The Demon Tribe's Invasion

It happened not long after the permafrost ice had melted.

The observation post established on the slopes of Sacred Mountain Cyrus detected an army of demons approaching from beyond the horizon.

Their numbers were unknown. It certainly was not a mere 100,000 or 200,000.

The soldier on watch reported to headquarters as follows:

"There are too many enemies to see the black ground! Seven parts enemy, three parts black. I repeat. Seven parts enemy, three parts black!"

Orcs and trolls clad in silver-polished armor marched in formation toward the fortress. Their appearance was clearly different from a thousand years ago. Seeing this, Azel felt fear.

(So this is it… This was the source of your confidence, Ars!)

When the demon army halted before the small fortress, a dark elf—whose vocal organs were the same as a human's—began issuing a call for surrender.

According to them, if they disarmed and provided provisions, they promised not to touch the civilians' property and would refrain from any violent acts.

Of course, the human side did not believe this, but they made full use of the three days of reprieve they were given.

They requested the dispatch of holy knights from the nearby Holy City, and mages worked to raise the walls even slightly higher.

But when the third day's deadline passed, they learned it had all been in vain.

"W-What is that…?" "A giant…"

The Gigas tribe. Though not as large as Cyclopes, these giants boasted enormous bodies, and they charged toward the fortress.

Wooden palisades were no obstacle whatsoever before them.

Through the holes they created, the demon army poured in. Tens of thousands upon tens of thousands flooded into a fortress that could barely hold a few thousand soldiers at most.

The fortress fell in a single day.

Afterward, the demon army split into three forces.

One force to establish an encampment at the fortress and its surroundings, and two forces to advance by flanking the Sacred Mountain from the east and west.

Of these, the force advancing from the east was halted by the combined army of the Magic City and the Holy City. Or rather, they halted of their own accord.

The western force was the true threat.

Cutting through the forest and carving out roads, the demon army circumvented the Sacred Mountain much like Cordova's forces once had.

At this point, the Magic City used a great magic befitting its name.

Meteor Shower.

A rain of meteors summoned through ritual by many mages struck the demon army directly.

"Ohhh!" "We did it!"

Among the officers cheering atop the walls, Azel alone remained calm.

(The power is too weak. They must have prepared countermeasures.)

They had certainly inflicted several thousand casualties. But for ritual magic, it was only several thousand.

By the time they could cast the next spell, the enemy vanguard would likely have reached the Magic City's walls. And the magic-adept races like dark elves, vampires, and nagas had not yet appeared.

And if it came to a siege, this city would fall in no time. That was clear from his experience a thousand years ago.

(How much damage can we inflict? Or should we evacuate the citizens…?)

But Azel's judgment was never even called upon.

"What… is that…?"

That group emerging from the forest.

At first glance they appeared to be golems, but they were far too large for golems, and far too swift.

(Those are—!? Impossible! He's already finished mass producing them!?)

At that moment, Azel knew the Magic City would fall.

The several dozen entities were not golems. They were robots.

The demon army's trump card, born from the fusion of science and magic.

"Intercept them!" "It's no good! They're too fast!" "We can't make it in time!"

The robots, charging at speeds many times faster than horses, trampled the walls.

The generals escaped harm by hastily evacuating, but the psychological shock was immense.

The robots had completely shrugged off fireball magic while attacking them.

"A thousand years, huh…"

Azel muttered to himself.

For a thousand years, humans had fought, made peace, and fought again. Some things had developed along the way.

But this from the demons was clearly different. It was a civilization created with purpose—created for war.

There was no time to be overcome by a sense of defeat. Even if Azel were to die here, he could not allow the citizens to be caught up in it.

"Evacuate non-combatants to the academy! Mages, focus on repairing the destroyed walls!"

Perhaps fortunately, the robots did not enter the interior of the walls. After their destruction, they retreated.

They were probably waiting for the defenders to exhaust themselves, or perhaps it was a show of force. It seemed more like the latter.

There was no way to fight against those things. The only ones who could possibly fight them would be several high-ranking mages working together, or perhaps Azel himself.

Their magical resistance was lower than the one the Demon King himself had used, but even so, ordinary magic would have no effect.

And that armor. Ordinary weapon attacks probably would not penetrate it.

