Demon Realm (Main Character hides his Strength Book 2)

by Road Warrior

  “Can’t you at least count that much?”

  “My mind is getting rusty with age.”

  “More like you think it’s too annoying!”

  “…”

  “Sixteen shots of Meteors in reserve!”

  Sungchul calmed his breathing and looked down at the battlefield once more. There were still countless devil armies awaiting below the castle walls. Even with all sixteen… no, hundreds of shots of Meteor, it would still be difficult to get rid of all of them. Sungchul’s sights turned toward the Hell Siege Engines that exuded a fearsome presence in between the devil armies.

  If I can destroy those, the capabilities of the devil army would be brought down a peg or two.

  Sungchul concentrated his gaze on the Hell Siege Engines that had a form similar to a giant scorpion and began to chant the Aria in his head. He recited the activation phrase in his mind as indescribably complex intricacies of the spell flowed like a song through his consciousness.

  Meteor.

  Another magical formation appeared in the sky, and a blue meteor fell toward the devil army through the formation. Its target was the Hell Siege Engine. The bluish meteorite landed short of the hell siege engines which were battering away at the walls with greenish flames, but there was no need to recite a second casting. It was enough to simply let the mana continue to flow after the incantation of the spell. Another meteor soon fell toward the same target after the first that had landed near the Hell Siege engine.

  [Echo – 1]

  The meteor managed to land on top of the Hell Siege Engine. The waist of the giant scorpion snapped like a shrimp before it caused a massive explosion of fearsome green flames.

  “Sweet! This is how we do it!” Bertelgia exploded into cheer as she watched the flames shoot up into the sky like fireworks. But the battle was not over yet.

  Sungchul had only managed to rid himself of a single siege weapon among three. He immediately turned toward another Hell Siege Engine and began his incantation, but the devils were not going to simply watch it happen.

  “Every winged unit go tear that human to shreds!”

  It might have been the simplest solution to personally deal with the problem at hand, but the Commanders of the Devil Army tended to sit back and order around their inferiors. The Barloq commanding the Devil Army did not step up, and instead, commanded all of his aerial forces under him toward the Mage on the mountain peak. But before the demons could even reach Sungchul, another meteorite landed right on top of the second hell siege engine.

  Hell Siege Engines were infamous for their heavy plating and fire power, but it couldn’t withstand an assault of Meteor. Dozens of winged demons put the skies littered with green sparks behind them and charged at Sungchul. The Dwarves who were watching this did not stand by this time.

  “Go help that man! He is our savior!”

  The fortress surged with life once again and began to spit out terrifying artillery fire with the beating of drums. From ballista to grape shots, a variety of weapons were deployed toward the flying demons, and the demons that were caught within their web of fire were torn apart mid-air. Only a few of them managed to survive the attack.

  “Come inside, Bertelgia.” Sungchul, after collecting Bertelgia, postured himself as though he was snowboarding and began sliding down the mountain slope. The demons that were led by the Raptor Gargoyles began to dive toward him, but their timing was awry, causing them to miss by a narrow margin, which forced them to ascend once again.

  The demons began to gain a better feel for the timing and dove toward Sunghcul once again. Sungchul took a look at his pursuers and struck the ground with his iron sword as they approached. Fragments of rock shot out like buckshot and became embedded in the face and eyes of the pursuing demons.

  “Kiiiii!!”

  One of the demons that had become a bloody mess flew past Sungchul and tumbled down the mountain. Another demon aimed for the front this time, but Sungchul lifted his finger and used Glare to take care of it. The demon that was struck with the unavoidable beam of light in both of his eyes and mouth began to smoke from his mouth. It died instantly and crashed into a rock that Sungchul passed by.

  Sungchul peeked back once again. There were five remaining. However, he didn’t notice the presence of any tracking magic, and they were no longer visible from the battlefield as well. Now, he had no reason to hold back.

  Sungchul, who had been riding along the steep slope of the mountain, put his foot down on the ground. His rapid descent came to an abrupt stop.

