NOVEL NEXT Chapter 249
“That’s impossible! It should have taken much longer! There were plenty of obstacles in the way, and those pesky Ear People couldn’t possibly get through them that quickly! Unless they burned everything by the roadside…”
The Demon King was a reasonable figure. It was common knowledge that elves weren’t the sort to scorch every obstacle just because they found it annoying—similar to how cats dislike water.
But could I firmly say that a cat chased by a leopard wouldn’t even try to swim? The Demon King, frantically fleeing, glanced back at Margaret’s white horse and then widened his eyes as he noticed the existence of the gun she brought.
“A gun? An elf has one?”
In this continent, portable firearms were practically newly developed. However, Violet had learned quite a bit from her father and was aware of the weapon’s existence. Naturally, she recognized at once that it was an item that elves would never use.
“Crazy Ear Person… Cursed traitor of the species!”
Margaret, hundreds of meters away, caught the Demon King’s lament, her ears perked up as she pulled out her bow and aimed an arrow at him. The aim was precise, but the moment she released the bowstring, the Elf Lord’s hand trembled slightly, causing the arrow’s trajectory to veer off.
Rather than piercing the back of the Demon King’s neck, the arrow merely grazed his nape, leaving behind a long wound. The Demon King realized he had just brushed the brink of death and trembled in shock.
“Damn it, hell, damn it!”
In a panic, the Demon King cast a disguise spell on himself, concealing his appearance as if he were a Shadow Knight. The magically crafted black armor enveloped his body successfully, and his silhouette on the black horse looked convincing. But at the very moment he tried to put on the helmet, the two horns that sprouted from his head made it awkward to do so.
“Get on, get on, I said get on!”
The Demon King anxiously glanced back as he desperately struggled to wear the helmet. Margaret yelled as she chased after him.
“The horned knight is the Demon King! Catch and kill the one who can’t wear a helmet and has horns on his head!”
Immediately, arrows from the elves poured forth in that direction. The Demon King barely managed to conjure a magical shield to deflect the arrows, then used additional magic to successfully hide one of his horns.
Maybe due to his panic, his magic was barely functioning.
The Demon King’s transformation skills had reached a profound level. So profound that when he once disguised himself as a human bartender, even the greatest human heroes had failed to recognize his identity. However, with ten thousand elves pursuing him, the Demon King did not possess the superhuman mentality to fully concentrate on his disguise magic.
Ultimately, believing that if things went on like this, he would surely die, the Demon King made a drastic decision and drew his long fingernails.
“Damn it!”
Letting out a painful scream, the Demon King sliced off one of his own horns with his nails. Upon hearing the scream, Margaret quickly drew her gun and loaded a bullet.
The Demon King, disguised as a Shadow Knight, was incredibly quick to blend into the crowd. Even the elves chasing after him could not find him once he decided to hide his presence. Margaret, considering that the pain from the horn she cut off would soon be unbearable for her opponent, perked her ears and followed Violet’s moans.
The sound of hooves. The clash of weapons inside a chaotic battlefield.
Amidst the uproar of all sorts of noise and screams, a small groan from the Demon King was heard. Margaret aimed her gun in the direction of the sound and fired without hesitation.
“GAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The horrific scream filled the battlefield, shocking everyone nearby. Even the cavalrymen of Eramenia, who had just initiated the pursuit, were startled by the scream and halted. Meanwhile, the Demon King’s army continued to distance themselves from Eramenia’s forces. Margaret instructed her troops to advance without hesitation.
“Did I hit? Or did I miss? No one seems to be dead, but that scream could only come from being hit by a bullet.”
“Your Majesty! This was found where the enemies fled!”
An elf cavalryman handed Margaret the Demon King’s horn he picked up from the ground. As she received the horn of the horned demonic ruler, which resembled ram horns, her thoughts were confirmed, and she nodded in satisfaction.
“He must have been in quite a rush. But if we let this slip away, it’ll be bad. Even if he isn’t dead, a scream like that surely means he sustained serious injuries. If we pursue now, we can catch him and end this war. Everyone, move cautiously!”
Having already encountered an ambush before, Margaret emphasized cautious movement to her soldiers as they pursued. The Demon King had discarded the illusionary armor and helmet while frantically fleeing westward.
Margaret’s arrow struck the Demon King’s left shoulder, close to the heart. If it had been slightly off-target, it could have pierced his heart. Unable to bear the pain, Violet collapsed to the ground, clutching her wound.
“If only I can… somehow make it back to the fortress, I can be healed again. This was a fight I should have won. It’s absurd for me to die in such a battle!”
