Ambush

Vivian watched with cold indifference as the crusading army continued its relentless advance, waiting for them to move on to the next region, to destroy the next village.

This was all within her expectations.

Vivian was certainly not naive enough to think that after finding the Demon Lord’s Castle empty, they would simply pack up and go home—

Both Galen and the crusading army had come to hunt her, Vivian, with extremely strong purpose.

What Galen sought was Vivian’s head on a pike, while the others in the crusading army had varied motives, but they essentially boiled down to either military merit or revenge.

If they weren’t given a target to tear apart, they would undoubtedly continue to roam the Evernight territories, destroying everything in their path.

And based on the amount of their supplies, the entire twenty-thousand-strong crusading army could last for at least a month or two without any further provisions.

Considering she had her subordinates specifically target the supply wagons during their night raids, the army’s current rations could probably last another two to three weeks.

Factoring in the journey back, that left them with at least two weeks of activity within the Evernight territories.

Two weeks was enough time for Galen and his army to destroy the few remaining surviving villages and settlements.

Vivian would certainly not sit by and watch them do so.

She had only so many people at her disposal; it was impossible to truly evacuate village after village.

Besides, if the village populations were all evacuated—while a thousand or two might be manageable—once the numbers swelled to several thousand, or even ten thousand, these people would become refugees, and their entire social order and way of life would collapse.

But Vivian did indeed need the crusading army’s help to destroy some settlements or villages.

It was simple: she needed manpower.

With just the five thousand demon warriors under her command, they could certainly carry out her orders well, but for reconstruction work, loyalty alone was not enough.

Skills such as forging, sewing, construction, and so on were still too difficult for these warriors; they would have to learn from scratch.

The easiest and most convenient solution was naturally to find a group of people to return and take on these specific responsibilities.

But to have these professional warriors switch careers and become farmers?

Vivian herself considered it a waste.

But even as the Demon Lord, she couldn’t just forcibly order her already scarce subjects to leave their homes and come to the Demon Lord’s Castle to rebuild the ruins.

However, if their homes were destroyed by the crusading army, then it was a completely different story, wasn’t it?

Since the crusading army needed a target to vent its anger, why not make that target a controllable one…

That’s right.

Leaving a few clues behind was, in fact, Vivian’s deliberate act.

She had intentionally led the crusading army to Black Thorn Village.

Before ordering everyone to evacuate, she had left some clues, small, inconspicuous traces pointing in a few controllable directions, which was why she had been able to evacuate the villagers so far in advance.

She knew this was very unfair, but it was the best solution she could find.

Faced with a crusading army of twenty thousand, given the current state of the Evernight territories, it was impossible to avoid making some sacrifices.

…But as a Demon Lord, one had to have that resolve.

However, Vivian had no intention of continuing to retreat—constant retreats and limited harassment could indeed greatly increase the crusading army’s psychological pressure and fatigue, but it couldn’t truly make them withdraw from this crusade in one fell swoop.

“The crusading army is heading toward Graystone Fort… It’s about time. Lunai, have everyone get ready.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Lunai, who was on standby, received Vivian’s order and nodded obediently.

She then disappeared from Vivian’s sight as usual to relay her commands.

Graystone Fort was not a true fortress, but rather a large settlement built around a cluster of massive, weathered rock pillars.

When the crusading army pressed forward like a dark cloud, Galen and the hero squad at his side, the [Blades of Dawn], immediately sensed that something was wrong.

This place, like the previous village, was deathly silent.

The doorways of the stone houses between the rock pillars were wide open, like countless gaping black mouths.

There was no smoke from cooking fires, no sound of livestock, but the air was filled with a sense of desolation even more complete than that of Black Thorn Village.

Even the wind whistling through the rock pillars created a hollow, eerie sound.

However, unlike Black Thorn Village, a disturbing “rustling” sound emanated from the depths of this massive, maze-like rock formation, as if countless tiny claws were crawling in the crevices of the rocks, or some viscous liquid was slowly dripping.

“Be careful! It’s an ambush!”

The leader of the Blades of Dawn, a tall warrior named Rein, abruptly drew his longsword and shielded the elf twins, his young, handsome face filled with vigilance.

The younger of the elf twins, Mira, tightened her grip on her staff, her breathing a little ragged from nervousness.

A grave look flashed in her older sister Serra’s eyes as she immediately drew her longbow, and a pale blue arrow of light materialized upon it.

“Mira! Shields!”

“R-right!”

Prompted by her sister Serra, Mira, who was clearly overly nervous, finally reacted.

With a chant, a series of magic shields quickly appeared around the five members of the hero squad.

Galen, meanwhile, reined in the warhorse beneath him, his sharp gaze scanning the shadows of the jagged, strange rocks.

Years of battlefield intuition made him smell the thick scent of danger—he raised his hand, just about to order the entire army to be on alert and search.

Rumble—!

Crack—!

A sudden change!

The ground beneath their feet collapsed without warning, and a massive, camouflaged pitfall trap suddenly appeared!

The soil and gravel at the edges cascaded inward like a waterfall!

Galen and the fledgling heroes reacted with astonishing speed, leaping from their horses and flying backward.

But the dozen or so soldiers and knights beside them, nearly a hundred men, were not so lucky.

They screamed in surprise as they plummeted straight down.

Immediately, a horrifying, dense sound of gnawing, the sizzle of corrosion, and short, shrill cries of agony rose from the bottom of the pit!

“It’s a pit of acid slimes!”

Serra’s face went pale as she cried out in alarm—she could feel the foul, intensely corrosive stench rising from the pit.

Almost simultaneously, from the tops of the towering rock pillars and the shadowy crevices on both sides, a dense flurry of sharp, whistling sounds erupted!

They were no longer ordinary arrows, but poison-coated, enchanted crossbow bolts, their tips glinting with a baleful green light!

The volley of arrows descended like a swarm of deadly, venomous hornets, precisely blanketing the crusading army that had fallen into momentary chaos around the pitfall!

“Shields up!”

“Defend!”

In an instant, a cacophony of screams, the dull thud of shields being pierced, and the wet “squelch” of poisoned arrows hitting flesh erupted!

The crusading army’s formation instantly fell into utter disarray