Chapter 407: The Battlefield (1)
“Oh Lord[1].”
As his believer called out to him, Agaroth opened his eyes.
He had been resting for about an hour. The call that had come from right next to him was spoken at a low volume, but apart from that, all of the other sounds in his vicinity were extremely loud.
There was the sound of metal objects, such as spears and swords, clashing together. The sound of slicing, stabbing, and crushing. And also the sound of screams and loud roars.
The sound of various things milling around also created booming and rattling thuds. And among all of this chaos, there was a high frequency of bestial screeching that couldn’t have come from any human tongue.
Brushing back his shaggy hair, Agaroth muttered, “Is the situation still the same?”
“Yes, my Lord,” his believer’s voice came to him from an inappropriately close distance, practically whispering into his ear.
Her sweet, warm breath tickled his ear and cheek as she spoke. Ordinarily, he would have pushed her away in disgust, but right now — even as a joke, there was no way the current situation could be called ordinary.
Agaroth was familiar with war. He was also familiar with the battlefield. However, strangely enough... he couldn’t feel any sense of familiarity from this war.
While feeling an irritating sense of discomfort, Agaroth clicked his tongue.
“Will you be ordering a retreat,” the woman continued to whisper with a giggle.
In this turbulent era that was brought about by the Demon King of Incarceration, this woman was a court witch who had once turned the king and all of the ministers of a country into her puppets, placing the entire kingdom beneath her feet.
At one time, she had been called the Twilight Witch and was regarded as an object of reverence[2]. In a certain sense, this witch had been even worse than the demonfolk and the Demon Kings. After placing the country beneath her feet, she had trained her subjects into total obedience using the stick of terror and the carrot of pleasure, and her terrifying notoriety had made even the monarchs of the surrounding countries avert their gaze from her actions.
But this was a story from long ago. Among the countless wars that Agaroth had fought and won, the toppling of the Twilight Witch had just been one of them. In the heart of her ruined castle, the Twilight Witch had begged him not to kill her but instead take her as his prize.
Nowadays, the Twilight Witch had become a Saint and the High Priest of the God of War.
In the countless wars that had been waged by Agaroth, she had faithfully served as his advisor, and that remained the case even now. She might have a playful and light-hearted smile on her face, but a cold and calculating look had settled in the Saint’s eyes.
“Even though the current battle has gone on for so long, there is still no end in sight. My Lord, your Divine Army is brave and will never tire, and so long as you exist, their morale shall never falter. However...,” the Saint hesitated.
“I know,” Agaroth assured her as he rose from his chair. “This war is very different from those we have fought until now.”
It was not a matter of difficulty. You could tell that just by looking at the battle itself.
If he had to rank them in terms of difficulty, there had been wars in the past that were much more difficult than this one. For example, when he had conquered the territories of some Demon Kings, there had been the Demon King of Fury who had shamelessly abandoned his men and escaped all by himself. The war against that Demon King had been much more difficult than this war as a whole.
However.... Up until now, as long as they managed to repeatedly win the most difficult battles, they would eventually be able to achieve victory in the war itself. But what about now?
This battle itself didn’t pose any difficulty. These monsters might be able to destroy an ordinary country in a single instant, but they were nothing compared to the army that followed Agaroth. Since the war against these monsters had begun, Agaroth’s army had yet to suffer even a single defeat.
“We have already achieved countless victories, but the war has yet to end,” Agaroth sighed.
That was the problem. This war just would not end. They couldn’t even see any signs of how to end it. Each time the monsters were annihilated in battle, new monsters would just appear.
Moreover, this cycle was gradually growing shorter. At first, it had taken the monsters three or four days to reappear, but at some point, it had become two days, then one day, and now, after wiping them out, new monsters would appear in just half a day.
The monsters were weak. However, they weren’t so weak that they could be easily stepped on and killed like a bug.
“My Lord, I urge you to retreat,” the Saint pleaded as she embraced Agaroth’s arm. “Even now, after having defeated thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of these enemies, neither you nor I nor any of the soldiers have been able to fully comprehend the identity of our enemies. However, you must be able to feel most keenly the depths of our mysterious enemies’ atrociousness, don’t you, my Lord?”
Agaroth remained silent.
The Saint continued, “After all, our enemies’ blood itself is poisonous and is able to erode away even your divine power. we have managed to endure this until now because your presence transformed the entire battlefield into a holy ground. If not for that, all of our soldiers would have gone insane and committed suicide or tried to tear each other to pieces.”
Agaroth had reached the same judgment. Within his sanctuary, the soldiers who served him would not tire as long as his divine power remained standing. Their minds would remain clear at all times, and even fatal injuries could recover immediately.
