#088. The Demon King Extermination Force is Too Kind (2)

#088. The Demon King Extermination Force is Too Kind (2)

The core members of the Hero Party watched the great army march north with gloomy eyes.

“How futile. To witness all the hardships we could not overcome being resolved by the power of the army. I, a Great Magician, have witnessed a true miracle.”

“The sacrifices that had to be made to push the front lines even an inch forward now feel meaningless. The reputation of the Great Warrior, once called the shield of the front lines, has become a joke.”

“Advancing without sacrificing anyone, calling everyone a hero. I am ashamed of my position as Great Sage.”

Great Magician.

Great Warrior.

The Grand Sage.

The sense of loss felt by the three party members was immeasurable.

The North was always such a place.

Even holding back the relentless waves of attacks at the front lines was a struggle, let alone a counterattack, a dream they dared not even entertain. Days were bleak.

Each day, they repelled armies ten thousand strong, sacrificing hundreds of lives to hold the line for one more day.

To close the gap left by insufficient troops, they poured in their strength without reserve, repeatedly suffering from mana exhaustion and circuit overload, their health steadily declining.

The Demon Lord’s forces did not miss such openings, dispatching powerful entities, and as the hero’s party set out to defeat these entities, they repeatedly lost core members, those who could have joined them in subjugating the Demon Lord.

“If only Lord Ronove were still around, we could have endured the attrition with the experimental subjects…”

“Impossible. He’s a wanted criminal and Lady Theresa claimed his head.”

“Compared to that, being able to conserve the strength of core forces by using the masses, we need not worry about expending the hero party’s strength when they can deal effective blows to the Demon Lord.”

Visible.

In the North, where not a shred of hope remained, the impossibly faint possibility of subjugating the Demon Lord was taking shape as a concrete reality.

“So, the Demon Lord’s forces have been throwing monsters at us in this haphazard manner?”

“Let’s start with the awakening spell. Once the predator monsters start devouring the prey, the formation will crumble.”

“Insect-type monsters are weak against fire-based attacks. Prepare fire arrows and flame spells!”

The nature of the battlefield itself was different from what it had been before, when high-ranking soldiers could not afford magical or tactical diversity, or creative responses, because their sole purpose was to kill as many enemies as possible.

Now, even if someone wasted mana with a luxurious spell, everyone else could cover the gap.

At every front, adventurers were trying out experimental strategies, and the successful cases were quickly disseminated, leading to a rapid rise in the combat capabilities of the entire army.

“What have we been doing all this time?”

“So hollow…”

“Don’t be discouraged.”

The first-string party members of the hero’s party, unable to suppress their dismay, were greatly surprised to find a boy had approached their side unnoticed.

“A handsome boy with an air of composure.”

“A slender knight errant guarding his side.”

“Indeed. You must be the famous Mind Weaver, Ian.”

The first-string party members of the hero’s party stared at the boy as if gauging something.

“There’s no fear in his eyes. The eyes of a true warrior.”

“He mobilized a vast army by recruiting many with his wise application of abilities. His benevolent actions are those of a sage.”

“But his mettle has not been tested. Did he inherit even Ronove’s diabolical intellect?”

The mage could not accept Ian.

“We appreciate you bringing a great army to the North. But can you overcome the *Giant’s Ice Gorge*, which lies beyond the recaptured northern territories and has defeated countless subjugation armies?”

The greatest crisis currently facing the Northern Allied Forces was this very Giant’s Ice Gorge.

“Five deep ice gorges carved as if by the giant’s forepaw. The ends of the five gorges converge at one point, leading to the Demon Lord’s castle, but even if we break through one path and advance, flanking attacks will begin from the other four, targeting our supply lines.”

Unable to advance.

Not if they can’t contend with five separate enemy forces.

A front line where an overwhelming war of attrition is forced.

At the same time, a front line that demands overwhelming breakthrough power.

If the breakthrough is even slightly delayed, even if one path is opened, their retreat will be cut off by enemy reinforcements, and they will be left to die.

If they divide their forces and advance simultaneously?

Humanity cannot withstand the Demon’s forces and their hordes.

