Chapter 98: Olivia and the Demon Realm Part 2

Before crossing the mountain range, the expedition discovered an orc settlement ahead.

“It’s an orc village under the Demon King’s army.”

“With a scale like this, it should be visible. We’ll take it down in one sweep.”

Once we cross the mountains, it’ll all be over, right?

“Eh? What are you thinking?”

“If we get caught before entering the mountains, it’ll be dangerous. Let’s use the nun squad. Casey, Eri, Mari.”

We decided to exterminate them in advance.

There’s no need to divert the entire expedition force to take them out.

That’s what the nuns we prepared for this are for.

‘Understood.’

“You will lead the nun squad and attack the orc settlement at once. Spare no one, not even the children—kill them all.”

“Yes.”

***

Intelligent creatures like orcs and goblins must be eradicated, including their young.

Once, a foolish Mari spared a young orc and goblin, and it resulted in village women being assaulted.

Monsters are entirely different from humans in nature.

“The nuns will fight? Miss, isn’t it dangerous?”

The knights tried to stop them, but it was too late.

The nuns charged in without hesitation.

The orcs, caught off guard by the sudden attack, were unprepared.

They likely never imagined their village in the Demon King’s territory would be attacked.

Crack! Crunch!

The sound of an orc’s skull shattering marked the start of what was essentially a massacre.

“Are those really nuns?”

The duke made a rude remark.

‘Obviously, they’re nuns. What else could they be?’

“Yes, clearly, they’re nuns.”

It’s obvious they’re nuns.

They’re bringing justice to evil.

They’re different from the clergy of the Holy Kingdom who only stand in the back casting healing spells.

“Can they perform miracles?”

“They can do a little healing.”

Not as well as the Holy Kingdom, but they can manage.

“Attack… Requesting support from Lady Berna.”

“It’s the Saintess’ command—die!”

Crack!

The orcs couldn’t hold out long against the nuns’ surprise attack.

A few tried to flee, but Syria’s bear blocked their retreat.

“Oh, it’s surprisingly clever.”

“P-please… Spare me…”

A few orcs begged for their lives.

Of course, they wouldn’t be spared.

Everyone knew their pleading was a pretense.

‘If they escaped, they would surely inform the third legion or another demon army.’

The fight would have become much harder.

“Did the humans you killed beg for their lives too?”

With Syria’s words, the bear’s punch crushed an orc’s skull.

Crunch.

I’ve seen this often before, but that bear is really strong.

If we had hundreds of those bears, the demon army would be wiped out.

“War is no joke.”

“Soldiers of Ashtar! Cross the mountain range! Show the demon scum Ashtar’s wrath!”

***

After wiping out the orc settlement, we crossed the mountains.

“Kyahhhhhh!”

This time, monsters attacked from the sky.

“Gargoyles.”

“They attacked the moment we started climbing the mountains?”

It seemed there were quite a few flying monsters in the mountains.

The moment we ascended, hostility surrounded us from all sides.

“Archers, move forward!”

“Yes!”

Arrows rained down on the gargoyles.

“Keaaak!”

“Graaaah!”

The gargoyles, struck by magic-imbued arrows, plummeted from the sky.

“Mages, fire your spells!”

The mages’ elemental magic brought down harpies.

“There are quite a few monsters in the mountains.”

“Well, this is the Demon King’s territory. It’s not like the mountains in the empire.”

This mountain range is in the demon realm.

Naturally, there would be flying species like harpies here.

But there were quite a lot of them.

“Kyahhh!”

“The numbers are considerable, aren’t they?”

“Indeed, there are far too many.”

“This might be a serious problem.”

“Flying monsters in the demon realm were under Seto’s jurisdiction.”

“It’s possible Seto had prepared for this.”

“That guy might have learned something after being beaten before.”

“Maybe he’s here right now.”

“If that’s the case, it’s not just the third legion we’re up against.”

“We’ll need to fight seriously.’

“The only relief is that the numbers are less than initially estimated.”

“The duke had originally planned to gather 30,000 troops.”

“But deploying 30,000 would leave Ashtar undefended, so only 20,000 were brought.”

“I can’t be sure Seto is here.”

“But the larger the expedition, the greater the risk.’

“Aren’t flying monsters Seto’s responsibility?”

“Then are these Seto’s direct forces?”

Syria and Kise, walking alongside, asked.

“It’s unlikely. These are wild harpies and gargoyles.”

“If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be attacking so recklessly.”

“No, they’re not.”

“But we’re wasting too many arrows and too much magic.”

“That’s certainly not ideal.”

“Even with many archers, fighting both the third legion and the flying monsters would be problematic if we suffered too much damage here.”

“We’re taking down harpies with magic bullets, but it’d be bad if the vanguard got caught up in a battle with flying monsters.”

“It seems there are far more of them than expected. We can’t afford to waste arrows and mages’ energy here.”

One of Ashtar’s knights pointed to the sky.

“Then use the magic stone rifles.”

The Ashtar firearms unit stepped forward.

Come to think of it, they had only ever hunted flying monsters native to Ashtar territory.

‘Could they manage this?’

There was nothing to lose by trying.

‘If they couldn’t bring down the harpies here, those rifles would prove useless, and without the rifle unit, our combat force would drop below ten thousand.’