However, now... that was no longer the case. Just like the Saint had said, the poisonous blood leaking from the corpses of the defeated enemies was eating away at Agaroth’s divine power. Though rather than his soldiers, Agaroth was the one to feel this impact even more deeply.
The Saint apologized, “Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but if we continue to fight here, we—”
“And what happens if we do retreat?” Agaroth interrupted the Saint as he shook his arm free from her grasp. “If we retreat, do you think those monsters will remain here? Their goal is to completely eradicate all living beings, no matter how far they need to travel. There is no need to reconfirm it at this point. After all, they’ve already left several destroyed countries in their wake.”
“My Lord, there is a saying that you should fight poison with poison. What if your Divine Army leads the enemies away and diverts them towards the Devildom instead? After this tide of monsters destroys all of the countries of the continent, they should then advance towards the Devildom in any case, so why don’t we let the demonfolk and Demon Kings, whom you so hate, fight the monsters in our stead,” the Saint proposed.
“Are you seriously saying that?” Agaroth glanced towards the Saint.
He thought she might just be making an inappropriate joke, but the look on her face seemed to say that was not the case.
After looking into the Saint’s coldly collected eyes, Agaroth shrugged, “...The God of Giants has conveyed his intention to lead his followers to join the Divine Army. And also, the Sage has said that she will be coming as well—”
“Ahahaha...,” the Saint burst into laughter before Agaroth had even finished speaking.
She tilted her head to the side as she looked up into Agaroth’s eyes. Her disdain was obvious within those purple eyes that shone as brilliantly as carved gems.
“My Lord, pardon me for questioning you, but... do you really think their support will be of any help?” the Saint demanded.
Agaroth did not respond.
“This is a war that even you, who are known as the God of War, cannot handle,” the Saint pointed out. “Of course, I’m aware that the God of Giants is as immense and strong as his name suggests. Some say that the God of Giants can lift the entire continent with just one hand, but according to my calculations, while he might find it difficult to do it with just one hand, it seems doable if he were to use both of his hands.”
“...Hmph...,” Agaroth snorted.
“As for the Sage. Yes, that vicious woman is a great wizard who has reached such heights of magic that I will never be able to touch. But the eternal truth that that woman pursues will not be able to lead us to victory in this war,” the Saint took a step closer as she continued to speak.
Her hand reached out and invaded Agaroth’s personal space again. Her long fingers began to trace the muscles of his forearms. The Saint licked her lips in a blatant show of sensuality. Gradually, the Saint’s hand wandered up towards Agaroth’s neck.
“My Lord,” the Saint seductively whispered. “In the first place, is winning this war really so important to you? Your greatest desire has always been to slay every last Demon King, so killing these monsters of unknown origin is just—”
“You overstep yourself,” Agaroth’s eyes narrowed in warning.
The Saint felt a chill come go down her spine, but she didn’t step back immediately. Instead, she continued to caress the side of Agaroth’s neck.
The Saint pleaded, “My Lord, please do not be offended by my words. Every word that comes from my lips is spoken only for your sake.”
Agaroth stared at the Saint with calm, sunken eyes. His gaze felt sharp as it focused on her; it was as if it could pierce a hole straight through her lungs. However instead of feeling afraid, the Saint felt as if the inside of her body felt warmed by his gaze.
“...I’m already aware of that,” Agaroth admitted. “In the end, by prolonging this war, all I am doing is cutting away at my own flesh.”
If things had gone according to his plans, his war against the Demon King of Incarceration would have already begun by now.
When he had first arrived at the end of the continent and confronted these monsters — he had thought that the war taking place here would merely serve as combat training for the upcoming battle against the Demon King of Incarceration. But to retreat now, hmm.... Agaroth seriously considered the Saint’s advice.
It was impossible to just ignore these monsters altogether. Should he ask for cooperation from the gods and nations allied to him? Would he be able to wage his war against the Demon King of Incarceration while they took over the duty of blocking these monsters?
‘That’s impossible,’ Agaroth shook his head.
There was no way that these monsters didn’t have a source somewhere producing them. Because such a source existed, these monsters could continue to appear like this.
If he could just succeed in eliminating that source... but he had already thought about that dozens, even hundreds of times, before. Ever since this war had begun, various methods had been used to try and find the source of these monsters, but they had all failed.
It was like these things had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. There weren’t any signs of them being summoned either. They truly seemed to have manifested out of nothingness.
Could a Demon King be the one sending these monsters at them? Agaroth had also had such a thought numerous times. Agaroth had slain several Demon Kings so far, and he had also found a lot of information on those Demon Kings that he had yet to kill. But as far as he knew, among the Demon Kings who were still alive, no Demon King existed who could be so powerful to have innumerable monsters under their command.
