NOVEL NEXT Chapter 250
The Succubus Queen rescuing her daughter was not an unprecedented event. Over a century ago, during a tumultuous political upheaval, it was the Succubi, the sole support base of Violet, who declared their extensive loyalty to the Demon King, which maintained the shattered Moriarty Empire.
Naturally, such a massive declaration of loyalty was only possible due to the proactive stance of the Succubus Queen. For Elios, who had effectively lost his husband due to his daughter’s rebellion, there were certainly various options available. Some of those choices could undoubtedly lead to Violet’s ruin.
The Dragon Lord proposed a quick remarriage to the Succubus Queen. There was no legitimacy to Violet’s rule; even if there were, the demon races were merely concerned about ‘who is the strongest,’ not ‘who has the most legitimacy.’
The Dragon Lord was the most formidable candidate to be the next Demon King and, in fact, the signs indicated that a small-scale military conflict between the Dragon Lord’s supporters and Violet’s supporters could escalate into full-blown war. Clearly, in such circumstances, the Succubus Queen was conflicted. She did not crawl to Violet without hesitation.
There was no guarantee that a Demon King who had killed his father would spare his mother. There was a possibility that the bloodline-eligible Demon King might eliminate his mother and wish to directly rule over the Succubus clan. Elios refrained from outright rejecting the Dragon Lord’s proposition and arranged a meeting under the pretext of a matchmaking appointment.
However, ultimately unable to resist her maternal instincts, the Succubus Queen wounded the Dragon Lord and brought his blood in a vial to the Demon King. Kneeling before the Demon King, the Succubus Queen spoke.
“The one and only leader of the Demon Race Alliance is Your Majesty, and there is only one who poses a threat to that. If the Gold Dragon dares to challenge Your Majesty with his power, drink this and subdue him with your strength. It will grant you the power of a dragon to defeat a dragon.”
The Demon King, standing on the thin ice of uncertainty just after taking power, was overjoyed to feel his mother’s sentiment reach him and embraced her. The Dragon Lord’s blood played a key role in establishing the Demon King’s vast empire composed of demons, and that day, the Succubus Queen essentially earned the credit for saving the Demon King’s life.
And today, in a grand battle where the four queens competed, the Succubus Queen once again saved her daughter’s life.
“No, Your Majesty. I am an inadequate servant. It’s only natural to be scolded for flaws and to be stern to maintain authority. It’s all my inadequacies. At least I’m glad I was able to be of help, just this once.”
“Please lift me. I will command.”
The Demon King rose with the support of the Succubus Queen. The Succubus Queen willingly transferred command of the troops she had brought to the Demon King. She was certainly not a fool with insufficient ability. Rather, she was a seasoned politician with experience appropriate for her age, a master spy who could discern the scents of conspiracy better than anyone.
However, commanding the army was not her calling. The Demon King’s attempts over the past decade to grant her military honor and thereby enhance his authority had ended in a series of defeats, to the point where he had to chastise her excessively just to alleviate the controversy surrounding favoritism for his own kin.
In contrast, the Demon King’s military acumen was genius. Although they were currently on the defensive against the human assault, if Violet Moriarty had not been the Demon King, it would have been impossible to confront Walter Hellhound to this degree. The only person in this continent who could rival Violet solely based on genius was Jenis Harker, and the Demon King had even proven that his experiential wisdom could completely obliterate Jenis Harker.
The 100,000 soldiers commanded by the Demon King unfurled their massive wings and advanced eastward. Margaret felt pressure from the flapping black flag as she continued to retreat her troops.
“Why are we retreating? The enemy is just a bunch of Orcs. We could win if we faced them right now.”
One aggressive Elf questioned in a slightly irritated voice, thinking that Margaret was overreacting due to past memories. Without a word, Margaret tore open a powder bag to load her gun and aimed at the empty sky.
“Do you not hear the sound of the wind, soldier?”
Margaret asked, and the elven soldier who had protested to the princess perked his ears and looked up at the sky.
“The wind is just wind. There’s nothing there…”
“Then don’t underestimate the high elf’s sixth sense. Trusting me will increase your chances of surviving on the battlefield.”
Margaret fired the rifle into the sky. With a bang, the gunpowder flared, and several cavalrymen, still unaccustomed to gunfire, covered their ears and fled to the sides. Margaret’s bullet flew into another concealment magic circle, hitting a beast that was flying within it.
The wyvern, struck in the leg by the bullet, let out a furious roar and breathed fire.
“A wyvern?”
“I’ve been chased down. Now that you know, speed up!”
The Succubus Queen, having urgently finished suppressing the rebellion in the west, immediately approached the Dragon Lord to protest his indifferent attitude toward the rebellion occurring near her territory in the name of the Demon King. The Dragon Lord, who was greatly fearful of the Demon King, reacted nervously to the Succubus Queen’s protest but had no choice but to heed her demands. After all, he didn’t want to bear the stigma of his passive involvement in the rebellion.
The wyverns borrowed from the Dragon Lord significantly heightened the Elves’ sense of fear. Wyverns were a much weaker subspecies compared to dragons, but slowing down to focus on that wyvern squad could result in a counterattack by the main forces of the Demon King.
Margaret’s judgment was rational. Jenis Harker possessed enough power to guarantee victory in aerial combat against the wyverns. Her plan was to join forces with the Southern Alliance troops, delegate aerial combat to Jenis, and turn back to engage the Demon King’s forces.