  The demons that had been circling Sungchul’s vicinity felt suspicious regarding his sudden movements, but they also felt that it was an opportunity and immediately rushed toward him. Unfortunately, the consequences of opposing Sungchul, who had no reason to restrain his strength, were dire. He did not use magic or weapons as he gripped the demons with just his hands and grated their faces against the rocky surface of the mountain. A demon that had lost his comrades tried to escape as it was stricken with fear, but a stone from behind struck the back of his head causing it to pop like a grape.

  “Nice shot!” exclaimed Bertelgia.

  “…”

  After ridding himself of the demons, Sungchul hid his presence this time and stepped back onto the tall peak in stealth. The tide of battle had changed.

  When two of the three Hell Siege Engines were destroyed, the dwarven firepower reignited, causing the demons to be pushed back. The final hell siege engine tried to continue on with the assault, but it was focused down and destroyed by the dwarven artillery. The demons were forced to retreat at sunset, leaving behind innumerable corpses.

  Sungchul revealed himself to the dwarves who were cleaning the battlefield. They immediately recognized him and began to surround him with cheer.

  “We are truly grateful, unknown Mage!”

  “If not for you, we’d have truly died out here!”

  Sungchul looked at the dwarves surrounding him with a calm expression on his face. Stocky build with bushy beards. Every last one of them looked similar to one another, but thankfully, he didn’t find any recognizable faces among them.

  “I am a wandering Mage. Call me Ahmuge.”

  Sungchul introduced himself without reserve.

  Chapter 15 – Facing Them Alone

  Sungchul was able to meet the commissioned officers in command ranks at the dwarven fortress. Kevan Kemaal’s commander of defenses, Kaal Bomba, was among them. Along with a gruff voice with large hands the size of pot lids, the dwarf had bright eyes that lit up like lanterns as he briefed the room of the current situation while gulping down a large mug full of beer.

  Bomba himself wasn’t quite sure how the Devil Army managed to ambush them from the rear, but he knew of recent rumors from the frontlines of the Demon Realm.

  “I’ve heard rumors that the Order of the Iron Blood Knights requested reinforcements from Lord Martin. Not to mention, the Order was already in quite a poor shape from the continued assault from the Devil Army all throughout the winter. In any case, the Order of the Iron Blood Knights put aside their pride and asked several times for reinforcements, but the bastard Lord Marquis ignored their plea each time. It was only a matter of time before they fell.”

  “…”

  Sungchul knew all too well what kind of man Martin Breggas truly was. He was certainly a man who did as he liked, but he was not a man so irresponsible to neglect his responsibilities without reason.

  Another dwarf opened his mouth. “I suppose the rumors are true after all. The rumor that he decided to use the Iron Blood Knights as sacrificial lambs to elevate a bastard son of his, from a beloved mistress, as his rightful heir.”

  “That rumor. I’d like to hear more about it,” said Sungchul who suddenly showed a bit more interest.

  When the man they were indebted to, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up, the attention of the dwarves shifted all at once towards Sungchul. The dwarf who had been speaking took a few more swigs of his dr
ink before speaking again with a belch.

  “Martin Breggas looks like a person, but on the inside, he is nothing more than a dog in heat trying to sow his seed into every beauty he lays his eyes on. This disgusting habit allowed him a lot of progeny, but even the Marquis himself probably doesn’t know how many bastards he has.”

  The others began to laugh along and kept up with the banter.

  “I’ve heard that the conservative estimate goes over twenty.”

  “What’s twenty kids? I’ve heard there are more than a hundred.”

  Sungchul recalled Sophia Breggas’s final smile, she who died so tragically. Did that kid also come from a mistress?

  He had coincidentally seen the genealogy of the Breggas family upon one of his returns from the Demon Realm. He had seen Elijah’s name from the genealogy that recorded everyone from the founder to the current successor of the family name in the seemingly endless branches of the family tree, but he had never seen Sophia’s name. For her name to not be recorded on the genealogy meant that she was not formally a part of the family.

