Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 156: Age of Tyrants (6)

Chapter 156: Age of Tyrants (6)

“Impossible!”

The commander of the fortress exclaimed.

There were all sorts of magical enhancements that had beed applied to the front gate. Among them, there was even a spell from an Eight Circle mage that had persisted for the past 200 years. <No matter what attack is done, it will block it at least once>. Regardless of the strength of the attacker, as long as what is being done is an attack, the gate will block it once.

These sorts of high-end spells were stacked on top of each other seven times. To put it simply, even if you cast a meteor spell on the gate, you would have to do it seven times. Each meteor strike is considered as one attack, after all. However, what the fortress commander saw was the gate that had been destroyed powerlessly and a Demon Lord holding an axe.

“It felt like there was a bunch of stuff on that gate. Sorry about that.”

Beleth walked in through the entrance that was now covered in a cloud of dust.

The gatekeepers who had been on standby behind the gate had exploded into chunks of flesh along with the gate. There were soldiers who had been unfortunately impaled through the head by fragments of iron and wood, soldiers who were severed cleanly in half and had their guts spilled everywhere, and there was even a man who had unfortunately survived the blast and was now groaning in pain.

“Hoo…….”

Beleth matched the swing of his axe with the tempo of his steps.

Human flesh and groans of pain, a human slaughterhouse created by these two things was a sight that Demon Lord Beleth loved seeing the most. It was only during moments like these that Beleth felt alive.

Demon Lords are generally unstable beings. This is because they can clearly feel the emotions of the demons around them. It’s hard for them to distinguish where their emotions end and where the emotions of others begin. This border is vague for Demon Lords. Every Demon Lord has their own way to maintain their minds.

The method Beleth had chosen was slaughter. To leave nothing standing around him except for himself. This was a moment that he would always arrive at when on a battlefield. The moment of victory. A moment which only the strong could bask in. This absolute moment of solitude gave Beleth the certainty that, yes, this was ‘him’. This was all him.

The groans coming from the half-dead corpses sounded like a sweet melody to Beleth. Thus, instead of rushing through the gate as he should, he deliberately walked in a leisurely manner so that he could drag this moment out a bit longer.

“You bastard, what conniving trick did you pull!?”

“Hmm.”

A dissonant noise interrupted the melody. Beleth clicked his tongue. It was the swordmaster who cried out for a duel earlier on the plains. She must have been from a noble family as she denounced the Demon Lord in a refined tone.

“Eh, missy. You must have no class. Do you not see that I’m trying to enjoy the music?”

The swordmaster narrowed her eyes. 

“……Music? What nonsense are you saying? The only thing here is death.”

“Oh, you have a way with words. Nothing but death. I should use that as the title for today’s song. Mmm. It’s poetic. Very poetic. Mhm.”

Beleth nodded to himself in satisfaction. The swordmaster felt as if her opponent was making fun of her, so she got upset. She determined that there was no point in maintaining war decorum now, so she found no problem in unsheathing her sword. 

‘He has a big body, so he should be that thickheaded as well.’

The swordmaster lowered her stance as she charged at the Demon Lord. Having a large body meant that he had a longer reach. A difference in reach could be a decisive factor in 1:1 duels. Attacking when the opposition wasn’t in a fighting position yet was the best and only opportunity.

There was no way that the other party would let someone enter their reach.

‘I only have to dodge the first attack.’

An attack to keep her away was definitely going to happen. It would be the end of her if she got caught up in that attack. The other party would slowly apply pressure while trying to maintain their advantage. Similar to how a pride of lions slowly corners an injured animal. In the end, she would wither up and die if she let this happen.

‘Huh?’

However, Beleth allowed her to enter his range. That wasn’t all. He didn’t raise his axe either. He was simply smiling as if he were watching something entertaining.

‘Is this a trap?’

This suspicion passed through her head for a moment. No, the swordmaster quickly concluded. She was already thinking two steps ahead. The large ogre-like man genuinely had his guard down.

He was probably scheming something. The swordmaster wasn’t underestimating the Demon Lord before her; however, there were a few facts that were certain. The fact that she could stab him with her sword and the fact that the other party had yet to put his guard up completely.

There was no reason for her to hesitate.

“Hiyaaah!”

The woman let out a shout as she thrust her longsword forward. Beleth still had a casual grin on his face.

* * *

“Your Highness, pardon me for asking, but I have a question.”

Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar spoke up. Barbatos turned to him while making a ‘hm?’ sound.

“What is it? Say it.”

“Why did you leave the vanguard to Beleth and not me?”

Currently, the 6th legion of the Crescent Alliance had safely joined together with the 2nd legion and was advancing together. Hundreds of banners fluttered in the wind as they crossed the plains. Barbatos wasn’t riding on a warhorse or a black wolf, but a white bear. The pure white bear matched Barbatos’ white hair.

Barbatos laughed.

“What? Are you sulking right now? What kind of man are you?”

“Ehem.”

Zepar could only cough in response. He had once vowed to never lie while in Barbatos’ presence. It would be incredibly embarrassing to admit that he was sulking, and denying it would be going against his vow.

Barbatos knew how Zepar felt, so she couldn’t help but dote on this old man. Barbatos was three times older than Zepar, so he looked like a rather young Demon Lord to her. He was like a boy. Seeing a boy trying to hide his embarrassment like this only looked adorable to her.

“Keke. You really are sulking, huh? C’mon, say it. Is our Zepar upset?”

“……Your Highness, I also have to maintain my honor as the major general.”