However, there was no sight of Jenis’s army where the Southern Alliance was supposed to be stationed. Margaret couldn’t hide her confusion as she paced back and forth.
“Could they have been completely annihilated already? What on earth is happening here… I hope nothing happened…”
Something indeed had happened. Reading the battlefield from afar, Jenis Harker was dissatisfied with merely cooperating with Margaret’s forces to repel the enemy.
She swiftly moved her own army, undertaking a risky maneuver to reach the Succubus Queen’s flank in an instant. The Demon King’s forces, who had been focusing all their energy on chasing down Margaret, were caught off guard as the Southern Alliance suddenly sprang forth from the thicket to mount an attack from the northeast.
Even the Demon King himself turned his head with surprise to the left side after the battle began, yelling out in shock.
“What is it? An ambush from the Elves?”
“It’s the Imperial Army, Your Majesty!”
The Succubus Queen pointed to a unit of Orcs being blown away by a lightning spell. The Demon King patted his mother’s back and instructed.
“Fight! If one wing breaks here, this army will perish!”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will hold on somehow!”
Having sent the Succubus Queen to the left wing, the Demon King hurriedly turned his head toward the east while keeping an eye out for a counterattack from the Elves. As expected, after assessing the battlefield conditions, Margaret prepared to turn the heads of the cavalry back to charge at the Demon King’s forces once again. The Demon King signaled to the sky.
“Pour it out mercilessly! Don’t let those ear-heads finish their charge!”
With the Demon King’s order, seven wyverns simultaneously dropped fireballs to the ground. Margaret urgently waved her hands to give the Eramenia troops a signal to scatter.
“Scatter! Spread out to establish a fire network! And the soldiers on the outer edge, don’t let your spears drop! An enemy attack is expected!”
Margaret’s judgment was once again spot on. Just as the Demon King stirred the black flag while the Elves were preparing their anti-air fire, he ordered the shadow knights, who had dispersed, to regroup. About 200 shadow knights, having confirmed the cavalry’s charge signal through their banner, surged into the midst of the Elven formation.
Normally, such an attack would have been ineffective, but some Elves, distracted by the concentrated fire against the wyverns, allowed the black knights to break through. Four Elves were pierced by the enemy’s spears, letting out screams. Fortunately, the spear cavalry, faithfully following Margaret’s orders, quickly encircled the enemies for a counterattack, but in the meantime, Eramenia’s anti-air fire weakened, causing several fairies to suffer significant injuries and fall from their horses.
“The Demon King’s forces are approaching! Prepare for an attack from the west!”
Meanwhile, the thousands of Orc soldiers surging in, looking for gaps, could not be ignored either.
Margaret felt the trauma from the gorge resurrecting. They were the same opponents she had almost pushed to the brink of death, yet she felt the absurd delusion that the flow of battle might flip back toward the Demon King.
It was a chaotic fight. Such a pattern was rarely seen in the meticulous battles of Walter Hellhound. He nearly always faced battles with meticulously prepared scenarios that had almost guaranteed outcomes, and even minor variables rarely overturned or reversed his calculations.
However, this battle was unfolding in an unexpected pattern that no one had foreseen or calculated. None of the four queens present could decisively answer how they would claim victory. In fact, it was unclear who was winning this fight at that moment. Both sides had suffered significant damage during the battle and had dealt crucial blows to each other.
Just as the Demon King’s forces were about to push back the exhausted elven army using their numerical advantage, a favorable development emerged for the allied forces this time.
Desperately breaking through the left flank of the Demon King’s army, Jenis Harker fired a luminous starburst at the Succubus Queen, inflicting significant injury and forcing her to retreat.
With the Succubus Queen’s retreat, one wing of the Demon King’s army was breached. Violet realized this situation was severe enough to lead to total defeat and redirected two wyverns toward the Imperial Army. In the meantime, the Elves rained arrows, shooting down one of the wyverns from the sky. The aerial firepower of the Demon King’s forces had drastically decreased.
The Demon King, once again gathering the hundreds of cavalry scattered around, planned to launch a surprise counterattack against the Eramenia troops, but Margaret, judging that the wyvern firepower was no longer strong enough to warrant scattered formations, gathered the spear cavalry to respond, completely failing.
The shadow knights, who made a reckless breakthrough due to their loyalty to their lord, were pierced by the Elves’ spears and soon turned into smoke on the battlefield.
Assuming there was no hope left, the Demon King ordered the main forces to retreat northward. Margaret, gripping her dual swords, prepared to pursue once more, but one fact held her back.
The sun was setting. Nightfall in battle was a time for demons.
“What do we do? Should we break through toward the main forces?”
Her aide, Phineas, approached Margaret and asked. As she slowly pondered, looking at the gradually darkening sky, Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“Then shall we retreat?”
“Neither. Move the army toward the enemy’s left flank. The Southern Alliance forces will likely be in a situation where they cannot easily retreat, trying not to show their backs. Let’s clear their path and finish this battle.”
“If it ends like that, this fight will effectively be a draw.”
“I know. But isn’t it remarkable to have turned a losing battle into a tie?”
Margaret’s face was also filled with regret as she spoke. However, what mattered was that she held the severed horn of the Demon King in her hands. And with today’s achievements alone, she had managed to deliver a humiliation to the enemy that was enough to alleviate her personal fears regarding the Demon King.
“Let’s go, to meet our brothers who have come to help!”