By this point, her troops had scattered during the retreat. Six Shadow Knights and seven Goblins. With a mere thirteen troops, the Demon King had to concede that her chances of making it back across the hill and river to the Demon King’s Castle were slim.
Though she had barely stopped the bleeding, the pain from the severed horn was compounding her serious burden. Her stamina was nearly exhausted from the mad dash, and after the fierce battle with Jenis, her mana was also far from intact. Spotting the cautious approach of the Eramenia troops from a distance, the Demon King steeled herself and rose to her feet.
“Are you coming, people of the forest? Is your army here to adorn my last moments?”
“Wait a moment.”
Margaret, who had approached to a visible distance, stopped her troops, a skeptical expression on her face as she looked around.
“Are you suspicious of an ambush? Am I too defenseless lying here?”
The Demon King scoffed. This time, truly there were no ambushes or plots. It was the end. All that awaited the Demon King was the cold blade of the Elf Lord.
“The smell is strange. There’s something here.”
Margaret perked up both ears, scanning side to side with sharp eyes. The Demon King looked around in confusion.
“What smell? There can’t possibly be anything here right now.”
“A large-scale concealment magic circle! All troops, ready arrows! Prepare for an enemy surprise attack!”
Margaret shouted while drawing the dual daggers hanging at her waist. The Demon King, thinking the Elf Lord was suffering from trauma from past defeats and was delusional, laughed at her; but at that moment, the magic circle that even the Demon King hadn’t noticed began to unravel behind her.
Revealed from behind the magic circle was the fourth and final queen to join the battlefield of the queens, Succubus Queen Elias, and her great demon king rebellion suppression army.
“Mother?”
The Demon King, with a face of utter shock, sprang up. The Succubus Queen led her legion over the hill, bowing her head to the Demon King.
“I’m so sorry I’m late. As soon as I heard you were about to return, I led my army back, but there were too many who couldn’t keep up with my speed…”
The Succubus Queen pointed to the large group of orc heavy infantry trailing behind her. Just by looking, there were more than thirty legions. At the very least, over a hundred thousand strong.
“I left behind all the lagging forces and gathered only those who could keep up. I hope it’s not lacking in numbers.”
Even so, the Succubus Queen arriving at this place today after destroying the rebels at the west was an unbelievable speed in her march back. The number of soldiers she’d brought was far fewer than those she left behind. The loyalty that could not be ignored for the lord, combined with the maternal instinct of a mother realizing her daughter’s danger, sometimes makes the unbelievable possible. This was just one of those common examples.
Vast numbers of elite orcs, ten times that of the elf cavalry, marched forward with earthshaking footsteps, holding their spears up. Seeing that her own horse was tired, Margaret judged that facing that massive army in the current situation would be too dangerous. The Elf Lord aimed her sword straight ahead and shouted.
“Fire while retreating! Fall back and join the Empire troops! Hurry!”
According to Margaret’s command, the elves began raining arrows down on the Demon King’s army while simultaneously retreating eastward. The way back was long, as was the distance they’d pursued. The fairies weren’t worn out, but their horses were slowly running out of stamina. The fierce battle raging on the vast battlefield exhausted the steeds over the riders.
Fortunately, the Succubus Queen’s troops also needed rest more than they needed to advance. The slow-moving orc army couldn’t catch up to the elves normally. However, from a distance in the southeast, Janis, who was gathering the remaining allied soldiers, couldn’t help but stare in bewilderment at the absurd sight.
“Huh? Why are they retreating? Didn’t they win? This doesn’t look like a victorious return.”
Janis asked, a puzzled expression on her face. The Baron nodded his head.
“It almost looks like they’re in a rout. Or like they’re fleeing from something. What on earth is happening…?”
“Reinforcements have joined the enemy. They seem to be quite substantial. It looks like they intend to regroup with us and confront us again, so we can’t just let them move. We need to move as well. Raise the alliance flag. Everyone except the severely wounded, move westward!”
At Janis’s command, a force of nearly 30,000 soldiers readied their weapons and marched northwest. The moment the armies of Eramenia and the Southern Alliance began moving to meet, the Demon King, cradled in her mother’s arms, was tracing the wound created by the bullet hit.
“I don’t look very good, do I?”
“You went through a tough fight alone. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it here sooner.”
“No, it was the perfect timing, the ideal formation. If I had come too quickly, I would have been overwhelmed by the enemies at once. Mother, you saved me once again. From now on, even if we are in a lord-vassal relationship, I won’t treat you carelessly.”