Demon Realm (Main Character hides his Strength Book 2)

by Road Warrior

  He tossed aside the baton prepared by the joint effort of rulers of several nations without a second thought and left the military tent. He shouted toward the advisers following behind him.

  “Send word to Parlim Dargott. Keep the unit intact and immediately leave this place!”

  He no longer paid any attention to how he looked to the others, but he must have known how disgraceful his act was. He quietly called over his trusted adviser and secretly whispered into his ear, “Immediately head to my residence in Trowyn and grab everything that holds value before escaping South. There will be an airship at the Sky Pier under the name Sophia Breggas, use that for the escape.”

  Martin’s actions were ruthless. He abandoned his duties under the eyes of countless soldiers and commanders and fled south after deserting his own corps. There was no way that the battle would be able to continue after the head commander had acted in this manner.

  The central unit that possessed the most powerful military might of the entire allied forces quickly fell. Several commanders that chose to remain behind attempted to consolidate their own forces to stand against the devils and the Order of the Iron Blood Knights, but it was a meaningless resistance.

  The Devil Army quickly overtook central headquarters and tried to take hold of the entire Harupaya Ridge.

  “…”

  Sungchul watched the tide of battle turn increasingly bleak without a word. However, he was not the only one watching silently. The dwarves and elves who were in high spirits from their victory at the beginning of the battle were also watching the situation in silence.

  Any chance of overturning the battle had disappeared when Martin fled. The right flank had betrayed them, and the main forces had fallen. All that remained was the left flank, but they were also fated to be overwhelmed by their enemy.

  The commander of the allied forces of the Storm Battlefront that was left in charge of the left flank, Armuk Bakr, sounded the retreat, but no one moved from their posts. They stood resolutely as trees and boulders formed through the ages.

  “If we die, we die here.”

  “Humans may have a place to fall back to, but we have nowhere else to go.”

  The battle had turned bleak, but it could not break the spirits of the dwarves and elves. They let out a roar as they tempered their fighting spirits and poured out fierce opposition against the devils. The surviving human forces of the central unit soon joined the left wing, but the tipped scale of battle could not be overturned.

  The Devils leisurely surrounded the allied Dwarven-Elven forces who were entrenched within the tall mountains and began preparation for a final assault. It was at this moment when a monstrous roar rang out from the skies. The people turned to where the sound came from and began to point and shout toward the sky.

  “D-dragon!”

  “A dragon appeared!”

  A massive dragon covered in black scales appeared within the ranks of the Devil Army. The black dragon was the half-dragon, Kha’nes. The most powerful hermit within the Tower of Recluse.

  Now that I was getting ready to do some work, the Demon Realm Battlefront is falling apart. What’s up with that?

  Kha’nes who had been dispatched to find the cause of the altered Calamity had been procrastinating by exploring popular eateries and arrived late to the Demon Realm Battlefront only to discover that it was crawling with demons. She was attempting to move to someplace without devils and found herself involved in the battle at Harupaya Ridge.

  “Where did all those fucking humans go?! Huh?” Kha’nes shouted with a thunderous voice as she struck out with her tail and claw to ruthlessly slice apart the devils who were inferior creatures to her.

  “How is it fair that I have to step in because they couldn’t even stop a few garbage demons?” bellowed the dragon.

  The battle potential of dragons, the most powerful race, was indeed fearsome. Even Balroqs that were terrifying to humans were turned to ash once met with her breath. How would the lesser devils below them fare?

  After Kha’nes ripped enough devils apart, she rose back up into the sky to launch another breath attack. Massive demon beasts and Hell Siege Engines melted under the flames. The devils tried to retaliate with their crossbows and catapults, but they could not penetrate through Kha’nes’ scales. She was unmatched.

  However, even Kha’nes was not invincible.

  Oh, my. I’m starting to feel a bit peckish. As a half-dragon, she could turn into a dragon at any time, but there was a time limit. She felt her reserved strength hitting its limits and retreated from the battlefield.

  “Smell you later, devils!”

