Tsuyokute New Saga (LN) - Book 10: Chapter 1

Join the discord:

Since time immemorial, humanfolk and demons have continued to fight on this great continent of Loindars. Because of the rule of the Demon Lord Luiza, there had been relative peace for the past 300 years, a fake ceasefire so to speak, but with the arrival of the new Demon Lord, the all-out attack of the demons, the [Great Invasion] began and has been going on for half a year now.

The metallic sound of weapons and shields clashing filled the fields, paired with screams and roars of pain, blood splattering, and smoke spreading across the world. Here in this prairie located just between the humanfolk and demon territory, the two armies had been clashing with their thousands of soldiers. The humanfolk’s army also consisted of dwarves and elves, even beastmen and lizardmen mixed in there. Facing that, the demon army had many half-demons like goblins and orcs.

Goblins are unsightly small creatures barely resembling humans, and orcs carried pig heads with the body of a human, but they possessed the regular strength of an average man. However, their vitality itself was far greater, and they had an advantage in numbers. Normally, their sheer numbers would overwhelm the tide of war, but the humanfolk side was prepared with equipment and efficient tactics to stand their ground. On the contrary, the tide of war was turning in humanfolk’s favor.

As the humans used swords and shields to protect against the charge of the orcs, the dwarves swung their axes to slice through their opponents, with the elves’ spirit magic supporting them from behind. And when the enemy had been distracted, the beastmen came in to clean house. Although it might not be as bad as the relationship between elves and dwarves, humanfolk as a whole weren’t always perfectly united. But even so, in this battle that mattered more than ever before, they used each other’s strengths to their advantage. Of course, it took quite some time to even get here in the first place.

Contrary to that, the demons only relied on their numbers and raw strength, not attempting any cooperation. Most of their equipment had been stolen goods that once belonged to humanfolk, which even made them blend in with humanfolk soldiers if they wore it appropriately. However, with all these conditions lined up, it could finally be said that humanfolk had the advantage in this war. If they hadn’t been prepared with the right equipment for this war…things might not have turned out the same way. Either way, in today’s battle, humanfolk were the ones putting pressure on the demon army yet again, and as long as there weren’t any complications, they would emerge victorious yet again—but war never quite works that way.

Out of nowhere, an explosion and rumbling occurred, almost like a volcano had erupted in the center of the battlefield. Following that, smoke spread everywhere. All the surrounding human soldiers directed their attention over to the source of this explosion, only to witness the appearance of a giant, human-shaped shadow. And what drew even more attention was the unbalanced shape of this giant. It had sharp, pointed shoulders with long arms reaching down to the ground, almost as thick as its whole body. The earlier explosion was caused by the beast slamming its arms into the ground, the remains of this shown on the ground beneath its feet in a circular shape. The giant demon then charged into the human army, swinging its arms around aimlessly.

One swing alone could send several tens of soldiers flying, making it look like a natural disaster on the level of a hurricane. And those who were still conscious only ended up getting trampled by the masses. Of course, the other soldiers tried to strike it down with their swords, but they couldn’t do anything against the two giant arms constantly swinging around. Hence, the soldiers attempted to cut off those giant arms, but it proved futile. Instead, these attempts practically bent their swords. As a result, regular arrows or flying magic stones didn’t do much work, either. Flame magic barely left a few burns, but it wasn’t enough to stop its advances. This was, unlike the goblins and kobolds, a genuine demon who had terrorized humanfolk for ages. Met with this overwhelming strength, the tide of war changed again, turning the battle upside down. This was the terrifying power that the demons had available, possessing the strength to change the flow of battle despite numbers usually providing an advantage.

Panic and confusion spread amongst the humanfolk army, as another demon appeared nearby. They were even different from the previous one, allowing them to summon giant needles—or rather swords from the ground. It was like a hedgehog the size of a human. And then, it rolled up to charge ahead. With immeasurable speed, it blew past any defenses of the humanfolk army, and anybody who tried to block it off got skewered by its giant needles.