  “The problem is…” The dwarf who had been speaking suddenly shouted in a loud voice to clear the air. When the rumbling around him began to calm down, he spoke on.

  “The problem is that, even among the countless number of progeny, there is a single one that he favors! He loves that child enough to throw away the child he had with his own wife in the Demon Realm.”

  “Who is that?” asked Sungchul.

  “Parlim Dargot. A High Elf. He’s the child from a dancer of some renown in Trowyn. There is actually another rumor regarding that bastard.”

  “Oh?” When Sungchul showed a bit of interest, the dwarf gave a toothy smile and lowered his voice.

  “That the progeny that Martin adores so much might not actually be his own… Kehahaha!”

  The dwarf seemed to have found the rumor so hilarious that he didn’t manage to finish his own story before bursting into laughter. The other dwarfs laughed along in mockery of Martin.

  When the laughter bursting from every seam of the hall died down, the storytime continued. But the speaker this time was not a dwarf, but the commander sent by Kevan Kemaal, Kaal Bomba.

  “In any case, the rumor is that Martin is trying to make this progeny his heir. The man has no scruples and has already driven his wives and all of his other sons to their death. But even that impudent man thinks it’s unreasonable to make a bastard child of a dancer with no basis for the inheritance to become his legal heir. So, he is preparing a sacrificial lamb.”

  “Are you talking about the Order of the Iron Blood Knights?” asked Sungchul.

  Kaal nodded at Sungchul’s inquiry. “I’m sure they knew about it too. It was a popular rumor after all. But the Order has no strength. They couldn’t even pull their Knight-Captain’s son who was summoned from that other world through the Summoning Palace, so is there anything more to be said?”

  Sungchul recalled Ahram’s wolf-like face as the dwarf was talking.

  I’m the one who killed that kid. If I wasn’t involved, Ahram would have graduated from the Palace and been accepted into the Order.

  Every action has a consequence. Out of the many possible outcomes, there were bound to be a few that were outside of expectations. It appeared that Ahram’s death had been the final blow to the Order of the Iron Blood Knights, and a declining house was bound to collapse quickly.

  Sungchul tipped his glass as he contemplated the stories he had heard today.

  –

  The Order of the Iron Blood Knights was a military organization composed of the Summoned, especially those summoned from Korea. The Knights, with the Knight-Captain Sungtek at the head, were nothing more than a band of mercenaries until they positioned themselves within the Demon Realm Frontlines at what was known to be the most dangerous region and fought against powerful devils with their lives on the line.

  As the danger grows, so do the rewards. Their struggles looked fruitless, but in reality, the Order experienced massive growth. Starting with the Knight-Captain Sungtek, a few dozen under him quickly exceeded the level of Superhuman, and they began calling themselves Iron Blood. These were the humble beginnings of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights that rose to become one of the three most powerful factions in the entire continent including the northern region. However, the Order that had been on the fast track no longer existed.

  Sungtek might have been strong-handed in his formation of the organization, but he showed weakness in his ability to maintain such a massive group. Between schemers such as Martin Breggas, Aquiroa, and the Emperor, his organization was taken advantage of and discarded.

  There was news spreading throughout the fortress of the Storm Battlefront that even the final bastion of the Order had been relinquished.

  “The Order of the Iron Blood Knights has fallen.”

  “The Fortress of the Iron Blood Cross was forfeited, and the few that remain have given themselves to Martin Breggas.”

  “The Eastern Front of the Demon Realm Battlefront is completely abandoned.”

  “It’ll only be a matter of time before the Storm Battlefront is overrun.”

  Sungchul, who had been staying within the Dwarven Fortress as a guest of honor, could hear all of their gossip. They all contained grim and vital news. As people’s concerns seemed to grow heavier, a unit of Wyvern Knights entered the fortress. They delivered the command of Martin Breggas to Kaal Bomba even after returning with all manner of injuries after an attack en-route.

