Chapter 96: The Carnela Port Recapture Operation (3)
The sight of demons massacring their own kind unfolded right before my eyes, as I rushed to intervene. The crocodile demon, wearing a twisted grin of sheer delight, swung his sword down with malicious intent. The crocodile demon, who noticed me, widened his eyes and directed a twisted grin towards me. The smile, a mixture of hatred towards me and the mad ecstasy of being able to satisfy it, could only be described as grotesque.
I knew that he would swing his blade with no hesitation or mercy. Understanding that, I deliberately didn’t draw my sword. I had confidence that I could win without drawing it, and more importantly, I had no intention of killing these demons, only subduing them.
There were two reasons why I didn’t want to kill. The first reason was that I disliked senseless killing. And the second reason was that I didn’t know what Karelvo would do if I killed his demons. In other words, it wasn’t that I was kind or compassionate, but rather that the mental burden of facing potential harassment from Karelvo outweighed the efforts of capturing the demons in front of me alive.
“I never anticipated the opportunity for revenge would present itself so soon! I’ll kill you! Nobody would care anyway if another corpse was added to the battlefield!”
The crocodile demon pointed the tip of one of his swords while carrying the other on his shoulder, and roaring with a thunderous voice. Upon hearing his words, I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t dealing with simple-minded creatures. Rather, their cunning nature was at work. In a situation where there were numerous corpses, including those of the demons, the addition of my own lifeless body would hardly be a cause for concern.
However, I also recognized the shallowness of that line of thinking. The wounds inflicted by the Republic’s artillery and gunfire on the corpses differed significantly from those caused by the fangs and blades of the demons. Any knowledgeable observer would easily discern the differences.
Furthermore, if he was shouting so loudly, it wouldn’t be surprising if the sound was already carried to the ears of the demons with keen hearing, like Mika, or even Marcellus, who was a normal human. In the unfortunate event of my demise, the culprit would become all too evident.
“Hahaha! A lively prey! Bring it on!”
Just as the crocodile demon prepared to face me, another demon darted past his side. This particular demon seemed to be a fusion of a wolf and something else; his eyes were bloodshot, and saliva was dripping from his mouth as he charged towards me. Truly a bloodthirsty beast.
However, his advance was abruptly halted. The demon was pierced from behind by a flying spear. Without understanding what had just transpired, the demon collapsed on the spot, coughing up a massive amount of blood.
“That one is my prey. I won’t hand it over to anyone,”
The one who had thrown the spear was the leech demon that had previously frightened Lappy. It seemed this demon held a grudge against me as well. But even so, to actually kill a comrade just for that reason? I truly couldn’t get along with these guys.
“What? I’m the one who will kill that bastard! Get lost, you creepy insect!”
“…Insect, did you just say that again? Bastard, I’ll kill you before anyone else!”
…They had begun killing each other without any provocation. What was happening with these demons? Was Karelvo not intending to control them? I couldn’t make any sense of it. Regardless, my current task at hand was to quell all the ongoing combat right before me.
The clash of three weapons, two swords swung with brute force, and one spear wielded with equal force, sent sparks flying around the place. Both were rough and fierce, but lacked skill, appearing nothing more than crude swings of power. It seemed their skill in handling weapons was virtually nonexistent.
Seizing the opportunity, I leaped between the two fighters. With both hands, I grabbed the crocodile demon’s dual swords while entangling the leech demon’s spear with my tail. I successfully restrained both of them at once.
“You basta-gueeee!?”
The first target I chose to subdue was the crocodile demon before me. I shattered his knee with a low kick, then pulled the seized swords closer. Unable to maintain his balance due to the broken leg, the crocodile demon’s head drew closer to mine… and I delivered a powerful headbutt to his forehead.
I heard a crack, as if the crocodile demon’s skull had fractured. Though this blow didn’t render him unconscious, the impact caused his brain to rattle, and he crumbled to the ground from his knees.
“Damn it! Let go… of me-guoooooh…!”
I restrained the fallen crocodile demon with sand conjured through my spiritual arts. He struggled while moving his limbs, but he lacked the strength to break free from my spiritual bindings. However, to prevent any troublesome outbursts, I wrapped sand around his long snout, preventing him from making any more sound.
He was now rendered immobile. With that done, I released my grip on his swords and turned my attention to the rear. There, the leech demon was fixated on pulling out the spear entangled by my tail. Since he clearly had no grasp of handling the spear, he found it easier to just discard the weapon and come charging at me barehanded. This posed no issue for me.
“Guhaa!”
Swiftly turning around, I struck the leech demon’s face with a backhand punch. The slimy sensation I felt upon impact wasn’t due to the water from the river but rather the mucus on the demon’s surface. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
After staggering a little, the leech demon finally released his grip on the spear. I tightened my tail around the weapon before snapping it in half. Now, he wouldn’t be able to use the spear anymore. Surprisingly, instead of losing consciousness, the leech demon opened his arms wide and lunged at me, attempting to grab me whole.
“Physical attacks don’t work on me!”