But although he knew many things, that did not mean he knew everything about the Demon Kings. The source of these monsters....
For some reason, the name of a certain Demon King appeared in Agaroth’s mind.
The Demon King of Destruction.
Agaroth had been waging war against the Devildom for a long time, but he had never once encountered the Demon King of Destruction.
The Demon King of Destruction didn’t claim any territory like the other Demon Kings. He didn’t even have any vassals sworn to him. He also did not go around invading other countries. Because of that, he was a Demon King no one would be able to find even if one went looking for him.
Not much was known about the Demon King of Destruction. That was because most of those who did encounter that Demon King perished, and of those who barely managed to survive, they had all gone insane.
Thanks to that, Agaroth hadn’t rushed to make a connection between the monsters that had suddenly appeared here and the Demon King of Destruction.
However... if the master of these monsters indeed was the Demon King of Destruction....
In that case, just how terrible of an existence must the Demon King of Destruction be? If all of these many monsters, whose numbers were endless even though they were killed time after time, were the subjects of the Demon King of Destruction... then what on earth must the Demon King of Destruction be like...?
‘There’s no way that they are truly endless,’ Agaroth told himself as he tried to restrain his growing anxiety.
He couldn’t allow himself to fear an enemy he had yet to face.
Agaroth opened the door of his tent and headed out.
Roooar!
The battle cries resounded from nearby. And just beyond those high walls lay the battlefield.
When Agaroth emerged, the soldiers who had been resting outside turned to look at him. They didn’t get to their feet, kneel, or bow down to him. It was true that they all worshiped Agaroth, but Agaroth and his soldiers didn’t have a relationship like that of a lord and his subordinates or a god and his believers but instead, they were all comrades in arms.
“The situation?” Agaroth demanded.
“It’s the same as it has been until now,” a hulking giant replied.
The man was a passionate believer who had the symbols of Agaroth tattooed all over his body, and he was also a mighty warrior who was both trusted and valued by Agaroth, having followed Agaroth since before he had ascended to godhood.
Agaroth glanced at the mighty warrior and grumbled, “You should have taken command of the battle while I was taking a short break inside the fort. What are the men supposed to do if you’re in here as well?”
“Damn it, Captain,” the warrior spat, “It’s not like I’m here to just slack off[3], now am I? After all, I’ve only come here for a brief rest after I was injured while fighting at the front.”
This wasn’t just an empty excuse. The mighty warrior’s body truly was covered in wounds, and he had just been in the middle of applying some medicine to those wounds by himself. At this sight, Agaroth clicked his tongue and raised his head.
A dark red ball of light shone down from the center of a cloudy sky. Although it looked very much like the sun, it was not actually the sun. It was a miracle that had been created through Agaroth’s divine power. Wherever the light of this dark red sun reached, the place was transformed into holy ground, and while on such holy ground, his believers' wounds would—
“Damn it,” Agaroth cursed.
Usually, while on holy ground, such wounds would have healed directly without Agaroth even needing to pay any attention to it. Agaroth let out a sigh and flicked his hand towards the mighty warrior.
Crackle!
A surge of divine power flowed into the body of the mighty warrior, and his wounds were healed instantly.
The warrior groaned, “Argh, I really hate it when you do that... after all, it shortens our lifespan, doesn’t it?”
“Even if it does, it will hurt less, so you will still live longer than if your wounds remained as they were,” Agaroth responded without the slightest bit of change in his expression.
His miracles might be able to heal wounds in an instant, but the cost of doing so was taken from Agaroth’s own divine power as well as the lifespan of the patient.
However, Agaroth didn’t really think much of such a cost. After all, if they really wanted to live as long as their lifespan allowed, they should have gotten away from the battlefield. If someone insisted that they wanted to live a long life even after choosing to come to the battlefield and fight, then that person would be spouting a load of bullshit.
“If you’re all better, then let’s go,” Agaroth said as he strode off.
“Ah, Captain, hold on,” the mighty warrior, who had gotten up to follow Agaroth, suddenly called out to Agaroth and handed over a ring that he had just pulled off of his finger. “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”
Agaroth hummed assessingly, “It seems you drained quite a lot of its divine power. But even with that, you weren’t able to end the battle?”
“We almost managed to finish it a few times, but every time we drew close, they kept getting more reinforcements, so we weren’t able to finish them off in the end,” the warrior explained.
Agaroth put the ring back onto his ring finger. All of the soldiers who had been taking a rest got up and followed after Agaroth.
Grrrrind!
The wall gates began to open of their own accord.
Agaroth frowned, “Reinforcements, hmm... so now we’re finding it difficult to even wipe out a wave of them?”
