Another side

　If you want to defend your village, it's simple enough, but if you want to actually do it, you'll need a certain amount of equipment, manpower, and know-how.
　Although the village is surrounded by a forest that could be considered a home for dark elves, the village itself is only a poorly constructed wooden wall and fence for a fort.
　Although there are guards patrolling the perimeter of the village, built in a location where it is less likely to be attacked by magical beasts, it is still inadequate if you think of it as a defense facility, a substitute for a fort.
　Of course, if you want to equip every town and village with the same level of facilities as a defense facility, it would cost a lot of money and the maintenance costs would be too much.
　In addition, there is only a limited amount of land that can be used for a fort if the location is considered.
　Therefore, it is not the fault of the villages attacked this time.
　It was just bad luck that we were the target of an attack.

!

　The first person to notice something unusual was the Tree King Lunaria.
　With a gasp, I noticed something and slowly got up from my seat and walked out of the tent.

"Joo-oh-sama? Is there something wrong?

　Outside, staring off into the distance, Lunaria's entourage asks what's happened, but...

.........

　Lunaria is so focused on sensing something that she can't answer the question when she leaves the tent.
　It takes a few seconds for her to close her mouth and encourage what she is doing, one by one, so as not to interfere with that concentration.

Arrange your men evenly in all directions. Mobilize the resting troops and ask the guardians of the village to help, the enemy is coming.
"Ha!

　Her mood changes abruptly, and she begins to take on a stabbing atmosphere, from her calm demeanor.
　The soldiers, sensing that this change is not an ordinary occurrence, quickly move in without question.
　All that remains in the tent are the messenger soldiers and Lunaria's entourage, and in the midst of the flurry of activity around her, she moves.

Where are you going, my lord?
"Going to the front
"! Are you a good enough partner to make a move?

　When her aides asked her a question, Lunaria answered simply and unhesitatingly: "Send the message, Adora to the west, Sert to the north and Mars to the south.

Send a message to the west commander with Adora to the north and Mars to the south. They will be able to minimize the damage. I'll go to the east where there's room left. And tell them to defend themselves exclusively until I arrive.
""Ha!"

　Then, in order to select the best person to bring in, I will send out a message and only his entourage will be left.

"You will take a few of your men and order them to return.
"Do not! I'm here to protect you. I'll send word to two of the dungeon testers to send another one.

　The aide also tries to remove the aide from the side, but as expected, the aide objects to the instruction.

Go. That's an order.

　But the aide couldn't say another word as he was confronted by the strong tone of voice that urged him to hurry.
　The only thing he can do is to finish the job he's been given and join the Lord in his service as soon as possible.
　After bowing his head once to express his approval, the entourage rushes away.

Now, I hope this move will give us some information about the other party.

　Move people away from their surroundings and even go to the front lines.
　The actions taken by Lunaria, the chief executive of the field, would be a failing grade if she were to act as a chief executive.
　If it was a ploy to bring down the power of the current demon king's regime, it was an action that could be considered fatal.
　Although this is an everyday occurrence for the demon king and dragon king, there is no need to do such a thing and should not do it unless there's something extraordinary about the two people mentioned above.
　Despite the fact that such things should be common sense, Lunaria stepped up without hesitation.
　I'm going to go to the soldiers gathered in the east.
　The arrival of Lunaria in front of your troop, which now numbered about a hundred men including those who followed, causes a stir among the troops, but the captain's shouting calms them down.

"What are you doing here, my Lord Tree King?
I'll lead the charge here.

　Then the subdued captain steps forward and asks why Lunaria is here, but she doesn't seem bothered, only answering in a nutshell.
　Normally, the sudden appearance of the highest-ranking commander might cause some confusion.
　But.

"Yes, sir!

　The captain raised his voice to the clear sound of Lunaria's voice and took a careful stance, and the soldiers lined up behind him made a noise and straightened up in unison.

Good, then.

　Nodding with satisfaction at the move, the Lunarian, instead of waiting at the rear, did not hesitate, and, having determined that the enemy would come from this direction, he took the lead of the squad and said, "Let me know who I am going to fire the bow and arrow at.