  Kha’nes began to swiftly fly south after having her fill of rampage, leaving behind mountains of devil and war machine remains. Unfortunately, she only managed to cut down a portion of their forces. This was nothing more than a small incident that delayed their assault in their eyes.

  After Kha’nes left, the devils consolidated their forces once again and began their advance to wipe out the remnants of the allied forces. The Mobile Fortress that was the dependable bastion of the humans stood at the front of the charge.

  It was a literal castle with eight legs attached to it made possible through magical engineering. This free-moving mobile fortress was the greatest asset of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights, displaying oppressive defensive and offensive might.

  The mobile fortress absorbed the dwarven artillery fire with its body and moved all the way up to the foot of the mountain before opening fire on the dwarves. Dozens of cannons opened fire onto the dwarven encampment and landed a strong blow against them. The dwarves tried their best to retaliate, but they were vastly outnumbered. Combined with the Hell Siege Engines from the other fronts, the siege units that the dwarves were so proud of were being demolished one by one. Sungchul tried his best by destroying a few of the Hell Siege Engines with his Meteor, but it was impossible to turn the battle with his efforts alone.

  When the dwarven artillery was neutralized, the devils began to attack from the skies. The winged devils began their assault en masse, but the Elven archers dropped them from the skies. But because their attention was focused above, the Demon Army on the ground was no longer impeded in their march toward the mountain.

  Dwarves could only helplessly watch as the dark tide of demons that had filled the horizon began to climb toward them as to swallow them whole.

  “Looks like this is it.”

  Several gryphons tore through the devils to escape into the skies. Several commanders and VIPs that had to survive were being evacuated. Kaal Bomba readily handed his own gryphon to Sungchul. “Ride this and escape human mage.”

  “Why would you do this for me?” When Sungchul asked out of surprise, Kaal raised his axe mightily and laughed with a smirk.

  “I feel as though you will be a greater help to future battles than I. I have never seen a mage destroy Hell Siege Engines that well!”

  He did not look back toward Sungchul before running toward the frontlines. He joined the bloody battle with a roar.

  “…”

  Sungchul gave a bow toward the dwarf’s direction to show his gratitude before hopping onto the gryphon. It gave a sharp cry before it began to flap its massive wings and flew toward the sky. Winged devils attempted to overtake the gryphon, but it easily clawed and pecked its way to the blue sky.

  Sungchul could see the battlefield much more easily from up above. The mountain range in which the allied force of dwarves and elves remained was completely surrounded, and the final bastion of the Demon Realm Battlefront that was Harupaya Ridge had been taken. It now looked like nothing could stop the invasion of the Devils.

  The gryphon that carried Sungchul landed by a lake not far from the battlefield. The commanders and VIPs that had escaped the battlefield were already resting by this lake.

  “Damned… That damned…”

  Armuk Bakr who had been in charge of the left flank was among them. The man who had managed to earn the trust of the dw
arves despite being a human and had climbed to the position of one of the commanding generals of the allied forces was furious as he watched his comrades currently being slaughtered on the mountain range with eyes filled with sorrow. “I’ll kill him. Martin Breggas. I vow to at least kill that bastard.”

  The Omens of Calamity were flapping their massive wings as they leisurely glided above the battlefield. They were a rare sight to see this far back from the front lines. It meant that the Calamity had drawn that much closer to this land.

  Sungchul turned to look toward the road. There was an endless procession of refugees on the road stretching south. One of the Omens of Calamity discovered this mass of refugees and descended upon them with its talon flared claws. The helpless refugees were nothing but fodder for the beast of the Demon Realm.

  The Omen of Calamity pinned a refugee with its massive claw and tore off the waist of another with its beak in order to swallow him whole.

  The refugees hollered and fled, but there was nothing more they could do. The guards tried to fend off the Omen of Calamity, but it only made a few gestures with its wing as to show its annoyance before escaping into the sky.

  The sound of a horn flute could be heard from the distant mountain range.

