Chapter 23:

With the sudden eruption of war, the empires and kingdoms were taken by surprise. Some of their armies just arrived to rest from their own respective battles and yet they needed to fight the cruel and vicious demon lord once again. The rulers of every empire now regret their actions when the demon lord disappeared. They were so confident that they already repelled the demon lord and they are now guaranteed to being the top dog. It is just too bad that their expectations were all ruined by the appearance of the demon lord once again.

For the twelve empires, there was no one to oppose them anymore. Even back when they still controlled the demon lords; they were feeling suffocated from the necessary thorn they needed to keep. All of them are all rulers and all of them dream of being the one to control the whole world. All of them thought that with the backing of their respective empire, they can be unhindered in the world of Mirth if only there is no demon lord. They are allied on the surface but these rulers have their own plans for the future when they won’t need a demon lord. Every one of them was confident that if he was the one to rule then he can unite the whole human race.

With this, one can conclude that they were never united in the first place even during the past demon lords’ reigns. They were only showing what the other wants while they prepare their plans to take over some day. The appearance of the new demon lord which is not under their control made all their plans goes awry. Now that the war once again started, they can only honestly support each other hoping to survive.

They all know that the war this time is not the same as the last war because of the rumor going around the soldiers and leaders out there in the battlefield. The rumor is about a person with red hair and piercing red irises as the description. The description is not rare if one considers the demon race but behind those normal descriptions was the ruthless methods and actions of the man in question. He burns down a whole fort without batting an eyelid. He summons countless demons on his side whenever he wants and overrun a fort as easy as taking a candy from a child. The appearance of this person only leads to the rumor that the demon lord is openly invading their lands.

Many saw him going in a one-sided massacre and managed to tell the tale about him and his appearance. All of that information fell into the hands of the leaders of the alliance and every ruler of the kingdoms and empires across the north. They grit their teeth as they receive information every now and then about a fort falling with only a few survivors to tell the tale of this horrendous being.

Because of this, the alliance once again called upon the presence of the 14th tiered warriors and magicians to help save the human race once again. At first, they thought that all of those people will come but they were shocked to discover that only a few of those thousands came to help. The others went into hiding and never showed themselves even with the threat towards their own race. The rulers now regret their actions in forcing these people to submit into their rule. After the eruption of war, these people under their rule all tried to escape and majority of them succeeded and now hid themselves. The people who arrived at the defense line were only those that failed to escape or those that are loyal towards the human race.

The emperors and kings can only curse these people in their head and accuse them of being cowards towards the public but the public also knows what matter transpired between the rulers and these experts. Even if the human race wants to unite now, their inside is actually broken beyond repair. Their sentiments between each other are now tainted. Their trust between each other are broken and most of all, they don’t see each other as brothers or sisters but soldiers from a different empire or kingdom.

Too many issues still exist between these nations but they have no time to fix them. The demon lord’s army is advancing day by day and shows no intention of stopping. They were not even sure if their defense line will hold against the frantic steps of the enemy which knows no fear and feels no fatigue. Unlike human race, the opponents don’t have any morals in the first place. They will only advance at notice and retreat in some case. There is no such thing as confusion between the enemies as there is only one man who controls them. There is no need for command system; there is no need for generals or strategy which makes the difference between these forces. The worst part is, these creatures are not real life forms and do not need supplies to survive and continue to fight.

In actual truth, humanity is not the top in the food chain. Humanity is only placed the same level as pigs, cows and other livestock. What makes the human race stand out is their technology. Humans make tools to supplement what they lack. Humans try to come up with new ideas for their civilization to advance. If one takes out those then human race can be easily handled.

The demon lord knows these things and he was confident he can take on the entire human race since their level of technology is too poor compared to his world. Even if this Mirth has their own advantage due to magic, it was only to the side of these magicians and knights. For the common folks with no aptitude for these things, they are either a farmer or laborer on some place. Because the advantage is only presented to selected or fortunate people, the level of their overall strength does not even amount to 10% of Drake’s former world.