"Let it be known to whom I was going to fire the bow and arrow.

　The magic in his body has been unleashed.
　The amount of magic in his body is unparalleled even among generals.
　Then, with a cool face, Lunaria opens her normally closed eyelids, letting her magic power waft through them.
　The eyes that appear from the closed lids are golden eyes.
　And to top it off, they're not just any eyes.
　It's not just a pair of eyes.
　A special pupil sent to those deeply connected with spirits by their chief.
　The eye itself is a pseudo-magic furnace and proof of a contract with the spirits.
　In the blink of an eye, the magic around it was repainted and made denser, and although Lunaria herself didn't care, the being controlled by Dasulo, whose instincts warned her of the danger, manifested itself at her command.
　No .

'Spirit of the earth, show yourself to my enemy.

　That's all she murmured to herself.
　With those words alone, an earthquake occurred, and something flew out of the earth, forcing it to appear.

Astridrake!

　A serpentine dragon with rough, sandpaper-like scales, more than thirty meters long.
　It has huge fangs like scissors in its mouth, no limbs, and its eyesight has degenerated as it moves through the ground with its elongated body, and other senses have evolved instead of sight, such as temperature sensing and smell.
　Also known as the subterranean hunter.
　A ferocious dragon that usually hides until its prey arrives in its territory and then pounces on them as soon as they are directly above it.
　These dangerous beings have even preyed on dragon species larger than themselves in the past.
　One of the soldiers calls out the monster's name, but that's not the only surprising thing.
　The first ones to emerge were simply spit out of the ground from a "shallow" area.


　The earthquake is still not over.
　One by one, two by two, three by three were ejected from the ground.
　The soldiers were so upset by the number that they could not hide their agitation.

"......... ten Astridrake".

　The sound of someone spitting from the ground was drowned out by a high-pitched whine, not unlike that of a dragon, as it threatened the person who had spat it out.
　With this number, only an ordinary soldier would certainly be able to wipe out an entire army and even a village!

Much!

　But that was if it weren't for Lunaria's presence here.

I'm sure I'm getting a discount too.

　The reason why the troops were not in a state of panic is because she was there.
　The strongest of the Demon King's army is the Demon King, but he is one of the most powerful generals in the Demon King's army.
　The tree king, Lunaria, each general also has various names, but on the battlefield, Lunaria is the only one that is fixed.

"Do you think you can deal with nature with just ten of them?

　The amount of magic alone was far greater than that of a single Astrake, but this was not an outfit suitable for the front lines by any stretch of the imagination.
　At the provocative voice, the Astrudrakes were enraged, and one of them opened its mouth and leapt at Lunaria with its left and right blades, trying to cut her in two.

"Wind!

　With a single word, the behemoth was blown into the air, and though Astridrake scratched against the unusual wind, it could not escape, and one by one, its supposedly hard scales split open.
　And then .

"Snap.

　The next word will cut the body in two vertically.

First, there's one.

　Lunarians, who by nature do not like to fight, do not take pride in their achievements.
　And without turning on the belligerence.

Then we'll take care of the rest.

　It's as if she had the temerity to pick up trash on the side of the road, and if one of them showed up, the army would have to be sent out to deal with it.
　She spins the words.
　The earth is ripping, the wind is raging, the water is roaring, the trees are rioting, thunder is falling and nature is raging as if it were the enemy of Astridrake and his friends.

　"Lunaria of Natural Disaster

　The greatest genie in the Demon King's army.
　Only he knows the number of spirits that contract with him.
　He is so good at making Lunaria's enemies think that if she is against you, she is against nature.
　She is so powerful that the demon king has said in the past that he would kill her first if she was hostile and belligerent.
　Even other generals say that fighting her is the most troublesome.
　The result is disastrous.

I guess this is the end.

　In a matter of minutes, the devastation in front of her eyes was built up, including the additional hexenbiests that came in.
　After confirming that there are no magical beasts within her perceived range, she hides her golden eyes within her eyelids again.
　With that alone, the pressure drops and the soldiers' tense shoulders relax a bit.
　The number of dead monster beasts is prodigious.
　Even if it doesn't reach a thousand, there were at least a hundred of them.

