Chương 4: Chapter 3 - Army Review

We are outnumbered. The enemy is beyond our strength. We could not even scratch the [Demon Lord]; now he has an army at his back. Tell the nations to get ready. Tell them to prepare everyone they can spare. Get the new [Hero] in training as soon as possible. … And tell my dear wife that I love her. A message from [General] Cunningham to Gram's high command via secure artifact We didn't move out immediately, but it was pretty close.

It turned out a bunch of monsters and demons who didn't need to eat, sleep, or otherwise deal with any pesky mortal needs didn't take long to get ready to march. That gave me just enough time to make a final purchase at the obelisk. I looked at the 17 perk points I had, looked at the final option on the list, and then sighed. Purchase [Health Regen, Fast]. I told the System. It was my final one, and I felt a tinge of melancholy as the list emptied for good.

My last 7 perk points are now useless. I thought as I took my place at the head of my army, and we made our way out of the castle. I never thought this day would come… even when I learned I could reincarnate. I had come a long way from when I was first brought over as a useless NPC thrown in over his head. If past me could see me now, he would be in awe of how much stronger I am. I thought. Then, I spared a glance at the company I was in. And disgusted with what I've let myself become.

"My lord…" Anger said slowly from behind me.

"The weaker demons are not keeping up under the weight of your presence. Shall we whip them to speed them up?" That question pulled me out of the downward spiral I had been trapped in, and I could hear sighs of relief from demons and monsters as my aura let up.

"Anger, was it?" I asked the brute.

"Yes, my lord," he replied immediately.

"Walk with me," I continued.

"I have some questions for you." He hesitantly walked up next to me and fell in line with my pace.

"How exactly is this army structured?" I asked the first question that came to mind. It was about time I figured out how my army was organized, and I figured it would also keep me from dwelling too long on a bunch of things I would rather not think about. Anger paused.

"How much would you like me to tell you, my lord?" he asked.

"Everything," I replied.

"Pretend you're explaining the structure to someone who has never been to Hell." I paused as I realized that could get me into trouble.

"I haven't been to Hell in more than five centuries, after all," I tacked on as if it were an afterthought. Anger nodded in recognition.

"Of course, my lord. Then, I shall start at the bottom." I'm sure it was awkward for the 8-foot-tall demon to walk next to my much shorter frame, and it was doubly uncomfortable since he was bowing his head and at least feigning subservience, but I ignored all of that as he gave his explanation.

"At the very bottom of the lowerarchy is you, my lord," he stated. I said nothing, but I processed that bit of info. Lowerarchy instead of hierarchy… so, lower is better. I shook my head. That won't be confusing at all.

"Above that are the named demons, of which I am the strongest," Anger continued.

"Making you my 2 nd in command?" I asked.

"Yes, my lord." He was about to continue, but I realized I had another question.

"What do you mean by named demons?" I asked. The large demon nearly tripped on his own two feet.

"My… lord?" That was obviously something I was supposed to already know as the lord of darkness, but it wasn't exactly like my position came with a manual. I decided to come up with an excuse.

"As I stated, I have been among humans for the past five centuries. My memory is fuzzy about most things related to Hell," I continued. Then, after a brief pause, I decided to tack on a threat for good measure.

"Tell no one about that, or the consequences will be severe." It seemed like the brute almost started sweating then and there, but he continued on in a level voice.

"Named demons are those of us who stand strong enough to rule those of a similar nature. With our numbers, that makes for about… 9 of us, my lord," Anger continued. I nodded in understanding.

"Ah. So let me guess, you rule over the wrath demons," I stated.

"Yes, my lord," he replied. I had seen several other smaller-looking brutes gathered among the army, which answered that question pretty definitively.

"And what are wrath demons good for?" I asked. I held up a hand before I could get an incredulous reply.