Ah, indeed, there was a peculiar sensation I felt when I struck him just now. The head beneath the mucus’s surface, so to speak, felt somewhat squishy. When I used this demon as a blunt weapon against the crocodile demon in the fight before, it had an effect, so it’s not that physical attack doesn’t work, but rather that it’s difficult to have an effect. If that’s the case, I’ll just have to render him powerless through means other than normal strikes.
I intercepted the hands of the leech demon with the exoskeleton part of my forearm. In response, he twisted his grotesque face into a smirk and tightened his grip on my forearm. Then, using something on his fingertips and palms, he began to chip away at the exoskeleton.
“Tch, it’s tough?! How is it so tough?!”
It seemed that the fingertips and palms of the leech demon had small mouth-like openings, and he appeared to be trying to do something with them. However, there was no way he could bore holes into my exoskeleton. In response to the astonished leech demon, I hardened my toes like a spear and thrust them into his abdomen.
The sharp fingertips managed to break through the slimy and elastic skin, but perhaps due to my restraint, only the tips of the claws pierced through. If I had been serious, my foot might have gone right through. It seemed that while the demon was resistant to blunt strikes, he wasn’t as resilient against slashes or thrusts.
The leech demon finally collapsed in agony this time while spewing a disgusting colored liquid from his mouth. Seizing the opportunity, I bound him with sand and restrained him as well.
“Die! Die! Die, you aaaaaagh!”
“Don’t you dare interfere!”
After capturing the two individuals who were my initial targets, the rest was easy. They were just a bunch of aimless killers, so they had left me alone and went to focus on finishing off the injured demons. Their backs were fully open, and I quickly succeeded in restraining them all.
When I observed the captured demons, their heads protruding from the sand shells, I realized that I should consider what to do with the demons who were still alive and suffering. While I was pondering this, six presences rapidly approached us from the south while flying through the sky. There was no mistake—it was Mika and the others.
“Are you all right? I have heard and grasped everything that happened through my hearing abilities. Mr. Marcellus is already aware of this as well,” Mika said.
So that was the case. In that case, things would be resolved quickly. I should ask Mika and the others to transport the heavily injured individuals who were on the verge of death. After pointing to the gravely wounded demons lying motionless on the ground, Mika acknowledged me and carried the two remaining conscious demons under his arms before soaring through the air.
When I turned my gaze to the remaining five individuals—Farl and the others—they hastily followed suit, carrying the wounded with the same speed as Mika. With this, there were no longer any gravely injured demons teetering on the edge between life and death, but there were still plenty of injured demons unable to move. Using my spiritual arts, I created large hands and gently enveloped the injured individuals as much as possible.
“Ugh…”
“It hurts…”
The injured demons could only endure their pain and had no room to attack me. This worked out in my favor. Without waiting for anyone to say anything, I started running south.
When I returned to where Marcellus and the others were, I was taken aback. The bridge that was under construction on the empire’s side of the river had already crossed halfway across the river. In other words, while we were battling those unmanned drones, repelling those self-propelled artilleries, and subduing demons, the construction of the bridge had already reached the halfway point. I had heard that the empire possessed significant national power on the continent, but this was a humbling reminder of their true strength.
“You’ve returned. Line up the injured individuals here. And those sand shells over there are the troublemakers, I presume?” Marcellus asked.
“…Yes.”
“I see. Then keep them restrained as they are. If they were to rampage here… we would have no choice but to kill them.”
While calling them troublemakers seemed an understatement for these excessively violent individuals, I understood what Marcellus meant and nodded. Besides, I agreed that if they were to rampage here, killing them would be the only option. It would be absurd to release these deranged individuals and have our comrades suffer needless injuries.
Subsequently, under Marcellus’s orders, Mika and the flying demons kept watch in the sky, while I and the demons who had been trained by Mika on the ground remained vigilant for any approaching enemies. Just because the enemies had retreated once didn’t mean they wouldn’t come back for another attack.
Among the remaining individuals, those capable of using healing spiritual arts tended to the injured, while the rest, including myself, monitored the restrained demons. The restrained ones had suffered minimal injuries and were unnecessarily energetic, shouting obscenities as they struggled. While I didn’t believe they could break free from the spiritual restraints I put on them, it was better to remain cautious. Tigar and the others wore expressions of exasperation as they kept an eye on them.
In the end, there was not a single sign of anything approaching from the north until the completion of the bridge. As soon as it was finished, the empire swiftly began their crossing. We positioned ourselves at the edges to ensure we wouldn’t obstruct the leading group passing through.
However, the most pompous looking imperial soldier in the leading group stopped in front of us. Seeing this, Marcellus and the others lined up and saluted. It seemed that this imperial soldier held a higher position than Marcellus.
“Vice-Captain Orox, well done on your mission. You may return to your regular duties with your subordinates,”
“Yes, sir! Division Commander…”
“What are you all doing?!”
Suddenly, another voice boomed, interrupting Marcellus just as he was about to express his gratitude for the words of praise. Every member of the demon squad recognized the voice. It belonged to the most irritable and unpleasant man….it was Karelvo’s.
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