Read Novel Full Vol 12 Chapter 4 Part 2
Vol 12 Chapter 4 Part 2
Here’s the chapter, enjoy~
ED: LonelyMatter
Part 2
“This is incredible.”
The Faceless King squinted as he watched the burning “monsters” trapped in the front line.
Taking advantage of the poor visibility in the dense fog, the cavalry of the Grantz surged forward and succeeded in repelling them, but the bloodthirsty “monsters” chased them back. The first fire erupted and caused great damage. When the flames died down, the front-line troops were rescued, but the “monsters,” blinded by anger at the death of their comrades, charged at the allied forces led by the Black Dragon King.
A second fire plan was then put into action, and the first army was destroyed.
Even now, the second wall of fire had not disappeared, and the “monsters” were probably being slaughtered by the humans beyond. Even without seeing it, one could imagine in one’s mind, what kind of hellish scenes were unfolding just by hearing the screams of anguish that were tearing the clouds apart.
“I-I apologize! I fell right into the trap of the God of War. I’ve damaged the king’s army.”
Rubbing his forehead on the ground and lowering his head, it was Chimera, the Twelve Demon Lords.
The Faceless King sat on his chair and looked down at Chimera’s head as if he felt no emotion toward his subordinate, who was showing such a pitiful appearance.
“I am not angry. Reinforcements are still coming. Losing 20,000 or 30,000 troops won’t hurt us. But I am still disgusted at your inability to win a war even after a thousand years.”
“If you give me one more chance, I will surely offer you the head of the God of War.”
“But more importantly, why do you think you fell for such a trick?”
In response to the Fateless King’s question, Chimera bites his lips in frustration.
“It is because I am not good enough.”
“That’s one thing, but it’s certainly not the only thing.”
Listening to the screams of the “monsters” as they burned and deteriorated, the Faceless King sat back down deep in his chair. The only chair in the world made of human bones and skin, he slammed the back of his fist against the skull on the armrest and opened his mouth.
“The God of War knows how to fight us. He has always liked to play tricks on us, but in fact, he is very bold when it comes to cleverly laid traps and schemes that involve his allies. He uses both soft and hard tactics to deal with situations in a flexible manner, and when he gets the momentum going, he’s unstoppable.”
“Involving his allies…?”
“Don’t you realize, the second time he used that fire plan, he got his allies involved as well?”
Unusually, the Faceless King showed emotion. It was as if he was very happy and pleased with his friend’s success.
“The first fire was weak, but the second was so powerful that it made my whole body tremble. Maybe some of the soldiers running away were the ones he wanted to kill.”
“…..I wonder if the allies will resent him? It seems to me that it would alienate people’s minds.”
“That’s why he kills his allies legally.”
From the first to the second fire, many things were happening to the Allied forces.
The first fire plot was used to divide the Allied Forces, and the second fire plot was used to catch those he wanted to kill off guard, without causing any damage to his allies. Then, they would run away from the “monsters,” finally forcing them to abandon their equipment and run back as fast as they could. Here, the second fire plan was so powerful that even the allies were involved, and many people must have been caught up in the fire. Among them, there must surely be someone who had a grudge against the Black Dragon King. The allies would only think that they were late in escaping. Or they would say that they had died in the battle with the monster. If he loses, he will be blamed, but if he wins the first battle, then no one will doubt the Black Dragon King.
“It is only when a man dies that he becomes valuable――Whoever said so…”
There was nothing more terrifying than when someone used a plan to kill one’s allies. Living creatures always had feelings. But the Black Dragon King seemed to lack it and uses ruthless measures to kill people without hesitation.
“Moreover, he would deftly approach the relatives of those who had died in battle, comfort them so that they would not bear a grudge, and then create new loyal pawns for him.”
“Besides”―the Faceless King continued to talk.
“He is a man who uses whatever he can get his hands on, so don’t think you can get past him with half-baked strategies. He knows how deeply we are reading him, and if we try to keep up with him, we will only drown and gain nothing.”
“But if we don’t go over, we won’t win. I would like you to entrust me with command just one more time.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. Even if you’ve read all of his tricks, there’s one thing that’s going to be troublesome when you’re dealing with the Black Dragon King.”
It was also the cause of the destruction of the “demon tribe” a thousand years ago. When combined with the Black Dragon King’s military strategy, no one could win as long as he led his army.
“Heavenly Spirit Eyes, huh…? A cheat eye that can read the flow of all things.”
The Faceless King nodded and pointed to the Chimera’s eyes.
“A thousand years ago, it was a terrible pain. It was a bitter memory for you guys because it took away your eye and your magic stone.”
It was useless to try any tricks, and even if you tried to set something up, it would be easily read by the Heavenly Spirit Eye.
It was the “eye” of the Black Dragon King, who stood at the top of all living things.
“It is specialized for assessing the war situation――in the first place, it is not something that can be used against “individuals.” Its true use is for waging war against monsters and humans.”
“What do we do? I don’t think we can overcome this disadvantage if we go out there.”
Keryneia, who had remained silent up to this point, interrupted the conversation. The Faceless King raised one hand in disgust and replied.
“For what purpose do you have the “marked tribe” and the “flesh-eaters” standing by in the rear? It’s for this kind of situation. The “monsters” have low intelligence and instinctively follow those who are powerful, and if they feel their lives are in danger, they will flee at once. This situation could be considered an attack that takes advantage of these characteristics.”