Zepar muttered in a troubled tone. Even the way he spoke sounded cute to Barbatos. She grinned.

“Well, it’s true that I’m intentionally making you and Beleth compete. All groups require a two-factor interaction, after all. If a group only has a single point of view, then the organization as a whole would lose its credibility.  The other kids in the Plains Faction are able to learn a thing or two by making you two compete against one another. Look, if you don’t work hard, then you can’t maintain these two factors.”

“Yes, I understand that.”

Zepar bowed his head courteously.

“I hold great pride in being used by Your Excellency.”

“Ew.”

Barbatos made a disgusted face.

“What’s with that handmaiden-like attitude? As someone who was born as a man and a Demon Lord, can’t you have a little more backbone? Don’t say that you’re happy to be used. Say that you’ll conquer the world or something.”

“Your Excellency is the one who is shouldering the dreams of demonkind. In other words, you are the embodiment of their wishes. Serving Your Excellency would be, by proxy, working for the sake of demonkind. I believe that working for the sake of demonkind is our duty as Demon Lords.”

“Ugh. You’re way too sincere.”

Barbatos shook her head.

It felt nice to know that he was that loyal to her, but how should she say it? She wanted to see him act a little more Demon Lord-like. In that regard, Dantalian was special. Dantalian obeyed her while also stubbornly walking down his own path.

‘Even now, he’s up to something.’

Why was the guy who said he was going to rest at his Demon Lord Castle wandering around the demon world? He was definitely scheming something. Seriously, he was someone who earnestly devised plots without end.

Barbatos preferred Dantalian over the others. She couldn’t trust him completely like she did Beleth and Zepar, but while Beleth and Zepar would always remain as her subordinates, Dantalian went beyond a master-servant relationship and stood as her friend. They both had their own goals and they were friends who gladly used each other.

Dantalian was the only friend Barbatos had that she could do this with.

She had another……in the past, but not now. Even if their goals were different, they could remain as friends as long as their goals could co-exist. However, it was more than possible for people to have goals that cannot exist together. An unsubstantial friend could suddenly become your archenemy. 

Would that happen with Dantalian as well? After some time passes, would Dantalian betray her as that woman did in the past? If that happens, would she be able to endure it? It took her 1,500 years since she split up with that woman before Dantalian became her new intimate friend. How many thousands of years would she need next time……?

“If that happens, then I’ll beat him up and make him my servant.”

“Pardon me? I apologize, Your Highness, but I do not understand.”

“It’s nothing. I simply thought that punishment is the perfect medicine for brats that don’t listen.”

Zepar looked utterly confused, but Barbatos ignored him.

“Hmm. Understand my position where I have to make you and Beleth compete. Zepar, you got a bunch of fucking merits by getting through the Black Mountains. You also succeeded in sealing the enemy’s repeated attack at Austerlitz.”

“Those were all due to Your Excellency’s grace.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m also the reason why the sky is blue and islands are made. In any case, you did way too much during this Crescent Alliance expedition. You’ve gained the most merits. Adding to this, the person to contribute the second most was Dantalian, and he was also a part of your unit on the surface.”

Barbatos made an X with her arms.

“It’d be an issue if you did any more than this. You would gain too much power within the Plains Faction. If that happens, then I would have to bring you down using an irrational method. I don’t want to do that. It’d be much better to let Beleth achieve his own share of merits.”

“I understand.”

Zepar nodded his head meekly.

Barbatos’ favor was more important to him anyway. Zepar was simply worried for a moment that Barbatos favored Beleth more than him, hence why Beleth was sent as the vanguard.

Zepar looked a bit more relaxed now. He didn’t care whether Beleth took the vanguard or not since his concerns were now gone. Honestly, as long as Barbatos was in good health, Zepar didn’t care about the internal politics within the Plains Faction.

“Well, Beleth is also more suited to be a vanguard than you.”

“Pardon?”

“Zepar, you’re splendid when it comes to commanding soldiers, but how should I say it?”

Barbatos grinned.

“That guy, he’s rather wicked despite his looks.”

* * *

“…….”

The swordmaster came to a stop. She couldn’t take another step forward.

Her longsword stopped right in front of Beleth’s nose. Just one more step. If she took one more step, then her aura-clad sword could destroy the Demon Lord’s head. However, the swordmaster could not take that single step.

“Ku, huuk.”

Blood flowed down her mouth.

Her scarlet blood didn’t flow out from only her mouth.

Her ankle, calf, thigh, waist, chest, and shoulder?six swords were piercing through six areas of her body. The swords were coming out from the ground, or to be more exact, from the shadow. Six swords had surged up and decimated her body the instant the swordmaster was about to land a blow on Beleth as if they had been waiting for her.

Death knights.

The swordmaster used her superhuman endurance to bear the pain as she remembered that death knights were beings that normally resided in the shadows. However, all she could do was bear it. The swords had pierced her body so skillfully that she couldn’t move even an inch.

“Y-You coward……. Do you have any pride……as a warrior……?”

“Ah. No. I don’t. Didn’t I tell you earlier?”

Beleth casually raised his axe in the air. He grinned as he held it above his head.

“Bastardly men are popular lately.”

He then brought his axe down like he was chopping firewood.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder if I should stop saying this after every chapter. I’ve just been saying it for so long. Maybe I could say something else? Eh, I’ll think about it. If it doesn’t change in the near future, then that probably means I was too lazy to even think about it.

Uh, nothing else to say. Next chapter very soon. I’ll see you guys then.