The firearms unit moved forward, aiming their barrels at the sky.

To be precise, they targeted the harpies swarming down like rain.

Kyahhhhhh!

Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

With the cries of monsters, gunfire echoed.

Hundreds of magic bullets simultaneously struck the harpies, bringing them down.

The harpies, which had initially resisted a few shots, gradually lost their strength and fell from the sky.

Those with only torn wings or those who survived were executed on the spot by the Ashtar forces.

“Filthy monsters.”

“We should take this opportunity to wipe them all out.”

The commanders spoke with voices filled with disdain.

The expedition had been launched under the pretext of avenging Eldacrad, and the soldiers’ hatred for the monsters ran deep.

Ironically, this hatred seemed to fuel the strength of this campaign.

After a long hunt of harpies and gargoyles, the soldiers collected a large number of magic stones.

“Miss, what should we do with the magic stones?”

A soldier from the firearms unit asked me.

“Why are you asking me?”

“The duke is far ahead. The narrow path makes it hard to get his permission, so we’ll follow your command as the Saintess.”

‘Is that even allowed?’

“Whoever kills the monsters keeps the stones.”

“The Saintess says, ‘Whoever kills the monsters keeps the stones!’”

Waaaaaah!

“What the…?”

Suddenly, the soldiers began fighting with renewed vigor.

Harpies and gargoyles in the sky fell like sparrows, struck down.

The soldiers suffered no casualties.

“I hope their mana reserves are holding up. I’m genuinely concerned.”

“If Lady Olivia told them to die, they’d probably act like they were dying.”

“Why is that?”

“Lady Olivia has solidified her position in Ashtar. After it was revealed that the prince was a bastard, she led the effort to expel the succubus mother and daughter. Add to that her title as Saintess and the Ashtar citizens’ loyalty to the territory.”

“In other words, their loyalty to me stems from a mix of sympathy, my status as the Saintess, and their dedication to Ashtar?”

“That feels… off.”

“Even though I’m not the first Saintess, I’m being treated like one.”

“You’re popular.”

“Why?”

“With looks like yours, it’d be stranger if you weren’t.”

“True, during the first Saintess’ time, she didn’t get along well with her family and had little connection with the Ashtar forces.”

“To them, I’m practically the Saintess of Ashtar.”

“It’s weird to have strangers pledge loyalty to me.”

It’s exhausting.

Seeing my discomfort, Syria leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Didn’t the royal army also follow Noah during her time?”

“That was just because we fought together a few times and grew close.”

“Most of them originally followed the princess, not me.”

“I was merely the second-in-command at best.”

Bang! Bang, bang!

The harpies and gargoyles were completely annihilated.

Cleaning up the corpses was an even bigger task.

The power of the magic stone rifles was stronger than expected.

Crossing the mountains wasn’t as difficult as anticipated.

The problem was the destruction we found in the middle of the mountain range.

It seemed to be caused by magic, but we were still some distance from the third legion’s territory.

The destruction exposed us to potential attacks from monsters.

“This is strange. Was the mountain range always like this?”

The duke’s murmurs reached my ears as I inspected the scene at the front.

“That’s… well…”

“What is it, Olivia? Do you know why it’s like this?”

“I know all too well.”

“It was Noah. Noah did this.”

“If it hindered the expedition, it’d be a problem. It’s better to gloss over it.”

“That’s Noah’s doing. Noah caused this with a meteor strike.”

“Noah did?”

“That’s… what Noelle told me.”

I passed the blame to Noelle.

Somewhere back in the supply unit, Noelle, likely managing the hero, suddenly felt a pang of misfortune.

“Let’s hope we don’t get discovered.”

The only demon army capable of opposing this large force in the vicinity would be the third legion.

Since I wiped them out a few months ago, there wouldn’t have been enough time for a new army to form here.

“By the way, where’s the second son… no, the younger brother?”

The second son of Ashtar, who had significant combat experience from his time in the military, could’ve been helpful on this expedition.

“He’s been left as bait to deceive them with joint training.”

“Oh, so we’ll need to defend the territory in case something happens?”

“That’s right. Leaving only Rokton is a bit risky, but he’s always been capable enough to handle it.”

It seemed I wouldn’t get to see the second son this time.

‘Could another of the Four Heavenly Kings target Ashtar?’

The dice had already been cast.

Even if it was risky, focusing on the expedition was the priority.

***

“From here on, we’re officially in the demon realm.”

We were almost across the mountain range.

Fortunately, we hadn’t faced many battles so far—just harpies and a few goblins in the forest.

As we continued, something came into view in the distance.

A fortress made of wood and a massive army of demons.

“Is that the third legion?”

“Judging by the fortress, it’s not human.”

Of course.

It’s where Berna’s army resides.

It likely only has basic facilities.

“Let’s fire the magic stone cannons right away.”

“Set up the cannons here.”

“Now that I think about it, how did they bring the cannons?”

“Carrying them over the mountains must’ve been exhausting.”

“Sure enough, I saw soldiers moving parts of the cannons.”

The Ashtar forces really are insane.

“It’s enormous. How did you manage to bring this over?”

“They’re assembled here.”

“They carried the parts over the mountains?”