"I have some ideas already, but I wanted to hear it from you first." That sparked a near-rant from Anger about the glories of destruction… both that he could inflict directly on the enemy and that a wave of consuming anger inside someone could cause to both them and others. As he waxed poetic about the screams of the helpless and other things, I felt a bit sick and mostly tuned him out. Long story short… wrath demons are my heavy infantry. I thought. No duh. Then, I considered the being next to me from a more…

humanitarian point of view. Sometimes games and shows make demons out to be just people with a twisted sense of morality. I thought. Anger… is definitely not. Or at least, if he is, he represents a person with such violent and sadistic tendencies that most people would relegate him to the term "monster" anyway.

"Thank you, that's enough," I replied. That got a look of confusion, and I only belatedly realized it was from the words thank you. I hate this. So frickin' much. I thought with an internal sigh. I didn't say a word out loud, and just gestured him back.

"Bring the next named demon forward. I want to talk to all of them to get a good feel for the army." Next up to join me was a wide-eyed and manic-looking demon.

"Name and type of demon," I stated from the get-go.

"Hysteria, your lowliness, your lowliness, your lowliness," he stated as he stopped and fell on his face to my side. The army didn't stop moving, which made things awkward as he tripped some demons and manticores following close behind, and then frantically scrambled to get back up and back over to me.

"I lead the demons of madness," he continued once he got back next to me.

"And what are the demons of madness good for?" I asked. He gave a gleeful grin.

"We tear the flesh and rip the mind! Destroy the humans, and make them destroy each other!" I mostly tuned out the rest. Surprising amount of overlap between madness and wrath. I thought. After mentally chucking them both in the same bucket of demons who are good at destroying stuff, I waited until he finished his ravings.

"That's enough," I finally stated.

"Bring up the next named demon." He hesitated, and I frowned.

"What is it?"

"Don't be angry. Not angry. I beg not angry," the demon started to grovel, and I had to yank him back up to his feet.

"What?" I practically growled.

"I don't know which is next," he whimpered.

"There is your lowliness, then Anger, and then Hysteria, but I do not know which of the others is next."

"Just pick one," I said with a sigh.

"I'm not worried about going in order or anything. I just want to get a feel for my army's capabilities." The one that was picked appeared to be a bratty teen who rolled his eyes at me as he came up.

"I'm Spite, or whatever," he said by way of introduction.

"Spite," I repeated.

"And you lead?"

"The envy demons," he huffed. I paused as that was all the info he gave.

"Are you sure you want to cop that attitude with me?" I asked. He rolled his eyes again.

"What are you going to do, like, kill me?" he scoffed.

"You killed Desire, and now he gets to sit back and reform in Hell while we do all the hard work, and that's not fair, or whatever." That was a critical piece of information that the envy demon revealed offhand. So, demons don't actually die. They just get sent back to Hell to respawn. I paused. Sounds a bit familiar to me.

"Well, I don't exactly care what you want," I finally stated.

"What are envy demons good for in a battle?"

"It's probably easier to just show you or whatever," he replied. We continued walking, but I watched as his body morphed and shifted, and soon I was walking next to a replica of myself.

"I don't exactly care what you want," my doppelganger stated with a sneer and a voice that sounded nothing at all like me. Or at least, that's what I consoled myself by thinking.

"So, you can shapeshift into anyone or anything?" I asked.

"There are obviously limitations," he replied with the same attitude.

"The first is that-" An [Air Strike] took him completely by surprise, and he skidded to a stop after about 20 feet.

"That you aren't a full copy, so you're weaker than me," I stated on his behalf.

"Good to know." He [Flash Stepped] over to me and hit me with his own [Air Strike]. I didn't even flinch as I took no damage. I grabbed my doppelganger's arm and twisted it behind his back.

"Halt!" I shouted to the army. They followed the command... eventually. I belatedly realized that I had never actually established it as an army with my [General] class. Oh well. I shrugged. I would take care of it later. And I now had a much better idea of how to determine my army's combat capabilities.

"Thank you, Spite," I stated before remembering that demons didn't really think about thanks in a normal way.

"I now have my first candidate for combat testing." I shoved Spite to the ground and then said.

"Hit me with everything that you've got." As I said that, I shot him an invite to a duel. Loser would be the first one to drop below half HP. Spite obliged with a snarl. He tried an [Earth Strike] and then an [Ice Strike] after I yawned that off.

"Here," I said, pulling out Singularity.

"Maybe try a spell." He quickly copied me again (apparently, he couldn't do just a partial copy of my staff), and then unleashed his first spell.

"Air, blast my foes. [Air Bolt]!" he cast. If he had been able to copy Singularity's stats successfully, I should have taken some damage there, but I was disappointed to find that I didn't.

"Air, blast my foes. [Air Bolt]," I returned fire nonchalantly. The blast of air smacked him in the face, and he flinched back. Worse in every way. Resistance. Damage. I paused. Does he even have access to all my skills?

"Can you do this?" I asked as he wound up an [Earth Bolt] that I casually deleted with a snap. I got to watch myself gape in awe in an answer to my question. I looked ridiculous. Well, I guess that's a good thing. It would be busted if they could copy [Demon Lord] or [Hero] skills. I paused. Guess I should finish up now. I [Flash Stepped] forward before Spite could recover, and I laid into him with [Earth Strikes].

He was staggering around and unable to fight back after just a few blows, but I kept it up until the end of the duel… and then I knocked him away with an [Air Strike] that sent him tumbling. He didn't get back up very quickly.

"Alright, that out of the way, might as well start back up at the top," I stated.

"Anger!" I called out as I located the brute of a demon.

"Duel me."

"O-o-of course, your lowliness," Anger replied. I sent him the same duel request to half HP, and he relaxed ever so slightly. The standard [Demon Lord] modus operandi would probably be beating him to death. I realized. Then, I shrugged. Eh. Don't care. He pulled out a black club from his inventory, and I wondered if it was strong enough to damage me. Then I finally remembered that I could actually check that kind of information.

"[Appraise]," I cast at the demon. Then, I triggered my [Appraise Weapon] skill I had earned from blacksmithing what felt like forever ago. Status Name Anger Level 25 Race Wrath Demon HP 2500/2500 MP 100/100 SP 5000/5000 Demonite Club A high-tier club formed of infernal metal Materials Demonite Tier Greater Base Damage 25 blu IV Damage Scaling 1 per 3 Enchant Infernal Hmm. I thought as he charged me. He might actually be able to damage me.

Assuming that scaling still worked the same for "monsters" like Anger, he would hit me with 33 bludgeoning IV damage. If he didn't have any skills on top of that, that would deal… 33 at bludgeoning IV, vs resistance of bludgeoning VI. I thought as I ducked under his first wild swing. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He was fast, it was kinda hard not to be at level 25, but his moves were pretty telegraphed.

If the resistance level equals the damage level, you divide by 2… I continued reminding myself how damage numbers worked as I dodged another attack. 1 resistance above is divide by 4. So, with resistance 2 above that means I… divide it by 8? I shook my head slightly. Oh. I was worried about 4 damage. I thought as I punched his next attack with a [Fire Strike] to get him off balance. And I don't even take that because of my flat damage resistance.

I followed up with an [Earth Strike] punch to his stomach since that was about as high up as I could punch if I wanted to maintain good form. He staggered a bit and then let loose with another attack. I decided to just let it hit me, just to see. As expected, his club bounced off me harmlessly, and I saw a look of shock across his face.

"Do you have any skills you could add on?" I asked.

"This won't be much of a fight if you don't." He roared in anger and then started fighting even more recklessly. I could only assume that it was the [Rage] skill that [Berserkers] got, but I hoped it might be more powerful. I dodged the first couple, peppered him here and there with [Earth Strikes], and finally let one of his wild swings connect. It clunked harmlessly against me once more.

"Hmm," I stated as I nonchalantly kicked him with an [Earth Strike].

"Anything else left in the tank? I swear I'll let you hit me with it."

