Chapter 5: Defense
Chapter 5: Defense
CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.
“Blegh… Not very nutritious, are they?”
The sounds of a hard skull being chomped apart and the soft, inner flesh being ripped out and masticated echoed through the eerie woods. Isla dexterously used her forearms to eat something Humanoid and then tilted her head like a sommelier appraising a poor excuse for wine before she chucked the corpse—chucked what remained of Flame Knight—onto the ground.
“The flavors lack cohesion to tie them together, and it has such an odd aftertaste… And it’s so sinewy, some weird little bones got stuck in the back of my throat. How unpleasant.”
Threads boasting the strength of steel were strung around the trees, and monsters missing parts of their bodies hung from them. Body parts were impaled on the tips of twisted branches like butcherbirds impaled on twigs for later consumption, and the blood dripping from them soaked into the cursed land. But that wasn’t all there was to the disturbing scene—eggs contained within sticky mucus sacks had been laid all throughout the ground and trees, pulsating with new life as they fed off the dead.
If the concept of hell existed in this world, then any good soul would say that this place was hell on earth. Perhaps there were even some evil souls out there who’d consider this spot a demented form of paradise.
The one thing that could be said for sure was that the monsters from Brave Questers who’d tried to pass through this place had all become insect fodder.
“Master told me they were fairly strong opponents, so I got my hopes up, but I must say I am quite disappointed, rude as that may be to His Majesty. They lacked toughness as prey and as a meal.”
Isla exhaled a disappointed sigh, elegantly wiped the blood from her mouth, and turned her massive body completely around to face another direction.
In this place where all of Isla’s foolish enemies had lost their lives and had their lofty ambitions squashed, the sole survivor of their forces showed up and clicked his tongue with visible irritation.
“It figures that monsters who’ve only ever fought Humans are pathetically weak when it comes to a battle like this. As a menu item, I’d give them…hmm…a three out of ten.”
Isla’s six crimson bug eyes coldly fixed on the man. Judging by his appearance, he looked like a character from Brave Questers, and he seemed completely unfazed by the hellscape before him. All he seemed to feel in spades was intense frustration.
“I’m talking about your underlings, if you didn’t get the hint?”
The man was called Flame Demon Flamin.
“Well, ain’t you in a damn good mood, vermin. Though it seems like my men weren’t up to your tastes. Kehehehe!” the man cackled.
He looked like a stringy Human male that would make for a fine toothpick after her previously sinewy meal. Sadly, his flesh and bones looked less healthy than a week-old corpse and emitted an unceasing burning hot flame like an eternally lit torch. His vertically torn, red irises glared at Isla with the burning desire to kill her.
These two boss-level creatures maintained a strange silence with the jarring chorus of trilling Larva, watching from between the trees, serving as their background music.
The reason for their silence was obvious—they were assessing each other’s abilities.
Flamin was analyzing his opponent’s strength from her intense level of darkness and the overwhelming pressure her presence put on the area…and what the strung-up corpses of his army entailed…
Isla determined from his appearance that she was up against some kind of boss character and guessed his strength from the overwhelming loss of her Larva…
This encounter was a mystery to the two powerful entities who’d spent a long time in a world where they knew all the rules. They could tell their opponent’s power level by feeling even if they couldn’t see it. They both decided that they shouldn’t underestimate the other.
“Name yourself,” Flamin demanded warily, using some skill to make his flames cover his whole body.
All his underlings had been annihilated. Since he’d entrusted most of his troops to Flame Knight and Flame Mage, the most powerful demons serving him, he had no guards or attendants. He remained vigilant, thinking he wouldn’t stand a chance if she got the jump on him, but Isla cheerfully offered her name as if she didn’t think she needed such trickery to defeat him.
“I am one of the Heroes belonging to the empire of Mynoghra, ruled by the great and mighty King of Ruin, Takuto Ira. They call me Isla, Queen of Bugs.”
“I’m Flame Demon Flamin, one of the Demon Lord’s Four Generals.”
Neither was familiar with the other. They were both from a world the other didn’t know. They were both up against someone who’d come from a different game. In other words, both Isla—who understood that Flamin existed under a similar set of circumstances as she did—and Flamin—who didn’t know a thing about this world yet—were convinced that they were utterly incompatible with each other.
“You’re one of the Demon Lord’s Four Generals, eh? I remember hearing about another one of you from Atou. What was he called again? Ice Rock, was it?”