I'm going to head north now to check and dispose of the carcasses in order.

　Not a single drop of blood has returned, let alone a wound, to the person who created the devastation.
　And best of all, the forest has been restored to its original state, with only magical beasts as the only victims, despite the series of natural disasters that were close to great magic.
　Many of the soldiers Lunaria has chosen are veterans, but there are also dark elves who have never seen the battle of Lunaria.
　That's why I respect and fear the fact that they do not summon spirits and create such a disasterous phenomenon in a single, near-unrecited chant.
　As if such feelings are not familiar, Lunaria rides the wind and heads for the front line attacked by other monster beasts.
　It's just a matter of time from there.
　Annihilate the north, annihilate the west, annihilate the south.
　The east was probably our main target.
　Compared to the east, the monster beasts from the other directions didn't have Astridrake among them, and there weren't as many of them.
　There were larger monsters instead, but they were still inferior to Astridrake.
　Lunaria would go in the direction of the most monsters in advance, and then destroy them in turn.

This gives me confidence that this is an artificial hexenbiest movement.

　When Lunaria had finally finished eradicating the south, after defeating the last hexenbiest, she came to a conclusion.
　The leader of the pack was definitely there, but if there was a chief of a monster beast who could fight tactically to this level, he would not be wasting his time fighting like this.
　However, the fact that they attacked the village in the dark is certainly beast-like, but the fact that they did not back down despite the fact that the absolute strongest person in the world, Lunaria, appeared on the scene makes the attack itself seem meaningful.

But I don't understand.

　Considering the quantity and quality of the demonic beasts that were eradicated, it was an unbelievable herd for a single battlefield.
　You will be able to control it, but what is the point of using it like this kind of consumable item?

"The purpose is to keep me glued to this place?

　It makes sense if you think of it as a force to be reckoned with.
　The soldiers of the village and the Lunarians alone could not hold the first Astrid Lake and it would be overrun.
　If the rest of the herd was also distributed in such a way that it could not be held back just by the amount of troops dispersed and slightly outnumbered, and if they were distributed in such a way that Lunaria could not be separated.
　And if they attacked from all four directions to buy as much time as possible, if they also took Lunaria's travel time into account.

It was a blunder.

　It was less than a guess, but Lunaria was convinced that there was only one purpose.
　With her brow wrinkled, Lunaria rode into the sky without an escort.
　Ask the spirits to carry her to her destination.
　When Lunaria descended to the scene, she saw that she wasn't going to make it.

Master Lunaria!
Report.

　An entourage that I had sent before the battle rushes to my side.

"Yes, I'm sorry to say that the survey team is almost wiped out.
"Yeah, I see.

　Seeing the corpses of her subordinates among the corpses of the monsters, Lunaria had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but she disregarded her emotions and listened to the reports from her aides.

''Are there any survivors?
One of the female testers is barely alive. She's being treated now. It's very close, but it will be OK.
I understand.

　Then, Lunaria sees the figure of Midori Kawasaki through the cracks in the dark elves' three-man cure.



"What about the other tester, Fire Clearing Toru?
"We're continuing to search the area, but we haven't found anything. Perhaps.

　He also inquired about the whereabouts of the other man, but the words he received in return were no longer good.
　Perhaps," he punctuated his words, but he wanted to say that if there were two options, dead or taken, dead was more likely.
　Since arriving at the scene, Lunaria has been asking the spirits to help her search the area, but there are no clues.

Would you like to know what to do?

　In spite of the situation, an aide asks for instructions.

"Call your men and send them out to search the area. If you do not find them after three days of searching, report them as missing.
"Yes, sir.

　In response, Lunaria runs a message and stands there until the soldiers arrive.
　And then I think.
　Perhaps there's a mastermind.
　An elusive presence that seems to be fighting the clouds.
　An entity whose appearance is unpredictable, Lunaria feels a sense of urgency.

"Nope, that's the way it goes.

　The moon was floating in the sky above Lunaria's head, the only light on the dark continent, as she honestly expressed her feelings.

　Word of the Day
　Deliberate concealment will lead to problems later on.