In that world, there are no magic and cultivation arts. Instead, there is the presence of cohesive advancement of technology. There is only one race and that is human. Their efforts were only directed to seek to better themselves by creating new tools or enhancement to their bodies. The presence of these tools and technology makes the human race at Drake’s world more formidable opponents compared to the human race of this Mirth. Even so, Drake found a way to crush that world without any magic and arts. How can the human race of Mirth stand up to a demon lord gifted with the highest power there is?

It may sound unfair and it really is but that is just how things are. If one wants to change something, then one needs to have sufficient power backing him up. If Drake is not powerful, then there will be no contest even if he was elected to be the demon lord.

The advancement of the demon lord’s army did not stop at all and after two weeks of staying put inside the fallen forts, the march resumed once again. This time, the clash between them does not only consist of humans defending their forts to the best of their abilities but also defending from the spells raining down from above. The demon lord is showing the world how fearsome he is. The presence of the demon lord together with his army only made the defense of the human race forts impossible. Even with the presence of a 14th tier magician, there is no difference because of the gap in power. The strongest magician the human race is Klein which is only at the 15th tier. With how much gap there is between the two forces, more forts fell within three days of the demon lord.

After occupying five forts across the defense line, the march of the demon lord stopped once again. This fact made all of the rulers of the northern human alliance nearly spit blood due to anger. Last time, the demon lord also took a total of five forts and now he took another five before stopping. What does this mean? It only means a single message from the demon lord. He was not earnest in crushing them but preferred to advance slowly and brutally.

This matter spread across the lands and all of the soldiers and logistic units cried out of indignation. They can accept if the opponent is too strong and they were to fall but being played like this is like a total slap in the face of the entire human race. The feeling of being inferior is foreign to them and it makes them nearly go mad. Actually, some of these soldiers went mad and charged towards the forts occupied by the demon lord and got torn to pieces. Some people can’t stomach the feeling and committed suicide due to despair. This matter only tells them one thing.

That it is impossible to beat this enemy no matter how much they try.

Despite that matter, the rulers of the alliance can’t possibly just give up and surrender. They don’t even know if the race will survive if they surrendered so they can only do things earnestly. They formed plans day and night to counter the demon lord’s army. They started to think of asking the help of other races this time. They saw how feeble they are and defeat is looming on their heads like a dark cloud.

The rulers decided to seek help from the east since they can’t possibly head towards the south as of now. The demon lord forces arrived at the middle of the Mirth and his forces are starting to close in towards the heart of the north. If the defense line is broken, then humanity can only resign in defeat and wait for the dark future ahead of them.

The notion was quickly approved by the leaders of the alliance and sent messengers towards the western wood dwellers. Even if they don’t have much relationship aside from the bland and tasteless one, they needed all the help they can help. They can only hope for the Western alliance to help them resisting the demon lord.

These emperors never knew that all their matters were already known by the western alliance. The elves as the majority of the western alliance know the relationship between human race and the past demon lords. These demon lords kept on culling their numbers to keep their power at bay for humanity to stand over them. How can the western alliance help them?

The western alliance has been suppressed for so long and now their oppressor is asking for help. The alliance can only treat them coldly. Even if they don’t retaliate now, there is no way for them to help the race which oppressed them and made the demon lords kill so much of their family. If not for the treants guarding the entire western forest, their situation will be so much worse than now. Besides, they also know the demon lord Drake. They are in no position to interfere with the business of their friend.

The elves, even if not all of them, know Drake to some extent. The bad blood between human race and the demon lord is well known in the western alliance. Wilhelm’s forest specially attaches great importance towards the matters about Drake. The lad stayed with the elves for some time to learn and they got to know this little ignorant and black hearted fellow. They know that Drake may be a bit crazy and relies too much on logic; they know that Drake knows how matters stand.

Because of these reasons, the messengers can only go home disappointed. They were not even able to enter the forest and meet a treant for the matter. The elves drove them away with angry curses and a few too close for comfort warning arrows. The messengers can’t do anything about when elves refuses to even have a proper conversation with them. Even with how much they tried to stay and force the matter, the elves were not showing any intent to listen to them at all.