Yet another demon appeared. But unlike the previous two, nobody could see them. After all, half their body was hidden beneath the ground they stood on. They could only see their arms. And these arms had claws attached to them. They appeared out of the ground, ripped up the dwarves around them, and then vanished back into the ground. As the soldiers were confused as to what had even happened, the arms appeared again to repeat the same strategy. Contrary to the always-visible previous two demons, this one created more terror than anything since you couldn’t predict where it would appear next, ripping apart the formation that had been carefully crafted.

In the great war 300 years ago, the stories said that a single demon could handle a thousand soldiers. Many humans alive today thought this to be simply exaggerated—until they witnessed this carnage right now. Tens of thousands of soldiers from both armies met on this battlefield, and yet three demons completely flipped the script. At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if they trampled over the humanfolk’s army within a day—that said, humanfolk had aces up their sleeve that could handle those monsters. And they called him—heroes.

*

A bit further away from the carnage caused by the demons, there stood three people on a small hill. One of them had golden-colored hair, flashing a devious grin, watching the fight with a sharp gaze. What stood out the most about him was the black sword in his hand. It was the same legendary sword used by the Hero Randolph to strike down the Demon Lord 300 years ago.

“Phew, things are heating up down there. Now, where are we gonna go from here…what do you think, Kyle?”

The young man with golden hair—Seran—called out to the man standing behind him. His voice sounded awfully gleeful despite the situation, making him seem ready and fired up to join the fray. Yet, his look down at the battlefield was incredibly sharp, and always cautious of his surroundings.

“Good question. I think I’ll take that hedgehog,” answered magic swordsman Kyle.

He was clad in armor made of the legendary Ancient Dragon Zeurus’ skin, carrying a magic sword that was made with the finest techniques that the Ancient Magic Kingdom Zaales had to offer. Both of these pieces of equipment were legendary enough that they would leave their mark in history, worthy of giving Kyle the name Hero.

“Then I’ll take care of that mole…Or, should I call them a mole cricket?” Seran scratched his jaw, looking at that demon that was only arms.

“You sure? I figured you’d struggle with that kinda opponent,” Kyle asked with a dubious look.

People have things they’re good or bad at. Seran possessed strength that he could rival Kyle, but he’s the kind of fighter who shone the brightest in a direct one versus one. If that condition was met, he could even come out on top against an opponent stronger than him, but he struggled when dealing with people using tricks like that.

“Sometimes you gotta challenge yourself. Lately, I’ve even been eating more rodogu, too.”

Rodogu was a type of vegetable with a distinct taste but a nutritious balance, so usually, people either liked it or hated it. As for Seran, he could never stand it, even as a child.

“…You sure that’s not just a change of your taste?”

Kyle felt like a certain demon was responsible for this kind of change within Seran, but he didn’t say any more than that. Even right now, soldiers are losing lives because of the demons. Yet, the two weren’t panicking. Despite their banter, the two didn’t lose any focus while observing the situation going on. There were a lot of times when you’d have to fight an opponent you don’t really know much about, but if you want to cut them down, you need information more than anything. Even now, by carefully watching the demons they were about to fight, they would lessen the number of casualties in the long run. They knew that best. And since they had finished their observation, they began to move. Kyle looked over at the third person present, the one who had been quiet this whole time.

“As for the last one…Oh, well.”

Unlike Kyle and Seran, the last member of this party of three was a lizardman the size of a human, the warrior Basques, who started running toward the demon with large arms without even answering Kyle’s question.

“Some things don’t change, eh?”

Basques was never the type to use many words, and the two guys knew about that, so they just saw her off with a smile. They both had deep trust in her that was built over the past half a year.

“I guess we should head off ourselves.”

“Right on.”

Kyle and Seran both went their separate ways, charging in the direction of the demon they would be facing.