This Isn’t a Game

“…”

Morgos’s decaying figure and the immense tide of death gradually receded, merging together, and finally became a moving shadow of despair on the horizon.

A biting wind whipped up sand and dust, striking Vivian’s cold face, but she felt nothing.

A fire of anger burned in her heart, but what followed was a deeper, colder understanding and a sense of powerlessness.

Was Morgos a bastard?

Yes, a complete and utter war fanatic.

But his words had cruelly pierced the reality of the Demon Clan—survival.

Vivian stood rooted to the spot, watching Morgos’s retreating figure in silence.

Although his methods were indeed bastardly, Vivian could, to some extent, understand his actions.

The world does not revolve around one’s personal will—demons need to eat too.

This was the real world, and the NPCs in a game didn’t need to worry about eating, drinking, or excreting.

They just had to wait obediently for the players to come and farm them.

Ever since Vivian was defeated and captured, losing the protection of a Demon Lord, a large swath of territory had become unsafe.

The displaced demonic creatures chose to seek refuge in the territories of neighboring Demon Lords, which naturally increased the food burden on those other territories.

Using war to digest the surplus population and alleviate the temporary pressure of demand was the most normal choice.

Vivian’s command had numbered around a hundred thousand demon troops, a scale that wasn’t particularly exaggerated among the Demon Lords.

But when you factored in the subsequent surviving population, the number of demonic creatures would surely be in the millions, or even tens of millions.

Even if not everyone fled their homes, there were certainly hundreds of thousands, or even millions, who did.

And for a population of this scale to suddenly flood into someone else’s territory, even a Demon Lord couldn’t conjure more food out of thin air.

…This wasn’t a game.

This was the real world.

Using “surplus” lives of no value to wear down the enemy, to create opportunities for the valuable core forces, while simultaneously alleviating the unbearable pressure of survival within the territory.

It was the most rational course of action.

Vivian gazed at the grand army rolling away, taking a deep, difficult breath.

She could only wish him “good fortune in battle” in her heart.

Regardless, her faction, for now, was still the Demon Clan.

If the Demon Clan won a great victory, her own living environment would naturally improve.

And if the Demon Clan was defeated… she wouldn’t be much better off.

Moreover, with her own life and death uncertain, Morgos, as the Emissary of War, truly had no obligation to take care of all her former subjects.

And following the coldest, most efficient method, his actions… were faultless.

It was time to change her old way of thinking.

She was now the Demon Lord Vivian, not the human Bai An.

“L-Lady Demon Lord?”

After a short while, a trembling, cautious voice broke the dead silence.

The succubus Luna mustered her courage and came to Vivian’s side, asking in a small voice.

“Are… are we safe now?”

“…We’re safe. Let’s go. We’re going home.”

Vivian nodded, responding softly.

Her voice was low, yet it carried an unquestionable strength.

At the same time, her hand couldn’t help but gently rest on her abdomen.

‘Can I, and the child in my womb, survive in this chaotic world?’

“Hah.”

Vivian took a deep breath—at this point, she could only take things one step at a time.

After Morgos led his grand army to charge the human front line, the path ahead was completely clear.

Vivian could finally set her mind at ease and begin the journey back with her tattered old forces.

“However, this isn’t over.”

Vivian squinted her eyes in the direction Morgos had departed.

She wouldn’t let this matter go so easily.

In the future, she would have to get something back from Morgos, one way or another.

But for now, the priority was to withdraw her old forces from the front line.

After the grand army had moved out, a considerable amount of supplies remained in the rear military camps.

At the same time, the field hospital units belonging to Morgos’s army began to move forward, ready to receive the wounded evacuated from the front line at any moment.

Vivian, naturally, was not polite.

She ordered the other party to first treat some of the wounded among her old forces.

The medical personnel didn’t waste words and immediately began treatment.

Vivian wasn’t courteous either, directly taking the supplies her group needed to return to their territory—of course, only after she had scanned the area and confirmed that Morgos’s army had plenty of supplies to spare.

However, according to the personnel in the rear, today was the day Morgos had originally planned to launch his attack anyway, and the surviving members of Vivian’s old forces would have received the treatment they deserved.

After all, those who could survive a month in a meat grinder were, no matter what, elite and battle-hardened soldiers.

Even Morgos would be reluctant to let this group of surviving elites suffer further losses.

But unfortunately, Vivian was taking them away, and the survivors had almost no intention of remaining in Morgos’s faction.

And while the wounded were being treated, Vivian also had a chance to rest and catch her breath.

“Phew… I can feel my stamina has decreased.”

Vivian sat on a wooden crate, panting slightly, and couldn’t help but feel a little tired.

This wasn’t just physical fatigue; it was more that Vivian was feeling the pressure—not just because the confrontation with Morgos, the Demon Lord of Rot, had drained a lot of her mental energy, but more because of the situation she was now facing…

Not only did she have a child in her belly, but she also had over a thousand mouths to feed under her command.

Before, when Lucia hadn’t come storming her gates, the newly transmigrated Bai An could peacefully study her new body because a well-established and effective system was already in place.

Even if she took her hands off the wheel, others could handle the affairs of her territory.

But now, although she didn’t know what her territory had become in the two months she was away, Vivian was not very hopeful.

And just as her mind was wandering, suddenly, a dazzling silver radiance erupted on the distant horizon!

Accompanying it was a tornado filled with the power of corruption and death!

“…Looks like Morgos and Garen have clashed.”

Vivian raised her head and looked toward the direction of the battle, murmuring to herself.

“Well then, Morgos—can you win this battle?”

Gazing at the front line where fierce fighting had already begun, there was not a trace of emotion in Vivian’s crimson eyes.