“Even if we risk everything, divide our forces, and advance on all fronts simultaneously, each chasm remains sealed by its ＜Gate＞. A swift breakthrough is unlikely, and the more we rush the assault, the faster our soldiers will fall.”

“…I see.”

“Amidst such carnage, can your ‘brainwashing’ still hold? Can the High Lord Theresa’s declaration that all three hundred thousand are heroes truly endure?”

This was a trial set by the Archmage, but also an answer desperately sought.

Unless this question could be resolved, the three hundred thousand would meet their end at the ＜Giant’s Ice Gorge＞, their offensive reaching its breaking point, destined for annihilation.

“Or perhaps, fueled by the brainwashing that all three hundred thousand are heroes, will you open the path with suicide attacks that disregard life? Are you prepared to issue orders stained with such bloodshed?”

It couldn’t be enjoyable to corner a child.

Truthfully, she didn’t want to ask these questions either.

But this was a battlefield.

Theresa had seized the command of the army instead of a hero party.

With Theresa in charge of the offensive initiative.

Ian’s intentions, known as Theresa’s bag of wisdom, were of utmost importance.

“Certainly, by sacrificing lives to advance, we could save considerable time. For us, pressed for time as we are, that might indeed be one solution.”

“Ian. It sounds as if you’ve found a different answer. Am I right?”

“You are.”

Ian knew the answer.

He knew the Player’s ＜Walkthrough＞.

It was a revolutionary, yet shocking method.

“I’ve heard that the Giant Gorge is often struck by fierce blizzards, forcing us to halt fighting and seek shelter to avoid freezing to death.”

“That’s true.”

“Looking at it from another angle, it means even the Demon Lord’s army can’t counter our strategy during those blizzards.”

“What strategy are you planning to employ?”

“It’s simple. If the five fronts are proving too difficult, if breaching the gates is the problem, then we seal off the remaining fronts during a blizzard.”

Ian wrote down the answer with his own hand.

The Archmage was overwhelmed by shock at the sight of those letters.

* * *

Long ago, it was the cradle of humanity, but slowly seized by the Demon Lord’s repeated invasions, the Northern Highway was transformed into the Demon Lord’s supply route.

Losing the road, where even the water sources were tainted, to a sudden, large-scale mobilization by humans was a bitter mistake, but the five legion commanders guarding the five chasms were at ease.

“Our Five Tiger Generals’ chasms can be defended as a united front, even if one is attacked, the other four will defend it. The deeper they enter, the more surely their retreat will be cut off, and none of the humans will escape alive.”

“As you have foreseen, Legion Commander.”

“The Demon Lord has granted us, humble fiends, intelligence and power, so we shall risk our lives to defend the Giant’s Ice Gorge. Whatever they may be plotting beyond this blizzard is of no consequence.”

Even as the movements of humans beyond the blizzard were detected, the legion commanders guarded the gates with composure.

The chasms would not be breached.

They would despair and collapse once again.

A final struggle.

If this one offensive could be repelled, the kingdom was finished.

The opportunity for the demonic forces to conquer one of humanity’s territories, to spread the Demon Lord’s name across the entire continent, was at hand.

“What is this?!”

But when the blizzard subsided, the legion commander felt fear towards humanity for the first time.

“How is this possible? How could such a massive ‘wall’ be constructed in a single night, sealing off the front of the gate, the chasm itself!”

A vista, unlike any seen before, unfolded.

The five gorges’ defense forces, sealed off by walls higher than any gate, were thwarted from coordinated maneuvers right from the start.

At this rate, they wouldn’t even know which gorge was under attack by the humans.

“Rest assured, Commander. The humans have committed a grave error!”

“An error, you say?”

“How many human mages would it take to raise such a colossal ice fortress overnight? The soil around here is too firm to be dug by human strength, so this fortification is entirely constructed of magically created material.”

The Commander’s face finally brightened at his aide’s sharp counsel.

“To shorten the battle lines, they’ve squandered all their precious elite, the mages. If we were to return to the ‘opposite’ side of the gorges now, we’d encounter enemies stripped of their magical power. A situation will arise where we alone can unleash mass slaughter magic unilaterally.”