“Yeah. Guess he died. Not that I’d expect more from someone who had ice for brains.”
Although the giant bug deliberately avoided telling him exactly how their encounter had ended, Flamin guessed from her goading tone that his fellow general had been defeated by these freakish abominations and gnashed his teeth in frustration because of it.
Ice Rock had been ended all too easily.
Flamin didn’t realize they were up against such a difficult enemy. The Demon Lord’s Four Generals were equal as far as their title, but there was a clear hierarchy when it came to their strength differences. Ice Rock was undoubtedly the weakest of the four. There was a clear gap between him and Flamin.
But they were all members of the Demon Lord’s Army—the spawn of malice that made its name known throughout the world and from which every living being ran from in fear. They were the destroyers that could only be opposed by the Hero—the direct counterpart to evil.
How could such a force be so easily defeated?
He should’ve had a huge army under him… Flamin thought. I doubt they were all killed… Dammit! I can’t even confirm things in my current position!
Not only did the Dragontan invasion force consist of the monsters they’d summoned, but many of the demons under Ice Rock had joined the fray too. The number was overwhelmingly larger than the small brigade Flamin had mobilized behind the Demon Lord’s back. It shouldn’t have mattered how easily the weaker monsters could be squished by the Demon Lord’s Four Generals—they had always been a serious threat to the humans they’d faced before.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the invasion force’s size was overkill to take down one little town. So how could such a large division of the Demon Lord’s Army led by one of his generals go down just like that? It’d take time for even a smart man like Flamin to accept what Isla said to be true.
But…I guess small fry will be small fry no matter where you are, he thought.
However, even when faced with the dire reality that his fellow general and his troops had been entirely wiped out, Flamin was convinced by his tremendous confidence in his ability to survive what they could not.
…After all, monsters were nothing more than pawns to Brave Questers’ Demon Lord’s Army. It wasn’t purely due to incompetence or a lack of cohesion as an army that led to their pitiful downfall. Ultimately, even the biggest horde could be easily taken down by the strength of a single person. Everything could be flipped around by a single individual. The Hero and the Demon Lord were perfect examples of that.
In their world, war was settled by an ultimate duel between two individuals. To them, taking action with an army was secondary. Essentially, the way they used their army was similar to a rear support guard or along the lines of a throwaway match.
Hence why Flamin remained where he was. He believed that if he defeated the enemy before him, he could overturn the results of the last battle. And he actually wasn’t that wrong, given that Brave Questers’ Demon Lord’s Army could summon monsters at little to no cost.
“Well, you should know he’s the runt of the Four Generals. I’m at least twice as strong as him… You’re in for a world of pain if you expect things to go down the same way. Kehehehe.”
“Why, aren’t you confident… Are you saying you’re different?”
“Different ’nough to roast your carapace and drag the big bug you serve off his throne like the loser he is. What was his name again? Takuto Ira? Mwahaha!”
It was petty goading. But disrespecting the king, even as petty goading, was the biggest taboo offense to Mynoghra’s citizens—especially its Heroes.
“Oh my… You have some nerve setting your filthy sights on our mighty master and king, demon scum.”
Isla’s fangs snapped together in her fury and the invisible pressure exploded like a bomb going off. As Isla erupted with rage that was unlike her usual calm persona, Flamin was buried under a rush of Larva triggered by their queen’s anger. His skeletal body was covered by the swarm, instantly creating what looked like a human-shaped, bug-covered black statue that made buzzing noises.
“……”
Isla watched in silence.
An explosion suddenly went off in the center of that disturbing art piece, and red-hot flames consumed the black.
“So that’s how you work, eh? Kehehe! Bugs are my favorite! There’s no shortage of enemies for me to burn. I’ll burn you down like the annoying gnats you are!”
Flamin appeared from the fire, the flames covering his body growing more intense to burn off the Larva swarming him. He cackled with glee as the Larva let out gigigi death throes and turned to ash.
“Come at me then. I don’t mind rough men. However, you are still up against a lady. I expect you to be the perfect gentleman while we do this little dance.”
Queen Isla also laughed.
The rondo between two bosses boasting absolute power was about to start.
◇◇◇
“WHAT’CHA thinking…Your Majesty?”
“Is there anything we can help with?”
“Nah…just got a lot on my mind.”
Back at Mynoghra’s Imperial Capital, in a plaza located in a corner of the complex city built in the trees, Takuto was telepathically confirming the state of his units when he noticed two girls were peering into his face.
