This is a doughnut-shaped defensive fort.
　There are five tall towers built into its circular outer wall for guards.

　Right now, the eight of us were on the roof of one of those towers.

(...It's windy.)

　I squint my blue eyes at the pressure of the wind blowing through my hair.　

　Below me, the vastness of nature unfolds.

　Most of it is covered by a sea of trees, with grasslands and large rivers visible here and there. In the middle of the sea of trees, I could also see a number of huge rocky mountains rising up like pillars.

　Far off in the distance - on the horizon, a cloud of dust danced in the air.

I see they're all here.

　Mr. Quilt, who is looking through the binoculars next to me, mutters in a low voice.

　Then he hands me the binoculars.

　I looked through them.

(.........wow)

　In my lens-enhanced vision, I could see a ridiculous number of demons writhing in the sand and smoke.

　Goblins, evil tigers, demon bears, white fangled wolves, and various other types of demons were advancing towards us, knocking down the trees in the sea of trees.

''Oh no?　You have trolls in there too.

　Solstice, who was also looking through the binoculars, makes a dumbfounded sound.

　Ah, it's true.

　I can also see a giant figure with one head missing from the trees in the forest.

　On its back, a backpack-like object was borne, and four or five humans were riding on the scaffolding built on it.

　White masks and black robes.

(..........Godblood Cult Nakes)

　In their hands is an oddly shaped staff that seems to be a tool for manipulating demons.

　Just from what we can see, there are more than a hundred trolls in the area.

　Even outside the visible area, there are probably cult members, so there may be 2,000 to 3,000 of them.

　I've heard that there are thousands to 10,000 regular cult members.
　When you think about it.

It seems that the Godblood Sect Nekes is also quite prepared for this battle.

　Illtimina muttered in a cold voice.

(Yes.)

　We nodded.

　Then I took a good look at the army of demons for a while.

''Marle. Did you see any of the a(-)re(-)s?

　Mr. Kilt asks in a serious voice.

'Nope,'

　I shook my head.

　At the very least, I couldn't see that thing - the Son of Darkness - within my range of vision.

The Son of Darkness can hide itself from human eyes.

　That's why we, the Servants of God, are the only ones who can see it.

I don't know where he is.
Same here.

　Rapt and Lectoris drop the same reply as I do, watching the swarm of demons as they float above us, sprouting metal wings.

　Landing on the rooftop, Rapt says.

''With that many demons and the number of demons, maybe I'm missing something. ........But, what the hell, I don't think they're there.
"Hmm.

　Mr. Kilt snorted.

'I see. ........Actually, I feel the same way about the straw.

(Huh?)

There is no sign of fear in the crowd, as there was in the Kela Desert. Maybe there is no Child of Darkness in that group.

　Really?

　We can't help but stare at the 'Golden Mark Demon Hunter'.

　General Dardios nodded.

''That's what this demon girl says. It could be true.''
Yes.
Yes.

　We agree with you.

　I don't know why, but I felt like Kirt-san's words were right on the money at a time like this.
　Wild intuition, or perhaps the intuition of a demon princess, or perhaps the intuition of a demon princess, when it comes to fighting, her senses seem to have reached a realm that ordinary people can't understand.

''But there's a chance. In the meantime, I'll keep paying attention.
Please.

　Mr. Kilt nodded at Recto Alice's calm words.

　And Miss Frederica looked at her pocket watch.

Father, it's time. It's time to go.
Okay.

　General Dardios nodded with a grave warrior's face.

　The two of them would each lead their own troops to fight that horde of demons.

　The soldiers were already lining up outside the fort.

　Thirty-five thousand Arun soldiers.

　And General Dardios was the commander of that entire Arun army.

　As a fierce general of the past, he puts on his helmet, turns his back to us, and walks away, his armor clanging.

'General.

　I called out to him.

　The general looks at me.

"There may not be any 'Children of Darkness'. But I think the tattooed 'demon's family members' are sure to be mixed in. ... please be careful.
I understand.

　He nodded dependably at my warning.

　Frederica, the Black Knight, smiled like a woman.

'I'm going, Lord Marle.'
Yeah. You take care of yourself, Frederica.

　A hand, wrapped in black cuirass, stroked my head.　

'And you, Lord Marl.'
Yes.
I wish you good luck.

　Slowly our hands fell away.

　Then the brave father and daughter left the rooftop and down the stairs, leaving us with Arun's salute.

''...........''
..........
..........

　A strong wind is blowing.

(Please be safe...)

　As I looked up at the sun in the blue sky, I wished that strongly.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　On the roof of the tower, we are.

　In front of the entire Arun army in line in front of the fort below us, His Majesty the Emperor of Arun, dressed in golden armor, is giving words of encouragement to the soldiers before they leave for the battlefield.

''-- Four hundred years ago, mankind made a mistake.

　A beautiful voice.
　A voice that is unassuming and yet, in the street, strangely reaches all the soldiers assembled.

The merciful gods have delivered us from our plight. One of his works is the seal itself, which is left on the land. Keeping it is an act in response to the will of God. But the foolish ones seem not to have understood it.

　A quiet voice.

　So I could sense the secret fury of his majesty's gentle nature.

"Listen, my brave warriors of Arun!　Once the seal is broken, the fearsome demon will rise. This battle is not only for Arun, but for the fate of the world!　We will destroy those who rebel against the gods, all demonic creatures, and show this righteous intent to the gods in the heavens!

　crunchy

　I don't know where the voice is coming from in that slender body, but it echoes all the way to our stomachs on the roof of the tower.

　A blazing heat spreads throughout the assembled soldiers.

'My warriors, let's go with the pride of Arun!

"Oh, oh, oh, oh!

　Thirty-five thousand soldiers howled.

　As if the earth rumbled.

　A feeling as if the entire world was vibrating and screaming.

(Ugh, wow...)

　I was overwhelmed.

　That Rapt and Recto Alice are also a bit eye-rolling.

''Really, that Emperor is amazing.
Yeah.

I thought His Majesty was very impressive to make the two 'Divine Servants' say this.

　I know from experience how important feelings are in battle. It is truly amazing that one person can provide 35,000 soldiers with a strong heart that is not defeated by fear.



　I think so.

　Thus, morale was raised to its highest pitch.

　His Majesty the Emperor would remain in the fort, and General Dardios would be in command of all the troops going to the front.

''What about us?''
We'll be waiting here.

　Kilt said.

　He stared at the army of demons approaching from afar with a cloud of dust and smoke.

The only thing that's different from the Son of Darkness is that there are several strong and evil signs in there. As you said, the Attendants of Evil are definitely there.
..........

　The tattoo people.

'When they move, the battlefield changes. We'll find out and we'll beat them.
Yes.

　Until then, you need to locate it from where you can see this entire battlefield.

　Boom, boom, boom.

　Tension makes my heart race.

　What was about to begin was a mass battle of nearly 70,000 allies and enemies - it was now a war.

'Don't worry, Marle. I'll be with you.

　She touches my shoulder and smiles at me.

(Yeah.)

　I take a deep breath.

　And the first time I've witnessed a large scale mass battle, including in the world of my previous life, begins to take place in front of my eyes--.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


Fire! Fire!

　Doggone it.

　With General Dardios's command, the barrels of the cannons peeking out of the holes in the defensive fort's outer walls spewed fire one by one.

　My eardrums went numb.

　There was a pause of a few seconds, and then explosions erupted all over the tree line.

(Ugh, wha........)

　It's like an attack by Illtimina-san's white spear.

　Along with the bouncing trees, the demons with shredded limbs were flying up into the air.

　One of the trolls, for example, had its upper body completely blown off and crashed to the ground from its knees. The cultists who were on their backstools scurried away, and those who failed to escape were crushed by the troll's massive corpse.

'Forward!'

　More orders.

　Arun's black soldiers move forward in an orderly fashion.

　Güa Gaaaaa.

　A swarm of demons approached from the depths of the tree line, and then finally broke through the cages of the trees to reveal themselves.

　--Tangential enemy.

　The vanguard of Arun's army is a heavily armed soldier with a shield so huge that his entire body is completely hidden.　

　Gagiiiiin.

　The heavily armed troops in line catch the demon's rush.

　The earth of the scaffolding was gouged out and pushed backwards a few meds, backwards - but stopped there.

　The well-trained soldiers were able to catch the force of the rush.

''Spearmen!''

　General Dardios's voice rang out, and all of the soldiers in the rear of the heavily armed soldiers, equipped with long spears more than three meds in length, thrust their spears out of the gaps in the shields of the heavily armed soldiers in unison.

　Thud, bosh, thud, thud, thud.

　The demons dammed up by the shields were killed by their countless long spears.

''Forward!''

　bang

　The heavily armed soldiers shoved their shields in at once and popped the demon's corpse.

　They continued forward.

　A new group of demons attacked with their shields again, and the long spear troops in the rear finished it off.

(Great.........)

　From the top of the tower, I can see it clearly.

　A single, harmonious group.

　Such a large group of people moving together like a single organism, moving with such precision.

　I wondered how much skill it would take to achieve this level of collective action.

　A shiver ran down my spine.

