With Princess E'Athar in the lead, the daemons trapped in Fort Mist rushed through the hole in the barrier, regrouping with the daemons outside.
At the same time, the remaining four daemon powerhouses unleashed their most powerful attacks towards Ysnay, General Anson, and me before rushing towards the hole in the barrier to escape.
I snorted and slashed with my sword twice. With the first slash, I cut down the attacks flying towards me. And with the second slash, I attacked the rearmost daemon.
"Dammit!"
The daemon powerhouse cursed and turned around to receive the attack. He filled the shield on his left hand with as much mana as he could and barely managed to stop my sword attack.
Unfortunately, his fate was already sealed.
Because at that moment, an angry Katherine raised a hand and cast a spell.
"[Windstorm]!"
Using her fifteenth-layer mana, she released her strongest spell possible.
And this time, the daemon powerhouse did not manage to escape.
In the next second, his body was cut by countless blades of wind, turning him into a bloody figure and finally killing him in a very painful way.
I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. Then, I put my sword back in its sheath.
I guess this is all for today, huh.
I don't need to chase the remaining daemon powerhouses. My goal was never to wipe them off after all.
Plus, Ysnay and General Anson are already chasing them.
I sighed and looked towards the green-haired girl in the sky with a smile.
"Well done, Katherine."
Katherine shook her head and smiled bitterly.
"Sorry… I did not manage to keep the barrier up. I let the daemons escape."
"It's not your fault, Katy. Do you think I'm unable to stop them if I want? The truth is that I never planned to wipe the daemons off completely."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
I smiled mysteriously and did not explain. Instead, I looked towards Rose, who was standing up after being blown away by the attack of the 'daemon powerhouse'.
"Argh… That hurts!"
I chuckled and descended beside Rose before patting her head.
"Well done, little Rose. You were amazing."
"Ugh… Stop consoling me. I was unable to stop the daemons from escaping… Sorry, Claus. If only I would have been a bit stronger, I could have stopped them."
... Girl, you realize that you almost destroyed my plan, right?
The poor Princess E'Athar almost died due to you. In fact, she would have died if not for my help.
I sighed and patted Rose's head twice.
"No no, you did enough. In fact, you did more than enough. Even I was surprised."
Very surprised.
"… Thank you."
Rose blushed slightly and smiled. She then looked at the retreating daemon army before tilting her head.
"By the way, should we chase them?"
"Stop. This is enough. Let them go."
"Really?" Rose nodded and did not insist.
In fact, she could see that most of the human soldiers were very tired. They probably could not chase after the retreating army in their current condition.
Five minutes later, Ysnay and General Anson returned from their chase.
They managed to kill another daemon powerhouse. In the end, only the daemon general and the Cardinal of the Daemon God Church survived.
However, they were heavily injured and most likely would not attack Fort Mist in a while. After all, the daemon army suffered very heavy losses this time.
Plus, with only two beyond-twelfth-layer powerhouses remaining on their side, they are seeking death if they attack Fort Mist again.
In other words, we had successfully defended Fort Mist.
…
The daemon army retreated in a fluster and their morale was at an all-time low.
After such a crushing defeat, even the most positive daemon was not in the mood to speak.
Fortunately, the human soldiers did not pursue them, so they managed to retreat without a problem. But even so, their losses were enormous.
When the army finally returned to the camp and counted the number of casualties, they realized that more than twenty-five thousand daemons fell in today's battle.
It was the daemons' greatest defeat in decades!
A pair of hours later, the daemon general was in a meeting with the cardinal of the Daemon God Church and the remaining higher-ups of the army.
"… Any of you have an idea?" The general asked with a grave expression.
The daemons looked at each other, but none answered.
The daemon general sighed.
"… I guess I can only report today's results to His Majesty and wait for his reply."
But at that moment–
"You don't need to wait for His Majesty's answer, General."
An ice-cold voice resounded as Princess E'Athar entered the tent.
The daemon general frowned.
"Princess, now is not the time for this."
"Now is not the time for this?" The Princess sneered and stared at the general coldly. "General, more than twenty-five thousand daemons died today. Tell me, who is going to take responsibility for that?"
"… What do you mean, Princess?"
"I mean that you must take responsibility this time, General. Your wrong choice caused today's losses!"
The face of the daemon general changed. He glared at the daemon princess angrily.
But before he could speak, the cardinal spoke up instead.
"Shut up, girl! Nobody could have expected this! Do you think you could have done better!?"
Princess E'Athar grinned and nodded. "I do. In fact, I remember that I warned the general of the possibility of a trap. If he would have listened to my words, nothing of this would have happened."
The faces of the daemon general and the cardinal changed.
The gazes of the daemons in the tent immediately fell on the two of them. Moreover, these gazes were quickly turning cold and filled with rage.
Someone needed to take the blame after such a huge loss. And it was undeniable that the daemon general had ignored the princess's advice.
With an ugly expression, the daemon general glared at the princess and snorted angrily.
"I don't have time to lose with you. Men, take the princess away!"
However, nobody obeyed.
The face of the daemon general turned ugly.
"Men! Take the princess away! Men! Dammit! Someone take this princess away!"
"Nobody will obey you, General." Princess E'Athar sneered. "After all, they also agree with my words."
"You…!" A livid expression appeared on the daemon general's face.
But then, he chuckled coldly and started to release his mana. "I see. I understand. Princess, oh princess. It looks like underestimated your ambition. However, I want to see if you are as strong as your ambition."
The princess narrowed her eyes. With a smile, she grabbed a nearby sword and chuckled.
"It looks like you are thinking about resisting your punishment, general."
"You don't have any right to punish me."
"Really?"
With a smile, the princess gathered her mana in her sword and took a step forward.
"I will show you then."
The next instant, she and the daemon general clashed.
...
I'm super sleepy right now...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels