Holzdeppe, and Gekke for their opinion. After a short discussion, they all agreed.
“This is the place” (Welner)
“I think so too.” (Holzdeppe)
“Right. For a hunt, this place will be the best.” (Gekke)
Holzdeppe and Gekke nodded. With this, Welner had decided on a place best for hunting on the way to the third fort, so he decided to make the army move quickly to that place first. Welner then ordered the rest of the army to hasten their retreat preparations.
When night fell, Gezarius finally recovered his sight and his sense of smell. Gezarius returned to the fort and was astonished when he saw the fort was on fire. Gezarius then checked the surroundings. Night view was not an issue for demons. Gezarius found the horseshoe track and quickly ascertained the direction the humans were moving to. It was not the direction to Anheim town, but Gezarius was sure that it was most likely a direction to another human’s military facility.
Usually, beasts would divide themselves into 2 groups, one for ambush and one for pursuit when they were hunting, but this time the humans were already on the move, so Gezarius didn’t have time to divide his army in the usual way. Gezarius chose to just let his entire army follow the trace of the horseshoes without dividing it.
Fortunately, because the human army carried quite a bit of baggage, their movement was slow, so before long the demon army was able to make out the Zeavert flag in the distance. It was night, so the demons had the advantage with their night vision. In addition, this area was level ground, so the humans would not be able to pull any cheap tricks. That was what the demons thought, so they decided to just attack the humans. Still, they had their lessons, so they approached the humans carefully.
Welner and his men were moving, knowing that the demons would chase them. Welner, who was able to predict the rough direction the demons would attack them from, placed some knights on horseback in that direction. He did that not because the knights were strong but because of the nature of the horses. Horses were timid animals by nature so they would realize when the demons were getting close faster than humans would be able to.
Just like Welner expected, the horses noticed the demons’ existence faster than the humans did. When the horses neighed, the entire human army turned around.
“Let’s start!”
Noticing that the humans had found out, Gezarius roared and the demon army rushed to attack the humans. The cavalry ran away from the demons toward the direction where the infantry was lining up. Behind the infantries, there was a line of metal, shield-like planks.
“Get down! Start!”
Welner sharply ordered and the infantries all got down in unison. The row of magic lamps between the infantries and the metal planks came into view. The soldiers in charge of activating the magic lamps didn’t get down and instead they hid behind the metal plank.
Then, the light exploded.
Usually, the magic lamp had enough magic power to last up to 20 days if used by a conserver. A magic lamp was also brighter than a candle but was only bright enough to light up a room. This time though, the magic lamps were purposely made to go out of control and use up all their magic power in just a few minutes.
When Welner consulted Fogto if it was possible to make the magic tools go out of control intentionally, Fogto was confused. Of course, he would be confused since no one would think of doing that. The result of the magic lamps that were purposely made go out of control was astonishing. The light of the magic lamps was truly powerful and all of the light, including the lights reflected by the metal planks, was directed at the demons.
The intense light caused by the magic lamps could even be seen from Anheim town. It caused a commotion in the town with some people claiming that a star had fallen.
The demons’ powerful vision that made it possible for them to even see at night turned into a disaster. The light produced by the magic lamps would be enough to blind them even in broad daylight, let alone in the middle of the night like this. The entire demon army collapsed.
“Don’t look at your back! Charge!”
With the intense light on their back, the human army rushed toward the demons that had lost their sight. Numerous blades pierced demons who covered their eyes with their hands in agony, while some demons were sewn to the ground by spears.
“Breakthrough to the west!”
“Only attack demons that can’t move because of the light!”
“Head to the third fort.”
While shouting such things toward each other, the members of the human army ran toward the demons. Some thrust their weapons toward the demons, piercing their throats or ripping their guts. Some kicked the demons in anger.
The battlefield was filled with painful screams and the stench of blood. A familiar voice entered Gezarius’s ear who was also enduring the pain in his eyes.
“How is it, demon general? Have you finally realized how stupid you and your army are?”
Gezarius swung his arm before he could even process that voice belonged to Welner. It was a swing clearly filled with the demon general’s anger and if that swing hit Welner, Welner would lose his life. Unfortunately, the current Gezarius had lost his sight and the smell of blood also made him unable to judge the distance between him and Welner accurately. Rather, Gezarius swung his arm too hard causing him to lose his stance. There were a lot of gaps in Gezarius’s defense. Welner seized this opportunity.
