The morning after the information came in that the Skeleton Legion was heading for Raden.
We were all keeping an eye on the outside of the city.
Since there was no guarantee that the enemy would come from the front, the winged demons were flying around at all times to check the surroundings.
I also took turns monitoring the area around Raden from the air to see if any enemies were approaching.
“What’s the situation?”
“Nothing important has happened yet.”
The Demon King had spread out a large map of the Empire next to the city map of Raden.
On the map, he placed the enemy’s horse, expected to be coming from the south.
“If it were you, which way would you go?”
“I think it would be this way.”
I answered while moving the enemy’s horse directly north towards Raden.
If they came straight towards us, they would have to cross a large river and a mountain.
After all, the adversary was an army made up of skeletons that were already dead.
There was no need to worry about the stamina of the soldiers like living beings.
“That makes sense, right?”
If they moved in a straight line on the map, they would reach the side of Raden instead of the front.
The closest building was the train station!
Since this area had been designated for destruction, we could rampage as much as we wanted.
“What about Aila?”
“She’s in a safe place.”
“By herself?”
“I’ve got guards around her, so it’s fine.”
Aila would probably feel the most loss in this war.
If it were a normal situation, she would have taken on one of the responsibilities that either Fifth or Riki would usually handle.
“So I’ve been telling you to practice magic whenever you could….”
Since joining the Knight Order and handling various tasks, she probably hadn’t had time to practice.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The door to the meeting room was hastily knocked on, and Fifth rushed in.
“Um, a strange person has entered the city!”
“What? In a situation like this, who would?”
“It seems to be someone you know, Ririan?”
I wondered who the strange person might be that was searching for me.
Since they were looking for me, I decided to go outside the hotel.
Voices could be heard beyond the sturdy defense fence erected in front of the hotel.
“So, I told you he’s someone I know?”
“Please wait.”
As I opened the gate in the defense fence and went outside, a man was having a small argument with the soldiers.
“Jere?”
“Ah!”
I approached the soldiers, explaining that he was someone I knew to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Weren’t you in Pyson?”
“I’ve returned. But what is all this?”
Jere seemed completely unaware of the incidents that were happening within the Empire.
The rumors about the Skeleton Legion must have already spread a long time ago to Kant.
“Let’s go inside and talk.”
I took Jere to the hotel’s meeting room.
After inviting him to sit in a chair at the meeting room table, I also took a seat nearby.
“Ah, hello.”
Jere greeted the Demon King as if he were meeting someone for the first time.
Currently, the Demon King was transformed into an adult form in preparation for battle.
The Demon King simply nodded lightly in acknowledgment of Jere’s greeting.
I began explaining to Jere what was happening in the Empire to him, with Fifth adding explanations to any missing parts in between.
“I didn’t know such things were happening.”
“How did you get here? I’m sure news has spread throughout the entire Empire.”
“Through various means, but strangely, the trains weren’t running.”
Since there was a state of emergency throughout the Empire, the train services had been suspended.
However, not all means of transportation had been halted.
Teleportation was still possible, but the cost was high.
“Right now, this is the safest place.”
“Seems that way.”
“You have to choose between either number one or number two.”
At the Demon King’s sudden question, Jere briefly glanced over the maps laid out on the table.
“I’ll go with number two.”
“Then, you are assigned to Unit Two.”
“Excuse me?”
It was a question where the answer had already been decided regardless of which option was chosen.
Jere’s skills were sufficient for immediate deployment.
“You will be participating in the defense of Raden.”
“Ha. There’s no helping it. The Empire is in crisis!”
Jere seemed full of enthusiasm.
He left the meeting room following Fifth’s guidance to join Unit Two.
“An unexpected ally.”
“Indeed.”
We now had someone who could fill in for Aila’s absence.
The day’s tasks mainly consisted of periodically surveying the outskirts of the city.
Other than that, I spent time discussing various strategies with the Demon King in the meeting room.
After dinner, though it was a bit too early, I tried to sleep.
I needed to stock up on stamina while I could.
Even with just two people missing from the room, it felt emptier than usual.
Isabel was sitting on the bed, filling her mana.
When I opened my eyes after closing them, it was dawn.
Isabel, who had been filling her mana during the night, had fallen asleep in a strange position.
It was still before daybreak, and while the world was enveloped in darkness, the distant sky was tinged with red.
I left the hotel room and headed for the rooftop.
I found a spot near the railing, sat down, and started refining my mana while channeling it.
I began pouring the refined mana into the lightning pattern engraved on my palm.
The refined mana was being sucked in endlessly like a bottomless deep hole.
I was curious about how far it would go, so as soon as the mana was refined, I packed it all into the lightning pattern.