  “…”

  Sungchul who had been sitting powerless on the rock like the other stragglers suddenly rose from his seat. Armuk who had been cursing Martin Breggas looked over at him. Huh, who is that guy?

  He had definitely seen that face before. He dug through his memory to the festival in Golden City that was held to welcome the Summoned in order to recall a man with a similar face and attire.

  “You. I remember. You were one of the Summoned in Golden City, weren’t you?” He acted as though he was familiar with Sungchul as he approached. However, an elegant hammer with a long handle appeared in Sungchul’s hands in the next moment. Armuk’s jaw dropped the moment he saw the hammer. It was Fal Garaz. The hammer forged from a fragment of the sky; a divine artifact of the dwarves.

  “G-gulp!”

  Armuk who had been approaching him amicably fell back in shock.

  “…”

  Sungchul’s indifferent gaze turned in his direction. Armuk felt enough pressure to cause his heart to explode.

  Sungchul, with Fal Garaz in hand, walked forward in the direction of the horn flute. Divine strength gathered in his legs. His slow-moving feet suddenly couldn’t be seen as he headed toward the battlefield at an unbelievable speed.

  BOOM!

  Sungchul’s godlike figure appeared at the crossroad of Harupaya Ridge; evoking a cloud of dust in his wake.

  “Huh?”

  The devils over the ridge were already alarmed at his arrival, but they couldn’t react to the hammer flying towards them in time.

  BAM! WHAM!

  One man stepped over two bloodied corpses as he revealed himself to the devils. The devils didn’t quite recognize the man’s face that held the hammer, but they recognized the hammer and what the man holding this hammer represented.

  “D-demolisher!”

  That cry instantly spread among the devils. Unprecedented terror filled the eyes of a hundred thousand devils. Sungchul stood alone in the front as he looked down upon them.

  “…”

  The man called the Demolisher, the Enemy of the World, engaged the hundred thousand devils on the hill. There was only one man standing in their way, but none of the devils dared to meet his challenge so foolishly.

  There were a few that were watching this scene from a distance. Each of the gathered that saw the face of the man reflected onto the scrying orb reacted to his presence in their own way. One of them, in particular, was quite shocked.

  What in the world… it can’t be! Sujin looked in astonishment at the man in the scrying orb, with both her hands covering her mouth.

  You are the Enemy of the World?!

  ***

  Sungchul’s presence had a different weight than the appearance of Kha’nes the Half-Dragon. The flow of battle instantly changed. The haughty devils that had been preparing for victory instantly reeled back in fear at the appearance of their bane, and the devil army that had been ready to snuff out the Dwarf-Elf allied forces immediately ceased its assault and turned back toward the unexpected appearance of this era’s superhuman. Prontorowa, ranked eighth in the Demon Realm, was not pleased with this situation.

  “Why are you so scared? Your opponent is a mere human. Do you think it’s right for the proud demon race to be terrorized by a mere human?”

  The devil that had lived over ten thousand years had yet to see Sungchul personally, and this was why he was able to maintain a cool disposition compared to the other devils. Prontorowa gestured with his emaciated hand and relentlessly gave out orders.

  “Send out the Demon Beast unit!”

  Massive monsters appeared amongst the devils. A group of mutated Tam Tams stood at the vanguard. These monsters, which were a demonized version of the giant monkey Tam Tam, revealed their bloody teeth and roared.

  “Go!”

  The low-rank devil soldiers cut the metallic chains that restrained the mutant Tam Tam. The monster first tore apart the tamer that had abused it, then drank his blood before heading in Sungchul’s direction.

  BOOM!

  Followed by a quaking force, the mutant Tam Tam that had landed gathered his hands to strike toward the tiny human standing tall below him. The moment its fists reached Sungchul, Fal Garaz moved with blinding speed. The Tam Tam’s skull reacted to the swing of the hammer before its eyes could.

  BOOM!

