Volume 2 chapter 9
The City of Darkness. Demon Realm Central Command.
"Laptara Fortress reports: The Alliance Eastern Army Group's assault has been successfully repelled!"
"Abbys Fortress reports: No enemy offensive detected at this time!"
"Talisk Fortress reports: The Alliance Southern Army Group has halted at the outer defense perimeter! No further movement observed!"
"EMERGENCY FROM THE WEST! The Alliance Western Army Group has breached the Hall Pass! They are advancing rapidly toward Talisk Fortress!"
Clyris frowned deeply, listening to the rapid-fire reports from her communications officers. She moved the markers on the giant map table.
The Alliance forces looked like a gaping maw. The jaws protruded on the East and West, while the South remained sunken, waiting to snap shut and swallow all three fortresses whole.
"Damn it..."
She gritted her teeth in frustration. She knew the situation, but she lacked the power to change it.
Just defending had taken everything they had. Launching an offensive was suicide; her forces would be run down and slaughtered by elite Knight Orders in the open field. The demons possessed no equipment capable of stopping a heavy cavalry charge on flat ground.
Six million demon soldiers were split: half garrisoned the three fortresses, and half of the remainder were lost when the Western Army Group—led by Emperor Curtis himself—punched through the Hall Pass because there was no fortress to hold them.
"Draw 50,000 troops from the Reserve Corps. Have Marseilles lead them to reinforce Picars City, west of Talisk Fortress! Furthermore, prioritize all Type-2 Aircraft, heavy artillery, and mana stones produced this week for Talisk!"
She issued the orders. Currently, aside from the six million combat troops, the remaining nine million demons were in the factories, churning out war materiel day and night.
Every day, hundreds of planes, hundreds of cannons, and thousands of tons of mana stones, landmines, weapons, and armor rolled off the assembly lines.
But that was the limit. The planes were reverse-engineered from the Griffin. The cannons were built based on her experience with the Dreadnought. The landmines were simple combustion arrays in iron boxes.
In these months, her only true original invention was the Radio Communicator.
By stripping down the high-rank Projection Spell, she created a wireless communication device. It consisted of a central hub and several sub-units. While sub-units couldn't talk to each other directly, they could link through the hub or use specific short-range runes to communicate locally.
Other than that... nothing.
There was some good news. Cossette and Lilith, whom she thought dead, had miraculously returned alive!
But their injuries were severe. Unlike her time in Ironwood, where she had unlimited mana stones to absorb daily, they had received no treatment. Their forced march over the Dragonspine Mountains had worsened their condition. Without lying in the Demon God Pool for four or five months, they wouldn't recover their High-Rank strength.
So, Clyris was left with the same sixteen artificially ascended Seventh-Rank demons.
She had stationed two at each fortress. Now, sending Marseilles to Picars left her with only nine mobile commanders. She still couldn't see a way to break the deadlock.
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Talisk Fortress Command Center.
Luna (Succubus) and Rowling (Blood Demon) were arguing.
"Plum's bombing run proved that massive, concentrated airstrikes are the most effective method! Scattered bombing is useless; High-Rank powerhouses can easily escape the blast radius and counterattack!" Luna insisted.
"But a large bomber formation is easily detected! The swarm will be encircled and slaughtered by High-Rank defenders! Our 25mm cannons can hurt Fifth-Rank Knights, maybe scratch a Sixth-Ranker, but against High-Rankers, they are useless!" Rowling shook her head.
"Do you want to trade shots with them on the ground? Fortress guns can kill Ninth-Rankers, yes, but only if they hit! If you miss, aerial bombs are better!"
They were debating how to handle Emperor Curtis's Western Army Group approaching from the west. Rowling wanted to hold the line at the satellite city of Picars. Luna argued that Picars wasn't a fortress; a few guns wouldn't stop the Alliance. She wanted to use massed air power.
"But the subsequent bombing runs proved that once the Alliance is prepared, bombers are ineffective!" Rowling argued.
"That's because there weren't enough of them! Quantity has a quality all its own!" Luna explained. "Besides, I'm not sending them in blind. These are the new Type-2 Bombers. Higher, faster, tougher, with a larger payload! And they won't be alone. They will be escorted by the new Type-2 Fighters!"