"[Power Strike]!" he yelled as he brought his club down in a great overhand swing. My instincts screamed ten thousand ways to avoid the dangerous skill that was coming my way. [Disrupt] was off cooldown. [Flash Step] and [Blink] were ready. I could even do a good old-fashioned dodge roll. I did none of the above. Instead, I took the attack full-on. The devastating attack landed true, and fortunately, I wasn't reduced to a fine paste.

I was, however, knocked from my feet and treated to the first bit of pain from any of my duels. Ow. I groaned to myself as I rolled out of the way of Anger's follow-up strike. I pulled open my status and whistled.

"Dang," I said aloud as his next attack bounced off.

"76 damage with just that? That's quite the increase." I mulled the numbers over as I wrapped up the duel. It didn't make sense why a single multiplier would take it from 0 to 76 until I realized it was actually 2 multipliers. It would fit if that skill increased the damage type from IV to V. I thought as I neared closer and closer to winning by dint of [Earth Strikes]. Dividing by 4 instead of 8 is basically just doubling the damage again. I groaned. Dang it.

Increased damage typing means that [Power Strike] is worth it. I might have to actually pick it up sometime. My biggest problem was finding ways to damage the [Hero] with his ridiculous armor, and I was sure that they would eventually find some counter to [Lightning Spear]. Any other tool that would let me bridge that gap would be helpful in the long run. I wonder if I can get a sword made out of that demonite… I thought, right before the duel was completed and signaled me as the winner.

I gave my 2 nd in a command an appraising nod. Not even a close fight, but that [Power Strike] would completely paste any average adventurer. I can see why he's considered the strongest. However, Anger gave another yell and made yet another reckless swing that bounced off.

"Oh, right," I stated.

"[Disrupt]." I snapped. Anger came back to himself in confusion as I addressed the gathered crowd of demons.

"I'll spar Hysteria next once my resources are topped up. Army, let's get back on the road!" And the last statement was said because I had decided to finally trigger my [Form Army] skill. I had even picked a name. System: Demon Lord's army army has been created for the Demon Lord Faction I forgot about the redundancy. I thought with a sigh. I started marching out like before and belatedly realized that no one was following.

"Well?" I asked as I turned around and looked at Anger.

"My lord, you even have skills like that?" Anger asked with a furrowed brow.

"I'm a [General]. I can make armies, big deal," I replied.

"Now, let's get moving!" That seemed to shake off the stupor, and my army of monsters and demons fell in behind me. I called Anger up to talk with me again, though.

"So, I take it that you all don't qualify for subclasses," I stated more than asked.

"That is correct, your lowliness," he replied. I frowned.

"But you still have classes and skills. I mean, I saw you use [Rage] and [Power Strike]. And you probably have a weapon skill too… I guess that would be [Clubmanship]?" He nodded nervously.

"What levels are those all at?" I asked.

"And do you have any skill points left?"

"They are all at level 5, but…" he trailed off as he seemed to be thinking about my next question.

"Ah!" he finally said with relief.

"That was a joke!" He gave a laugh that sounded forced and then continued.

"I will work on learning your strange sense of humor, my lord." I guess that's a no on the skill points, then. I wisely shut my mouth. I had a question that I wanted to ask, but it seemed like a bit much to ask, given Anger's response. Fortunately, the god of exposition happened to be on my side that day. Anger gave a more natural chuckle just a few moments later.

"Skill points indeed. As if demons weren't created with our levels and skills as befits our stations." He shook his head.

"An excellent joke, your lowliness."

"I try," I muttered in response, and then I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. Talking about demons and classes and levels brought me all the way back to a discussion that I had with AltSys… err… myself, I guess, since I was the one in charge of talking to Past me at that particular time. And I guess that also just happened recently if I consider the other end of the conversation. But "recently" was also 50 years ago chronologically since I essentially fast-forwarded through my most recent respawn.

"I hate time travel," I grumbled ending the tangent and letting me get my thoughts back in order. Anyway, my class is a mishmash of Advanced, basic, and monster classes. Advanced class because I came over as an adventurer, basic class because I was an NPC back on Earth, and… I paused and stole a glance at my army. If I hadn't been 100% sure of where the monster part came from, I am now. So, I guess that means that everyone in this army but me is capped at the same level of strength.