  The massive monkey fell backwards with a shattered skull. Sungchul grabbed the leg of the gigantic mutant Tam Tam that was several dozen times larger than him and threw it toward the devils watching the spectacle. The mutant Tam Tam corpse that carried the momentum of his divine strength flew at a low angle before bouncing off the ground and rolling through the demon army.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  The corpse only managed to stop after flattening countless devils along the way.

  “W-what is that?”

  “Is he human? Is that thing still human?”

  The fighting spirit of the devils who had only heard rumors of the Demolisher took a huge blow.

  “Push on with numbers! That bastard is a human, so he’ll just get tired like that dragon a while ago!”

  Prontorowa flinched at Sungchul’s display of might, but he still wasn’t completely intimidated. He ordered the entire army to move toward Sungchul. The main force that had been attacking the Dwarf-Elf allied force now descended the mountain range and stood in formation before Sungchul. Winged devils of all different kinds gathered below the hovering Omen of Calamity, like a thick black storm cloud covering the sky.

  “The Devil King has spoken. The one that kills the Demolisher will be given 2nd rank within the Demon Realm and power to befit that rank! Anyone willing, go take the Demolisher’s life and glory shall follow!”

  Prontorowa ordered his entire military might toward Sungchul. Excessive rewards managed to abate the terror to a certain degree, and the memory of that dragon that fled in exhaustion after its rampage was still fresh on their minds. As Sungchul was still human, they believed that he too must have a limit and eventually reach a point of exhaustion. Not to mention that their forces had a hundred thousand demons. According to Prontorowa’s calculations, he would be able to put an end to Sungchul’s legend at the sacrifice of just ten thousand demons.

  BUOOOOOH

  The Devil’s horn flute indicating the advance rang out bleakly throughout the entirety of Harupaya Ridge. The demon forces that surrounded Sungchul had begun their assault.

  At the front of the charge were the Fallen Trolls, who were smaller than Demonic Beasts but still considerably large. The giants swung clubs as large as a fully grown adult human as they attacked Sungchul. The earth trembled when these massive creatures moved together in a group.

  “Hiiii… Why was I chosen by a person like this?�
��

  Bertelgia was letting out shrieks of terror from Sungchul’s pocket. On the other hand, Sungchul looked at the approaching trolls with a calm gaze. He raised his foot slightly when they came close.

  “…”

  Divine strength was instilled into his feet, and the slightly raised foot struck the ground once.

  BOOOOOOOOOOM!

  A force on a different level than one caused by the drumming of the trolls’ feet struck the earth. The ground not only trembled, but also shook violently. The trolls began to lose their footing in the intense tremor that resembled an earthquake. A dark light pierced through their formation like lightning.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  One blow for one troll. Fal Garaz’s brutal blows popped each of the trolls’ heads. Twenty trolls fell to the ground in a matter of moments, but Sungchul was still not satisfied. He entered the military base of the devils who had been holding their breath and watching the battle behind the trolls. He ceaselessly moved Fal Garaz in order to blow away all the nuisance in his way.

  BOOM!

  Dozens of demons flew away at each strike of the hammer, and that sort of hammering continued at several times per second. The immediate area around Sungchul turned into a no man’s land within ten seconds. All that remained were splatters of blood and flesh, but not a single drop was on Sungchul’s clothes nor was his breath ragged. He continued looking indifferent as he looked down toward the devils and fixed his grip on his hammer.

  “…M-monster!”

  “That… is not human.”

  It was then when the devils realized it. They could not overcome the human standing before their eyes, nor should they try to overcome him. It was not a matter of numbers, but their realization had come much too late.

  Sungchul now entered the ranks of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights. He began another round of one-sided slaughter. The mobile fortress that the Order had been so proud of instantly lost half of its legs and sat in a twisted form onto the ground.

  Sungchul, after silencing the Order of the Iron Blood Knights, immediately aimed for the Balroqs or Baals, or other such high-rank Devils hiding amongst the low-rank ones. He didn’t stop at simply killing those devils. He grabbed the horns of Balroqs to pry off their heads and grated the faces of Baals onto the rocky surface of the ground to kill them.