CHAPTER X

An old man with a golden crown on his head was sitting on a throne that was fit for someone of his might a true hero in his time and a person to be feared but now time had docileized this mighty lion into this old looking man who looked like he carried all the worries and sorrow of this world.

 “Your majesty we can no longer hold the wall we need all the help we can get…” said the trusted servant of the king Ardous Elior.

“I know Mujin…I know” said the King “we can only hope that the other countries agree to help as if we fall…they fall”

“But you know too damn well that they will only provide help if they are paid…we cannot agree to this they will strip us clean…” said the old servant

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN?” roared the king “I know that they will do so but I cannot help it. We need to look after the people first. I do not care for my life if the people survive”

The prince then interfered “Why father? Should we not just leave this place and let the people fend for themselves. It is the survival of the fittest here and if they cannot save themselves then the only thing they should do is to die for our survival. We are of noble linage and they must give their lives to us, let us just leave to Astora I am sure they would welcome us there-” although he spoke a lot he was finally cut off by the now infuriated looking king as he roared shocking the prince from the force of his shout

“ENOUGH, what kind of a king would place the safety of himself before the safety of his people? A captain would always be the last to remain on a sinking boat and so would a king if his nation was on fire. Where have I gone wrong raising you? Oh dear Efely, if only you were still alive…”

“My liege” said one of the royal guards of the king. “An envoy from Alsa and Astora has arrived”

“Let them in” said the king

The man that walked first was the minister of defense himself. It was Gligan Brisht known for being the undefeated warlord, he was known for his remarkable leadership and acute hunch.

The second one was a person that needed no introduction. It was Kansaki koujetsu a mastermind and a great politician with a natural knack for deception.

The first one to speak was the minister and getting right to the heart of the matter was his style.

“You need help, we can provide about two thousand mages and three hundred grand mages and twenty arch mages for defending the wall. With the addition of one thousand warrior all meeting the minimum of master. On the counterparty we will require fifteen percent of the yearly income of the country of Alikh this of course is regardless if we are able to repel the forces or not. We are not sure how many had managed to enter so we must take our own precautions as you can see.”

“This is madness” said Mujin “What would stop you from bailing out on us the moment you find ourselves overwhelmed? Or even just taunting the enemy without actually fighting this is a stupid attempt at an offer” then he turned toward the king and said “My king I would be more than willing to go there myself and recruit as many men as I can to shove back those demons where they came then to let you accept such an exploiting offer”

The king then said

“We are severely underhanded and we need as much help as we can…I am truly happy to hear your opinion on the matter Mujin but we need help…even if we have to ask the devil himself for it.”

I have a better offer said Kansaki

Then everyone on the hall turned back to face him.

“My country is ready to offer assistance to Alikh for free…”

Shocked and unresponsive the king remained, but soon was awoken from his stupor by the roar of the minister

“WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL OFF HERE KANSAKI?”

“Nothing actually. Like I said Alsa is willing to offer help for free. We are prepared to offer eight thousand mages to help close the gap and the assistance of all heavenly demons including myself. Our assistance will remain until we get full control over the gate breach point.”

The minister who was not believing what he just heard roared again

“THERE IS NO WAY SOMONE IS WILLING TO OFFRE THAT MUCH HELP AND FOR NOTHING…”

The king then spoke

“We are truly grateful for your offer but are you not risking too much for our cause…”

Kansaki responded while shrugging

“Well beats me…I personally would have asked for at least thirty percent of the yearly income but it seems that Gaz-sama has a soft spot for you. He was the one that decided on this the second he got back to his post.”

The king laughed at that statement and said

“He truly is a kind man…so Mr. Brisht now that we have support from Alsa I believe that your offer is not too tempting to accept at the moment”

Enraged and defeated the minister answers back

“We will then provide our help for ten percent of the yearly income of you country”

The King responded to the offer by saying

“Five percent and the assistance will remain until the breach is secured.”

The minister sighed and said

“Done…”

He then left immediately grumbling under his voice his clear dissatisfaction for the turnover of the situation.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“So your majesty I believe the entirety of our forces will be here in the span of three days. However, I have brought with me a small force that will be enough to quarantine the situation at hand.” Said Kansaki

The king whose looks were now brimming with hope asked Kansaki

“Who have you brought?”

“Well for the moment I have about two hundred grand mages and four heavenly demons. The rest as I have said will be here three day from now, you will need to give me the control over the battlefield so that we can handle the situation as we see fit.”

“Do as you wish. However tell me, of the four heavenly that you had brought…is he with them?”

Kansaki snorted at the statement and said

“Yes, he is…”

***

Back at the borders of Alikh a massacre was being unfolded. Humans losing their lives like flies to a candle flame

Demons and gores alike would taint and kill whatever was misfortune enough to cross their path. The Alikhian army was unable to push back the invasion even with the countless amounts of spells and fortifications they all fell to the onslaught that was coming to them. The devils now had fully secured the pathway to the country and were unstoppable. Many had wondered how come these creatures had never attempted to do any of this earlier but none was concerned enough to find out the reason as their lives and survival depended on closing the breach.

The Alikhian army was disorganized and totally incoherent their commander in chief lost his life to the one that appears to be leading the invaders and now his second in command is having trouble putting the forces back together.

The invaders had no need for sleep and seemed to be tireless as for the humans they could not fight both their feeble nature and the demons at once.

