Enclin was with me and the other monster warlords.
I was in Masara's courtyard.
"Lord Mir, your demonlord status would have you in the capital, the last line of defence against troops and heroes."
Then he looked around.
"You've only got 2,000 men and monsters here. They're not going to stop anything. You risk falling victim to the mages here. They know you're here. The spies..."
I raised my paw.
"Our 3 heroes know what they have to do and here we're buying time. The day after tomorrow we're marching on the Nordic duchy."
I started to growl at them to shut up.
He turned to the shamans, who saw that I was mad and living in my disillusionment.
The humans who remained were defending their families or guards and were part of the clans banished and criminalised in the other states.
Basically, they were bandits with nowhere to run.
The monsters wanted the fight and the gold of their victims.
It was 1 against 25.
Then the night was interrupted by thousands of torches pointing like stars in the night.
The vast plain that separated Masara and the capital stretched out on the other side, leading to a series of deforested hills. The battlefield would be hemmed in by the plain so that catapults and other siege engines could be brought within range. About 300 metres from the walls, with catapults and enchanted ballistae.
What worried me most were the anti-dragon balistas.
Krii and Kraa stayed with Blanche to protect my empress from a surprise or magical attack.
I had ordered the civilians to flee the area and get as high up as possible.
They were setting up camp and would start in the morning.
The instructions for tonight were to make sure there was no sabotage, but there would be.
Kratos kept watch with me while I buffed all the fighters, summoned imps and hellish terrors.
It was all in the system menu. Minor demons and servants.
I assigned these horrors to guard the ammunition and any intruders.
A hundred or so lizard men came as reinforcements and a group of ten or so lamias. Women with snake bodies up to their torsos. They specialised in the magic of petrification and the manipulation of poisons.
The lizard men specialised in close combat, not only with daggers but also with teeth and claws.
They were given instructions for rubber masks, making them all look like orcs.
I had all the available fibreglass and spider silk armour fitted and I had the barrels of brandy and honey opened so that everyone could enjoy a good meal before the battle.
I ordered the most tired to sleep and rest, while the imps and golems kept watch.
Then, at the crow of the cock, the fires were extinguished in the Duke's camp and white smoke indicated that they were gathering and preparing to march on the fortress.
The next hour was filled with the sound of bugles, massive wooden wheels and pulleys creaking on their unoiled axles and the neighing of the many horses pulling these structures.
One of my inventions that was particularly appreciated by the generals was my long telescopic sight made of 2 cut and polished glasses, encircled in a wooden tube, sliding in a hardened leather tube.
"10 catapults, 3 siege towers and 2 battering rams, 20 ballistas and whatever else is behind the hill."
In an hour, around 9 o'clock, we'll be in range!
I whistled and the wooden boxes were opened.
Enclin gasped.
"Hundreds of grenades???? Catapult bombs?"
Then the archers picked up their compound bows with an arrow that looked like a spinning top.
There were hundreds of them, no... 2000? 3000?
But he sighed.
In his head, he made a calculation. At 1 to 25... it would be 1 to 14 perhaps, if he was optimistic... and if he was even more optimistic, the siege towers destroyed... but the others aren't stupid... they'll find a way around it... And on the horizon, his fears, his worst fears, materialised.
A dozen giant imperial eagles, each almost 15 metres tall, a dozen griffins in armour and... a bronze dragon, a Draconis, not a Wyvernus... So certainly sentient.
The fateful hour arrived and the hill in front of the fortress was packed with people. There must have been between 45,000 and 50,000 warriors, soldiers, knights and certainly champions too.
You could see the archers in the second line with the pikemen and tankers in the front.
To the side were hundreds of horsemen ready to charge and, like a conveyor belt, the black mass drew inexorably closer.
When the archers came within range of us, everyone stopped. They were about 400 metres from the first lines of defence.
Kratos lowered himself from the courtyard into the air and landed in front of the defence lines, out of range of the archers, with a white dewlap in his mouth. This was a common signal for parley.
It served as Enclin's escort and on the other side, a coppery dragon almost as big as Kratos advanced with the Duke mounted on his horse.
Kratos immediately noticed that the dragon was a female. He liked her, but he already had Blanche's mum, a winter wyvern, white as snow and with crystals for a crest.
They stood there for a moment, sizing each other up, before Duke Salos spoke.
"I present myself, Duke Salos of Fabergé of the Duchy of the North".
"Enclin, General-in-Chief of the human and imperial armies of His Majesty Emperor Mirmoelnir of the Forbidden Forest".
"General, either you're incompetent or you've come to surrender or join us in liberating the central continent from the Demon Lord and the Infernal Witch".
Enclin cleared his throat and then looked at Kratos.