Welner pierced his spear in Gezarius’s right eye. His spear was about to reach the limit of its endurance and the size of the speartip was just right for piercing a small target like the eye.
“I’ll give you this spear. In exchange, I’ll take your left eye next time.”
After purposely saying that with a loud voice, Welner escaped. The rest of the human army also left the battlefield. Now, the place was only filled with cries of pain from the demons. Most likely, from the era of the previous demon king to now, the demon army had never been beaten this one-sidedly by humans. In a battle in the middle of the night, when the demon army should have the advantage nonetheless. To say this battle was an impossibility was an understatement.
“That damned brat!! I will remember this humiliation!! I will make him taste pain worse than death!!”
While trembling with anger at being one-sidedly attacked, Gezarius pulled out the spear from his right eye. The sound of Gezarius’s shout resounded in the night.
Translator: Nisarah Editor: FleetingIn the midst of the bloodbath around him, Welner faced Gezarius head on, but he was not as confident as he appeared on the outside. After all, a single attack from the demon general in front of him could kill him.However, Welner also felt a strange reassurance. If his guess that Gezarius wanted to take his body were right, then Gezarius would make sure not to injure his body too much.As a matter of fact, Welner's earlier words were to make sure that his guess was right. If after saying those words, Gezarius attacked him relentlessly without hesitation, it would mean that his guess was wrong since Gezarius also knew that Welner as a human would not be able to survive under a demon general's relentless attacks.However, Gezarius didn't attack him and even took the trouble of replying to his words. That convinced Welner that his guess was right.Gezarius closed the distance and attacked Welner while Welner ducked to dodge. Welner's new spear might be able to receive Gezarius's attack while Welner's old spear might break. But the spear Welner was currently using was neither the new spear nor the old spear. It was a different spear a bit lighter than Welner's usual spear and that lightness had become an advantage for the current Welner.Gezarius once again attacked Welner and Welner dodged by ducking again, then Welner thrusted out his spear aiming for Gezarius's chin from that position. Gezarius deflected Welner's spear and launched a counterattack, which Welner dodged by rotating his body. Immediately afterward, Welner retreated backward to make some distance and readjust his position.The two were now facing each other side by side, about halfway up the hill.Welner was the aggressive fighter between the two. He constantly hit Gezarius with his spear but this level of attack failed to inflict injuries on Gezarius, causing Gezarius to sneer.Hearing Gezarius's sneer, Welner quickly took a step backward and Gezarius, as if lured by Welner's movement, took a step forward then Welner swung his spear horizontally at Gezarius's feet.Gezarius failed to block Welner's surprise attack and became a bit disorientated but that attack was unable to chip off any of Gezarius's fighting power.Gezarius cleaved his arm to the side, trying to knock Welner away, but Welner avoided that blow and escaped to the lower side of the hill. Now, Gezarius was standing on a higher area of the hill slope while Welner was standing on the lower area of the hill slope.The two stared at each other, waiting for the other party to make their move first.Not long after, a dull thud resounded as something hit Gezarius powerfully on the back, sending him flying.As he was sent flying, Gezarius managed to barely turn his head, only to spot a small ballista that didn't exist earlier in the fort. The thing that attacked him was a huge metal club, not an arrow, that was most likely fired by that ballista. Gezarius was stuck by that club from a short distance so the club barely lost any momentum before hitting him.The blow from the club was so powerful that even the demon general was sent flying. Seeing the collapsed demon general, Welner retreated to avoid being caught up in the followup attacks.Ever since Welner developed the new weapon, he had had a thought. Perhaps, the magic bag was the reason why Carroballista didn't exist in this world. The army could just put a normal ballista inside a large magic bag and carry it around, no need to develop a Carroballista.With that thought in his mind, Welner borrowed a magic bag with a large capacity from Grand Duke Seyfart.Welner then put a small ballista in that magic bag and gave it to Schunzel. After that, Welner went to the frontline to pull Gezarius's attention away from the hilltop. When Gezarius' attention was completely focused on Welner, Schunzel took out the ballista and fired it.The sight of Gezarius being sent flying and crash landing in a poor state shocked demons to no end. The hero wasn't here and yet, their commander was reduced to such a mess. It was really shocking scenery for demons.Hurry up and prepare the