The hole connected to the tunnel that Snoc dug. Snoc possessed the power of the Earth, so he could build a wide and sturdy tunnel that stretched a long way underneath the lake.
The Iron Tribe was only on their guard against elves coming from ships, and they basically had no defensive line in the rear where Zich and his companions appeared.
“E-Enemies!”
“Enemies have appeared in the…Kugh!”
Zich’s sword sliced the neck of the shouting elf. Then, he pierced the heart of another elf by his side. Following Zich, the allied forces began to pour out of the hole. Hans and Lyla were among them, while Snoc remained inside the hole to maintain and protect it. In case of an emergency, that hole could serve as the sole method of retreat, so his role was incredibly important.
“Are you going to the battlefield right away?” Lyla asked Zich.
Zich nodded. “Of course. I have to help the troops land first though.”
Numbers were a strength in a war.
“Furthermore, our opponents would be surprised and demoralized by the sudden force appearing behind them. Naturally, we’ll be able to attack them from both sides.” It would certainly be hellish for their opponents.
Lyla responded, “I don’t think they would be this unprepared for a rear attack.”
It had been only a couple of days since the armor she made brought chaos into Mentis. But as if Iron Tribe hadn’t learned anything from that experience, they left their rear completely unguarded.
“They probably didn’t expect such a large-scale attack like this since our trick was revealed only at the very end.”
“So, is that why they still didn’t plan for an attack from the rear?”
“They thought they were wrong at first but were ultimately right. That probably reaffirmed their beliefs and made them stronger. I’m sure they think that even if we attack from behind, only a very few of the troops would actually be strong like last time.”
This thought would’ve led to them neglecting to protect the rear.
“I’m sure they couldn’t have helped it for the most part. It’s not like they have enough forces to set up a reserve army and…” Zich looked behind him. He could see Mentis’ castle; the huge fire that had engulfed it was now completely extinguished, but the castle was blackened from burning.
“The ‘thing that could buy them time’ that the Iron Tribe King mentioned could actually be something pretty formidable.”
“What could it be?”
“I don’t know, but we will soon know. If he doesn’t want to lose, he will have to use it soon. Before he uses it, we should decrease our opponents’ numbers.”
Zich began to run with the elves running to the battle point. Hans and Lyla also ran, following him from behind. The situation of the battle was completely different from before—the Iron Tribe was stunned by the many enemy forces that had suddenly appeared from behind. Their movements became unsteady as they realized the reality of being attacked from behind, and their enemies continued to come from the front too.
“Block them! I told you to block them!” Kandis shouted with all he had to maintain his army’s formation, but the Iron Tribe’s numbers began to decrease bit by bit.
Craaaash!
Lyla’s immense magic fell on the spot where a whole heap of Iron Tribe soldiers was gathered. Many elves fell prey to it and lost their lives, and some elves who barely managed to survive groaned about their injuries. The most pressing matter was that there was a hole in their defense. Experienced soldiers didn’t miss their chance to use that weak point; not to mention, there was Zich who didn’t lack behind anyone else in war experience.
“Haaaaaa!” With a shout, he swung Windur.
An elf tried to hastily block the attack by lifting their sword, but that was only after Windur sliced his head off. He wasn’t the only one. Windur’s attack reached more than one elf, and a total of three heads flew to the sky.
This time, Zich drew a diagonal line in the air. The elf running towards his side was split into two. Then, an arrow came flying his way. It seemed like they were focusing their attacks on Zich who was madly running around and killing their soldiers. However, Zich simply took two steps and evaded the arrow.
Contrary to the Iron Tribe’s expectations, Zich didn’t move backward. Instead, he advanced forward and slaughtered their forces at an insane speed.
“Haaa~!” Zich wiped his opponent’s blood off his cheeks and sighed, feeling a surge of emotions. When he saw how his overwhelming power exasperated his opponents, a smile formed on his lips.
Before his regression, Zich didn’t kill humans for fun like other Demon People. He used all means possible to achieve his goal, so he ended up battling against everyone. Still, Zich didn’t think his lifestyle during that time was all that bad. He was the Demon Lord of Strength whose sole goal was to increase his strength. Since he wanted to use the strength he painstakingly cultivated, he enjoyed wielding his power on battlefields. He also enjoyed watching his opponents crumble with that power. Later on, he began to enjoy the battlefield itself.
‘I miss it.’
He sliced the leg of the elf coming towards him and stabbed Windur into his neck. Drunk in the scent of the battlefield that he hadn’t felt in a long time, Zich moved his body like a madman—it was different from the time before the regression. He didn’t have the overwhelming power that could crush mountains or shave off islands, but he had no problem enjoying the battlefield with the power he currently had.
“Kuuuuh!”
An elf with its intestines spilling out after getting sliced by Windur flew away by Zich’s punch. The elf tried to hastily place its insides back in his body from far away, but Zich had already lost interest in the elf by then.
“Hmph!” Zich poured a lot of mana into the sword. Windur intensified this mana even more. ‘It really is an amazing sword.’
Zich felt a thick mass of swirling mana from his sword. He smiled and swung Windur again. Mana poured out along with his movements.
Craaaaash!