I wasn't sure what to think about that. In fact, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the army in general. They want to take over the world. I don't. However, I need to stay on good terms with them if I want to get close to Admin when he returns. I frowned. To say my relationship with Admin could use some work was the understatement of the century. Both of us hated each other's guts and would be more than willing to do whatever it took to screw the other one over. However, he was the only admin I knew.

That meant he was my only option for stealing manipulation points. It was an awful plan. Even if he came back, I would still have to find a way to not only steal enough Manipulation Points to take down the OmniverseEngine, which I doubted he had, but I would also have to figure out some kind of exploit or vulnerability in a magical omniverse-spanning simulation. Needless to say, my despair aura kicked back into high gear, but no one in my army dared say a word about it.

To distract myself, I decided to flip open my status and check my HP. I had a good guess at what fast health regen would do since slow filled me up in 2 hours, and normal filled me up in a single hour. My guess was wrong, but that was a pleasant surprise amid all that mess.

"Too fast for 30 minutes," I muttered as I watched my health tick up. 550 HP divided by 30 is… 55 divided by 3… about 18? So, 18 health a minute? Or about a point every 3 seconds? Instead, I was watching my health tick up nearly once a second. Back to full in around 10 minutes. Neat. I thought. Seeing my health bar back to full so soon brightened my mood ever-so-slightly, and I decided I may as well beat up my next challenger.

"Army, halt!" I called out.

"Hysteria, you're up. Give me your best shot!" I continued as I sent him a duel request.

"Of course, my lord, my lord, MY LORD!" he replied. The last one was a shout as the demon in front of me… ripped apart? His torso started shuffling and bulging, and I looked on in disgust as his ribs elongated and then burst completely out of his body. The growing ribs then twisted until they turned into long serrated scythes. Meanwhile, Hysteria's head had snapped backward, and his eyes had shifted over to the sides of his face. Well. That is certainly nightmare fuel. I thought dryly, even as I prepped a spell.

"[Appraise]," I cast. Status Name Hysteria Level 25 Race Madness Demon HP 5000/5000 MP 498/500 SP 5000/5000 The main thing that caught my eye was the incredible HP pool. He had twice as much as Anger, and that meant almost 10 times as much as me. However, I had to wonder if that was specific to the monstrous form he had adopted to fight me. I shrugged as he shuffled toward me rapidly. I guess I'll find out. Hysteria made it in range, reared back, and then attacked with a multitude of scythes.

I made a good show of batting aside the first 10 or so with [Elemental Strikes], but that was a losing proposition when he had more than a dozen of the things. So, I first decided to see what would happen if I got hit. I let one through and… no damage, which wasn't a shock. I mean, Anger was a heavy hitter, and he struggled to damage me. I doubted that Hysteria's form that went for quantity over quality would be able to do better. I stepped into the forest of blades and laid into his main body with [Earth Strikes].

"Anything else up your sleeve?" I asked.

"Better use it."

"I WILL, I WILL, I WILL!" Hysteria shouted as he backed away from me. He looked at me with his oddly placed eyes, and I shuddered briefly.

"They're all around you." He cackled madly. If his physical showing against my armor was unimpressive, it turned out that his mental showing against [Status Effect Resistance] was even more lackluster. He attempted to afflict me with paranoia, confusion, and all manner of things that I mostly just shrugged off. I also ended up lasting through his entire transformation. The missing MP at the beginning of the fight hadn't been a fluke.

It was a heads-up that staying in that form had a cost, and running him out of his 500 MP didn't take too long. After that, he was pretty easy to deal with, and I quickly won the duel. I sent him off as I composed my thoughts. So, madness demons deal less damage than wrath ones but have more HP… and probably would be more damaging to morale. I thought. So, ideally, I should send them in first, followed by the wrath demons- I paused as I had a thought.