The warrior shrugged, “If you were to fight them personally, Captain, you should be able to annihilate them easily. Though they’ll probably just reappear again later.”
“These damn bastards,” Agaroth cursed. “Having fought this far, we can proudly say that we’ve done our best, so how about we leave this problem up to another god and just head back on our own?”
“Don’t say something that you don’t mean,” the mighty warrior, who had been serving Agaroth for so long, replied to the joke without even a single moment of hesitation.
“Good luck[4]!”
As Agaroth and his soldiers were heading out through the gates, the Saint climbed up to the top of the walls and shouted her encouragement to them while waving away with both hands. While it was true that she was a High Priest and a Saint of the God of War, she rarely went out to the battlefield and fought in person.
“Rather than letting her play around like that, how about taking her with us and making her fight?” the mighty warrior grumbled.
“It’s not like this is the first time you’ve seen her act like that. Just let her be,” Agaroth said dismissively.
The warrior sighed, “Haaah, even now, after ten whole years have gone by, I still don’t understand why you took in that evil woman, Captain.”
“Her head actually works very fast when it comes to certain things. Unlike you or I, who only know how to fight, she’s also good at things like management,” Agaroth excused his decision.
After all, the Twilight Witch had once ruled an entire country. Even the mighty warrior was forced to recognize that she possessed such an ability. However, now that they had grown to this point, was there still a need for Agaroth to keep her at his side?
When he first took the Twilight Witch as his prisoner, Agaroth hadn’t been a god, and there weren’t many talented and resourceful people around him. But after becoming a god, Agaroth had gathered into his company some of the greatest heroes from all across the continent, including ones who could have replaced the Saint in her role.
“In the end, you just can’t throw her away because you’ve grown attached to her, right?” the mighty warrior accused.
Agaroth accepted the accusation calmly, “It’s not like I’ve ever denied it.”
The warrior snorted, “Hmph, we should have just killed her then....”
“I’m just curious, but did she ever do anything particularly offensive to you? Why do you still hate her so much?” Agaroth asked.
The warrior complained, “Captain, while I’m fighting hard in your stead, shedding my sweat and blood, that fucking slut just keeps cheering us on from behind and going into the Captain’s tent to do some shady things.”
“Don’t say things that could be easily misunderstood,” Agaroth scolded. “We’re not in that kind of relationship.”
“Of course, I know that Captain, but if you and that fucking slut really were to end up in that kind of relationship...,” the mighty warrior shivered. “Phew, it’s terrifying to even imagine it. With a bitch like her, who’s so skilled at wrapping men around her fingers[5], even you might not be able to escape the pull of her skirt, Captain.”
“I’m not just any ordinary man,” Agaroth corrected him.
“Also, it’s not like I’m the only one who hates that bitch,” the mighty warrior said defensively. “Even the Sage secretly asks me whenever she occasionally visits, ‘So just when are you going to execute her?’”
“It’s not like she’s done anything terrible enough to justify her death, and I’m leaving her alone because she’s both loyal and helpful to me,” Agaroth replied while staring ahead with a grim expression on his face.
All across the wide plain before him, he saw that the battle was in full swing. So many monsters were approaching from the horizon that they filled his entire field of view.
After roughly estimating their numbers, Agaroth nodded.
“I’ll get rid of them for now,” Agaroth firmly stated.
“Yes sir,” the mighty warrior readily accepted this claim.
Agaroth gave the orders, “If there are any of the men whose wounds haven’t recovered, carry them back into the fort. And if any of the men are dead... take care of their bodies.”
“Yes, sir,” the mighty warrior nodded.
Agaroth’s figure disappeared. At some point, he had already flown high up into the distant sky, leaving the battlefield behind him. When he glanced down, the heads of the monsters were so densely packed that he couldn’t even see the ground beneath their feet.
“There’s a disgusting number of them today as well,” Agaroth grumbled as he stretched out his hands.
The divine power gathered between his palms took the form of a large Divine Sword.
1. The original Korean text uses a term that translates as a respectful way to address God. Using Oh God seems a bit strange, so I borrowed from Christian tradition to substitute Lord in place of God. ?
2. The original text uses a specific word that means to respect something while also keeping a distance from it. After some consideration, I felt that reverence should give the same sense of respectful distance. ?
3. The original text uses the Korean idiom of sucking up honey, which basically means to be a wage thief who is resting while all of his coworkers are busy working. ?
4. The original text uses the English word ‘Fighting!’, which Korean people use to encourage each other when facing difficult challenges. ?
5. The original Korean text uses the idiom of cooking and serving a man, which has the same meaning of being able to make a man do whatever you want him to. ?
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