Amidst the frantic pouring of mana, the pattern on my palm began to glow, and the Last Ape emerged.
“Giving mana is good, but I wish you would do it more moderately.”
“Why isn’t it filling up?”
“You weren’t planning to fill this up completely, were you?”
“Yes.”
The Last Ape looked at me with an incredulous expression.
“That pattern is not meant for storing mana. It can hold a little, but it’s all used to summon me and my weapons. Don’t do foolish things.”
It seemed the Last Ape appeared not wanting me to continue supplying mana without restraint.
Taking the advice from the Last Ape, who merely offered a piece of advice and left, I refilled my refined mana back into my body.
The sun began to rise.
Below, dark shadows were spreading widely across the horizon, approaching Raden.
They were indeed advancing in a straight line from the south.
Seeing the thousands of soldiers I had only heard about firsthand was quite intimidating.
From the hotel’s rooftop, it was still far enough away that only by concentrating could I make them out.
I quickly knocked on the window of the hotel room to wake the sleeping Demon King.
Looking inside through the window, the Demon King was already awake, with his eyes glowing red.
The window opened, and the Demon King came out through the gap.
“All troops! Prepare for battle!”
Although the Demon King did not even move his lips, his voice resonated in my head.
“We are leaving.”
“Yes.”
We flew over the train station towards the direction the Skeleton Legion was approaching from.
The city, viewed from above, was eerily silent as if a mouse had died.
The announcement of war was to be made by me and the Demon King.
Until then, we would wait in various locations throughout the city, and the war would officially begin the moment they entered the city.
The Demon King and I flew a bit further from the entrance of Raden, watching as they approached from the air.
The Skeleton Legion marched, raising clouds of dust.
The sound of their synchronized footsteps made the ground tremble.
As the Skeleton Legion drew closer, their speed began to slow down slightly.
“I am! The Legion of the End, the Necromancer.”
A massive figure cloaked in a cape introduced itself and slammed the staff it held onto the ground.
Boom!
In sync with the sound of his staff, the skeletons stomped their feet in unison.
The scene of two large commander skeletons stomping alongside them was incredibly powerful.
“How noisy.”
The Demon King covered her ears and reached into the air to pull something out.
It was the head that had been snatched from the Skeleton Commander a little while ago.
“Hey! Give me back my head!”
A skeleton soldier jumped out in front, pushing past the others and shouted at the Demon King.
“Giraža! Calm down!”
As the cloaked Necromancer spoke up, Giraža turned around on the spot and knelt on one knee.
It seemed the Necromancer was significantly higher in rank than Giraža.
“Yes, an opportunity to find your head will come soon.”
“Yes! Understood.”
Seeing this, the Demon King returned the skeleton’s head to the space in the air and commanded with an annoyed tone.
“Ririan, launch it.”
“Yes, Last Ape.”
Pouring mana into the lightning pattern on my palm called forth the double-edged sword, the basic form of the Last Ape, into my hand.
Having received proper usage permission from the weapon’s owner, and being in a state filled with the recently refined mana!
Now, with enough distance from the city, I could unleash its maximum power in the best condition.
A natural spell began to flow into my mind as I gripped the Last Ape.
It seemed the Last Ape was informing me of the most effective magic for the current situation.
As the double-edged sword transformed into the form of a long spear, lightning began to crackle around the Last Ape.
As I raised the Last Ape towards the sky, a thick bolt of lightning shot up.
The previously clear sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds.
Amidst the dark clouds, a loud thunder echoed, and a bolt struck the ground.
The lightning fell precisely towards the cloaked Necromancer.
Kaboom!
“Dark Shield.”
The lightning that struck the dark shield began to spew forth more lightning.
The cloaked Necromancer held on nonchalantly inside the shield, but the surrounding soldiers did not fare as well.
The surrounding land erupted in a massive explosion, shattering several skeleton soldiers on the spot.
“Annoying sorcerer.”
Ultimately, the Necromancer took a few steps back and began evacuating the skeleton soldiers.
As the sky and earth connected with lightning, I threw the spear in my hand and shouted the spell’s invocation.
“Lightning World!”
The Last Ape flew through the air at a speed neither too fast nor too slow, striking the ground.
From the sky, bright yellow lightning came crashing down, sticking to the ground.
The ground that the lightning touched exploded, devouring the skeleton soldiers.
The lightning moved slightly, thrashing the ground as if to flip it upside down.
Snap!
Next to me, the Demon King snapped her fingers, causing a large droplet of water to fall next to the lightning spear.
In an instant, the ground where the skeleton soldiers had stood transformed into a shallow sea, as if a tide had washed in.