If knights were the chariots of the battlefield, mages were its artillery.

Indiscriminate mass-killing magic would relentlessly slaughter the enemy, defenseless without magical defenses.

Humanity, relying on the reckless gambit of an ice fortress, had exhausted the power of their mages, meaning they would enter any short, decisive battle without having replenished their mana.

“When that time comes, we need only crush the enemy with the overwhelming power of the Demon Lord’s army and drive them back beyond the gorges. The legend of the Five Gorges Commander’s invincibility will continue.”

But there was something that troubled the Commander.

“Humans also possess remarkable talents. What if the hero party’s ‘Archmage’ exerted their power? Could they not build the ice fortress without exhausting their mages’ power and allow combat even on the opposite side of the gorges?”

“Hah! You needn’t worry about that. Humanity’s heroes are cowards. The moment they launch an attack to subjugate the Demon Lord, humanity’s strategy always boils down to a small, elite special forces operation. They would never permit such a valuable asset as the Archmage to expend their power.”

* * *

[Ice Rampart]

Amidst a blinding blizzard and bitter cold that would crush both human and demon alike, a rampart made of ice is erected in short order.

Through this, four of the five gorges are sealed off, except for the one to be targeted in the assault.

Ian shuddered, sensing the brilliance of the operation.

“Instead of deploying one-fifth of our forces to hold each of the five fronts, we can place only minimal troops on the other fronts and concentrate on one.”

This would work.

The Archmage earnestly agreed with the strategy’s practicality.

“But there’s one critical flaw in that plan.”

But it’s insufficient.

Still one thing.

The final piece of the puzzle needed for this operation’s success was missing.

“If the enemies gathered on the opposite side of the front respond with magic, how will our mages, having exhausted all their magic building the rampart so quickly, endure?”

“My mother, the Grand Duchess Theresa of Westwood, has already provided the answer.”

“An answer…?”

“The special forces are not just a few heroes in a party, but the entire army of 300,000 veterans. By sealing off four fronts with the ice rampart, all 300,000 soldiers deployed on the one front become heroes.”

“!!”

“If there’s no need to conserve power in order to subjugate the Demon Lord, then it becomes possible, right? Just one person. Someone who can expend a massive amount of mana overnight on behalf of everyone else, to build the rampart and block the path.”

Ian gazed at the hero party’s Archmage.

The meaning was clear.

“No. I can’t allow it. This is a secret magic passed down for three generations, techniques I’ve honed to personally defeat the Demon Lord. My teacher’s, my predecessors’ will, my magic, my mana! I can’t waste it all in a place like this!!”

“What you truly seek to achieve isn’t to defeat the Demon Lord yourself, but that very desire to subjugate the Demon Lord.”

A deceiver, twisting and manipulating the hearts of men.

The sinister power of a mind-washer wormed its way into the wavering heart of the hero party’s top Archmage.

[Mindwash Activated]

[Designated Target – Hero Party First Squad Great Mage]

[Command – Not to be the final blow, but to be the cornerstone that makes that blow possible.]

The Great Mage, who had never stepped down from the leading role on the Northern Front, realized that the only path to defeating the Demon King was for him to be relegated to a supporting one.

This was an inescapable brainwashing from the start.

A cunning brainwashing he had no choice but to accept.

The Great Mage’s keen intellect overcame the brainwashing, even amidst the wavering of reason.

But at the same time, he understood.

The forbidden magic, abandoning the will of his predecessors.

Would he commit it by his own volition?

Or would he rely on the excuse of succumbing to the brainwashing to commit it?

Should he pass on the name of the proud Great Mage to posterity, postponing this cruel wish to future generations?

Or would he be liberated from the long-held wish by abandoning the role of the protagonist who would illuminate the Demon King subjugation?

The Great Mage decided.

“I will… obey the command…”

He would pretend to be affected by a brainwashing that hadn’t taken hold.

And so, he would see the wish for Demon King subjugation come to an end in his generation, without postponing it to future ones.