–

Vivian looked at the dumbfounded expeditionary army in the distance and almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

From their marching route, Vivian could tell that their ultimate target was indeed the Demon Lord’s Castle—and in reality, this wasn’t a major problem.

The locations of most Demon Lords’ castles were chosen with careful consideration.

They were either positioned forward, near the front lines, serving as important frontline fortresses for clashes with humans, or they were located on major transportation routes within their territories for easier management.

Vivian’s Demon Lord’s Castle belonged to the latter category—it was once the busiest hub in this demonic land, where countless orders and resources flowed.

However, her castle had long been destroyed in the clash of their powers during her previous battle with Lucia.

And in fact, very few people knew about this.

After all, the number of people who had accompanied Lucia for the decapitation strike was not large, and they had even kept their distance.

It was purely Lucia herself who had broken through.

The others didn’t know the extent of the damage to the Demon Lord’s Castle, let alone Garen.

From the very beginning, their target had been wrong, because their target had already been destroyed.

And after learning of the expeditionary army’s existence, Vivian had immediately abandoned the reconstruction work on the Demon Lord’s Castle.

Psychological warfare was paramount.

Vivian’s crimson eyes quietly watched the massive expeditionary army, the corners of her lips curling slightly upward.

In the past period, to be honest, the damage caused by her attacks on the expeditionary army was extremely limited.

Excluding the initial charge, they had probably only inflicted about a thousand casualties on the enemy in total.

For an expeditionary army of twenty thousand, this was actually a completely acceptable number of losses.

But defeating this expeditionary army based on casualty numbers was very difficult.

After all, they only had a solid two thousand, while the enemy had a robust twenty thousand.

So, when the expeditionary army had painstakingly crossed the Territory of Evernight, crossed that suffocating darkness, crossed the fear buried in the night, enduring sudden cold arrows, traps, and mental torture, and finally arrived before the Demon

Lord’s Castle, before the destination of their dreams, only to see an empty ruin—

‘I wonder what the members of the expeditionary army are thinking?

I wonder what kind of mood the Hero Garen is in?’

Just thinking about it was quite amusing.

That momentary bewilderment, disappointment, anger, and the subsequent immense doubt about the meaning of all their efforts… this kind of mental blow was far more devastating than the slaughter of thousands of troops.

Vivian thought this to herself, and at that moment, the other side also made their next move.

“…Search!

Search every inch of this place!

I don’t believe those demon brats left absolutely nothing behind!

There must be clues in the ruins!

Find them for me!”

Garen gritted his teeth and quickly issued an order, having the expeditionary army begin to search the ruins of the Demon Lord’s Castle, attempting to find any other clues—

But then, as the first batch of soldiers entered the ruins…

“Boom—”

In an instant, several explosions of flame engulfed more than a dozen warriors.

After retreating with the first harvest of mushrooms, Vivian had also left some “gifts” in the ruins to welcome the upcoming expeditionary army.

Various trip-activated booby traps and magical traps were properly arranged on the periphery.

Vivian had guessed that the other side would definitely enter the ruins of the Demon Lord’s Castle to investigate, but even so, she didn’t want to waste this opportunity.

The Demon Lord Vivian had won another round in psychological warfare!

“…So, do you still want to continue this stalemate with me?”

Vivian let out a long breath, looking at the expeditionary army in the distance, which still seemed somewhat unsure of what to do, and murmured to herself.

However, the expeditionary army’s, or rather, Garen’s persistence exceeded Vivian’s imagination.

Even knowing there were traps in the ruins, fanatics continued to enter the ruins and search for any possible signs.

But soon, Vivian saw that the expeditionary army seemed to have made some discoveries, and the silent grand army began to move again.

It seemed they had found something.

“Lady Demon Lord, are they retreating?”

Luna cautiously poked her head out from beside Vivian, looking at the grand army that was moving again with curiosity, shrinking back a little like a kitten as she asked.

“They’re retreating, and also not.”

Vivian frowned.

“The direction they’re leaving… should be Blackthorn Village.”

About a thousand ordinary demons lived there, and it was also one of the evacuation routes for the other wounded personnel.

The expeditionary army had all sorts of capable people.

It wasn’t difficult to determine the direction of the demons’ retreat, and Vivian never thought that a blow like this would be enough to make Garen give up the expedition.

She turned around and looked at Elia and the others, who were waiting in formation behind her.

“The expeditionary army’s target is Blackthorn Village—the anger of the expeditionary army and the Hero Garen surely needs an outlet.

The villagers there will definitely become sacrifices.

Immediately send someone to notify them to evacuate.

Use all necessary means to make them leave.

Then, the main force will also set sail.

We must continue to fight the expeditionary army and buy time for the others to retreat along the way.”

“Yes, Lady Demon Lord.”

“Yes, Lady Demon Lord!”

After receiving the order, Elia and Luna also immediately disappeared to carry out her battle arrangements.

But her gaze was fixed on the direction the expeditionary army had left, toward the small village called Blackthorn Village.

She could imagine the panic, reluctance, and fear in the village after the order was given.

Evacuation meant leaving their homes, abandoning the homes they had lived in for generations and their only property—she could imagine how desperate and reluctant those demons would be.

But special circumstances required special measures.

In the rebuilding Territory of Evernight, manpower was always one of the most important resources.

“Hah…”

A sigh escaped her lips, carrying a certain heaviness.

But this heaviness was quickly covered by a firm resolve.

She couldn’t let the demons in her territory die in vain.

This was a necessary retreat, to preserve their effective strength, and also to further lure Garen and the expeditionary army into the more complex, more favorable terrain for demon guerrilla warfare in the depths of the Territory of Evernight.

But the villages and towns chosen as targets by the expeditionary army, they had absolutely no ability to protect them now.

And the demon residents who had lost their homes, and even their stored food, how they would survive then was also a problem—but for now, staying alive was the most important thing.

The illuminating mana of the clergy and mages was limited, the fuel carried by the soldiers was limited, and the baggage supplies were also limited.

In the past period, they had done their best to destroy the baggage train, but the supplies carried by twenty thousand people were simply too vast.

This only indirectly reduced the time the other side could operate, and that was all.

“…Let me see how long you can last.”

Vivian let out a heavy breath and murmured to herself.