Chương 47: At Death's Door (I)

Of course, not all the demons who had been transported to Eryndea were soldiers. Many were what one might call civilians, and they remained in the vicinity of their camp. Even so, the number of able-bodied fighters Drazel could add to his army was impressive, bringing the chilling total to forty thousand soldiers. Those same forty thousand were now marching through a gigantic cavern that led them toward one of the many open expanses of the underworld.

But none of them, not even Drazel or his generals, noticed the gleaming magenta eyes watching them. It was not because they had let their guard down, but because the visiare's espionage skills were far superior to those of the demons. That was only to be expected. This race had almost no contact with the outside world, and they had taken measures to avoid one day finding themselves suddenly besieged by an enemy fleet.

Those measures took the form of an order of spies, whose members trained rigorously to gather information from the outside world. The order was known as "Mirror", for in addition to possessing superhuman abilities to conceal their presence, every member had to be able to create a personal barrier capable of mirroring their surroundings perfectly, hiding their silhouette and keeping them from being detected. When the demon army finally emerged from the cavern, they found someone waiting for them atop a nearby hill.

They had, after all, been watched throughout the entire march.

"Sister, what a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to find you so soon." Drazel rose into the air above his army and flew toward Drazira, who did the same.

"The moment you attacked me in cold blood, you stopped being my brother, Drazel." A smirk spread across the demon's face as he shrugged.

"It was just a little skinship between siblings. You know I like to play rough..."

"What I do know is that you're preparing your claws at this very moment." Drazira raised the sword she had kept ready from the very beginning and pointed it at Drazel.

"Don't think you'll be able to take me by surprise again."

"Hahaha, do you really think you can do anything against me? I don't remember you being so naive, sister. You must have some idea how many souls I've already amassed... Though I doubt I'll even need to use them." Drazel ran his long tongue along his sharp claws, and an expression of pleasure formed on his face, as if he were savoring the moment. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'll only say this once," Drazira continued, tightening her grip on the hilt of her sword.

"Withdraw your troops. Do not spill demon blood needlessly."

"How ridiculous. Who could possibly spill demon blood? The inhabitants of this valley, those native spirits who have barely existed for a couple of millennia? Or that strange race with the barrier that reflects light? Are they going to pray that we happen to be rays of sunlight?" Drazel broke into a long, derisive laugh.

"Or you, sister? No... You are going to perish now!" With incredible speed, Drazel lashed out with a powerful swipe of his claws, and Drazira only barely managed to block it with her sword. But there was so much force behind the blow that she could not withstand her brother's strength, and the impact knocked her sword upward. Drazel seized that instant to unleash a second swipe with his other hand, aiming straight for his sister's neck.!!

But in that moment, Drazira vanished from right in front of him in a flash of bluish light.

"What just happened?!" Drazel swept his gaze frantically around him until he found his sister at the top of the hill. Beside her stood a beautiful young woman with long bluish hair and an elegant bearing. Sae had appeared behind Drazira at the exact moment Drazel launched his first attack, and before the second could connect, she had spirited her away, transporting them both through space in an instant.

"A user of spatial magic... No wonder, considering that barrier. Still, it is of little consequence. One more of you will make no difference to my army, whatever magic you wield." A confident smile formed on the demon's face.

"After all, what use is magic that helps you run away? You are only delaying the inevitable." Drazel raised his hand and brought it down, and thousands of footsteps began to thunder behind him.

"What will happen when there is nowhere left for you to run?" This time, a mocking grin took shape on the demon's face.

"And what about that settlement with the useless barrier? Can everyone inside escape like that as well?" Sae stepped forward, moving ahead of Drazira, and fixed Drazel with a defiant stare full of contempt. It was very unlike her.

"I only learned to use this magic at this level yesterday, and there aren't many who have mastered it," she replied without taking her eyes off the demon.

"But none of that matters, because either way, we have no intention of escaping." Behind Sae and Drazira, the rumble of footsteps began to rise as well. Drazel had not flown very high, so he only noticed the army waiting for them when it began to emerge over the hills on the horizon. Skeletons, blue-haired beings with magenta eyes, and various forest spirits accompanied by gigantic trees that moved like small fortresses with wills of their own. The demon wasted no time.

He rose higher at once to get a better sense of what he was facing, but another mocking grin soon appeared on his face.

"Sister, I don't know how you gathered so much support in such a short time, but unfortunately, it seems your reinforcements don't even reach half the number of my troops... far from it." Drazel raised his arm toward the demon army.

"You do remember that not long ago we defeated an army of two hundred thousand orcs and their lot, don't you? And you think you can do anything with an army that doesn't even come close to a tenth of that?" Drazira also stepped forward and took her place beside Sae. Her sword had now begun to crackle with electricity.

"Your troops? Aren't you forgetting something, Drazel?"!! Drazel, who had done nothing more than raise his arm, now looked back over his shoulder and realized that a quarter of the demons had broken away from his army and were retreating through the valley.

"Mirror is quite impressive," Drazira remarked, resting a hand on Sae's shoulder as the young woman stood proudly at her side.

"You never even noticed the chain of messages being relayed along the flanks of your army throughout your entire march. My officers have already taken control of the troops loyal to me."