"Wait, do I even want to-" I cut myself off as I realized that I shouldn't say the next bit aloud. Do I even want to win? I asked myself the million gold question. The entire point of going along with this was to keep up relations, but what if I just… lose? It was a strange thought, but one that I agreed with after mulling it over a bit. I wouldn't be the first [Demon Lord] who was personally strong but totally incompetent at leading an army. I chuckled to myself.

Alright, but first, I have to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the rest of my army… So that I can use them poorly enough that we lose but not so poor that they think I'm doing it on purpose. My armor had guaranteed my victory against Spite, Anger, and Hysteria. I'm not even sure that I needed it for the others. The fight against Avarice, the greed demon, wasn't that different than fighting a high-level human swordsman.

His sword was made out of the same demonite that Anger's club was, but it shone gold when he activated his buffs. Or at least, I call them buffs. I think he would have called them something like "hoarding strength" or "stockpiling speed," which I guess just shows that you can be greedy even with non-physical stuff. Said buffs were impressive, and he was definitely the fastest opponent I had faced yet. However, once the buffs ran out there wasn't anything too remarkable about his fighting style.

When I asked if he could apply those buffs to other people, he gave me a look of abject horror, which made me assume that it was definitely a possibility. Demons don't like to share. Who knew? After Avarice was Voracity, the gluttony demon. He looked pretty skinny, so I wondered if I even had the right guy. Then, he disjointed his jaw and full-on ate an [Earth Strike], earth, gauntlet, and all.

I was lucky that my follow-up [Air Strike] kick, which sent us both tumbling because, of course, him chomping down on my fist counts as a grapple, freed my hand before he damaged my armor. Other than that, Voracity was kinda slow and easy to deal with. He reminded me a lot of a mimic after I thought about it. And then… there was Tiredness.

"I'm ready-" Tiredness gave a deep yawn.

"-my lord."

"Alright, I think we'll do something different-" I yawned.

"-from the other duels. That okay?" I asked. And that was because I had a few misgivings about beating a demon who basically had the appearance of a small child.

"Sure," the sloth demon replied and then followed it with another yawn.

"Just hit me with-" I yawned, and Tiredness yawned back.

"-your best attacks, and we'll call it good." However, the yawns didn't stop. Soon, I had enough.

"Stop doing that!" I commanded in irritation.

"I can't help it!" Tiredness yawned once more.

"No one else yawns when I yawn. Just-" he yawned again.

"-you!" We eventually worked things out where I stood a bit away from Tiredness and didn't look at him. That was finally enough for me to stop yawning as he used his best attacks. His best shot was… interesting. [Biologically Needless] meant that I couldn't be put to sleep, but Tiredness was apparently capable of other wide-range debuffs like slows. That would definitely be useful in a war. I thought. And then I had another idea.

I wonder if that would be something we could hit our own side with to reduce our chances of winning? Maybe it was the demon's young appearance, or maybe it was the fact that I didn't think demons of sloth were quite as evil as the others, but I decided I would put out some feelers.

"What are you most looking forward to now that you're out of Hell?" I asked Tiredness before I dismissed him. His eyes lit up as he stifled a yawn.

"Once we get some humans, I'm going to put them to sleep," he stated. Okay, not bad. Comparatively. I thought.

"Forever," he continued.

"And then I'll give them nightmares, with some happy dreams sprinkled in so that-" Okay, nevermind. I thought as I listened to Tiredness regale me with the surprising amount of torture that demons could inflict on a sleeping subject. Then, he started getting into what he would do with the awake subjects he was given and how he would break them until they had no will to do anything anymore. That's about when I dismissed him. In the biggest plot twist of game design, the demons are actually demons.

I thought as I waited for my final opponent. I don't know why I'm surprised. Admin was my first clue. The final named demon that I was preparing to duel was Trickery, and… well, I decided to give him the same deal as Tiredness. And that was how I found out that he had some [Rogue] skills, and the [Backstab] has a bit of armor penetration to it. It didn't hurt as much as Anger's [Rage]-boosted [Power Strike], but it did put a small chink in my confidence in my "invincible armor."