When the messengers went back to the headquarters of the Northern Human Alliance, the emperors simultaneously cursed after hearing the response of the elves. They can’t understand why the wood dwellers won’t even talk to them. They can’t remember ever drawing bad blood with these fellows and they are too near with the forces of the demon lord. They are wondering if these fellows don’t see the forces of the demon lord as threat to them. They can only label those wood dwellers as idiots who can’t see the bigger picture. They are all thinking that after the demon lord is done with them, then the next target of the demon lord are them. How can they be safe when they are too close towards the north?

They can curse all they want and label some names towards the west; they can only accept the fact that there is no help coming from the west. They can only look for another alternative. This time, they elected the demon race. They know that the demon lord and these fellows are not on the same boat. The demon lord even chased them for so long and killed so many demons even if it sounded weird. For that reason, they think that they can actually form an alliance with them and ask for some help in exchange of some benefit for the demon race.

The rulers of the alliance quickly sent messengers to the biggest gathering place of these demons. Now that no one is hunting the demon race, some of them already scattered across the Mirth. Only these seven places remained and acted like a separate kingdoms. The rulers of these seven castles seem famous on the place which they came from. Many of the demon races called them the hundred generals of the pit and one ruler of the pit ranks at 4th place actually. The rumor said that the power of this demon reaches as high as 16th warrior tier. If they got the support of this person then they have many more assurance in coping with the demon lord.

As the emperors wait for the response of demon rulers, the demon lord once again acted. Once again, several forts were decimated and the demon lord’s army is now standing face to face with the main headquarters of the alliance. If they don’t receive anytime soon, the alliance will be broken and there will be no one to defend humanity when the time comes. Even if some brave souls decided to offer their lives, no one can prevent the steps of the demon lord. It will be too late.

Fortunately for them, six of the rulers of the demon race decided to participate and resist the demon lord together in exchange of some territory. If they can’t comply in giving about a fourth of their territory, the demon race will not aid them at all. With no other option left, the human race complied and decided to give them the area facing the west. The demons after reaching an agreement from the human race hastily sent their troops. Even if they are not many compared to the sheer number of the human army, most of them were at 14th tier either by magic or warrior. The weakest members of them also reach as high as 13th tier. The huge power injected towards the defense line boosted the confidence of the human race army and started to have some morale.

Demon lord Drake saw this but he did not do anything at all. He let the humans have their own sweet time while he waits at some random fallen fort. He seems waiting for something but so far nothing has ever happened even after a few weeks which were supposed the date of the march of the demon lord army.

When the matter came to be, the human race thought that it was the correct choice to ask help from the demon race. They thought that demon lord drake was now afraid of their combined forces. They are thinking that demon lord drake is not as confident as he was when he first came. With this propaganda spreading across the human alliance, the morale of troops also reached sky high. Now everyone is eager to fight especially when the fabled weapons called guns arrived at the defense line. With new weapons at hand, even normal people are able to contribute and they did so.

Humanity started to conscript normal humans to join the war. The fighting force of humanity instantly bloated which for them is a good thing. With new forces and weapons backing them up, they are looking forward to the day which they will clash with the demon lord once again. They are looking forward to let the demon lord know that humanity will not be beaten just like that. They were all in high spirit looking forward to it.

As the northern alliance was burning with fighting spirit, Drake was enraged instead. Not by the fact that the human race brought weapons such as guns but the fact that they can sacrifice all when it comes to their goals. They even asked about the devil for more power. Drake knows that these demon races which came to Mirth were not the kind of good fellows but the worst of the worst. All of those demons are powerful to some extent and they all wielded that power in the past with the wrong motives and intentions which ended them into the planar prison. Now, humanity has invited them with open arms on their own. Giving them huge land to settle down and have a primary footing on Mirth. What does this signify?

Drake was not having fear with the new forces the human race has. He was controlling himself to not go up there and burn the whole north. He can only grit his teeth to contain his anger with how desperate this human race is. He gave them time and peace to strengthen themselves which he may continue to do so if not for their ways. He would have let them off the hook and continue to live leisurely at some corner of Mirth. If only the human race did as what they should have.

“You all are really testing my line!”