An Incomparably Wise Choice

“B-but the results of the battle just now were truly abundant…”

The Shadow Demon captain Gangrel’s voice carried a hoarseness that was forcefully suppressed.

“We could have inflicted even more casualties on the humans, torn even more flesh from them…”

With that, the Shadow Demon captain bit his lip, his eyes still filled with reluctance as he looked at the Head Maid before him.

“The Lady Demon Lord said that she requires absolute obedience.

The Lady Demon Lord’s will is the iron law—those who do not obey will be immediately dismissed and expelled from the army.

No exceptions.”

Elia did not relent in the slightest.

“And don’t forget, the Lady Demon Lord instructed us—the goal of this raid is not to inflict any casualties on the enemy, regardless of the results, but to create chaos and shake their morale.”

“We only have two thousand people in the end, and the enemy has a full twenty thousand—when they react, it will be impossible for us to leave unscathed.

And to use two thousand people to pursue that insignificant bit of ‘flesh’?

Utterly foolish!”

With that, Elia also pondered for a moment.

Recalling that before they set out, the Lady Demon Lord had told her that she could be a little gentler at times, she thought for a moment and then softened her tone, continuing, “Gangrel, I understand your eagerness to kill the enemy, so I can forgive your offense this time.

But it will not be permitted a second time, understand?”

“…I understand, Head Maid.

It was I who was presumptuous.”

Gangrel pondered for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

“The Demon Lord’s will is our direction.

I will obey the Lady Demon Lord’s command.”

With that, Gangrel turned and melted into the shadows of the forest to comfort his subordinates, who were just as full of killing intent as he was but also needed to cool down.

In the forest, only Elia’s solitary figure remained, silently continuing to watch the wound named “chaos” that she had personally created below the mountain, and the clumsy efforts of the humans to stitch it up.

…

“Boom—”

And the moment Vivian heard the explosion, she knew that her subordinates had begun to act.

A barely perceptible arc curved on her lips.

“!”

The Hero Garen, hearing the commotion from behind, couldn’t help but hesitate in his actions for a moment, clearly realizing that the army behind him was under attack.

But the hesitation lasted for less than half a second.

The next moment, Garen seemed to have made up his mind, no longer paying attention to the chaos behind him.

All his killing intent and conviction were once again locked firmly on the elusive black figure before him, his gaze continuing to stare fixedly at Vivian.

And to this, Vivian’s response was elegant and deadly.

She didn’t even turn her head.

With a slight movement of her slender fingers, she continued to shoot countless shadow blades at Garen, maintaining her distance from him.

As the Demon Lord of Evernight, Vivian’s movement speed was actually considered very fast.

As long as she concentrated on escaping, there were actually very few who could catch her.

And in fact, to prevent Garen from thinking he couldn’t catch up, Vivian had been intentionally and unintentionally slowing down her speed, precisely to keep luring Garen to follow her.

And after running like this for a while, who knows if Garen sensed something was wrong, but he actually stopped his pursuit of Vivian.

After thinking for a moment, he actually turned around and went back.

“…Perfect timing.”

Watching the retreating Garen, Vivian also let out a turbid breath.

The initial phase of the operation was, for the time being, successfully completed.

After sensing Garen’s movements for a while from her spot and confirming that he was really heading back toward the expeditionary army, Vivian didn’t stay put any longer.

She turned and went to the predetermined location to rendezvous with her subordinates.

“Phew—”

Her toes touched down lightly on the leaf-strewn forest clearing, landing as gently as a feather.

With that, Vivian returned to the front of the many demons.

“Lady Demon Lord!”

“Lady Demon Lord, are you alright?”

And the moment she landed, everyone gathered around her, asking Vivian with concern.

“I’m fine.

Garen can’t catch me.”

Vivian waved her hand casually, instead sweeping her gaze over her subordinates with a hint of concern.

“What are the casualties?”

“Reporting to you, Lady Vivian, three are seriously wounded, twenty are lightly wounded, and there are no deaths.”

Elia immediately answered Vivian’s question.

After considering the numbers, Vivian also nodded.

“And the enemy’s losses?”

“An estimated several hundred casualties.

The exact number cannot be determined.”

Elia swallowed and gave a rough figure, and also described the situation at the scene in detail to Vivian.

To be honest, with such a swift raid and such a rapid disengagement, Elia had no way of calculating the exact results of the battle.

She could only give a number based on the approximate situation when they withdrew.

But overall, the number of humans who had suffered because of their raid should be close to a thousand.

“Is that so?

Not a big problem.

The most important thing is that our warriors have suffered no losses.

Immediately arrange for the three seriously wounded to be sent to the rear.”

Vivian thought for a moment and nodded.

To be able to achieve such results in a ten-minute raid was quite good.

After all, the enemy was not a flock of unarmed lambs.

Even in chaos, they couldn’t just be slaughtered by the demons at will.

“A perfect arrangement, Lady Demon Lord.”

Lorlu’s crisp voice sounded from the side, a smile still on her face, seeming to be very appreciative of this raid’s arrangement.

“Luring away the Hero Garen, then raiding the weakest part of the army, and not even getting bogged down in the fight—this is an incomparably wise choice.”

“…Everyone knows that the current Territory of Evernight is weak.

I’ve only been back for a few days, so they naturally wouldn’t be too vigilant.”

Looking at the Winter Messenger before her, Vivian let out a turbid breath.

“However, as long as our strategic objectives have been achieved, that’s what matters.”

Before stepping into the Territory of Evernight, Vivian had also judged that this was the last moment the expeditionary army would be off guard.

And the reason she had forced her subordinates to withdraw after only ten minutes of attack was also based on her judgment as a Demon Lord.

The main force of the expeditionary army was still the Hero and the Holy Church’s army.

The others were just supplements.

And Vivian’s primary target for the strike was these people.

This, at the very least, could delay the enemy for half a day, or even a full day.

Vivian had made it clear that the focus of this raid was not even on how many casualties to inflict on the human army.

Even destroying their baggage train was more important than killing people.

Reorganizing the troops and treating the wounded would, in any case, take a considerable amount of time and effort.

“However, Lady Demon Lord, there is one thing…”

Elia took a step forward, her expression turning somewhat grave, her voice also lowering a few notches.

“Hm?

Is there another problem?”

Hearing Elia’s words, Vivian also keenly caught the change in her tone.

Her crimson eyes looked at her as she asked.

“Among the expeditionary army, the number of Heroes… seems to be more than just one.”