Even the holy sword Thor had wielded could not inflict complete damage upon it.

Three days later, the demon army's main force arrived.

Orcs, goblins, and other numerous races poured in through the destroyed walls. The giant tribes destroyed the repaired walls once again.

It was devastation.

"Surrender! Those who surrender will have their lives guaranteed!"

The dark elf female general, Rei, called out, but no humans would surrender to demons.

This was due to the emotions of fear and hatred that had been cultivated between the two sides.

In the end, only those who had fainted or were too severely wounded to fight became prisoners.

"Find the Great Sage! If it is his will, the humans will surrender!"

Though few in number, there were also human soldiers mixed into the demon army.

They tried to persuade their fellow humans barricaded in buildings that in demon territory, humans and demons lived together.

But this too was futile. The humans' feelings toward demons were that biased.

They would choose death rather than be humiliated. There were soldiers like that—dozens upon dozens of them.

Seeing this, Rei bit her lip hard. What her beloved Demon King had said was coming true.

Humans would not try to assimilate with demons.

Therefore, the demons had to force assimilation, even by coercion.

To do that, they had to win the war.

Everything was as he said.

"Listen carefully. I will bring back the army dispatched to the east along with the holy knights. So do not act rashly, no matter what. Even if you become prisoners once, I will definitely rescue you."

What Azel said to the captain of the garrison holed up in the academy was something even he himself did not believe.

The Demon King had certainly given the demons discipline. Assimilating with humans was surely the Demon King's ideal.

But he did not think that awareness had permeated to every last demon. Even among humans alone, war was like that.

He understood, but for now Azel chose to flee. He had to inform everyone of this enemy's strength.

Could they win even if he informed them?

Without the power of the Dark Dragon Valis, as in a thousand years ago, human victory might be impossible.

Thinking this, Azel took to the sky and headed first toward the east.

Humans are foolish. That is what Rei thought.

Why do they choose death needlessly? Even if there is but a sliver of hope, should they not cling to it?

No, she reconsidered.

All of that was something the Demon King had given them.

At first, it was through coercion by force, they say.

Then came rule by law, they say.

And now, things like ethics and morality governed the demons.

Or perhaps that was only possible because of the authority of the Demon King.

When the demon army invaded the urban area, they first secured the food stores.

The provisions needed to maintain this army of nearly one million could barely be transported from demon territory alone.

Therefore, the demon army planned to procure food locally while also experimentally introducing a military farming system.

Originally, goblins—the most numerous among the demons—were omnivores, as were orcs. It was common knowledge that raising grain could feed more mouths than raising meat.

Meanwhile, it was obvious that the human forces holed up in the academy would soon face food shortages.

Even so, they did not surrender, clinging to the faint delusion that Azel would return with reinforcements from the Holy City.

In reality, at that time, the Magic City's army that had been dispatched eastward and the reinforcements from the Holy City were facing off against a demon army of over 100,000 on the eastern side of the Sacred Mountain.

No matter how large the Holy City and Magic City were, there were limits. They could not oppose a demon army of 100,000.

In the end, Azel abandoned the Magic City.

He merged the Magic City's dispatched army with the Holy City's forces.

It was an unavoidable measure, as staying would have risked being caught in a pincer attack.

The people holed up in the Magic City's academy held out for half a month.

But when the dark elf woman who was the enemy commander entered unarmed to negotiate, they finally capitulated.

Those who surrendered received no particular mistreatment and were given thin gruel, gathered together in one place as before.

And those who brought them their meals were good-natured goblins or friendly kobolds, and gradually the distance between the two sides diminished.

Eventually, the guards and the soldiers who had been seriously wounded joined them, and once they learned they had received attentive care, it became difficult to harbor ill will any longer.

Even so, many had lost family members, so it still took time.

One day, an earl who had survived by chance posed a question to the dark elf commander.

"Dark Elf-dono, what is it that you seek from us?"

The dark elf first introduced herself.

"I am Rei Bradford."

And then Rei spoke of the Demon King's ideals.

Human-demon coexistence.

It must have seemed like a fairy tale.

But in demon territory, it had already succeeded in practice.

That was why there were humans among the demon army.

The earl, who had lost his son in the war, could understand this.

On this day, the Magic City truly fell in every sense of the word.