The Faceless King, who was looking around the battlefield, stopped at the burning “monster” and sniffed.
“What do you think is allowed to be a monster, unlike a human being?”
“…..I don’t know.”
Chimera apologetically bowed his head, and the Faceless King gave him the answer without blame.
“This is the place where no one will complain even if you kill them. No one will feel sorry for them if they are burned like that. The mere fact that they are a threat to humans places “monsters” below pet animals. The further away from humanity they are, the lower they are.”
“I see. So the king keeps the nearly humanoid monsters in the back of the line and waits for the right moment.”
“No. No matter the criticism, I always use what I can use, regardless of the timing. Just like the Black Dragon King. What have you seen of me over the last… thousand years that you are oblivious to my intentions?”
The Faceless King was taken aback by Chimera’s poor reading and waved his hand as if to ward off a dog.
“Enough. Go back to your command. This time, you may use the marked tribe or the flesh eaters.”
“A-are you sure?”
“You intend to win, don’t you? If you can overcome the Black Dragon King, then go ahead and do it. But if you fail, you must leave the next command to Keryneia.”
“I will surely give the victory to the King!”
Chimera stood up with a happy look on his face. Keryneia approached him and asked.
“What are you going to do next? You can’t fail, can you?”
“You don’t have a turn to play. This is only the first round, and I will make up for it.”
Chimera smiled wryly and swept one hand through the air as if caressing the battlefield.
“They must be getting excited by the fact that they have defeated a lot of “monsters.” Then we’ll take advantage of that.”
Chimera signaled to the banner bearers, and a bright red flag, dyed in human blood, was raised.
The third group, which included many humanoids, marked tribes, and flesh-eaters, began to move.
Although the first group was destroyed by the fire plan and the second group was also in a state of confusion, the third group, overcoming the corpses of the “monsters,” headed toward the allied forces led by the Black Dragon King.
“The “King’s” words gave me a chance to see the path to victory. If we were to directly confront the Black Dragon King, this would be a battle between armies. Then, if they were to fight against a humanoid, they would surely develop feelings toward it and hesitate.”
Even as he explained, the third group of soldiers clashed with the Allied forces. Hundreds of lives were lost just by that alone.
However, most of them were soldiers on the Allied side.
Their individual abilities were superior to those of the Allied Forces, and they had the marked tribe, the flesh-eaters, and other powerful pawns that far surpassed those of ordinary people, even though they had failed in the “demonization” process. However, while observing the battle situation, Chimera noticed something unusual.
The same was true for Keryneia, who was standing next to Chimera, and she was looking at him with a sympathetic gaze.
“The opponent seems to have more momentum.”
“…Why…?”
“It was too short-sighted. More importantly, this one has a bad foothold.”
The Faceless King sighed as if to say that there was nothing he could do to help the situation.
“We have to fight over the oil on the ground, over the sinking mass of the monster’s flesh.”
“Well, don’t they have the same conditions?”
“They are measuring the distance. If you get to the front line, it will be hard ground. The footing is not good up to that point. If you try not to fall, your speed will slow down, and there will be a fatal gap between your troops. By the time you get to the front line, the troops ahead of you will have been wiped out.”
The Faceless King was so eloquent that he turned to the battlefield with a smile on his face, an expression he usually never showed.
“Although simple, when you open the lid, you find that he has set up very clever traps all over the place.”
“As one would expect from the God of War.”
When Keryneia interrupted the conversation, the Faceless King nodded his head happily.
“A feat Chimera could never pull off.”
“That’s――!”
Chimera immediately fell prostrate as he tried to argue. It was not permissible for him to argue after repeated failures.
“I will give this life back to the king.”
As if to offer his head, Chimera pressed his head against the ground, but what fell on his head was the exceptionally gentle voice of the Faceless King.
“I forgive you.”
The unexpected words made Chimera’s face flush with surprise and joy, but he immediately lost his color. The Faceless King’s eyes were fixed on the battlefield and not on Chimera. Even though he could not see his eyes, he knew. It was no surprise to learn the feelings of the “King” who he had served for so many years because he had devoted all of his time and energy to him over the course of a thousand years.
And yet, the Faceless King does not care about Chimera’s existence. He showed indifference as if he didn’t care whether he died or lived.
“I-I am… ah… I am…”
Keryneia was about to call out to Chimera, who was pale with despair but was stopped from reaching out her hand to his shoulder when she was stopped by the Faceless King.
“Keryneia, take over the command; you know what you have to do, don’t you?”
“Yes, I think we should play to our strengths. I think it would be better to crush the Allied forces with the overwhelming force of our superiority in numbers. In the face of the difference in quantity, any strategy will lose its meaning.”
“How do you plan to deal with the Heavenly Spirit Eye?”
“The God of War is undefeated in his entire life, which means that he only fights battles that he can win with his Heavenly Spirit Eye.”
“I see. Well, then… I guess I can expect it, do whatever you want.”
“Yes.”
The Faceless King, still looking at the battlefield, reached out and clenched his hand to where he thought Hiro would be.
“More, please entertain me more.”
At this point, only Keryneia noticed. Chimera’s presence was gone.
But the Faceless King paid no heed.
For a thousand years, he had been interested in only one person.