"Hello Duke of the North. My nephew, Mir will crush you and you will serve as an example to any city or town that secedes. "
The dragoness laughed. "I never thought a wild wyvern had enough intelligence to reason and speak! My name is Etincelle, because I shine with wisdom, intelligence and power.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I think that, let's say, it's sad to be on opposing sides, but your arrogance is what will get you killed. Why do you stay with the demon lord? Your family is well treated and all these people want to end it. Let's just say that for me, it's a domain and the fortress, I'd make a den out of it."
Kratos: "Mir is my family and whether he's a dragon lord or a wild wyvern, he's in a relationship with my daughter! No one will harm him."
Duke: "Why don't you surrender? You'll be reunited, at peace and the soldiers forgiven. The orcs and monsters will be able to live here if they make a non-aggression pact with the coalition states. "
Kratos: "Mir is in a relationship with Chlorophylle. She's his wife!"
The Duke spat on the floor!
She's a witch who sleeps with the devil! Mir is a demon and you should protect your daughter! "
Etincelle: "I'm going to kill that Mir. He's an insult to the dragon race. Mating with humans is a taboo punishable by death among dragons. All halflings are killed on sight. They are abominations!"
Kratos: "We'll end in blood, but let me warn you... Others are coming. They're here! 2 of the heroes are living proof. "
Duke: "What the hell are you talking about? Are you stalling or something?"
Enclin: "He means you should look at the stars. A ship from the Heroes' home world is approaching and they're way ahead of us. When they arrive, the world as you have known it will cease to exist."
The Duke stepped back a little and spoke to a manacom.
"Enchantress, have you heard?"
"Yes, Salos, but even if they're right, right to wipe out this whole world so we can face this new danger. That's why we have to march on the fortress and then we'll take the capital in pincer!"
The Duke returned to negotiate.
Kratos: "Mir's message is simple, just like you, he wants peace and harmony and a return to normal life. He asks that you be reasonable and join his troops."
Duke: "Negotiations might have been possible if Mir wasn't a Demon Lord."
"If he surrenders, his powers will be taken back and he will be able to live in a sealed reserve with his female but not with the witch. This is my last proposal. I hope your men have written their farewell letters. I'll allow a page to take their letters home. If you do not comply, within 20 minutes we will begin the assault and all proposals will no longer be valid. You will lose the grace that is offered to you now."
Kratos turned round: "Try to survive, Etincelle, you're a beautiful dragoness, but your tongue is poisonous".
Etincelle: "Rattlesnake!!!"
That was how the dragons insulted the wyverns, whom they considered to be pseudo dragons, but above all, game!
The silence was oppressive and the grasshoppers and crickets could once again be heard singing in the grass. Perhaps this would be their last song.
The warriors looked at each other and the goblins sneered, insulting those who were about to die.
Then, the crowd opened up to let a kind of carriage pass.
A veil was removed and a large black gem on a carved gold stand was glinting.
An anti-magic gem!
And it was a directional weapon!... everything in a kilometre-long cone that was caught in the reflection, could not cast spells!
The shamans felt despair sweep over them and they looked at their troops to see if they should stay or flee...
The gem was also blocking my powers because it had accumulated enough mana like a big battery. It was the Duke's secret card but Etincelle was his second biggest card!
The harpies took to the air and the archers expected to shoot them down like partridges, but they just kept going up and up.
The horns sounded and the mass marched in a single movement, to the rhythm of the drums which were used to maintain the pace and give certain instructions such as advance, stay, shield, shoot. But the last instruction was given by trumpets.
I had ordered the harpies to aim at the orchestra! Divide and break to better lead!
Black bunches fell and archers tried to hit the bird monsters, but the range was too short, even with magic.
When they reached the ground, the masher didn't explode immediately and the knights laughed and sniggered.
"They want to kill us with presses--" BANG!
He didn't have time to finish, his head and arm were blown off by the grenade, followed instantly by the dozen or so others.
Pages and drummers were killed. Some were apprentices and barely teenagers.
Duke: "Archers! Fire!"
But their volley was too short, a few metres, but the goblin archers fired the arrows, much further and right into the middle of the archers.
They were a hundred arrows compared to the Duke's archers, who fired thousands per volley.
Bottles?
"Funny spikes" said a soldier. The projectile didn't have the speed to injure with its cutting edge but...".
A series of explosions devastated dozens of enemies but the advance continued.
Each arrow wounded or killed 4-5 infantrymen but they were closing in inexorably.
The Eagles tried to rush the goblin archers, but the balistas on the towers came into view.
The Duke grinned
At this distance, no chance, they are trained and will dance around the crossbow bolts.
But when the shots were fired, a shrill noise followed. Each bolt was flanked by a rocket made of cardboard and chemical fuel. The thrust accelerated the bolt to more than double its maximum height.
The Birds flapped their wings to gain altitude, avoiding the tiles but .
BOUM.
Each ballista bolt was filled with sharp scrap metal and nails that shot off in all directions like an anti-aircraft shell.
