Episode 44 – The Art of Ruling (4)
“Lord Baren, we’ve already destroyed two of their nests. Given the significant accomplishments, we should return for now and regroup.”
“Are you satisfied with just this? Haven’t you noticed something strange about the nests we’ve destroyed? You dimwits, look around you carefully.”
The leader of the Gargoyles, Baren, who had just landed on the ground to catch his breath and restore his stamina, frowned in response to his subordinate’s words.
However, the subordinates genuinely had no idea what the problem was.
No matter how much they looked around, the enemy’s nest, which their carpet bombing had devastated, had been completely dismantled.
All that remained were the corpses of the enemies and the ruins of the destroyed nests. However hard they looked, it was difficult to find anything unusual.
“This nest is only half a nest! It’s merely a temporary residence they’ve set up to eat!”
Baren, frustrated, thumped his chest. Indeed, this place was one of their makeshift nests that they used as a base, only serving to secure and produce nourishment without any breeding facilities.
Baren had already noticed this difference with his keen eye. No eggs that produced monsters or young ones were ever found no matter how thoroughly they searched the nests.
“Breaking down places like this hundreds or even thousands of times has little significance. We need to destroy the eggs, and the queen laying them. Otherwise, we won’t defeat them.”
They all knew by now that their enemies were not like ordinary creatures.
No matter how many they killed, there seemed to be no end. They were like the swarms of pests that kept coming. So, the most effective way to deal with them was to destroy their nest—the real one where the eggs and the young ones were nurtured, not the temporary nests they had been destroying.
“If we retreat now, it’ll be meaningless. While we pat ourselves on the back over breaking just a few purposeless nests, the enemy will just continue to grow, and eventually invade our territory with larger numbers.”
Baren strongly advocated for the destruction of the nest. Although his subordinates couldn’t argue with what he said, as it made sense, they couldn’t bring themselves to stop him.
Moreover, they were all certain that if they didn’t fight now, they would end up losing everything, including their territory, to the growing enemies.
So, this was not a war. It was competition for survival. The moment they felt their limits, grew tired, or gave up—they were certain they would die.
“Let’s go! Let’s make a more substantial accomplishment and return triumphantly.”
Finally, Baren, along with his subordinates, took to the skies again, in search of a significant real nest to destroy.
“Lord Baren! I think we’ve found it. It’s an unusually large nest!”
“You bastards! You’re hatching eggs in cities of a certain size after all! Don’t leave a single one standing!”
Indeed, the nest they had newly discovered was different from the ones they had encountered before.
Unlike the nesting grounds set up at village levels, nests situated in walled cities were spawning new soldiers in real-time from eggs expelled by artificial wombs. Everyone who witnessed the endless supply of enemies coming from these nests turned pale.
“Attack!”
Baren clenched his teeth and gave the order to attack the soldiers without delay. A nest that once had its interior protected by walls to defend against enemies now offered no advantage against freely flying Gargoyles.
‘There are no towers, and those foul bat-like creatures are nowhere to be found. That makes it more than possible…!’
The city’s defense system, namely the magical turrets, were in a state of disrepair and abandonment, and there were no flying combatants produced in large quantities to capture Gargoyles present.
Moreover, the defensive troops were not numerous enough for the nest to have any real defensive power.
Having confirmed this, Baren swiftly led his subordinates in a fierce assault across the sky.
“Huh…?”
At that moment, what they had mistakenly thought were harmless, scattered biological tissues turned out to be something else. They split open all at once and started firing something.
[The Nephentes have successfully downed an enemy in their first combat.]
“Indeed, it’s effective.”
The queen, who had kept the Nephentes inactive until the moment the enemies arrived, grinned upon seeing this sight.
Gas rounds filled with poison exploded in the air, spreading potent acidic poison and toxic gas around.
With their excellent agility but weaker durability, the Gargoyles couldn’t withstand the poison.
“—!”
Inhaling the poison, they lost balance and crashed, their wings and bodies being relentlessly eaten away by the toxic liquid while letting out screams. Only the warriors who strengthened their bodies with channeled magic were able to endure. However, even the warriors couldn’t last long under continuous bombardment.
In a flash, part of the sky was flooded with thick poison gas, and the Gargoyles flapped their wings desperately to escape from it without being able to fight.
Nephentes’ continued firing amidst this urgency. Pulling himself together and dispersing the poison with magic, Baren stood in shock, unable to speak.
‘How could this be possible? Could they have anticipated our arrival and prepared for it?! And in all those nests?’
While blocked by the Nephentes’ bombardment, a group of flying combatants was approaching in formation.
Being caught off guard by unexpected anti-aircraft gunfire, the Gargoyles couldn’t handle the fiercely advancing enemies.
“Retreat! Retreat now! We must survive and go back!”
Baren, who had barely managed to cut down an approaching aerial combatant, instinctively realized the importance of delivering this news. Now that defensive facilities had been added to the nests, all strategies and operations would have to be reconsidered.
‘A pity.’
The queen clicked her tongue as she watched the few Gargoyles that had escaped. If she had wiped them all out, security measures could have been maintained, but that had ultimately failed.
Of course, as the scale of the battle increased, she fully understood how challenging it was to eliminate every single enemy, so she was only mildly disappointed.
*
“Did you hear the news from the Gargoyles that survived? They’re getting stronger as time goes by. We can’t let them have any more time. Even if we can’t drive them back all at once, we need to reduce the number of their nests as much as possible!”
“Let’s do it that way. Now’s the perfect moment to move while the enemy’s main force is attacking what remains of the Lamia’s territory!”
The demons coming from the north had now posed a genuine threat to the Lords of the region. There was no time to test the waters or try to gain more advantage.
Above all, they were unanimous in the need to eliminate the ever-increasing nests. Their plan was to raise armies from all surrounding territories and attack from every direction to destroy the enemies’ nests.
“Lord Ludras! There’s still no communication from that Hobgoblin Count, is there!”
However, one thing irritated the assembled Lords. It was Lord Ludras of the Hobgoblins.
“Isn’t this strange? Isn’t it odd that the crazy monsters attacking everywhere are somehow leaving Ludras’ territory alone?”
“That is suspicious. Something’s amiss.”
The seeds planted by the Legions, who systematically ignored Ludras’ territory and instead attacked the smaller territories around it, were finally blossoming.
They began to suspect Ludras.
At the very least, it didn’t make sense that his territory alone would be spared unless he had some kind of specific knowledge.
Someone mentioned that the first attack by the demons had been on a small city under Ludras’ control, but this didn’t get much traction.
“If there’s any connection to Ludras’ territory or not! Either way, it’s too late. Ludras must explain. And he must join hands with us to destroy these creatures.”
If he’s in league with the demons, that’s a big problem. Knowing how not to be attacked by the demons could also be an issue.
As time passed, the meeting room buzzed with condemnations of Ludras and the Hobgoblins.
「It’s all part of his master plan.」
「Such a cunning guy, deliberately skipping the Hobgoblin territories from the start just for this moment?」
Some had already noticed that this was all part of the demons’, or rather, the queen’s, grand strategy.
But, given that this was possible because the demons were aware that they were like themselves, and lacking a way to prove it to the local Lords, they didn’t argue the point forcefully.
「Ultimately, the power lies with that Hobgoblin Count.」
The only thing they could hope for was that Ludras would recognize the seriousness of the current situation and see the rising threat not as a tool to strengthen his dominance but as a calamity that could swallow the world.