blinding agent!After Welner yelled out, another round of ceramic urns rained down from the fort on Gezarius. Gezarius swung his fists, shattering urns. The powder inside the urns spread out and its pungent smell took Gezarius's sight and sense of smell away from him. Gezarius's entire body was covered with the powder.Crying out in pain, Gezarius ran away. In his head, Gezarius might only plan to escape the range of the ballista and get rid of the powder, but from the viewpoint of the demon army, their general had just run away from a mere human. Witnessing the unbelievable sight, the demon army was shaken.Drive them down!Welner's shout was welcomed with a round of battle cries from the human army. A sword stabbed an agitated lycanthrope, a spear pierced a weretiger and blood spurted, and a werewolf rolled down on the hill after being kicked by a human.After witnessing their general run away from humans, the demon army had lost its will to fight and on the contrary, the humans lost their fear and apprehension toward demons.The demon army was pushed down the hill with momentum so strong that it was hard to believe that humans did it against demons.Everyone! Don't chase after them!!Welner ordered not to chase the running demons as it would be hard for the human army to catch up with escaping demons, much less while maintaining their formation.Demons truly had a mentality of a herd. The demons might be just running to chase after their general, Gezarius, but from the viewpoint of the human army, the demons had indeed escaped from them. Voices mixed with cheers and astonishment echoed on the hill.Welner-sama!Your Excellency! We did it!Don't get carried away! First, hurry and go to the fort. Once the wounded are treated, prepare to retreat.Welner, who had succeeded in making the demon general retreat using his bluff, instructed Neurath and the others while sighing in relief and wiping his cold sweat.The ballista that Welner brought here was the old ballista without the rotary table, so with Gezarius's mobility, he would definitely be able to easily dodge ballista's followup attacks. In order to prevent Gezarius from doing that, Welner took away Gezarius's sight using the powder right after the ballista was shot. That's also why Gezarius chose to run away to escape the ballista's range rather than attacking to destroy it.The reason Welner loaded up a club not an arrow to the ballista was simple. The chances of an arrow killing Gezarius with a single shot was slim. In addition, Welner's objective was to wait for the Knights to come and kill Gezarius, not killing Gezarius himself. The blunt club that could produce an astonishing visual effect of flinging the magnificent demon general away was more in line with Welner's objective.The javelins and the ceramic urns had been considerably depleted. Most importantly, the surprise element of the ballista's attack was also gone. This victory was not something Welner could achieve twice.Finish all preparations fast. We will start moving at sunset. WelnerWill they chase us? HolzdeppeThey will. After all, attacking us in the night will fit their instinct as animals more. WelnerAfter praising Schunzel for firing the ballista at the perfect time and then telling him to put it away in the magic bag, Welner answered Holzdeppe's question. Suppose Welner's assumption that the reason demons cared about territory was that they mimic animals around them was right, then most likely they also tend to attack just like many animals do. That was why Welner chose night as the stage of his plan this time.Be careful of the magic lamps that will be used in the retreat.Yes, sir. HolzdeppeAfter that, Welner also ordered Holzdeppe to send out the cavalry scout. Then, Welner took out the most detailed map in his possession and asked Neurath, Schunzel, Holzdeppe, and Gekke for their opinion. After a short discussion, they all agreed.This is the place WelnerI think so too. HolzdeppeRight. For a hunt, this place will be the best. GekkeHolzdeppe and Gekke nodded. With this, Welner had decided on a place best for hunting on the way to the third fort, so he decided to make the army move quickly to that place first. Welner then ordered the rest of the army to hasten their retreat preparations.When night fell, Gezarius finally recovered his sight and his sense of smell. Gezarius returned to the fort and was astonished when he saw the fort was on fire. Gezarius then checked the surroundings. Night view was not an issue for demons. Gezarius found the horseshoe track and quickly ascertained the direction the humans were moving to. It was not the direction to Anheim town, but Gezarius was sure that it was most likely a direction to another human's military facility.Usually, beasts would divide themselves into 2 groups, one for ambush and one for pursuit when they were hunting, but this time the humans were already on the move, so Gezarius didn't have time to divide his army in the usual way. Gezarius chose to just let his entire army follow the trace of the horseshoes without dividing it.Fortunately, because the human army carried quite a bit of