"New... planes?" Rowling paused.
"Production started just before the war began. Her Majesty decided to deploy all of them here!" Luna smiled faintly.
"Fine... You are the Air Commander. It's your call." Rowling relented.
"Just watch.the true power of these war machines!" Luna said with confidence.
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The Alliance Southern Army Group had slowed significantly after reaching the Talisk outer perimeter.
They stopped launching full-scale assaults on demon positions. Instead, they encircled them, allowing the Hero, Hayato, and his party to "clear the dungeon" slowly.
Although this made the strongest Army Group the slowest, the leadership deemed it worthwhile to train the Hero—though few soldiers actually agreed.
Night. The Alliance Camp.
From the Hero's tent came the sounds of heavy breathing and female moans, rising and falling in a rhythm that made the guards blush.
Occasionally, the female voice would change, fueling wild imaginations.
Evelyn stood outside the tent, gripping her staff tightly, trying to ignore the noises.
It wasn't until the moon hung low in the western sky that the sounds finally ceased.
"Evelyn, you haven't rested yet?"
Hayato walked out, completely naked, and looked at the girl guarding the door in surprise.
"Compared to me, Lord Hero, you should rest! We have to conquer more demons tomorrow! You shouldn't exhaust yourself with Lily, Violetta, and Maria like this!" Evelyn looked at him calmly, not a trace of panic on her face, only chiding him gently.
"Haha! What is there to fear from a few defeated demon remnants?" Hayato scratched the back of his head, laughing loudly without a care.
"But..." Evelyn wanted to say more, but a thunderous boom interrupted her.
BOOM!
"What was that?" Hayato looked curiously into the distance.
He saw a massive fireball crash into the ground far away. With an earth-shaking roar, soil and rock within hundreds of meters were blasted into the sky. A small mushroom cloud rose slowly.
For some reason, Hayato felt this scene was familiar. Where have I seen this before?
"ENEMY ATTACK!!!"
A roar from the sky woke the entire camp. The Eighth-Rank Knight on night watch stared upward, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.
Above, over three hundred Type-2 Bombers cruised at 20,000 meters. The dense formation almost blotted out the stars.
He tried to fly up to intercept, but was immediately swarmed by over a hundred Type-2 Fighters.
These new aircraft were equipped with enlarged "Vulture" engines.
The Type-1 Fighter was a scaled-down, twin-engine version of the Griffin.
The Type-2 was a brute-force upgrade.
Type-2 Fighter: Armed with four 40mm Autocannons and two 30mm Cannons.
Type-2 Bomber: Payload increased to 36 tons. Armed with eight 40mm Autocannons, six 30mm Cannons, and a 75mm Turret under the tail!
Armor remained at 25mm; adding more would reduce speed, which was suicide.
These upgraded fighters could hurt even Seventh-Rank Knights. A Sixth-Rank Knight hit by a 40mm shell was dead or crippled instantly. The lead scouts of the Giant Eagle Knights had been shredded before they could even report. It wasn't until the fleet reached the main camp that a Seventh-Rank Knight spotted them—and was promptly shot down.
But the warning came too late.
20,000 meters. An altitude difficult for even Eighth-Rankers to reach quickly.
Over three hundred bombers opened their bay doors over the brightly lit camp. Five-hundred-kilogram bombs fell like iron rain.
RUMBLE...
It was like Plum's bombing run, but at night, and on a scale three times larger.
Hayato stared at the bombs falling from the sky, dumbfounded.
"W-What... is this?!"
"Lord Hero, run!"
Evelyn reacted first, grabbing his hand and pulling him away.
"No, no, no! Wrong! This is wrong!!"
Hayato screamed frantically as he was dragged along.
"It shouldn't be like this! Isn't this a fantasy world of swords and magic?! Why are there bombers?! Why?! Lord of Light! Answer me!! WHY?!"
"WHY..."
Hayato roared himself hoarse, but his voice was swallowed by the deafening explosions of the bombs.
There was no answer. Only fire.
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