Thousands of fragments and rods perforated legs, wings and intestines and 3 eagles fell.
Immediately, another volley fired at the approaching griffins and they were able to avoid the worst, thanks to their luck of being in the background and having armour that absorbed the shocks, but one of them went into a spin in the fortified zone. Their fate was not enviable when the goblins pounced on them.
But the Duke remained cool, seeing almost a thousand of the 50,000 men on the ground with horrible, debilitating wounds.
He tightened the palm of his sword and shouted: Charge!
The goblins pulled bundles of straw to one side, revealing parallel ballistas.
Dozens of charges exploded in the angry mass, killing a hundred warriors in a single blow.
They shouted "No mercy for the monsters!
When all the ammunition had been fired, the carnage revealed that 2,000 men had lost their lives, mainly archers and pikemen, because they were disorganised, the mass arriving in packs, and with no instructions other than the screams of the Duke and his deputies.
The catapults began to charge, but the grenades from the harpies and Imps reduced their numbers.
The archers then regrouped and set about protecting the mobile assault towers, along with the mages.
The Duke signalled to Etincelle, which took off.
He expected me to take off and breathe fire on the attacking troops.
Thousands of men amassed, while the goblins and monsters took refuge on the passageways and ramparts.
As soon as the towers approached, Enclin sighed. "It's the end!"
The losses were mounting as the human archers were far more numerous.
Mentally, I sent a message to Blanche: "Now, you can send reinforcements, but don't come any closer. They mustn't spot you".
Etincelle circled the castle
"DEEMOON LORD!!! LITTLE DEMON, little wyvern is afraid??? come out of your hiding place and fight!"
She knew that my powers were sealed by the big gem and that all I had left were my breath, my strength, my teeth and my claws.
A dragon had an advantage because it could use its front legs and cast spells. My only advantage was that a wyvern flew faster, more agilely and had a stinger.
When all was lost, and the mass was converging on the gate with a battering ram and the assault towers which came into contact with the wall, like a big staircase where the troops could surge over the defenders, I whistled to pull on the ropes protected by tubes buried in the ground.
And the pressurised tanks released the acids, which poured into the moat.
The mixture was atrocious:
Mustard gas!
The monsters and imperials put on their "orc" masks, which were in fact a sort of snout made from cloth, latex and fine charcoal.
"HUUUUHHHHUUUU"
This was the cry repeated on the battlefield.
"My eyes! It burns! "
Quickly, they all put on their canvas protection against the acids. But the gas... it goes everywhere!
"I can't breathe!"
"My face! It's stuck to the helmet! Arghh"
"My skin! It's cooked!"
This was repeated all over the battlefield.
In fact, it was no longer a battlefield, but a suffocating morgue. They had nowhere to go and those who found refuge on the summit were riddled with arrows and the grenades began again.
Other ballistas fired at the dragon, who was taken by surprise and when the rods exploded, he fell like a lead pheasant into the courtyard where he faced me!
Surprised by my 35-metre height, I kicked the dragoness, who groaned under my blow and exploded against a wall.
She was stunned, then I threw a vial of chloroform at her and she collapsed.
Gas-loaded ballistae fired and saturated the sky with mustard clouds and this caught the eagles and griffins off guard and they fell. Only 1 eagle and 3 griffins managed to escape, coughing and spitting out their lungs.
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It was carnage, and all around the towers and ramparts, dying horses, and the great army that had once been so powerful was reduced to nothing.
The Duke tried to retreat, but the wyverns pounced on him and he was torn to pieces by Kratos, who devoured him, his army on the run.
But the 2,000 survivors of the 50,000-strong army were immediately torn apart by the imps and my wyverns.
[https://img.wattpad.com/546d7fbdc5e1fdb4cc3f9af1c8123fd7224faae5/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6779424e434b78373072473466673d3d2d313335303232363837362e313736363330643036323336326235383135393636303932302e6a7067]
The enchantress said nothing, paralysed!
The system was incapable of analysing these weapons from another world.
It said: Impossible combination of poisons and acids. 100% lethality
She cursed: "MONSTER!
The sad thing about this situation was that those who died were also citizens of the Empire. They had families, but here it would serve as a warning.
Mir, the DemonLord, was no longer to be taken lightly.
Enclin, seeing the carnage, retched. Then the Orc shaman slapped him.
Mir isn't crazy! He's one of us! A real monster among monsters!
My XP was rising astronomically and was dinging in my head, telling me that I was levelling up, that I had access to new demon and dragon spells and that my prestige currently exceeded that of the 8 other demon lords on the planet.
I was attracting the attention of the monsters and demons of the abyss and gaining favour with the Demon God.
But I didn't care. I thought about how to treat my "prisoner" and vicious thoughts built up in my male wyvern head. My dream of a harem...