baggage, their movement was slow, so before long the demon army was able to make out the Zeavert flag in the distance. It was night, so the demons had the advantage with their night vision. In addition, this area was level ground, so the humans would not be able to pull any cheap tricks. That was what the demons thought, so they decided to just attack the humans. Still, they had their lessons, so they approached the humans carefully.Welner and his men were moving, knowing that the demons would chase them. Welner, who was able to predict the rough direction the demons would attack them from, placed some knights on horseback in that direction. He did that not because the knights were strong but because of the nature of the horses. Horses were timid animals by nature so they would realize when the demons were getting close faster than humans would be able to.Just like Welner expected, the horses noticed the demons' existence faster than the humans did. When the horses neighed, the entire human army turned around.Let's start!Noticing that the humans had found out, Gezarius roared and the demon army rushed to attack the humans. The cavalry ran away from the demons toward the direction where the infantry was lining up. Behind the infantries, there was a line of metal, shield-like planks.Get down! Start!Welner sharply ordered and the infantries all got down in unison. The row of magic lamps between the infantries and the metal planks came into view. The soldiers in charge of activating the magic lamps didn't get down and instead they hid behind the metal plank.Then, the light exploded.Usually, the magic lamp had enough magic power to last up to 20 days if used by a conserver. A magic lamp was also brighter than a candle but was only bright enough to light up a room. This time though, the magic lamps were purposely made to go out of control and use up all their magic power in just a few minutes.When Welner consulted Fogto if it was possible to make the magic tools go out of control intentionally, Fogto was confused. Of course, he would be confused since no one would think of doing that. The result of the magic lamps that were purposely made go out of control was astonishing. The light of the magic lamps was truly powerful and all of the light, including the lights reflected by the metal planks, was directed at the demons.The intense light caused by the magic lamps could even be seen from Anheim town. It caused a commotion in the town with some people claiming that a star had fallen.The demons' powerful vision that made it possible for them to even see at night turned into a disaster. The light produced by the magic lamps would be enough to blind them even in broad daylight, let alone in the middle of the night like this. The entire demon army collapsed.Don't look at your back! Charge!With the intense light on their back, the human army rushed toward the demons that had lost their sight. Numerous blades pierced demons who covered their eyes with their hands in agony, while some demons were sewn to the ground by spears.Breakthrough to the west!Only attack demons that can't move because of the light!Head to the third fort.While shouting such things toward each other, the members of the human army ran toward the demons. Some thrust their weapons toward the demons, piercing their throats or ripping their guts. Some kicked the demons in anger.The battlefield was filled with painful screams and the stench of blood. A familiar voice entered Gezarius's ear who was also enduring the pain in his eyes.How is it, demon general? Have you finally realized how stupid you and your army are?Gezarius swung his arm before he could even process that voice belonged to Welner. It was a swing clearly filled with the demon general's anger and if that swing hit Welner, Welner would lose his life. Unfortunately, the current Gezarius had lost his sight and the smell of blood also made him unable to judge the distance between him and Welner accurately. Rather, Gezarius swung his arm too hard causing him to lose his stance. There were a lot of gaps in Gezarius's defense. Welner seized this opportunity.Welner pierced his spear in Gezarius's right eye. His spear was about to reach the limit of its endurance and the size of the speartip was just right for piercing a small target like the eye.I'll give you this spear. In exchange, I'll take your left eye next time.After purposely saying that with a loud voice, Welner escaped. The rest of the human army also left the battlefield. Now, the place was only filled with cries of pain from the demons. Most likely, from the era of the previous demon king to now, the demon army had never been beaten this one-sidedly by humans. In a battle in the middle of the night, when the demon army should have the advantage nonetheless. To say this battle was an impossibility was an understatement.That damned brat!! I will remember this humiliation!! I will make him taste pain worse than death!!While trembling with anger at being one-sidedly attacked, Gezarius pulled out the spear from his right eye. The sound of Gezarius's shout resounded in the night.