The hulking leader was closing the gap between himself and a tight congregation of soldiers and mages that were bombarding the invaders from atop a hill that was overlooking the entire scene of battle.

Their spells were seemingly inefficient as most of them either missed due to panic or bounced back from him due to his inhuman body strength.

 He jumped at the group swinging his enflamed axe aiming directly at the center of the group. If the attack would connect they would lose their last hope and commander and this battle will be for naught.

However as luck would decree they were saved from such a fate by a man none would have even foretold his appearance at this place. Ainz Greetman, the strongest human alive.

He jumped in front of the group crossing both his blades blocking the devastating strike. An explosion of wind and fire originated from the crossing of both blades.

“Ousay! Takeda! I got this one you guys handle those who are trying to encircle us. The rest of you mages try to hinder the approach of the other demons.” Said Greetman.

And almost instantly they all complied

A green haired maiden soon showed up near the gathering of the Alikhian mages saying.

“Who is the commander of this battlefield?”

A middle aged man wearing a golden attire showing that his statue was higher than the ones surrounding him said.

“I am the one supervising this battlefield who are you?”

The maid gave no mind to his question and immediately said

“Assemble all those that had been injured, reallocate the camp further back from the entrance. This position is already lost, we will need to tack it back later on, and we will be doing a tactical retreat until all of our forces show up.”

Looking infuriated the man shouted

“I said who are you? And why are you ordering us around state your purpose!”

Right after he had said that one of the demonic beings managed to infiltrate past the grouping of soldiers and jumped aiming his spear toward the middle aged man.

Although the man had seen the attempt at his life he was too shocked to react and too slow to try dodging, yet right before the spear that was launched managed to strike at him, the maiden casted a spell that summoned chains from the ground in front of the middle aged man, they swirled rapidly around the spear and managed to stop it before it had pierced the man’s heart. A second after that another set of chains wrapped themselves around the wrists of the flying demon and tore him instantly

instantly apart.

“Like I said, you need to reallocate the camp. It is too dangerous here.”

The man looked angry but still sighed and conceded to the request.

“We are pulling back. All of you retreat back leave the field and go back, we will set camp at the second checkpoint…this battle is lost.”

A strong clash of metal was resounding throughout the battlefield. Muffling all sounds of fighting due to its loudness.

The devil lord that was leading the invading forces was being pushed back by the unrelenting Ainz.

Every swing of Ainz’ swords managed to force the hulking devil a step backwards. He looked shocked to see that a human was able to harness such force and strength yet the devil roared in acceptance saying

“Finally someone worthy of my strength.”

After his shout the devil matched the same pace of Ainz’ swings strength and speed alike they were battling each other like it was no tomorrow.

Swing after swing none of them gave way to the other, they would sometime land a hit strong enough that it would push one of them a few dozen meters crashing into demons or soldiers alike. And yet they still kept on fighting.

Ousay and Takeda however were preoccupied with forcing the invading forces from encircling the retreating portion of the army. Each one of them took a side on the central hill.

The sword master Ousay managed to inflict heavy damages to the mindless beasts as most of his attacks were wide ranged and had great distances. He slashed at the air rapidly and constantly, shattering and crushing groups of monsters at a time sending slash waves of wind to tear them apart and breaking their advance.

As for Takeda, he forced most of the demons on his side into a halt due to his strong barriers and crushing force as he squashed everyone that was caught between two of his barrier magic like flies.

However the demons were too many to be stopped by just these men. Although with the addition of the two hundred grand mages and their power. This was still not enough to pushback this unending sea of monsters. They still however managed to force the invasion into a halt as most of the demons now were unable to pass through the chokepoint that was created by the arrival of this unexpected aid. They were all certain that the only one that could breakthrough and give them leeway would be their Devil lord. But he too was still preoccupied with fighting a human that should not have this amount of strength.

Most of the soldiers and mages that were atop the hill had now managed to flee back to a further checkpoint. Although many demons had managed to bypass them before the arrival of the help from Alsa, that point was still holding strong due to its geographical position as it was a natural stronghold. The only passage toward the center of the Alikhian country as it was positioned atop a mountainous area with a steep cliff.

Ainz soon found himself to be the only one fighting but he gave it no mind as his opponent was still far from tired. Nor was he. Although he was now encircled with thousands of demons, none of them had attempted to attack as they must have respected his ability to fight or were simply too afraid to act. Someone able to fight on par with the strongest of them is not one to be messed with.

Ousay now had fully managed to suppress the forces that were coming toward him. As for Takeda, most of the demons on his side had abandoned the idea of trying to breakthrough his barrier.

Most of the demons now decided to climb the central hill where the last two hundred grand mages were standing on but found no way to pass through as the bombardment of these ones proved to be superb and consistent.

“Ainz. The retreat was successful come back now.”

Nodding to the information Ainz then used a buff that ignited the veins on his body and filled him with power. He turned like a top and smacked both his swords onto the now blocking devil lord.

Although the devil lord had sensed the dangerous amount of energy that was coming from the man in front of him, he still failed to fully gauge the strength of this strike as it sent him flying hundreds of meters away into the group of demons, due to his size and the force behind that strike he rolled through his own men crushing them thanks to the impact.

Right after that the monsters looked in the direction of the now huffing Ainz and decided to charge all at once. Only to be disappointed by the fact that Ainz was now teleported away thanks to the help of the mages on top of the cliff.

The mission was a success…but the cost was too great.