  The main force, led personally by Martin Breggas, is moving to strike at the Devil’s main force. All subordinate officers that see this news are expected to dispatch all forces except the bare minimum to maintain the line.

  So, he ended up moving personally. Martin Breggas, thought Sungchul.

  This was the worst crisis since the formation of the Demon Realm Battlefront. There had been several of them, big and small throughout, but there had been none that threatened its total destruction such as now. There was no way for Martin to keep out of the thick of it any longer.

  There was news that an army from the Elven Tribal Alliance of Varan-Aran which had been defending the west was now marching east toward the region overseen by the Storm Battlefront. Kaal also decided to send out every unit other than the injured and a few veteran soldiers to the east. Sungchul joined Kaal’s army as an honorary mage.

  The Dwarven Army sang marching tunes as they held lengthy spears five times their height while heading out to the land of death. There was a marching tune related to Sungchul.

  “Fucking Sungchul, Return Fal Garaz, You Son of a Whore, Sungchul the Eunuch, Give Back Fal Garaz, Shit of the World~”

  There was even a second verse. This was a widely known truth, but Sungchul was the first entry within the Dwarven Book of Grudges. If Sungchul revealed his identity at the current moment, it would most certainly lead to all the dwarves turning against him.

  “Man… you have a lot of enemies. Do you… have any friends?” Bertelgia shook from laughter as she spoke from her pocket.

  “…”

  Sungchul didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled her out of his pocket and tossed her onto the floor.

  “Ouch! You’re too much! Really!”

  The dwarves that saw Bertelgia fly shouted in wonder. The day passed by like this, and they finally arrived at some village. It was already in ruins by the hands of the demons. Sungchul discovered the half-burnt sign of the village within the ashen wreckage. It was written in Korean which he hadn’t seen since he arrived to the Other World.

  [신 파주]{New Paju}*

  “…”

  Sungchul and the dwarves could smell the faint stench of blood permeating throughout the village as they entered. There was a disgusting construct left behind by the demons who hadn’t left a single structure standing. It was a tower of stacked humans. Men and women of all ages seemed to have gone through some atrocious torture before being used as material for the tower while they still
held their breath only to die upon it.

  Those that died defending the village appeared to have been eaten by the demons. The corpse of a warrior that had been hollowed out of internal organs was left rotting on a dining table.

  “…those damned demons.” The dwarves had become calloused to the gore, but atrocities performed on civilians were revolting to a different level.

  The entire continent will be subjected to this Calamity if the front line of the demon realm is breached. Sungchul resolved himself with this thought as he knew the demons better than anyone else. Humans were food and playthings to the demons, and the two could only be eternally at odds. There was also no need for diplomacy or negotiations with demons.

  Kaal Bomba’s march had slowed, perhaps due to the pitiful scene of the village.

  Sungchul’s group managed to see the fluttering flag of Martin Breggas after two days had passed. The military flag with the image of a winged skeleton holding a sword was visible from far away. Under that flag were several hundred other flags, representing roughly thirty thousand soldiers. A diverse army from various battlefronts and from all over the continent had gathered in one location.

  The largest and the most central of the forces were the militia of Trowyn lead by Parlim Dargott known as the progeny of Martin Breggas. Sungchul could see that the group was a militia in name only and that they didn’t fall behind any of the knight’s orders in equipment or number after a single glance.

  Parlim Dargott was a handsome man with a confident and charismatic demeanor. He didn’t share any resemblance with Martin as the rumors said, but he had a large presence that seemed to draw the eyes of every person near or far. It was a sharp contrast to Elijah who was similarly handsome yet lacked strength and leadership.

  Parlim sought out every captain from various regions and introduced himself while discussing his unit’s size and role with a confident and concise manner.

  “Hmm. That’s the rival of the kid that turned into a High Devil? Honestly, this guy’s a lot better,” said Bertelgia. She was in agreement with Sungchul’s opinion.