With that, all the named demons were tested, except the two who were too weak to even get that far. Desire led the lust demons, and I had a pretty good idea what those were all about. Given that Desire was weak enough to die to some [Overchanneled] [Zaps], I wasn't overly filled with confidence. I didn't even know about Self-Importance until I asked if there were any others, and Tiredness mentioned him hesitantly. After getting some info about him, I guestimated his level at around 10.

With him being the only named one, that told me that I basically didn't have to worry about pride demons after all. Which, if they were anything like the pride [Demon Lord] form, was almost assuredly a good thing for me and the world in general. However, I belatedly realized that I had not gotten the capabilities of all my army by just looking at the named demons (and assuming that the other demons were similar but weaker versions). There were still a few last soldiers to go over.

At the complete bottom of the barrel were the Hell Bats. They were level 5, and I could take one down in a single swing if I was motivated… and could manage to hit the flying targets. Their only attack was to fly down and bite. Though, they could also light stuff on fire by running into it or being in close enough proximity. Needless to say, neither affected me, so I didn't bother killing one of the bats just to make a point. Tied at level 10 were the imps and hell hounds.

The imps were tiny winged demons that had limited flight capability and a stinger on their back. The limited flight apparently meant they couldn't fly very high above the ground or for very long, and I grumbled a bit about video game logic with that one. Meanwhile, the stinger wasn't even a good one like the scorpions in the Besti desert. If the imp managed to damage a target with their stinger's piercing damage, it would tack on a few points of damage over time as poison damage.

The hell hounds were basically just wolves that breathed fire… and did not like being pet. Honestly, I think the last part of that ruined my day more than anything. And then, there were the level 15 monsters. The manticores. Vaguely human head, in a horrifying way, the body of a lion, a spiky tail that it could jettison spikes from as a ranged attack, and miniaturized dragon wings that were not possibly large enough to actually carry the dang thing in flight. Placeholder actually had my back on the last part.

Kind of like the imps, the manticores were restricted from true flight, and instead, they mostly used them to glide… after jumping ridiculously high. They were fast, semi-flying, ranged attackers, but their only weakness was they had a bit less HP than I would expect from a level 15 monster. Only 400… which is still more than I had at level 20 without my helmet, but monsters didn't benefit from skills and items like normal people with advanced classes did. Well, mostly.

I thought as I shot a glance at Anger and then Avarice. Both of them had proven that demons could use weapons, so what would happen if I got them in some good armor as well? The goal is to lose. I reminded myself with a shake of my head. And I get the feeling that I'm going to have a hard enough time figuring that out with my army at its current strength. I sighed. Oh well, at least I've got some time to figure that out before-"My lord, are we free to kill those enemies?" Anger called out from behind me.

That shook me out of my musings, and I looked up at what he could possibly be talking about. Aw, frick. I groaned internally as I spied the army that had laid siege to my castle on a hill far off in the distance. I forgot about them. And, of course, we would catch up. I grimaced. Demons who can travel all day and night will catch an exhausted army.

"My… lord?" Anger repeated hesitantly. I made my choice.

"Yes," I replied.

"Consider this the last test of your capabilities as my army. I won't assist at all, even with orders. My only order is to bring their [General] to me alive." Anger grinned.

"You heard him! Everyone but the [General] is fair game!" he shouted to the other demons and monsters. He took off running without evening looking to see if the others were following, but he didn't need to check. My entire army was swarming forward, with only me remaining back there stationary. I'm sorry. I thought, with my despair aura kicking back up again. I couldn't think of a way to save any of you here. I can only hope that what I learn from this battle will let me save lives in the future.

24 hours earlier"The ash let up long enough to give us a view of our pursuers," the [Scout] reported to [General] Cunningham.

"They're gaining on us. I give it a day… maybe 2 before they reach us."

"System preserve us," Cunningham muttered. He looked at the other leaders gathered in the command tent, who were all looking to him. Well, aside from logistics, the second most important thing in a war is information. I guess we start there.