The two girls were the Elfuur Sisters, Maria and Caria, Takuto’s caretakers and Mynoghra’s future leader candidates. All the civilians had been evacuated to one safe location because of the invasion, but the two girls who served as Takuto’s attendants refused repeated orders to leave, choosing to instead go where he went.
They refused to leave, saying they needed to fulfill their duties as caretakers, but it was obviously because they were frustrated that they couldn’t do anything to help in this time of need. There was also the fact that the Brain Eaters, who’d become like their direct subordinates, had sortied too.
So, Takuto had lost the chance to convince them to evacuate and had unofficially allowed them to stay with him because he was also under heavy guard by the Warriors. Those girls were worried about him—meaning, he let how he felt show on his face. Shocked that he’d become so lost in the labyrinth of his thoughts, Takuto decided to tell them what was on his mind so he could better organize his thoughts on the situation.
“When it comes to characters from strategy games and characters from role-playing games, strategy game characters are overwhelmingly superior,” he explained. “The difference should be huge if both sides have to conform to their game standards, given the advantages granted by Eternal Nations’ settings, but…” He looked at each girl’s face, then up at the sky and groaned. “Isla is currently fighting Flame Demon Flamin. The Brain Eaters are on standby to jump in as backup if anything funny happens and to watch the rear too. The rest of the Larva are on guard throughout the Accursed Lands as well.”
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. He’d weaved his strategy based on intel from Atou, and the analysis of their forces and the transition between battles was all happening within the expected range.
“Gia’s Warriors are on standby at the defensive barricade they built at the city’s entrance and are also guarding the Dark Elves evacuating to the office building.” He cast down his gaze and stared at the woodgrain in the floorboards. “We’ll deal a fatal blow to our enemy’s forces if we defeat Flamin. Going off of Ice Rock’s combat ability, Isla should be more than capable of dealing with him now that she’s leveled up…”
Takuto squeezed his eyes shut and irritably scratched his head. The twins tilted their heads, confused by his reaction to his own explanation. They had no idea what was bothering him so much. What about what he just said was a problem?
“Hmmmm…”
A single doubt had plummeted Takuto into the sea of thought and caused him to groan endlessly since a little while ago.
I’m overlooking something.
That tiny, baseless doubt gnawed away at him like heartburn.
The difference in strength is…staggering.
The scale between the world settings for Eternal Nations, which allowed players to create natural disasters, build ginormous weapons that pierced the skies, and move armies in the tens of thousands, was drastically at odds with the world settings for Brave Questers, which were more about giving the player an adventure and using magic one-on-one, rather than army against army.
Takuto had been extremely wary because he was up against someone from an RPG, but once they clashed, he realized they were easy enough to deal with. His biggest concern was the Unmissable Move that Ice Rock had used. As far as he remembered of his time with that game, Ice Rock did use an attack like that. It annoyed him in the game too, but it was a million times worse to deal with in real life.
But that skill only belonged to Ice Rock of the Demon Lord’s Four Generals. Even after Takuto dug through his memories, he couldn’t remember anything about Flamin having any special attacks. He was renowned for being near impossible to beat on normal mode without equipping the proper anti-fire accessories because the flame spells he’d launch one after the other with his strong magic were killer… But, put another way, that’s really all there was to him.
It should be possible to win with Mynoghra in its current state as long as they didn’t let their guard down, and if he was right about the randomly appearing Barbarians coming from the RPG’s ability to summon monsters, then they’d practically solved their greatest concern.
But…Takuto couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. Alarms blared in the back of his mind with the same anxious feeling as a small bone being stuck in the back of his throat.
He double-checked the status of all his active operations and carefully scrutinized the information coming in from his units. Atou and Elder Moltar had already squashed a division of the enemy’s army and were currently cleaning up the stragglers.
Takuto considered reconnecting telepathically with Atou to ask for more details about her battle with Ice Rock, but he held off because she was still fighting, even if it was just the stragglers. If anything, forcing a conversation with her might confuse the situation more than solving anything.
Takuto ran through his thoughts in every way possible to find the cause of his baffling anxiety. But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“Is this a case of foreboding that you just feel in your bones? Do either of you have any concerns about any of this?”
Seized by an escalating sense of foreboding, Takuto turned to the two girls serving him for answers.
Caria and Maria exchanged baffled looks and shook their heads at the same time.
