We all move over to a large canvas map placed flat on the table, The Oracle not saying a word about my attitude.

A gruff looking noble wearing the garb of a commander bows to The Oracle and The King.

“For starters we should get the Hero party up to speed. The monster horde is full of approximately seven hundred Class 3s, Two thousand Class 2s and a thousand Class 1s. They are headed directly for this city and will reach the walls in 40 hours at their current pace.”

Nodding along I look over their map that is stamped with circles denoting the size of the horde and the time they were spotted at multiple points in the day.

It seems my horde of monsters picked up some friends along the way, no matter, this can only end one way anyway.

As the man who introduced himself as Commander Nickel describes the formations of the soldiers and adventurers Sera raises her hand nervously.

“Yes, Lady Varas?”

“Um, is The Oracle not going to be on the field?”

I hear a scoff from one of the nobles across the table.

Man, these guys are real fucking arrogant. She just asked a question.

The commander, clearly more professional than the buffoons who are just in the room for the achievements, answers simply.

“No, she will not be participating.”

“May I ask why?”

“As you may not know, even a Class 5 like her would be in danger facing off against such numbers. Her safety is a matter of national security and our soldiers are enough to handle a horde of this size.”

“I see.”

It is not just about the danger from the monsters either.

She is the backer of this nation and leaving her vulnerable in a field of monsters, regardless of her strength, could get her targeted by assassins from other countries.

I doubt he intends to say such things out loud though.

“The Oracle’s skills are best suited for organizing the battle anyway.”

Finishing his explanation, the commander turns to me and bows slightly.

“Hero, I hear you can create constructs of wood capable of facing off against opponents equal to the strength of the Mana Core you use. Is this true?”

“Yes, Though I can only create so many at a time and they end up a bit weaker than the core used.”

“If we provided you with the cores, how many would you be able to make before the monsters breach the forest?”

“I would say about one thousand if I had all the materials on hand.”

A shocked murmur runs through the crowd.

One thousand golems is a lot, especially if they are all Class 3.

I am basically a one woman army even without my Demon Lord title.

Normally I would be restricted by The System in how many golems I can have out and control at a single time.

However, after tinkering with the spells and combining it with my light magic, I can control an absurd number of golems at any given moment.

“We will provide the materials necessary. I would like to have these ‘golems’ stationed at the front.”

“Of course.”

“Aside from the golems, what abilities do you have that could contribute? I assume the Hero Title provides some benefits.”

Now that is a hard one to answer, I want to keep the exact nature of my abilities hidden just in case I do something that someone finds suspicious. I need to be able to blame any fuck ups on hidden Hero abilities.

I mull things over for a moment before settling on a vague answer.

“The Title keeps a lot of the truth of the skills hidden from me, so I can only talk about what I currently know.”

Nickel nods, gesturing for me to continue.

“Due to my low level I am mostly looking at some personal defense and anti-demon weapons. None of which will be all that useful at the moment.”

While I say “low level,” I am actually rather powerful compared to the majority of adventurers and soldiers in this room.

I managed to collect a large amount of Class 3 Mana Cores during the three months I hung out in the forest.

The most difficult thing was updating my Mana Core ring that I use to fake out the system.

“You are at the peak of class 3 I see.”

The commander and likely every other person in this room has identified me, getting back the fake results I put through.

“Yes, though getting to Class 4 is still out of my reach for now.”

I had been breezing through the classes for a while but ultimately I hit a wall.

Class 4 is not just a problem for me, it is a challenge for anyone who tries to attain it.

My body and soul are at their limits in terms of the energy I can absorb, sure, I can absorb far more than a normal peak Class 3. But I need to change something fundamental to reach Class 4.

Class 4 is when your magic leaves your core and materializes in the world around you before merging with your body and evolving at Class 5.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

For people in The System, they have specific instructions on grand feats to accomplish as well as a helping hand to connect deeply with your magic.

I have none of that, and my situation is already a horrible mess as it is.

Without the system I may be very stuck unless I can find someone older than The System to tell me how things worked then.

But that is a tall order when The System has been around for millennia.

Even Alice is not aware of the pre-system methods as she was created alongside the system.

For now, I have been working on a new, and slightly dangerous plan.

I need a good look at The System and its insides.

…

We are setting up right at the entrance to the forest ahead of the port town.

“The port town” is the title that adventurers often use to refer to the small marketplace and transport hubs right at the entrance to the forest.

A rather unclever term for a town bordering a place called The Sea of Trees.