　Then, the black-armored archers, who had been waiting behind the heavily armed shield and long spear units, drew their bows.

　A flaming arrow was prepared.

''Release!

　duh-uh.

　The trembling of the strings echoed through the atmosphere.

　Flaming arrows rained down like the very rain on the demons that hadn't yet come into contact with them, injuring their bodies or taking away their entire lives.

　And then one of the trolls threw a large boulder at them, stabbing them with several arrows.

'Magicians, shoot them down!

　With the command, the robed soldiers, who were waiting further behind the archers, waved their large wands.

　A glowing Thanatos magic character was born in the air in front of them.　　

　From there, the flames that spewed out gathered to create the "Flaming Giant".

It's not a bad idea to have a good time.

　Gopaaan!

　The large rocks were crushed and turned into fine pebbles that rained down on the soldiers' heads.

　Of course, for them, fully equipped, the falling pebbles wouldn't do any damage.

　Solstice's eyes lit up.

''Great!　To create the 'Great King of the Fiery Kingdom', Arun has some amazing magicians!

The Flame Giant wields its arm.

　The fireballs created from them, along with the flaming arrows, are raining down on the demons, who are being burned one by one.

　The battle is going well.

　But the opponent is a demon.

　Most of the demons have a hidden fighting power that surpasses that of humans one-on-one.

　I'm not optimistic yet.

''Cavalry, sally forth!

　(with a) clank

　General Dardios dropped his black helmet masks and stepped over a two-legged dragon clad in black armor.

　In his hand, he held a huge cylindrical spear (lance).

　Frederica-san should have joined the troop of cavalry dragons gathered with the General in the lead.

　Then, the 3,000 cavalry-dragon troop led by Arun's strongest general himself began to move, and after splitting off to the left and right and making a large detour around his own army, he rushed into the flank of the gathered demons.

　Dopapang.

　The crowd of demons was blown away.

　If you look closely, the moment the tip of the cylindrical spear pierced the body of the demon, it spun with tremendous force, gouging and tearing its flesh.
　This seems to be another weapon specially made by Arun, a technological powerhouse.

''What a breakthrough!''

　Rapt snorts in admiration.

(Yeah, really.)

　From the area where the cavalry had collided, the swarm of demons split in two.

　General Dardios and his men, as if they had eyes in the sky, were cutting through the point where the large number of demons had gathered to make it easier for their allies to fight.

　And despite the appearance of such a melee, there was no fighting between them.

　Flaming arrows shot precisely through the places where the cavalry was not, and the heavily armed soldiers moved forward to gradually drive the demons back.

　Under the direction of the cultists, the swarm of demons are also trying to regain their stance.

　However, the general's troops would not allow it.

　They quickly rushed into the swarm that was about to regain its stance.

(Hmmm?)

　We can see it from our position, but how can we find it while on that battlefield?

　I have no idea.

Only General Adobald Dardios, of all the world, could have pulled off a trick like that.

　Praise spilled out of Kilt's mouth.

　As time progressed, the damage had been done on Arun's side.

　But where the people were gone, new soldiers were soon entering and filling in the holes. We're trying not to spread the damage any further.

(That's another result of tremendous skill.)

　Although the individual combat power of the demons is still not to be underestimated, the war situation was definitely tilted in our favor.

　In particular, the fact that they had begun to defeat the divine blood cult nexus magicians who commanded the demons, the demons were fighting each other and so on, adding to the confusion.

　It seemed like it was only a matter of time before victory was confirmed if they got this far.

　--that's when.

　Dpaan.

!

　Suddenly, one of the heavily armed units that was on the offensive was blown away.

　It was as if a bomb had fallen.

　Soldiers rushed to fill the hole in the ranks, but at that moment, those soldiers were being blown away again.

''Mr. Kilt!''
Hmm.

　She held up her binoculars with a grim face.

'There they are, the ones who did the stabbing...'

　thumping

　We gasped.

　With the binoculars he handed me, I checked the spot.

(...there...)

　There are men and women who have removed their white masks and are now only in black robes.

　The number of them, ten.

　Without a single exception, the faces of the men and women were glowing with pale tattoos of misfortune.

　That one person looked familiar.

''It's that flying dragon (wyvern) woman, isn't it?''

　Mr. Illtimina next to me took off his binoculars and muttered in a low voice.

''Finally, it's out.''
So what do we do now?

　Rapt hits his right fist against the palm of his left hand, and Recto Alice asks calmly.

'It's obvious,'

The 'Golden Mark Demon Hunter' gripped the hilt of the great sword of lightning on his back and announced in a voice without hesitation.

''--I will hunt them.