The sword sprung out in all directions like a storm. The arrows raining down on him split into two while magic burst out, and the Iron Tribe standing behind him were all slaughtered mercilessly.
The Iron Tribe soldiers standing in the back were massacred mercilessly. Their necks, chests, stomachs, arms, and legs were mutilated. In an instant, the pile of corpses in front of Zich increased.
“Uh-uuuugh…” Someone let out a moan. Right now, Zich really looked like a demon. He was the manifestation of a grim reaper who had come down to hunt them.
‘Then the next guy will be…’ Zich’s cold eyes moved swiftly to find his next prey. At that moment, he felt a presence behind him.
Swish! Zich swung his sword. It seemed as if he was going to cleanly cut another neck off again, but Windur stopped right in front of the figure’s neck.
“…What the hell, Lyla. That was dangerous.” Zich withdrew his sword and complained to Lyla who had approached him from behind. “Why did you come all the way here? You’re supposed to be supporting us from the rear with magic. Even for you, it’s dangerous here,” Zich said as he cut down six arrows flying towards them.
Even though Lyla was much more skilled at close combat compared to ordinary magicians, it was definitely dangerous for her to be in the center of a raging war. Zich waved his hand. “Quickly go back. I’ll protect you while you move out. I have to beat the crap out of these guys a bit m—”
Tug!
Lyla grabbed the edge of Zich’s clothes. Zich turned his head back again, but this time, he carefully looked at Lyla’s face. She looked extremely anxious and her big eyes trembled a bit. Lyla was not afraid of battle—she was an extremely bold and fearless person. If she was left alone on a battlefield, she would probably crush her opponents while swearing at them and try to escape; she wouldn’t collapse on the ground and look helpless.
However, Zich knew what subject matters compelled Lyla to make an expression like this. The first was anything related to her forgotten past. And the second one was…
“What. Do you think I’m going to become a Demon Lord again?”
Lyla did not reply. She just nodded her head once, as her tighter grip reflected her feelings. Normally, Zich would have laughed and told a couple of jokes, but he didn’t react at all this time. With his suspicion towards Glen Zenard’s character and motives, Zich’s desire to do ‘kind acts’ faded. Zich also admitted it; right now, there was a high possibility for him to go back to becoming a Demon Lord.
‘Is there really a reason for me to work so hard in not going back to how I was before?’
All the “kind acts” he did were things he did because he wanted to, and all the things he did as a Demon Lord were things he had done because he wanted to do it. Zich had a very clear motive behind all his actions. He did things he wanted to do and didn’t do things he didn’t want to do.
No matter what Lyla said, if he wanted to go back to being a Demon Lord, he just needed to move Lyla’s hand away. If she became his enemy later on, he wouldn’t have any regrets, because that was the result of his choice—this was Zich’s personality.
However, he didn’t move Lyla’s hand away. He stared at her face expressionlessly.
Crassssh! A light flashed next to them. Lyla and Zich’s faces moved towards the light at the same time. Hans was walking towards them—in Hans’ hand, Estellade flickered with light.
“Is something the matter, Sir Zich and Ms. Lyla!” Hans approached them because he was wondering why they were standing still in the midst of a dangerous battlefield where people could die at any moment.
Zich stared at Hans—his servant who dreamed of becoming a hero while holding the holy sword, Estellade. He suddenly thought that he took so much effort to train a once impudent brat into a skilled fighter. ‘I wonder what this guy will do if I go back to being a Demon Lord?’
Hans would probably try to fight Zich and get his neck cut off.
‘It’ll probably be the same for Snoc.’ Zich looked at Hans and recalled Snoc and then stared at Lyla again.
“…No.” She moved her lips again and said, “Don’t change.”
Rather than change, it was more accurate to say that he was returning to his old ways. However, to Lyla, who had the knowledge of the future and wasn’t a regressor like Zich, she probably thought he was going to change.
“…Pweh!” Zich let out another sigh. However, it was not the same sigh he made from being intoxicated by the smell of blood and battle.
“Okay. I got it. For a while, I’ll try not to go ba—change.” Then he waved his hand quickly again; he was signaling for her to move back.
“…You’re saying it for real?”
“Ah, I’m saying it for real!” Zich shook his head. In the past, Zich would have just gone down his own path regardless of what Lyla said and whatever happened to Hans. Zich was surprised at himself.
‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Right now, I just want to listen to Lyla’s words.’ Zich did what he wanted and didn’t do things he didn’t want to do. On a larger spectrum, Zich’s mindset hadn’t changed.
“Hup!” Zich breathed in deeply and swung Windur. A large amount of mana filled Windur and began to decimate the Iron Tribe again. Nothing seemed to have changed much, but if one looked closely, Zich had definitely changed from before. There was no expression of joy on his face, and he didn’t move as if he was intoxicated by the blood and screams of his opponents. He looked like a soldier acting the same as the soldiers around him to fulfill the task given to him.
“Hans, take Lyla back to the rear!”
“Yes, sir! Let’s go, Ms. Lyla.”
Lyla nodded. She looked at Zich’s back once and was about to go back.
Crasssssh!
She had no choice but to stop. Enormous flames rose out of Mentis’ castle.