The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP6. Cataclysm

Enemies began to pour in. When the enemy began to attack, giving up the terrain advantage of the fortress, there were usually two options: either attack and defeat the enemy, or fall back and retreat.

But the Imperial Army did not do that. They simply retreated, keeping a distance that allowed the enemy to pursue, but not enough to hit them.

Of course, the Imperial Army was inferior in combat power to the Demon King’s Army. However, the number of soldiers was large, which meant that when retreating, the size of the army was large, and there were many disadvantages to retreating, especially in the mountains.

In that case, just reduce the size.

How? Split them up. Just divide the army into several squads according to a pre-planned plan, and have them retreat in different directions along a pre-determined route, and then reassemble at a designated location.

The larger number of troops meant greater flexibility. If you had ten men, you could send one to point 1, three to point 2, and the remaining six to point 3.

On the other hand, the demons were not like that. Even though their fighting power was ten times that of a human, it did not mean that one person could do ten times as much. Nor could they divide their bodies. That is why their units lacked flexibility.

It wasn’t too difficult to shake off the inflexible units. The demons started to waver. They didn’t know which direction to go.

And that was when the warrior’s companions moved.

The first thing that came to Ainzel’s mind was to join forces and fight in that situation.

However, the warrior’s companions tended to fight mainly based on firepower, and unleashing such terrifying firepower in the mountains meant that the imperial army was also susceptible to damage.

Ainzel was troubled.

And the result came to mind.

Wouldn’t it be enough to just raid the opponent’s base?

And, surprisingly, that idea turned out to be possible.

Two Masters, two High Experts, and one Expert.

It was a number of people that could easily take over a decent castle.

This is especially true considering that the castle, built on top of a rugged mountain range, has a small capacity.

Ainzel decided to simply take over the enemy’s fortress. After taking over the enemy’s fortress, it would be easy to kill the Imperial Army that was heading towards the fortress and the Demon King’s Army that was caught in the middle.

So the warrior and his companions headed towards the fortress.

Boom! A loud explosion signaled the start of battle.

Feria’s magic was quite powerful, even for a high expert.

The bright red flames from the intense explosion destroyed the facilities inside, and the few troops remaining inside sensed the danger at the sound.

“What, what is it!”

“The internal facilities were blown up!”

And, as soon as that fact became known, the one who jumped out was the commander of the Demon King’s army.

The Demon King’s 4th Army Corps Commander, Black Knight Arin.

Ainzel and his companions’ faces hardened at the sight of the old demon clad in black armor, holding a sword and looking at them.

Even though my opponent was strong, I thought he was at the same level as Masters like Beatrice and Lena.

It was a mistake. I could see it clearly. The black knight in front of me, although he was currently a master, was standing right in front of a new realm.

“…What foolish children.”

Ainzel swallowed hard. The pressure from the person in front of him was unbelievably strong.

“I thought this might happen. That’s why I was guarding the fortress here. … However, I can’t praise you for going to the line of fire, you children of humans and fairies.”

Ainzel bit his lip.

Lena shot an arrow once. The black knight flicked his sword slightly as if it was not worth responding to, and lightly swatted away the arrow. The arrow’s trajectory was distorted and it buried itself deep in the ground next to him. Although it was intended as a light deterrent, the power of the arrow fired by a master-level strongman stood out. And, the black knight’s skill in lightly swatting it away was also the same.

“Hmm… Do it properly, kids. Wasn’t this supposedly a group made up of only the most promising prospects in the alliance… to catch the Demon King? It would be a shame if I, with my limited talents, couldn’t defeat even one knight who couldn’t even get over the wall of the divine realm. Tsk tsk…”

The full-scale battle began. Sein and Ainzel charged towards the Black Knight. They wanted to hold out until the rear ranks could launch a full-scale offensive.

But it was a lot. One blow. It would have been easy to knock them out with just one blow.

As the Black Knight’s sword approached, a shield formed around his body as he experienced time slowing down.

“Hmm… Looks like the kid in the back is getting in the way.”

The black knight ran to where Beatrice was in an instant.

“…the hammer of God.”

The highest miracle. The miracle called the God’s Weapon radiated a bright light and cast its gigantic body over the black knight.

As the black knight easily dodged it, Beatrice, as if she had expected it, grabbed the hammer of light and started swinging it.

“That’s stupid, Ahaha. It’s better not to use something that draws out everything you have.”

The black knight swung his black sword at the saintess. When the sword was blocked by Feria’s shield, the black knight smiled distortedly.

Once again, Lena’s arrow flew. The arrow, which had a clear shape due to the concentration of magical power, was easily received by the black knight.

“…Is it a self-defense weapon?”

At Lena’s words, the black knight smiled with satisfaction and clashed his swords.

While Feria was busy putting up a shield for Beatrice, the black knight continued to clash his sword with Beatrice’s mace.

Ainzel shot an arrow filled with magical power at the knight.

And, as expected, the arrow was easily blocked. Ainzel crumpled his expression and fired all kinds of magic.

When the black knight’s sword made of black magic collided with the hammer of light, an explosion occurred, and the magic that Ainzel had shot out lost its form and turned into a mass of magical energy.

Then, the masses of magical power began to conduct the explosion, making it grow even bigger.

bang!

A huge cloud of smoke rose up, obscuring the view.

At that moment, Ainzel threw the holy sword. It was an instinctive movement.

“Hoo… .”

A voice of admiration was heard.

“A holy sword… Not bad. This was a chance to completely kill that saintess on your side.”

From the Black Knight’s words, Ainzel could see how the situation was going.

And he knew very well what to do in that situation.

Ainzel used wind magic to cause the dust to continue to rise, then scattered his divine power into the air.

In the past, it was a method of preventing tracking that had also been used on Decal. Bang! Papang! Small explosions were heard, and the Black Knight’s voice was heard in distress.

“This is… difficult. I can’t see ahead.”

Ainzel cheered inwardly. Even though he couldn’t see where his opponent was, it was important that he had time to catch his breath.

And then, that thought was shattered when he saw the black knight rushing towards him in an instant.

The Black Knight chanted as Ainzel summoned the Holy Sword and barely managed to block the sword strike.

“There are things you can hear even if you can’t see with your eyes, and things you can feel even if you can’t hear with your ears.”

A man blocked by the wall of the temple.

A master is a knight who stands at the very end of the realm of ‘perfection’ in any kind of weapon.

The sense of one who has not yet reached transcendence, but is just before the realm of transcendence.

Ainzel had to admit that he was mistaken.

The very idea that they were the same people as you was wrong from the beginning.

The technology is different. The time is different. The effort, the struggle, every component from the end of the body to the state of mind is different.

Who would consider the author to be on the same level as Decal?

It wasn’t like seeing Grandis. It wasn’t like facing the Lich King, or the Titan.

They were overwhelmed. They were so overwhelmed that they couldn’t even think about fighting, and they just held on, thinking only about surviving.

However, the black knight in front of me felt completely different.

Not overwhelmed. Not consumed by fear.

All that is felt is the alienation from the years he has spent, different from himself.

The years, the philosophy, the agony, all contained in a single stab and slash, felt when a heavy blow comes.

Ainzel dropped his sword.

I couldn’t even think about summoning the holy sword again because of the pressure that was as heavy as a mountain. Time slowed down.

Bang!

Sparks flew.

“Ugh… gasp.”

Sein was blocking the black knight’s sword.