The Black Fog that Devours - CH 106

This is the sham battle session.

(Third person POV)

“The first Japanese Four Demon Kings Sham Battle will begin now. I, Kanae Yuu, a kin of the Snow Sage-sama, will be the MC for this session.”

Yuu announces to the individuals around him with a megaphone in his hand.

In response to his words, the humans surrounding him burst out in frenzy.

“Don’t be absurdー!”

“How dare you do this to our village!”

“What the hell do you mean by sham battleー!”

Of course, they all jeer hysterically.

Well, from their perspective, this is because the four Demon Kings, their kin, and the monsters in Japan abruptly descend upon them and declare, “Get out of the way, we’re going to have a mock battle here!”. So, there you have it.

Nevertheless, provided no resistance is put up, no harm will be incurred, and anything that is damaged will be repaired and reasonable compensation will be offered after the sham battle is over.

“You’re making way too much racket!”

Ryo hit the head of the resident who has been making a fuss.

Incidentally, Ryo is presently treating those who were injured during the forced evacuation together with Yae Michiru, a Sakurahijin. To be more precisely, those with minor injuries are being healed by Michiru’s ≪Cherry Blossom Rain≫ whereas those with fractures or severe injuries are being healed by Ryo’s ≪Great Heal≫.

Furthermore, no deaths were reported at the time of evacuation. This is done meticulously.

“Hah… I will continue with the proceedings for now. This time, the sham battle would be conducted with 1 King, 3 Knights, and 300 Pawns, with the Fog King camp to the east and the Fox Princess camp to the west without any wagering. The only condition for victory is that the King be defeated. In addition, Ichiko-san will provide the commentary.”

Yuu’s explanation follows.

“I look forward to working with you. For now, I’ll hit Kurokiri afterwards, so all the residents can give up and watch the match from a safe distance.”

By the way, Ichiko is the commentator because, with her strength, she would only end up disturbing the equilibrium of both parties, or rather, there is no way that she can be permitted to participate in this type of fight when she can defeat a Demon King by herself, even if he is only a level 1 Demon King.

“Now then, the sham battle will commence in one hour from this moment.”

(Kurokiri POV)

“Alright then, I suppose we should call it a strategy, or rather, a meeting,” I remark as I look over my army members.

Now, let’s address the organization of my army step by step.

First is the main camp. How should I put it, I’m under Fog’s protection, and I’ve deployed one each of Cuélebre, Disarray Devil’s Darning Needle, Mystic, Giant Mist Wolf, and Minotamist.

“I am the vanguard…”

Izumi, who is the head of a team, says as she looks at her subordinates.

Izumi’s team consists of 35 Thin Mist Wolves, 5 Giant Mist Wolf, 45 Mud Puppets, 5 Mud Soldiers, 10 Minotamist, and 3 Cuélebre, for a total of 103.

As can be seen from the members of the team, they are the vanguard of a frontal assault, and Izumi herself plans to wreak mayhem on the front line.

To put it simply, they are infantry.

“Line up.”

Following this, Tabane lines up the monsters on her team.

Her team is composed of 10 Mystics, 60 Bullet Tadpoles, 5 Rifle Frogs, and 15 Mud Magicians, for a total of 90 monsters, which are in charge of long-range attacks regardless of physical or magical capabilities.

The reason why the younger sister, Tabane, has been chosen as a Knight instead of the elder sister, Mitsuko, who can cast arrows of three different attributes, is because she possesses the skill to enhance arrow-related skills, called ≪Magic Bundle of Bolt≫.

“They are all brilliantly young girls…”

The last of my Knights is Chirito, who is renowned for the “Rear Explosion” style.

His role is a self-destructive special k…

“No, I am not.”

“Your mouth.”

“You have let out your voice…”

“Excuse me. I have involuntarily let out my true feelings.”

Let me now reintroduce Chirito’s team. The team’s role is the ranger, but since there is no cavalry role, they are infantry.

As for the members, there are 20 Mist Mosquitoes, 5 Dense Mist Mosquitoes, 15 Smokes, 40 Mud Puppets, and 10 Swamp Flying Fish, for a total of 90.

Hmm? How do these Swamp Flying Fish operate on the ground? That is currently a secret.

We have 283 Pawns so far. With 2 Disarray Devil’s Darning Needle, 10 Smokes, and 5 Mystics at my disposal, the remaining 17 pawns are to be dispatched in the air to aid the entire team and crush the opponent’s flying demons.

“Now, as for tactics, I’ll leave it up to each member of the team to figure out what works best for them.

“The question is, what’s the strategy?”

“Right.”.

Chirito and I discuss how to operate the unit once the battle breaks out.

Incidentally, Izumi and Tabane are not adept at devising strategies, let alone tactics, so they remain silent and wait for us to finish formulating a plan.

If something needs to be said, they will say it.

“Mmm. From what I’ve observed in the enemy camp, I assume that while the vanguard is intercepting the enemy, the rear guard will use saturation firepower to annihilate them.”

Chirito says this while watching the enemy camp with binoculars, which are becoming a valuable commodity nowadays.

Moreover, the enemy camp is crowded with not only fox-shaped monsters, but also dogs, cats, horses, alpacas, elephants, rhinoceroses, and a wide variety of other beast-like monsters. As expected by the name of the “Hundred Beast Clad Fox Princess,” she’s truly remarkable.

“Ah, that seems to be the Fox Princess’ characteristics. She frequently employs the chess strategy of halting at the vanguard and killing at the rear, and her dungeon characteristics suggest that she will either divert the enemy’s attention to herself and aim for them or blow up the entire vanguard of her allies.”

I am reminded of the reports from the Kirijin who were leveling up in the Fox Princess’s dungeon, “Fox City of the Beasts of War”. While we’re on the issue, there have been nearly as many missing people as there have been deceased people, with men accounting for the majority of the missing ones. What a bitchy fox she is.

“Mugi onee-chan… is part of the battle…” Izumi mentions this while staring at the enemy’s position with her naked eye.

Izumi’s capacity to see the enemy’s position from such a distance is extraordinary.

“If Mugi’s here, then it’s confirmed.”

“It’s confirmed.”

“Confirmed…”

With her participating in this, Mugi’s tremendous firepower skill is bound to hit us.

“Fog King-sama.”

At this point, Tabane, who has been silent until now, raises her voice.

“What is it?”

“If we win, please reward me until my heart is content.”

Then she drops the bombshell message with a smile.

[[!?]]

Right after that bombshell, murderous intent is directed at me out of nowhere, but I let it slip away. Even if I am aware that it is emanating from the commentary table and from the safe zone where the people are gathered, I will disregard it.

Or rather, please let me ignore it! My life is still in jeopardy!

“W-well, that’s the strategy for the time being, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Ngh…?”

“Fog King-sama?”

Despite breaking out in a bit of a cold sweat, I issue instructions to the three of them and the monsters.

T/N:

I kind of forgot to mention this, the Demon King, Priest, official full name/title is 神官, which means Shinto Priest, but yeah, I shortened it to just Priest and forgot about it but I will still be using only Priest for the upcoming chapters as well.