"Can we get a [Scry] on that army?" Cunningham asked. The large scrying mirror was brought out, and with the [Scout's] help, they were able to tune it to the location of the army several hours to the west. The swears that greeted the sight of the marching army of demons made Cunningham wonder if the information had been worth the hit to morale.

"That's enough," the [General] said as he motioned to cut the scry.

"Is there any terrain around this blasted featureless ash dump?" he asked the scout, who shook his head.

"Hills? Anything?" A [Monk] who was attending [Princess] Violet whispered something to her. She whispered a quick reply, and then he nodded.

"One of my people saw some hills to the north of here. They are… not much," she said with a grimace.

"Little better than a small dune in height." Cunningham sighed.

"Well, that's better than the flat ground we got here. We move out immediately. Double time. We need to get to those hills, dig in, and prepare for the fight of our lives." And when he said that, he meant it quite literally. Cunningham was a level 5 [General], and that short glimpse of the enemy army had been enough to let him use [Battlefield Estimation]. The results had been as dire as could be.

As it was, the skill predicted a pure rout, and with all the [Soldiers] being so far from home, in the middle of the cursed ashlands, anyone who managed to escape would likely be hunted down by a much faster demonic army or would die from lack of supplies. For the first time, Cunningham cursed the peace that had held steady for the past several centuries. If he and his [Soldiers] had other armies to fight against instead of just monsters and the undead, perhaps they would all have more levels under their belt.

He didn't hold that uncharitable thought for long. He and his army had work to do. They double-timed it to their "hill," set up as many defenses as they could, and tried to give everyone a full night's rest before the battle the next day. The [General] tried to get some sleep but spent most of the night tossing and turning. What do you do when your entire army might be dead tomorrow morning? Was the question he asked himself over and over. He didn't come to an answer because he knew that there wasn't one.

I just have to give everyone the best chance I can. He thought as he rose early, returned to the command tent, and pored over the battle map again. [Princess] Violet and the other leaders joined him before too long. They hammered out every last strategy they could think of, and then all too soon, it was time.

"Enemy army approaching!" came a call through a communication artifact. It was against Gram's policy to use the things. The messages were all too easy to intercept. However, Cunningham no longer cared about stupid policies made by paranoid bureaucrats.

"Bring them up," the [General] commanded. The large mirror was brought out, and the charging demon horde took center stage. However, there was one thing missing from the picture.

"Anyone have eyes on the [Demon Lord]?" the [General] asked through his communication artifact. If the monster was readying to make another surprise attack with a [Hurricane], his battle lines would hold for even less time than he thought.

"Spotted him!" came a reply.

"South by southwest!"

"Get a visual!" Cunningham barked. His aide frantically adjusted the scrying mirror, and soon they saw the [Demon Lord]… sitting down at the top of a small hill overlooking the battle area and idly kicking his legs back and forth. The gathered commanders stared at him for a moment before Cunningham finally snapped out of his stupor.

"Get me the main army again," he said. The aide panned over to it, and Cunningham nodded slowly. The dossier on the [Demon Lord] mentioned that he has [General] levels. Cunningham recalled. He looked at the disorganized scramble of an army headed his way and gave a wry grin. He triggered [Battlefield Estimation] again. He still didn't like what he got back, but it had shifted drastically more in his favor than last time.

"Keep an eye on the [Demon Lord]," he ordered the unit that had called out his location.

"Call out immediately if he makes a move." He barely waited for their acknowledgment before he continued on all channels.

"Looks like the [Demon Lord] is sitting this one out. Must be too afraid to tangle with us again." Cunningham lied to his troops. He didn't know why the [Demon Lord] was waiting, but he definitely knew it wasn't out of fear. He also didn't know if the [Demon Lord] would stay away or not. However, the [General] knew that morale was important. So, he kept it up.

"So let's show his little army what we're made of!" he bellowed.

"Let's make 'em wish they never left Hell!" He was answered with shouts as the first demon, an 8-foot-tall one wielding a club, crested the hill in the distance. There were many others hot on his heels.

"Archers, loose!" Cunningham shouted.