We spend most of the day planning and all of the next moving supplies and soldiers to the frontline.

The sun is about to set and a cool wind is blowing through the grassy fields.

I see some of the adventurers shiver but ultimately confident of this day’s outcome.

Only Class 3 and Class 4 are allowed at the front while Class 2 and below are delegated to support roles.

Normally a Class 2 should be able to face a Class 3 with support from other Class 3s, but the nation's leaders see that as a pointless risk.

No reason to lose promising fighters by letting them get overconfident in a siege like this, not when there is no chance of the monsters making it past us.

I can hear murmurs from the people in my deployment zone.

“So that is the Hero?”

“She is so cute!”

“Does that mean this stampede is really the work of the Demon Lord?”

“I heard Bright and Carrion are getting hit as well.”

“Why do they have a Class 1 with them?”

“That is the daughter of the Varas family, I think the kingdom forced her into the party.”

“And after they let the Hero get murdered by her parents?”

I glare at the peanut gallery to shut them up before muttering to myself.

“Fucking politics.”

I look over at Sera and find her fidgeting.

I can’t tell if it is because of the incoming monsters, the rather harsh rumors, or both.

“You good?”

“Y-Yeah, just nervous.”

“Just ignore them. The opinions of people who don’t know the situation are worthless.”

She looks at me wide eyed.

I am not sure why though, it seems obvious to me that you shouldn’t care about the opinions of people who don’t know what they are talking about.

I try and think of more reassuring words, but I just end up blurting out my true feelings.

“I chose you to be in the party, because out of all the candidates, you were one of the only two that was a decent person.”

“T-Thank you.”

She looks shyly downwards with a smile, her red ponytail battering against her armor from the wind.

“If you need to take any frustrations out, then we got quite a few punching bags coming our way so use your magic to suppress them as best you can. We will take care of the rest.”

She nods vigorously.

With that, I think she will be okay.

I can only hope she gets a good amount of experience from this fight, and a few good System achievements.

It is a bit harsh, but she will certainly be dragging us down if she stays Class 1 for too long.

“Hey, no pep talk for me?”

Agera grins as he leans against a metal post he has sticking out of the ground.

“Nah, that dopey look on your face means I don’t have to worry about you.”

I grin back as I create a similar post out of wood with my golems.

“Rude!”

“Worry not, Agera. You will make a fine meat shield.”

Randall breaks into the conversation by smacking Agera hard on the back several times.

“Randall! Why is everyone ganging up on me?!”

Agera crosses his arms and pouts in an obviously fake manner.

This is nice, being able to joke around with people.

I hope I never have to kill these people one day.

“All joking aside, how much longer until the monsters get here?”

In response to Agera’s question, I wordlessly project a map of the area with dots marking the monster locations and another marking ours.

“Woah, I didn’t know you could do that.”

Sera stares at my perfect 3D map with stars in her eyes.

The soft white and blue display lights up the area as day finally turns to night.

A mass of red dots rapidly approach our position.

“Looks like we only have a few minutes left until they reach the vanguard.”

My golems are stationed right at the edge of the forest and quite a few are hanging out inside so that they can get the drop on the monsters.

“Just how strong are your golems exactly?”

Randall has been very interested in my golems since I showed them off during his interview.

As an Earth Mage, he has asked me many things about how I create them and what I use them for in hopes of improving how he uses his own magic.

“I fought them once, and they are damn tough. You were just starting at Class 2 then right?”

“Yep, now they are even stronger.”

Agera gives a rather wry smile at my confidence in my golems.

He got his ass beat by them already so he knows best out of everyone in the team.

“Those monsters are in for a rough time…”

As we banter the map shows the red dots crashing with the blue ones.

And instantly dozens of red dots start to vanish.

“Geez, you are like a one woman army.”

Ignoring Agera’s exasperation, I switch my vision through the many demons I have under my control.

I can see meeting rooms, bed chambers, city streets, and many other locations.

Time for the real fun to begin.

Demon golems are stationed all around the world stalking their targets.

I had not spent the last 3 months just hunting for cores to absorb and playing around in the forest.

No, I had been studying.

Profiles for important people all across the continent.

Nobles who are terribly corrupt.

Kings who seek nothing but greed.

Anyone I deemed unworthy of their life was being followed by an invisible mithril golem.

[Begin]

With those words sent through the light network, a slaughter ensued.

That's right, the stampede was nothing more than a distraction.

This is my real opening move.