Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

The Human-Demon Great War – The situation of Wrath

A battlefield where both the demons and humans have become all jumbled together. No battle formations at all, just a melee. Strategy is completely meaningless and both sides cannot do anything except to kill the enemies right in front of them.

I cannot do stuff like leading on the battlefield. After all, both in the previous world and this world, I’ve never experienced leading others in a war. Since I was entrusted with the 8th Army, I have gained a little bit of experience, but the staff officers etc have always been far more capable than me at giving out appropriate instructions.

To be blunt, I’m not suited for command. With my abilities it’s better to fight on the front line. However, considering the objective of the current war, I can’t exactly go on a rampage by myself. If I went on a rampage then the humans would certainly suffer significant losses, but conversely that means that the demons would suffer fewer losses. Since both the humans and the demons must suffer similar losses, that would be the wrong move. For that reason, I couldn’t just go and rampage on the front line.

However, while that may be true, I can’t then just give commands from the rear. I’m incapable for a start. If it becomes well known amongst the soldiers of the 8th Army that I’m incapable, then I’ll be treated with contempt. The personnel of the 8th Army are basically a mish-mash of various groups. The demon feudal lords who committed crimes had their private armies dismantled, then those were reorganised as the 8th Army. After all that happened, the morale of the soldiers in the 8th Army is low. Enough that there are even some who might rebel. To stop that, I can do nothing except to suppress them with sheer strength.

Because of that, if I’m treated with contempt even slightly then I’m finished. The moment that happens, there’ll likely be a flood of deserters. There might even be some among them who would take the opportunity to attack me. I would like to believe that such a thing won’t happen after I made a display of my strength, but should it actually happen, then I will likely be forced to turn my weapons on my own soldiers. If that’s the case then the losses to the demons would increase, but even I don’t want to do such a thing.

As a result, the actions I should take are clear and simple. If I can’t command, then I just don’t have to. I just need to turn it into such a quagmire of a melee battle that there’s no point in even giving commands. As a bonus extra, if I can make desertion impossible then it’s perfect.

I prepared booby traps behind the rear lines of the 8th Army, and then informed them. That there’s no path of retreat. That if they still try to flee, then I’ll personally kill them. They shuddered to such an extent that it was fascinating.

Then, with regards to myself, I destroyed the fort. Showing myself as little as possible, I hurled magic swords at it from a distance. That way, the humans would need to leave the fort in order to escape the destruction, having no other option but to advance. The strikes from my magic swords destroyed the protection of the fort with trivial ease. It was pointless to hole up in the fort. If they die there then it would just increase their losses. Then, to urge them forwards I continued to hurl magic swords.

The demon army that couldn’t retreat, and the human army that could only advance. They had no option but to clash with each other. If both sides are forced to crash into each other, then strategy becomes meaningless. Finally, once they’re stuck in a melee, giving commands is worthless.

During the melee, while I threw magic swords at the rear of the human army to drive them on, I slew the minimum number of the forces who came at me. Even while hurling the magic swords, I intentionally kept their losses as small as possible. If I reduced the human army by too much, then the losses to the demon army would become too small. A proper commander would minimise any losses to his allies, one way or another. What I’m doing is the exact opposite of that.

I’m a cruel commander. My subordinates have no luck. I seriously sympathise with them. However, that’s all I can do. I chose to do no more than that.

Thus, while I’m throwing magic swords around and defeating the humans who came at me, I heard a battlecry that somehow managed to be audible across the noisy battlefield.

「UWOOOOOOOO!!」

I’m impressed his breath lasted that long – that sort of inappropriate impression popped into my mind. A knight came towards me continuously shouting while he brandished his sword. From the little of him that I could see through the slit in his helmet, he was an old knight with considerable wrinkles etched into his face from age. Despite looking so old, there was nobody who rampaged across this battlefield more youthfully than him. I remember that figure, or rather, that sword technique. A long time ago, back when I was still an ogre, there was an old knight who had cornered me.

「MMM! Towering over the rest! I take it you are the one who leads this troop of demons! My name is Nyudoz! I request a formal duel!」

Ah, so stuffy…… The old knight Nyudoz who has gotten close to my position, has formally applied for a proper duel without concern for the situation around him. How should I put it – he can’t read the mood. This isn’t a situation in which to go all fair and square. Asking for a battle in the middle of a melee, are you an idiot? He must be an idiot.

However, this extreme foolishness is somehow refreshing. He might be an idiot, but he is a consistently single-minded person I bet. Living his life while staying true to his beliefs, honest to a fault. I’m a bit, no, quite jealous. He’s completely different to me who is constantly wavering and hesitating.

「I accept!」

I deliberately responded to him, because I felt that I wanted to. I wanted to try having a fair and square match with this person.

Nyudoz-san doesn’t seem to have realised that I am someone he fought with in the past. I was an ogre then anyway, so I look different now. Well, I have no intention of telling him that. Whatever happened in the past, I’m sure this person wouldn’t care about it.

I guess this is a revenge match for me. Thinking of it like that is a strange feeling, but what I have to do doesn’t change.

「Here I come!」

Nyudoz-san nimbly approaches me. He comes at a speed unthinkable for an old man, or rather, for someone wearing such heavy armour. Humans might have status values inferior to demons, but the speed of that approach is far faster any untrained demon could manage. I wonder just how many there are within the 8th Army who could make such an approach.

「!?」

Even so, that doesn’t reach me. Compared to when I was an ogre, I have become far stronger. My magic sword cuts through Nyudoz-san’s sword. I’m sure he has quite a famous sword, but with a single stroke using my status and magic sword to bulldoze through, that sword is cut in half.

Next, Nyudoz-san’s head is cleaved off. Without even being able to offer any resistance, Nyudoz-san’s head falls.

The least I could do was to grant him a peaceful and painless death. Though it might be presumptuous for me to think such a thing. That was the least I could do though.

It seems that for the human army, Nyudoz-san was an important figure, as the soldiers who saw his death were shaken, and then collapsed. As soon as one section fell, the rest of the human army fell like dominos. Thus, our 8th Army became victorious.